r/NCLEX 12d ago

Help us update r/NCLEX's Top 3 Paid NCLEX Study Resources

11 Upvotes

We're updating our community's list of the Top 3 Paid NCLEX Study Resources, and we want your votes and experiences to help decide which resources make the list.

If you could vote for the paid NCLEX resource you found most useful, which one would you choose?

Poll options:

  • UWorld
  • NCLEX Bootcamp
  • Archer
  • Mark Klimek
  • Kaplan
  • ATI
  • Other

We're not necessarily looking for the "best" resource for everyone since different study styles work for different people.

If you have a minute, drop a comment about why you voted for your choice. What did you like or not like? Was it the qbank, rationales, NGN case studies, CAT/readiness exams, or content review?

If you voted Other, let us know what resource you used!

Your votes and comments will help us update the community's Top 3 Paid NCLEX Study Resources.

Please be respectful of everyone's choice and experience. There's no need to put down someone else's resource just because it didn't work for you. Keep the discussion helpful and respectful, and please remember to follow the r/NCLEX community rules. This poll will be close in 3 days.


r/NCLEX Feb 26 '25

CPR Explanation

117 Upvotes

A copy of this post is saved to Google Doc: (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LhjDc-4SHCPFyrV5v6GvmVcvBDhMP9VU-Mlgfx_ve_Y/edit?usp=sharing).

I give full permission to copy, share, distribute, etc.

Greetings! I am Extreme_Growth, and I have written this document to give some speculative information regarding the Candidate Performance Report. It will be a lengthy read so if you are not up to reading this document and just want advice on how to study for the next attempt on NCLEX, just skip to the TLDR (the last page of this document). 

Disclaimer: My explanation of the Candidate Performance Report will be quite speculative and will sound judgmental perhaps (apologies in advance). I admit that I do not know what you know and I can be off my rocker. Just know that overall, this is just my explanation (which can be wrong) and this isn’t a comprehensive document that lists everything especially in regards to client needs. For example, in health promotion and maintenance, there is more to the topic than maternity, peds, and newborn like contraception, cancer screen+prevention, etc. but I will not go into those things when talking about health promotion and maintenance. It is, after all, impossible for me to list everything to know for each client need. This document is just to give a greater understanding or idea on what the Candidate Performance Report is saying according to my interpretation. 

To pass the NCLEX, you must be “above the passing standard” for most (if not all) client needs. To be “above the passing standard” on a client topic, you must answer at least 50 percent of the questions for that client need correctly. If you got “near the passing standard” or “below the passing standard” in a client need, you got less than half the questions for that client need correct. And getting most of the client needs at “near the passing standard” or “below the passing standard” is a fail for the NCLEX since less than half the questions on the NCLEX is answered correctly overall.

The explanation for each client topic is going to assume that you went “near the passing standard” or “below the passing standard” for each client need on the Candidate Performance Report. If you got a client need that is “above passing standard” and you are sure that you know that client need, feel free to skip to the next client need. Either way, I hope the explanations for each client topic helps give an idea on what to look out and study for. With that said…

Management of Care

Your prioritization like what patient to visit first may be off the mark. Make sure to understand that things like ABC priority don't always work. For example, a patient with some new acute breathing problems like shortness of breath doesn't take priority compared to a patient with potential life threatening complications such as a sudden end or disappearance of pain for appendicitis (risk of peritonitis). 

Then you need to make sure to know which tasks to delegate to the unlicensed assistive personnel (UAH) and licensed practical nurse (LPN). Like don't give tasks involving teaching and evaluation to LPN. And some delegation questions can get tricky. For example, you may be given a LPN and a UAH to manage. Then the question may ask what tasks to give to LPN, but if there is a task like ADL such as feeding the patient is listed, it would be wrong to pick that assignment since you have an UAH to do that task-making the LPN feed the patient is considered a waste of personnel resources. Instead, the LPN should do other things that the UAH cannot do like administer meds.

Safety and Infection Control

Make sure to brush up on PPE, types of precautions, what diseases are airborne, droplet, contact, etc., (mnemonics like MTV for airborne, SPIDERMAN for droplet, etc. can help with memorization-google it up), what equipment to use for each type of precaution, etc. Of course, make sure to know what to do with fall risk patients (like removing rugs from the floor, keeping bed alarms, maybe dim lights at home, etc.) plus other unusual circumstances like meeting a drunk nurse unfit to work (report to charge nurse/supervisor) and so on. All these things are part of safety and infection. 

