Tips For Acing The NCLEX-PN

One of the most important things to understand about the NCLEX-PN is that the exam is intended to test two skills at the same time: your knowledge of nursing and your understanding of the principles that underlie nursing.

Your Knowledge Of Nursing

There are no shortcuts here. Many of the questions on the NCLEX-PN test are purely fact-based. If you don’t know the terminology or the treatment, you’re simply not going to know the answer.

You’ll need a well-planned review schedule, a good memory, and a strong focus on your weaker topics.

Accept the fact, that with such a broad range of subjects to study, there will inevitably be questions that you can’t answer. In a ward, when you’re not sure what to do, there’s always someone to ask. In the exam room, you’re on your own. Use the process of elimination to knock out answers that you know are wrong, and guess with a higher probability of success.

The Principles Of Nursing

These types of questions are a little easier. The most important principle to remember is that safety comes first! The principle-based questions on the NCLEX-PN will all be related (roughly) to case studies that ask what you should do. The correct answer is always the safest one. That’s not necessarily the course of action you would take, but it is the course of action that the examiners would like you to take.

Whenever you’re in doubt on a question that asks what you should do in a given situation, cross out the answers that pass responsibility (like call the doctor on duty) and focus on the answer that takes responsibility for safety. It’s the one most likely to be right.