The NCLEX

The NCLEX - or as it otherwise known the National Council Licensure Examination - is the exam devised by the NCSBN (National Council of State Boards of Nursing) to test those who wish to become either a nurse RN or a nurse PN.

Although the NCLEX RN and PN are similar - they have a different number of questions and their scoring matrix are different - so make sure you know which you are aiming for and work towards that one.

The NCLEX exam and process is testing that you can handle questions and issues arising from your experience in nursing so far. It's one of the final steps in acquiring your full nurse qualifications and it shouldn't be underestimated.

The types of questions that this multiple exam throws at you check and test to see that you are able to make decisions, under critical or life threatening conditions, about patient care. Scenarios test you by presenting you with basic information, posing a question and then giving you options from which to select the best answer.

This gets harder when you realise that a large number of questions have more than one possible correct answer within the available solutions! 

At all times the undercurrent within the questions and NCLEX test as a whole is to ensure that you can follow and apply basic nursing principles and use them within the confines of patient management and safety correctly!

This is not an easy exam to pass but with the correct study guides, revision plan and approach - you should be able to work your way through it first time.

Over the next few pages we look at some of the different guides on offer and review them - based on just how effective they are at helping you pass the exam.

We also have a few articles written by successful takers of the exam that may well help you also. Have a read through them and absorb as much as you can.

Oh - and get a good study guide to help you and some flash cards. (If you have a choice between the two to make due to funds being a touch tight then go for the flash cards. They do cost more but they are 10 times as effective in helping you revise, learn and face the exam with confidence.)