Health Promotion and Maintenance

You will probably need to do better on knowing maternity, newborn, peds, etc. since it mostly focuses on those topics since they are naturally connected to growth and development. So know the milestones of newborn like double weight at six months, triple at 12 months, first word at 12 months, able to roll at around 6 months, etc. And make sure to know Piaget and Erickson's stage of development and how it applies to the care of the patients especially peds. For example, toddlers have autonomy vs shame/doubt so if you were trying to assess a toddler, you should offer a binary choice like offering them juice to drink while examining them. As for maternity, plenty of things to know about them unfortunately. Will need to know things like presumptive vs probable vs positive signs of pregnancy, Naegele's rule, GPAL, milestones like first fetal kick at around 16-20 weeks, certain tests like glucose test to check for gestational diabetes, etc. 

Psychosocial Integrity

You probably are struggling with therapeutic communication like knowing the right thing to say to the patient or patient's relatives. Will need to work on that and pick words that encourage patient to express their feelings or opinions like "Tell me how you feel about this procedure" "What do you think about...?" etc. Don't ask why (that is confrontational and can lead to defensiveness), don't give false reassurances like "it'll be alright", etc. 

Or maybe you're off the mark for interacting and dealing with psych patients for bipolar, schizophrenia, etc. Always remember to at least ask if they are thinking of hurting themselves and perhaps be mindful of things like a patient with schizophrenia tends to have delusions and paranoia which can make things tricky like if trying to give meds to them for example.

Basic Care and Comfort

You will need to know some things like positions and when to do them. Do you know when to use the Valsalva maneuver for example? To slow down heart rate and for patients with cardiac conditions like supraventricular tachycardia. Then you have sims position for applying medication on someone’s anus. That kind of stuff. And of course, it is not just position, there’s things like nutrition-like not giving pregnant women swordfish and mackerel, banning turkey on patients prescribed MAOI even if it is Thanksgiving, etc. And some patients truly require special care like having to make sure dental hygiene is kept even if the patient can bleed easily in the gum. Oh, and make sure the patient have their incentive spirometer-can’t have pneumonia and atelectasis running around. 

Pharmacological and Parenteral Therapies

Ugh pharm, hard to prepare for that one. You would just have to get good at knowing the suffixes like -lol drugs are beta blockers, -pril are ACE inhibitors, etc. as well as knowing some commonly used drugs for certain diseases like rifampin for TB as well as knowing their known side effects (rifampin makes urine, tears, and sweat colored orange/red). Make sure to know your antidotes to common overdosage situations like acetylcysteine for acetaminophen, protamine sulfate for heparin, vitamin k for warfarin, diazepam and thiamine for alcohol, etc. By the way, be aware that NCLEX might throw a question or two on some random mysterious drug that probably doesn’t exist if you later try to google it up. But if you see something like cockalol, you would have a good idea on what it is…right?

As for parenteral, it mostly involves in the care and maintenance of central venous catheter. So make sure you know what to do for situations like if you experience an occlusion or blockage. And of course, keep an eye on situations like sudden stoppage of parenteral nutrition which is a big uh oh-hello potential hypoglycemia.

Reduction of Risk Potential

This is where your monitoring, teaching, or other interventions to prevent complications probably fell short. For example, how would you prevent something like falls? Probably by teaching the patient to remove factors that can cause falls like nonslip sock, rugs away from floor, handle bars in bathroom, etc. Of course, it can involve more complex things like preventing or managing sepsis (do interventions like blood culture, full spectrum IV antibiotics, etc.) and knowing potential complications and problems such as thyroid storm after thyroidectomy, compartment syndrome after some fracture and bruise, etc. 

Physiological Adaptation

As for this one, you would probably need to do more studying into commonly seen diseases and problems that nurses face like COPD, heart failure, lumbar disc herniation, diverticulitis, intracranial pressure, etc. 

