Why NCLEX® Exam Practice is Vital to Success

• The more NCLEX® exam practice you have, the better equipped you’ll be on exam day. 
• Don’t discount the Health Education Systems Incorporated (HESI) exam, as it’s a good indicator of NCLEX® success. 
• Be sure to include new question item types in your personal study materials. 

It sounds obvious, but how you prepare affects whether or not you’ll succeed. And that’s never been more evident than when it comes to the NCLEX® exam practice. 

The more you practice, the more confident you’ll be. The more confident you are heading into exam day, the more likely you are to stand firm in your responses (regardless of the question item type) and not second guess yourself. 

Focusing on your senior-year studies and taking seriously the Health Education Systems Incorporated (HESI) exam are just a couple ways to put NCLEX® exam practice into motion. 

Why Should I Care About the HESI Exam? 

For more than two decades, the HESI exam has been a blueprint, providing insight into how you’ll fare on NCLEX®. And study upon study — even as recently as 2022 — shows that the better you do on the HESI, the more likely you are to pass the NCLEX®. 

Much like the NCLEX®, the HESI is a computer-based test. That alone is good NCLEX® exam practice, since the NCLEX® uses a computer-assisted quizzing (CAQ) model.  

Don’t look at the HESI as one more thing to check off your to-do list. Rather, look at it as the beginning of your NCLEX® exam practice. Your score on the HESI can help you find your current knowledge weaknesses and build a study plan around them. 

NCLEX® Exam Practice Builds Confidence  

The changes that came with the 2023 iteration of the NCLEX® (known as Next-Generation NCLEX® or NGN) haven’t been around long, so it might not be a shock that student confidence regarding the new question item types isn’t very high. 

A 2024 study in the Journal of Nursing Education found that less than one third of students in their comparative study felt confident answering NGN question. 

“Students’ lack of confidence with certain item types suggests faculty should incorporate these item types into classroom activities or course assignments,” the authors stated. “NGN test-taking strategies also should be incorporated and frequently reinforced throughout the curriculum.” 

In comparing NGN item types to multiple choice questions, the results revealed lower scores on NGN-style items of bowtie and select-all-that-apply questions but higher scores for highlight table or matrix multiple-choice questions. 

Keeping this in mind, you’ll want to include all item types (both old and new) on your cram sheet and in your practice tests. The more you review them, the more likely understanding how to approach them will become second nature. 

Don’t Forget the Basics 

It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement (or is it stress?) of learning how to approach new question item types. Take a breath and remember what your nursing professors have likely told you a thousand times over: 

• Test yourself with 200 to 400 questions per day. 
• Create a study plan. 
• Devise a cram sheet. 
• Lean on your fellow soon-to-be graduates for support. 
• Support your studying with a prep program like Slone NCLEX. 

The Bottom Line 

You’re not alone in preparing for arguably one of the biggest days of your future career. Everyone needs NCLEX® exam practice. Join up with some friends or classmates for a weekly study group, challenge each other by incorporating the new item types, and have lively discussions about the rationales for the right (and wrong!) answers. 

Begin your NCLEX® exam practice journey today.