NCLEX® Prep: Why Daily Practice is Necessary

• Daily NCLEX® prep is one of the best ways to make you’re ready come exam day.
• There are 15 to 20 question types you could see on test day and you should try to test from all of them.
• Slone NCLEX suggests reviewing 200 to 400 questions across topic areas on a daily basis.

Just as some believe daily meditation is good for the soul, others believe daily NCLEX® prep is good for the brain.

Slone NCLEX Professor Tanya Killian, RN, BSN, MSN-Ed, recently suggested reviewing 200 to 400 questions daily until test day.

“Remember, nursing questions are all about critical thinking and ensuring patient safety, so get into the habit of answering NCLEX®-style questions and maintain that habit until exam day,” she wrote.

The year-to-date pass rate for RN candidates is nearly 77%, according to the most recent National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) data. Of those, more than 80% passed on the first attempt. With daily NCLEX® prep, we can help you land among those one-and-done test takers.

NCLEX® prep and Question Variety

Dedicating time each day to NCLEX® prep gives you the ability to review not only the different types of questions but also the myriad topics you’re expected to know. With so much information to retain and be a near-expert on, daily reinforcement will only help. Even if it’s just sitting down with a handful of questions while you sip on your morning cup of coffee.

Here are a few question types you’ll want to include in your study plans:

• Multiple choice
• Fill in the blank
• Select all that apply
• Drag and drop
• Hot spot

There are 15 to 20 question types you could see on test day and you should try to test from all of them. A good way to do that is to include each question type for all focus areas.

Testing yourself on the same information in various formats will help you retain the details. For example, a question on the correct dosage of medication based on a patient’s vital signs can be reviewed as a multiple choice, drag and drop, or fill in the blank. That way, you’re thinking through every approach to the scenario.

What the Studies Show

One study found a positive correlation between the amount of time spent studying and better grades. However, the researchers noted that the focus shouldn’t be on “length of time learning,” but rather on the quality of time spent learning.

When it comes to research on “test-enhanced learning” — such as, “Do practice tests really help?” — studies within the nursing education field provided conflicting results. However, the goal of prep programs like Slone NCLEX isn’t necessarily to encourage a full-length test every day, but rather to give you the flexibility of studying a batch of questions each day at your own pace.

That’s why we set the goal of reviewing 200 to 400 questions per day, knowing the ultimate goal is to take at least 2,500 before exam day. Slone NCLEX offers more than 3,000 questions, including more than 500 next-generation NCLEX® item types, to prepare you for success.

The Bottom Line

NCLEX® prep should occur daily to give yourself the best chance for success on your first attempt at the exam. A little bit of studying goes a long way in helping you retain key information not only to pass the NCLEX®, but to use as you progress in your nursing career. And Slone NCLEX is here to help.

Begin your NCLEX® preparation journey with Slone NCLEX today.