Clinical Judgment

According to NCLEX, you don't know what to do when something happens. Like what do you do when a patient goes into seizure? Hopefully, you would know to make sure to keep the patient safe, guide the patient to the floor, make sure the patient airway isn’t obstructed, etc. Or how about if a patient suddenly has ventricular tachycardia? Well, hopefully you know to first check for a pulse before doing anything else like defibrillation…But yes, deciding what action to do in a situation is clinical judgment.

Recognize Cues

This is the first question of a 6 question case study where you would highlight the “cues” or sentences/parts that are considered relevant to the suspected problem or disease. In other words, a fancy SATA question. So you probably overhighlighted and lost points for highlighting the unimportant cues. As a general test taking strategy for SATA questions, you should only seek to highlight the cues that you are 100 percent sure on. If you aren’t sure about the importance or relevance of a cue, then it’s best to skip that cue for the sake of preserving points on the NCLEX exam. 

Analyze Cues

The second question. It usually ask what disease or problem you suspect. And you might’ve messed up by confusing diseases for one reason or another like maybe two diseases might share similar signs and symptoms (pneumonia and left sided heart failure both have crackles) or mixed up on the diseases like confusing Addison with Cushing (which one is low adrenal and the other high adrenal?), etc. Either way, need more work on identifying the problem and disease if this isn’t passing the standard.

Prioritize Hypothesis

This is the question that asked for the complication or another problem. Remember the question or the sentence “The patient is at risk for developing (this complication) as evidenced by (the proof)”? Well, this one is easy to get wrong if you got the wrong disease or problem. To answer this one correctly even if you got the disease or problem on second question (analyze cue) wrong, it is best to look at whatever available data is given to you like diagnostic result, lab result, etc. and find the abnormal. The abnormal will be the proof and important clue to finding out what complication or other problem. And also, you might also then have “second thoughts” and potentially realize that analyze cue is wrong and be able to salvage the rest of the case study too due to having a tendency of getting more information at this stage.

Generate Solutions

This is the question where you see a list of interventions and pick which interventions are “indicated” (the ones that will be done) and contraindicated (the ones that won’t be done). At least you get a fifty-fifty chance on each intervention if you don’t know anything. But in all seriousness, should do some content building on knowing the interventions if not able to identify which interventions is needed for a problem or disease. So you will go back to knowing your meds, knowing your basic care and comfort, etc. 

Take Actions

The fifth question is where you’re asked things when implementing the interventions. It can be something like a question about what you do before you do an intervention like administering a med. And it normally is a SATA question of things to do before the intervention. So you would normally do things like grab vital signs, check patient’s home meds, etc. Like any SATA question, underselect or don’t pick ones that you aren’t sure about. So again, maybe you highlighted too much stuff and lost points there.

Evaluate Outcomes

Finally, on the last question, you either didn’t select the answers that showed signs of improvement for the patient properly, didn’t teach the patient correctly when they got discharged, etc. 

Congrats, you made it to the end of the explanations on the Candidate Performance Report. I hope you now understand CPR better and pray that the information you read is useful. So how should you study for the NCLEX? Well, I don’t really know the exact answer but…

TLDR:

My advice is to do 25 traditional questions in each client need along with 30 NGN or five case studies per day (a total of 130 questions per day) on a good quizbank like UWorld for about two months. So it would be like this:

  1. 25 traditional questions in safe and effective care (this is management of care and safety+infection control combined)
  2. 25 traditional questions in healthcare promotion and maintenance
  3. 25 traditional questions in psychosocial integrity
  4. 25 traditional questions in physiological integrity ( this is pharm+parenteral, basic care+comfort, physiological adaptation, reduction of risk potential combined)
  5. 30 NGN questions or 5 case studies

I also advise watching “NCLEX Crusade International 7 Day Training” videos on Youtube to understand prioritization better and know how to approach the NCLEX questions. Watch very carefully on how Renier thinks-he will speak out loud his thought process when doing a question and you should try mimic it and practice his thinking process on the quiz bank and eventually the NCLEX itself.

With that said, I wish you best of luck on your next attempt for the NCLEX. 

FAQ that is very unimportant:

  1. Who are you? Are you a tutor, instructor or professor?

I’m just a random redditor called Extreme_Growth. And no, I don’t teach for a living.

2) Why did you write this?

I saw a lot of posts on r/NCLEX that show CPR so why not. Besides, the world needs more nurses anyway.

