NLE vs. NCLEX

I recently just passed the NLE. While I did take review classes for about 4 months, and had review sessions with friends all the time. I still think that passing the NLE involves some kind of "luck".

First of all, some of the questions you will encounter are out of this world. There were a lot of questions in the November NLE that I never learned in school. Most of them are research questions.

During my review we were taught to use some strategies.

1. If youre not sure of your answer, choose the letter C - this sounds stupid but they said this was proved in a study.

2. Again, if youre not sure, choose the answer that is gramatically correct - Now, this is hard because well, what if all the answers are gramatically incorrect? haha

3. Choose between the longest and shortest answer - 0.0

4. Box keywords to analyze the questions better. The questions tend to be tricky and some are quite long. By the time you get to the end of the sentence, you kinda forget what is really being asked.

5. Do not doubt yourself. Your first answer is most likely correct.

6. Avoid erasures? - well im not sure about this one, but I did try to avoid making any and only had about 3.

7. When taking the test, BE OC with the INSTRUCTIONS. if youre not sure about something, skip it and wait until the proctor comes to clear whatever youre confused about or has clarified what to do.

8. Make sure you indicate THE RIGHT SET. I dont know if they re-check them manually but I doubt it.

9. Do not cram or stay up too late days before the exam!! Make sure youre well rested, have had coffee (if you regularly do) - I didnt get to have some coffee on the 2nd day and though I slept early, I kept falling asleep! which is hilarious now but it caused me some anxiety wondering if i understood the questions half asleep.

10. Manage the time given to you. I think youre given 2 minutes for every question? So, if you dont know the anwer to a question, skip it and go back after youve finished the rest.

11. If you can, answer the test on the test booklet first.

12. BE VERY CAREFUL WITH YOUR ANSWER SHEET. keep it away from bottles of water, pens or anything that may leave a mark on it. GUARD IT WITH YOUR LIFE hahaha

Anyway, there are probably more but these are what I remember. But I think that the main difference between the NLE and the NCLEX is the amount of time you need to prepare. In the NLE, you can cram (though I wouldnt suggest that) you can pass by simply memorizing stuff. The NCLEX on the other hand, requires mastery.

All those tricks I listed above will not work for the NCLEX. So forget about those strategies.

• It is based on integrated nursing content and not on the medical model of medical, surgical, obstetrics, pediatrics and psychiatric nursing alone.
  

• It is NOT a test about recognizing facts. And what makes it difficult too is identifying what the question is asking.
  

• The questions and answers are written in such a way that you will not be able to predict or recognize the correct answer.
  

• The people who write the questions make the incorrect answer choices look attractive to the unwary test taker. They make sure that strategies like length of answers, grammar cant be used in the NCLEX
  

• Those who write the exam try to HIDE what is really being asked in the question. So again, focus on what is really being asked.

• Most of the background information are useless. So dont focus on it, you dont need it to answer the question
  

Soo yeah. :/ haha

I basically unlearned everything from the 4 months since the NLE. I havent reviewed and im just about to start. But i guess thats okay, since most of the stuff you learn or study for the NLE are not entirely "useable" for the NCLEX. Soo clean slate lol. wish me luck!