One of the secrets to a successful bout with the NCLEX is to practice on sample exams. Answering them will give you a feel of how it’s like to be actually taking the test. That way, you wouldn’t be surprised when you see those seemingly unfamiliar questions.
Practicing for the NCLEX has been proven to be an effective study exercise for the exam. This will surely complement your study guides, review materials, review courses and the like in your quest to be a licensed nurse. Sample questions for the NCLEX work harmoniously alongside your reading materials.
There are many online and offline sources of sample questions for the exam that you can use. These NCLEX practice exams most of the time are developed by nursing faculty and practitioners. It is important that you choose wisely and separate the credible from the dubious sources of these materials.
Once you have your sample exams, then all you need to do is follow your review schedule and answer the sample tests thereafter. It also works as a sort of a diagnostics exam because it will tell you where you should focus your review.
Below are some tips on how to answer those practice exams:
Read the questions very carefully. In fact, you must read every word of a question in order to answer it successfully. Most of the time, qualifying words such as most, least, definitely, probably, except and the like have so much significance in your answer. These small but important words will help you determine the correct answer. Always take time to read the questions in its entirety. Scanning through them is not enough.
Try to avoid careless errors. Sometimes in our haste to move on to the next question, we tend to commit careless mistakes. These mistakes, if you add them up, leads to a substantial number of wrong answers. You wouldn’t want to have that in your actual NCLEX exams as it may prove disastrous to your bid in becoming a nurse.
Eliminate evidently wrong answers. The process of elimination will narrow down your choices to a few. Bear in mind that in the NCLEX, there are wrong or right answers. You cannot argue your way out of the exam, like in essay-types of tests.