I always say to my students, "Part of professionalism is accountability, accountability to your actions and the outcomes of those actions".
NCLEX preparation is no different. You must be accountable to doing practice questions. When I teach med-surg or capstone classes, students come to me upset about their performance on the test. They tell me, "I did so many questions before your exam". When I ask them to quantify this number, it is usually a very small number like 75 or 100 questions, maybe even 150 questions. They want to blame the professor for the low score, when in reality the student did not do the due diligence in preparing for the exam.
I always tell my students it is not enough to just know the material. Students need to take it a step further and know how to apply the material. Application and analysis are crucial in NCLEX testing. It assures the test taker thinks at a higher level and will be safe to care for patients independently.
So remember in studying for your exams, absolutely study content, but also do practice questions in preparation for the exam as well. You must sit down and do groups of questions, uninterrupted. Uninterrupted means no cell phone, snap chats, tweets, or any other social media distractions.
You should set a timer for you to do the questions. You should always do at least 75 questions in a sitting because that is the minimum number of questions you will see at boards. If doing 75 questions, I suggest setting your alarm for 75 minutes, which puts you at a pace of 1 question per minute.
I suggest doing the entire group of questions before checking on the answers. At the end of the practice questions, grade them, and assign yourself a percentage (i.e. 60 correct out of 75 questions 60/75 = 80%) . By following this percentage you will be able to see your progression in attaining a score necessary to pass boards. Take the time after completing the set of questions to look at the rationales. This will assist you in seeing how the questions should be answered. This will help you in seeing the correct way to think through the question and select the best answer for that question.
I hope my initial advice is helpful. I invite you to follow my blog and to spread the word about it. Feel free to comment and ask questions as well.
Next up will be my Top Ten for NCLEX.
