Introduction
Preparing for the NCLEX-RN? A well-thought-out study plan is indeed one of the secrets to your success. The NCLEX-RN licensure exam through which registered nurses are certified, evaluates candidates on their knowledge, skills, and clinical judgment for safe and effective patient care. This guest post shows you how to make a study plan to cover all the bases and the tips to do it successfully in the first attempt.
Step 1: Assess Your Current Knowledge
While planning your study activities, you should first reflect on your knowledge, skills, and competencies. It is important to find out the content areas where you excel and where you need to put in more effort. For example, these might include the following :{ Pharmacology, Medical-Surgical Nursing, Maternal and Newborn Nursing, Pediatric Nursing, Mental Health Nursing}. This exercise will greatly help you to revise your plan and make it excellent.
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Step 2: Set a Study Timeline
Figure out the amount of time you will be able to dedicate to studying before the exam date. It is common for the preparation period to be 4 to 8 weeks along with the student’s starting point with the material and other commitments. Once you have decided on the total duration, you can divide the period into weekly study plans.
Step 3: Use Quality Study Materials
Good NCLEX-RN study materials are worth the money, whether you are talking about reference books, e-learning or website subscriptions, or test banks. Take an example of Next Generation NCLEX (NGN) which has preparation programs customized for the NGN format, including:
- practice questions (> 5,000) across the full range of content;
- developing clinical judgment capability, i.e., exposing you to new/exam question types like Case Studies and Bow-tie;
- Performance/PT analytics such as monitoring your progress and suggestions for your weak areas.
Step 4:
Develop a weekly study schedule with study time devoted to different topics and the remaining time for practice tests. For example:
- M: 2 hours of Pharmacology + 50 practice questions on Pharmacology.
- T: 2 hours Medical-Surgical Nursing + 1 hour Clinical Judgment.
- W: 2 hours Maternal and Newborn Nursing + 100 questions practice test.
- T: 2 hours Pediatric Nursing + 1 hour practice questions.
- F: 2 hours Mental Health Nursing + 1 hour case studies.
- S: Review all the previously weak areas. 3 hours.
- S: Day off or casual study (Flashcards, the notes)
Step 5: Practice, Practice, Practice
Including practice tests in your study schedule is a must. Taking the regularly scheduled practice tests will bring you more familiar with how the actual exam test will look. Your test-taking skills can also get better because you will become more confident when facing questions and finding answers. Take a look at how the Next Generation NCLEX resource uses adaptive learning technology where the difficulty level is changed depending on the performance of the learner, so the learner is appropriately challenged at all times.
Step 6: Stay Positive and Take Care of Yourself
Capacity and determination are essential factors in passing the NCLEX-RN but maintaining a positive attitude will be your greatest weapon. Self-care should be part of your schedule, such as:
- Engaging in a regular physical activity
- Eating nutritious food
- Getting enough sleep
- Meditating or practicing mindfulness
Conclusion
Developing an efficient study plan for the NCLEX-RN is crucial to your success. You will significantly increase your probability of passing the test at your first try if you evaluate your know-how, fix a schedule, make use of good study materials, and repeatedly practice. For thorough preparation programs, think about the resource packs at Next Generation NCLEX.
