Top 5 Resources for NCLEX Practice Questions

" Where do I find more practice questions?" is one of the most common questions we get as nursing professors. We often ask our students, "What do you use now?" They answer, "Quizlet." Don't get us wrong, we also love Quizlet, but that is a great tool to ensure you know the content; for example, using it for flashcards is an excellent use of Quizlet. However, there are better resources for practicing high-quality NLCEX questions. We have been steering our students in the right direction for a while. Now, we want to share our recommendations for high-quality NCLEX practice questions you can trust to help you prepare for the exam.  

Here are some of our favorite NCLEX practice questions resources:  

1. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) is the organization that develops and administers the NCLEX. They have an NCLEX exam sample package you can download and use it for free! This is the most reliable resource you can find!  

2. Utilize nursing textbook question banks. We can't stress this enough: you can (and should) use this great resource. We know, now we sound like your professor. But who can tell you better what nursing school expects from you? Also, why would you not want to get more bang for your buck? These resources are required and expensive! Use it! If you need to learn how to access it, ask your professor or call the publisher's customer service phone number.  

3. Buy an NCLEX questions book. We know, we know, they are expensive. Here is the catch, you don't have to buy a brand-new book! Not even the latest edition! You can buy a used older version of the book and get tons out of it! Our favorites are the FA Davis Success series (Med-Surg Success, Pharmacology Success) and the Made Incredibly Easy! series by Lippincott (NCLEX Question and Answer), but don't limit yourself to these two; plenty of other NCLEX question and answer books are out there! P.S. they make a great Christmas or birthday gift 😉 

4. Explore NCLEX test prep websites for high-quality free questions. Our favorites are Khan Academy (sample questions), Kaplan (sample NGN questions), and Mometrix (practice test). Also, check your app store. Saunders and HESI, for example, have a couple of apps with free questions. When it comes to apps, our biggest advice is for you not to spend money on apps that are not reputable. 

5. Access question banks on other apps and websites. Tons of mobile apps and websites provide thousands of NCLEX-style practice questions. These are less reliable resources and certainly not our first recommendation—anyone can write a question and call it an NCLEX question. That said, these apps can be a good way to study on the go but can be pricey. If you buy it, first sign up for the free trial and cancel it. You will get discounts on buying it at a cheaper price after that. Here are our favorite apps: UWorld Nursing and NCLEX-RN Mastery Prep. For websites, we vote on Level Up and Simple Nursing. 

To help build up a pool of questions for you to practice, we are going to be posting weekly NCLEX and Med Math questions on our social media and start building a question bank on our website. So, this is another easy and free way to get some additional practice. 

The key is to use a variety of high-quality practice NCLEX questions because we find that many of the questions on the internet are more likely to trip you up than help you succeed. It is important to get exposure to a broad range of NCLEX-style questions, but it is even more important to make sure they are from reputable sources so you can confidently ace your exam. Lastly, read the rationale. You probably won’t see the same question twice, but you will be tested on the concept multiple times thorough your nursing education and career!  

If you know of a great resource that we missed, write it down in the comments below! We would love to hear about what has worked for you.