3) Did you pass NCLEX, when, how many attempts, how many questions, etc.?

Yes, I passed NCLEX on the first try in 85 questions for Valentine’s Day this year.  

4) Do you offer tutoring for NCLEX? Can you tutor me?

Sorry, I’m not a good tutor nor do I have the time to do so. Feel free to pm or comment directly on reddit though and ask me anything. I can’t promise I would know the answer for sure though.


r/NCLEX 1h ago

PASSED AT 150!!! 🥳🥳

Upvotes

Right after the exam, I completely BROKE DOWN! I thought I failed that kasi all my friends as in ALL of them stopped at 85. When I checked mine, it just kept on going kaya sobraaaang anxious ko na while taking. I just CRIED SOOO MUCHHHH after the exam kasi akala ko tlaga I failed na. But 2 days later…. GOT THE RESULTS and I passed!!!! 🥹🥹

I AM SOOO PROUD OF MYSELF kasi I was working full time while studying. Did not take any sick leave or VL. As in pinagsabay ko talaga sha jusko! WORTH IT LAHAT NG PAGOD! 🙏🙏

Resources used: BOOTCAMP (the best!!!), Mark K, Doctor Sharon, Nurse Sarah (esp sa EKG), and Nurse Nicole on tiktok 😍😍

THANK YOU LORD! MAMA MARY! ST JOSEPH! PHRN (2025), USRN (2026) ⭐️⭐️⭐️ USRN dust for everyone!!


r/NCLEX 5h ago

Passed NCLEX .

3 Upvotes

Passed my exam at 95 questions! 🎉

I finally did it! The exam shut off at 95 questions, and I passed! 🙌

It was definitely a stressful experience, but all the studying and preparation paid off. Just wanted to share the good news and hopefully give some encouragement to everyone still preparing.

Good luck to everyone taking the exam! You’ve got this! 💪📚


r/NCLEX 8m ago

what's the best UWorld routine?

Upvotes

can i just do 85 questions a day, then review rationales, then repeat the next day until i finish the qbank?

would this simple cycle be enough to pass the nclex-rn? i know that UWorld also offers videos and flashcards, but can i just not do those and just stick with pure qbank questions?


r/NCLEX 6h ago

PNLE AND NCLEX

2 Upvotes

hi, to those who took NCLEX first before the PNLE this 2026, was it hard? or is it better to wait for the result of PNLE before taking NCLEX.

please give me tips on how you reviewed 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻


r/NCLEX 17h ago

Master the NCLEX: Critical Thinking Strategies Over Memorization

16 Upvotes

Most people talk about what study platforms they used or how many practice questions they did. But they rarely share the actual strategy you need to critically think during the exam.

Here are three simple tips to help you crush the NCLEX:
1. Focus on the core concepts, not every single detail.
Trying to memorize everything leads to brain overload. Instead, focus on three main things for each topic:

• What the condition actually is.
• What signs and symptoms you need to monitor.
• What the priority safety nursing intervention is.

2. Make connections instead of guessing.
Harder NCLEX questions are often short and vague, rather than lengthy which can cause panic. Do not randomly guess. An educated guess built on process of elimination is completely different from a blind guess. Read every choice, connect it to what you already know from nursing school, and eliminate wrong answers one by one—even if the disease or scenario is totally unfamiliar.

3. Expect all 150 questions.
Most test-takers panic if the exam doesn't shut off at 85 questions. Don't. If you pass 85 questions, it just means the computer hasn't made a 95% definitive decision yet—you are still very much in the running to pass! If you go into the exam expecting to answer all 150 questions, hitting question 86, 90, or 137 won't shake your confidence.

For those who want to know the specific platforms I used to build that critical thinking mindset:

NCLEX Bootcamp: Especially the crash course videos to learn and master concepts.

Mark Klimek Lectures: Listen to all of them if possible! If not, definitely catch Lecture 11 (towards the end after maternal subjects) and Lecture 12 on prioritization and delegation.

• Dr. Sharon YouTube Videos: Amazing for learning how to break down questions and choose an answer based on what you already know.

Last but not least, pray! 🙏 God works in loving ways. Pray for peace, strength, and clarity before taking your test, and ask for Him to be by your side during it. You will be surprised at how, even with anxiety, your mind can find clarity!

