Studying Techniques

• Save all notes from class discussions throughout nursing school. Study them every night, highlighting key points, so that you can go over them multiple times. Avoid rote memorization of these facts. Instead, picture performing the concepts in your mind as you are going over the notes. In addition, save your textbooks. Review as many chapters possible, both during nursing school and after graduation. Create an outline of key concepts, such as the Five Rights of Medication, and have a friend quiz you on them based on your outline.
  
  

Know Medical Terminology

• Know the names of all medicines, procedures and body parts. Memorize them by all their names, so that when any given version of a name shows up on the computer, you will be able to identify it. Use 3-by-5 cards and include all of the alternative names of a given item or concept. The NCLEX Test Review website says that it's important to understand all given names, including the abbreviations doctors and nurses use.
  
  

Review Key Question Categories and Subcategories

• The Nursing Online Education Database lists four categories on which the NCLEX will focus -- Safe Effective Care Environment, Physiological Integrity, Pharmacological Integrity and Psychosocial Integrity. Not only must you know the categories, but also the subcategories. The Database suggests you use the NCLEX Test Plan as a study guide.
  
  

Practice Tests and Questions

• On the test, you will answer a minimum of 75 out of 265 questions if you are applying to be a Registered Nurse, and 85 out of 205 if you wish to become a Licensed Practical nurse. After you've answered the minimum number of questions, the computer will assess your overall performance, and stop you at any point between questions 76 and 265 for the RN test, or 86 and 205, for the LPN version. The more questions above those minimums that it permits you to answer, the better you are performing. A five-hour time limit exists, including the practice time plus the breaks. Thus it's best to take practice tests, or answer practice questions, and to time yourself. You can find examples of such examinations and questions at the Testpreview.com and Texas Nursing School websites.