Mastering the NCLEX the First Time: Strategy and Tips

Passing the NCLEX-RN exam is a rite of passage for U.S. nurses. This exam protects the public by testing aspiring nurses’ knowledge of patient care.

Test takers must answer questions that imitate real-life clinical situations. The NCLEX is a big task, but it’s doable with sufficient preparation. Explore insights on the NCLEX’s format, learning styles, and test-taking strategies.

In April 2023, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), which oversees the NCLEX, released the Next Generation NCLEX (NGN). NGN was designed to better reflect the complex clinical situations faced by modern nurses.

Specifically, the new NCLEX questions better simulate hospital settings — and assess the characteristics that today’s nurses need to deliver safe, high-quality care. These skills include:

New question formats were also added to accommodate the complexity of the updated questions. These include extended multiple-response, extended drag-and-drop, and grid-based questions and answers.

Lastly, while the previous scoring model categorized answers to be either correct or incorrect, the new model allows for partial credit.

Anne Dabrow Woods, chief nurse at Wolters Kluwer, Health Learning, Research and Practice, suggests that nurses preparing for the NCLEX acknowledge their learning style and stick with methods that have worked in the past. Styles include auditory, kinesthetic, visual, or a combination of styles and study habits.

“Some tried and true methods are using mnemonics, drawing out concepts or relationships, using the teach-back method where you teach someone else about concepts and applications, or using flashcards,” Dabrow Woods says.

“As adult learners,” Dabrow Woods adds, “we retain more information if we use a variety of study methods to learn information.”

When trying to improve your test-taking skills, it may help to identify the components of a multiple-choice question:

In addition to the correct answer, there will also be:

It is easier to analyze a question after identifying each part. Read the stem at least twice to thoroughly understand the question.

Below are key strategies to use while taking the NCLEX.

One of the most effective NCLEX strategies involves focusing on keywords. “For instance, if the question asks for an intervention, look for the answer that is an intervention,” advises Dabrow Woods. Answers that emphasize signs and symptoms, or anything other than an intervention, can be eliminated right away, she says.

Examinees should pay close attention to repeated words and synonyms that appear in both questions and answers. For example, for a question that contains “signs,” the right answer may include “symptoms.”

“Test-takers have a tendency to read too much into answer choices and overanalyze,” says Alaina Ross, an RN and expert contributor for Test Prep Insight. “Do not fall into this trap!”

Do not second guess what is being asked, cautions Woods, and do not change your answers. “The first answer is usually the correct one if you have taken the time to reason through the question,” she says.

Ross advises: “Read each answer choice and pick the best choice based on instinct.”

If two of the answer choices have opposites, like increased heart rate or decreased heart rate, one of the two choices is usually the correct answer. Correctly answering NCLEX-style questions requires familiarity with all the types of questions you may see on the exam, says Ross.

“Read the entire question before focusing on the answer,” says Dabrow Woods. Examinees who do not thoroughly read the questions may miss a keyword or phrase or misinterpret the question’s focus.

“Whether you are taking a practice test or the real NCLEX exam, make sure you understand what the question is really asking,” advises Dabrow Woods.

First, eliminate distractors in the answer choices and then focus on any options that might be correct. Dabrow Woods advises examinees to read the questions and answers and “then start eliminating the distractors that are not correct.”

For instance, Dabrow Woods suggests, “If the question asks for an intervention but some of the distractors are signs and symptoms, eliminate those distractors and focus on the one distractor that most closely resembles the right answer.”

Questions using words such as initial, first, and best are asking for your prioritizing skills. The choices are usually all correct but only one should be done first. When prioritizing, you should consider the following:

The NCLEX provides scenarios in which you are the sole nurse with a single patient. In this hypothetical scenario, you have all the orders you need. You are free to call the physician if you’re certain there’s no other choice. However, the only time the nurse would typically need to call the doctor is after an intervention has failed, and there is nothing else the nurse can do.

In real life, the situation is often more complex, but the exam isn’t intended to be difficult for the sake of it. These simplified scenarios test your knowledge of nursing fundamentals and critical thinking to prepare you for more multifaceted situations.

You’ve got this! You’re one step closer to finding the best strategy for you. Use this information to pass the NCLEX, and join the future of nursing.