Choose the Best NCLEX Review with Kevin's Review

Best if: You feel like you haven’t retained a lot of information throughout school and you feel like you need a lot of re-learning and reviewing

Saunders’ book often comes up on the top of the list when searching for NCLEX books, because there is just so much NCLEX stuff packed into it. While the book reviews through nursing content topic-by-topic, the CD/online content contains the bulk of the thousands of practice questions. If you’re looking for a serious study guide, and want tons of material and the biggest bang for your buck, Saunders is probably it.

Best if: You’re taking the HESI, or you’re pretty confident in your test taking abilities and just want a easy-to-read book review to refresh yourself on nursing topics

The HESI book is a content book that gives you nursing topics in an outline form, similar to reading someone else’s (really good) notes. That said, it doesn’t delve as deep into details as other content books, and neither does it have a lot of strategy. Its strength is its straight-to-the-point presentation of facts. Many say that this book is better-suited for HESI review rather than the NCLEX (hence its name), and has a lot of useful HESI hints.

Best if: You want a combination of content review and practice questions in a neat and easy-to-read package.

This book differs from the other Exam Cram book because it goes over nursing content topic-by-topic, with over 400 NCLEX practice questions for good measure. According to the authors, these books cover 'exactly what you need to know' to pass the NCLEX and works great as a quick and mobile study guide.

Best if: You've grasped the information from nursing school pretty well, and you'd like to focus on getting a really good feel for answering all types of NCLEX questions right.

This book is all about strategy. Its content review is on the lighter side. Instead, it focuses on how to answer the types of questions you'll find on the NCLEX, including advocacy, client rights, delegation, informed consent, safety, and more (500+ pages worth more). It's a different way of reviewing: instead of going over all the content you learned in the last 2-4 years (like Saunders), Kaplan focuses on mastering the common types of NCLEX questions you'll encounter.

Best if: You’re moderately confident about the NCLEX, but would like to improve how you answer common types of questions. This is also a really good supplement if you have Saunders.

LaCharity’s book is unique because it focuses on how answer those pesky ‘Prioritize which patient to see first,’ ‘Decide which staff member to delegate to’, and ‘Decide who to assign the new patient to’ questions. At 250-ish pages, it’s shorter than some of the other NCLEX Review books because it focuses on one thing and does it well. Many say the questions in this book are very difficult, but rightfully so, since it prepares you better for the real thing.

Best if: You like practicing NCLEX questions and reading rationales as a way of learning and reviewing. You know your content fairly well, and you want lots of practice.

Questions, questions and more questions. Lippincott’s book is divided by nursing topics. In each topic, you’ll be presented with practice questions (180 for each topic). At the end of those practice questions, you’ll read full rationales for each correct answer. Then you move onto the next topic and, you guessed it! Answer more questions.

Best if: You like practicing NCLEX questions and reading rationales as a way of learning and reviewing. You know your content fairly well, and you want lots of practice.

Saunders also has a Q&A book! It boasts over 5000 questions, so the number of questions matches Lippincott’s Q&A. Which is better? It’s hard to tell. They are both very reputable, with a lot of positive book reviews. Here’s a key difference: Saunder’s presents rationales with the questions, while Lippincott’s presents them in a section after each set of questions. A lot of people feel this is much more convenient (just cover the rationales rather than having to flip back and forth.) In any case, Saunders Q&A is a great way to practice for the NCLEX.

Best if: You want a lighter, cheaper way to practice NCLEX questions, or you don't have a lot of time.

This Exam Cram series gets right to the point by presenting you with over 1300 practice questions with rationales. The organization of the book lets you quickly and conveniently check for correct answers and rationales without having to resort to searching or covering up parts of pages. It's also a great book to carry around with you because of its smaller size.

Best if: You want to learn side effects and nursing considerations of 300 common NCLEX medications.

This book is arranged like a book full of flash cards: on one side is the medication's name, and on the other side is a list of side effects and nursing considerations. Multiply that by 300 and that pretty much explains this book!