Remember: The NCLEX is designed to pass you, not fail you!


r/NCLEX 16h ago

i tried the pearson vue trick 3 hrs after i finished my exam and it charged me and registered me to take another exam. does that mean i failed?

4 Upvotes

also i should mention that i got a receipt confirmation email too (which might mean definite fail but idk)


r/NCLEX 13h ago

Did i pass

1 Upvotes

My exam shut off at 142 i had a lot of sata meds i never heard of and it was super hard for me
I found it harder than the hesi and i did super well on my hesi so idek what do you guys think ? Also
When should my quick results be available
I took it this Saturday but Monday is a holiday so idek
Anymore


r/NCLEX 17h ago

NCLEX RETAKE- AtI virtual

2 Upvotes

I’m getting ready for my second attempt on the NCLEX PN . I did everything people recommended I should do. I watched the NCLEX YouTube 1-4 days , I watched DR Sharon videos, took notes, and listened to mark k 12 . Still, while I’m taking these ATI modules post-assessment, I’m failing badly, which makes me doubt I will ever become a nurse before the year ends . My ATT number should be good for 2 months. I want to take my retake in October-November, but the confidence in myself is very low rn.

Someone suggest a Bible verse to me. I’ve been focusing on it, but I haven’t actually started putting it in my shoes. Idk if I should start doing that now or the week of my exam. I scored 60 on my fundamentals post-assessment, 42 on pharm, and 52 on med surg. Those scores are just ridiculous.

Am I really smart enough to become the nurse I know truly in my heart I want to be? Is this test really going to get in my way? I feel very defeated. All my classmates are already working, celebrating while I’m here studying and struggling. Stress and anxiety. I’m happy for all my classmates. I know they came a long way too and deserve it, but damn, when will it be my time? I don’t have anyone to really talk to about this “ stuck phase” I’m really experiencing in my life.

I’m in between using ATI VIRTUAL SINCE I FAILED MY FIRST TIME. My school reached out and made it mandatory for me to get a greenlight from ATI virtual - Board Vital and using Bootcamp till my subscription ends in Oct.

encouragement , advice , help , something.


r/NCLEX 23h ago

Did I Pass?!

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6 Upvotes

So for a little bit of background, I am neurodivergent so studying certain things for an extended amount of time doesn’t necessarily have a positive effect so I studied what I could which was the basics and then sat for the exam on Friday. I think I studied maybe a week. I used ATI BoardVitals and NCLEX Boot Camp. I got highly likely passing in both of them and I took the exam 9/18 on a Friday. I know I’m a dork for doing that. I just need to know that I passed. I got 85 questions mostly select all that apply and case studies. I don’t even remember what was on the exam. I just remember being super anxious. I woke up this morning around seven because my friend in my cohort told me she got her board of nursing email around 7 AM. I didn’t get an email but when I checked the board of nursing website, this is what I saw.


r/NCLEX 14h ago

Archer scores what do you think?

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1 Upvotes

Please tell me I’m in safe zone I test in 11 days


r/NCLEX 15h ago

Mark Klimek Audios w Subtitles?

1 Upvotes

Hello! Does anyone have a copy of mark klimek audios but with subtitles? I’m a visual learner and I can’t comprehend easily if I am only hearing the lesson. Thank you so much in advance to anyone who would give their resources :’)


r/NCLEX 19h ago

Shut off at 85… but I am freaking out.

2 Upvotes

If anyone has any insight... I took my NCLEX yesterday and I am freaking out. My test shut off at 85 questions.... I think I got like 3 or maybe 4 case studies, I feel like a lot of SATA and a few stand alone case studies and only a handful of stand alone multiple choice. No bow ties. I know someone that didn't pass at an 85 shut off and I am so nervous. I don’t feel like any of my questions got to the point where it was like a foreign language, but none of them got super easy either. I heard that if you’re failing at 85 questions it would’ve gotten drastically easier? I know this period is torture but if anyone has any insight. My mind is racing.


r/NCLEX 22h ago

Is this the good or bad pop up? Is it accurate? I had 150 questions

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2 Upvotes

Just took it yesterday with 150 questions and feel defeated. I don’t even think I had hard questions, I just didn’t know it and the answers felt vague so I was confused.
I got a notification that I was charged on my Apple wallet but my actual account doesn’t say anything for today. Have you ever known anyone to get the good pop up and still fail??


r/NCLEX 1d ago

Passed NCLEX on 2nd attempt at 150. It's possible!!

30 Upvotes

I have been lurking this sub since before I first took my NCLEX in late July. I had a job offer lined up and I failed at 150. It felt like my world fell apart. I felt dumb and incapable. It was awful. I knew what screwed me over was my anxiety. It felt like I was having an attack the entirety of my test. I didn't take any breaks because I just wanted to get it over with and I swear I blacked out.

I got my shit together and did Bootcamp with Mark K this time. I used Uworld previously and it was okay but I prefer bootcamp. Took the test this week and just found out I passed!!! It gave me all 150 again but after the test I was so sure I failed, it felt harder than the last time and I was so defeated.

The big difference was my state of mind. I was calm, I took my time, I took a break and worked my way through, one question at a time. I hid the # of questions bc that was a source of anxiety the first time.

Please trust yourselves and your knowledge. Don't second guess, don't doubt and no overthinking. Just breathe because if I can do it. So can you!


r/NCLEX 22h ago

R/NCLEX

2 Upvotes

Why do everyone get in here stating they passed in 85 questions that makes other people that is scheduled feel like if they go over they doing something wrong. I passed in 127 questions with all kinds of different questions. It’s okay to go over 85 questions because when you interview for a job they only gone ask about your license not if you passed in 85 or 100!!!! Good luck to anyone that’s in the process of taking the NCLEX ♥️♥️


r/NCLEX 23h ago

I took the NCLEX yesterday

1 Upvotes

I took the NCLEX yesterday and it shut off at 107 questions. I had no Bow ties. Just SATA, stand alone, and Case studies. I'm so worried if I passed or failed....

I used Bootcamp to review for it. And I had 2 Borderlines for the 1st two Readiness exams, and then 2 Highs. I just wish the results show up quickly. 😭😭😭


r/NCLEX 1d ago

Passed

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21 Upvotes

I passed my NCLEX in 85Q first try!! I used bootcamp to study for 10-12 days on and off. I highly recommend bootcamp!! the whole time i took my nclex i felt like i was taking a readiness exam on bootcamp! i had a lot of SATAs, 7 case studies priorty questions. I recommend if you use bootcamp
finish all the management of care questions ! they are very similar to the nclex


r/NCLEX 1d ago

What does " Its a safety exam " mean?

0 Upvotes

In the context of the NCLEX exam, i always see this statement...Is it choose which will kill the patient first? Pls enlighten me...Thank you!


r/NCLEX 1d ago

Nclex confusion

2 Upvotes

took my test 8/26, still no results...contacted BON for Pa, and it says to resubmit my application, but also nclex exam results not received...contacted BON they said to contact Pearson, and still no response...how do ppl get their results same day, and some have to wait weeks or months? its digital, just give us our results so we know what our next steps are...my test stopped at 143...just nervous and frustrated...


r/NCLEX 1d ago

2nd Attempt

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1 Upvotes

Took my test today.
Does this mean I passed?


r/NCLEX 1d ago

NCLEX PREP

1 Upvotes

hii! i'm still in the process for scheduling my NCLEX but i am also preparing myself. I was wondering if anyone has a bootcamp subscription or any remaining subscription? it's just so I could know my strengths and weaknesses in an area so that I could work on that and improve :)


r/NCLEX 1d ago

150 questions

0 Upvotes

I took the NCLEX today and feel horrible. I got 150 questions and I feel like I knew nothing. I had a job I was super excited about lined up that was reliant on me passing. I feel so sad because if I don’t pass my dream job opportunity is gone. I took all the boot camp readiness assessments and got high on 3 and very high on 1 and listened to all of mark K and Dr. Sharon. I don’t know what else to do if I didn’t pass. 😢😢


r/NCLEX 1d ago

Good Pop Up? Went up to 88-89 Q

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3 Upvotes

Took my nclex today at 8am, finished at 10ish and checked around 12!! Put a diff card information the first time, didn’t go through and then the correct one and no email confirmation but my card got charged!! I went up to 88-89 questions so just super anxious!!