After the initial Licensed Practical Nurse (LNP/LVN) training period, it is required to write a National State Board Nursing Council PN (Practical Nursing) NCLEX exam in order to earn the relevant license. Most LPN training programs prepare students for the LPN examination with a series of quizzes, tests and mock exams. Students can conduct take LPN exam preparation courses independently, or work with study guides at their own pace as they near completing their certificate or degree program.
Both the NCLEX-RN and NCLEX-PN cover a lot of overlapping material however, the scoring and number of questions vary between the exams. Sections of the LPN pre-entrance exam include a verbal, mathematics and science component with a total of 140 questions. Studying independently means taking practice tests online, consulting study guides and books – or by attending exam preparation courses from companies such as Kaplan, Hurst Review or Pearson VUE that have test facilities in various states.
Pearson VUE
Taking the LPN examination can be stressful and generate feelings of being unprepared. Reviewing course materials, including class and study notes as well as taking a practice test a few days before the exam, can assist with mental preparation. Pearson VUE for example offers a service of delivering tests to clientele within licensure, admissions of an academic nature, certification, regulation and testing service markets in government. The company offers the world’s leading test center network with over 5,000 test centers in 165 countries (230 of which are fully-owned and -operated Pearson Professional Centers.)
Kaplan
LPN examination reviews can also be conducted via Kaplan Nursing’s NCLEX-PN® Exam Review, guided by expert educators. Students have 14 hours of class time being guided step-by-step with a teacher through the nursing content and critical reasoning strategies required to succeed on Test Day. Kaplan also offers a realistic prep experience of more than 1,000 exam-style questions in the Qbank, an online question bank. Both are available, live or in their state-of-the-art Live Online classroom.
Secure tests and LPN examination materials include:
- Adult Health
- Developing Family
- Gerontology
- IV Therapy
- Pharmacology I
- Pharmacology II
- Pharmacology III
- Foundations
- Nutrition
- Psych
LPN examination preparation materials can be accessed at Kaplan’s distinguished nursing faculty or in person at the student’s nursing school, offering 21 hours of class time. The teacher walks the student through Kaplan’s acclaimed Decision Tree to learn critical reasoning strategies needed to succeed. Here, a realistic prep experience is available through over three thousand exam-style questions in the test interface.
Kaplan reporting empowers student and faculty to track performance and identify knowledge gaps. Individual student reports are designed to track answer changes along with the time used to answer each question. These include percentile rank, compared to national norm group as well as the total percentage of correct answers. In turn, this indicates the percentage as correct by category namely:
- Level of Question Difficulty;
- Nursing Process;
- Clinical Concepts;
- Demographics; and
- The NCLEX-PN® test plan blueprint
This LPN examination review and other materials thus allows for customization of aggregate reports for cohorts and individual students with data easily exported to Excel for accreditation reports. Four levels of remediation provide students with comprehensive content reviews available for all questions, not just those that students had incorrect, but also content from textbooks such as the LWW simplified series and 8 review focused practice tests.
Basic nursing content is reviewed with 500+ pages of easy-to-understand outlines, tables and graphs to help students prepare for textbook reading assignments and tests.
Hurst: LPN Examination Review Services
This company was founded in 1988 by Marlene Hurst to assist nursing students in preparing for and passing the NCLEX®. Studying for this aspect of the exam is not about covering more content, but applying additional knowledge to client situations.
Hurst’s approach focuses on core content using role-playing in critical thinking exercises to demonstrate how to apply content for safe nursing practice. Classes are lead by registered NCLEX® expert nurses and offerings to assist with LPN examination and test materials, offer a guarantee that the student who writes an NCLEX for the first time will succeed if finishing one of the following; the Hurst Live, virtual classroom online or video aspects of the review completely.
This includes attempting the NCLEX after a period of six month period since having graduated from a nursing school that is US accredited. If the student is unsuccessful, Hurst provides either a once off course that lasts 45 days (for remediation) and this needs to be finished in the span of a year post graduation – or the fee will be refunded less administration of seventy five dollars.
Hurst live lecture reviews for LPN examination prep are offered in the form of a four day presentation with Fifith-Day Material and Question Review in a virtual classroom online for the student to do as homework. These includes topics in its content which cover the control of infections, leadership management and delegating, Pediatrics and Pharmacology. Also included are strategies for testing, and video-style lectures of dummy NCLEX which covers leadership, pharmacology and chid care.
The Hurst Question (HQR) Review exam offers over a hundred questions which are generated in a random manner aligned closely to the 2010 Nursing Council’s categories for the testing plan percentages for extra prep material. LPN examination students may not try more than six times on the HQR a year post the date of their school of nursing graduation, or 1 yr after the date which their initial live Hurst NCLEX review started.
LPN Examination: Tips on Reference Books
Recommended publications offering tips and preparation guides for nursing examinations include the comprehensive NCLEX e Saunders Exam Review by RN Linda Silvestri (Anne) PhD. This review and preparation resource offers the perfect combination of core content review, practice questions with comprehensive rationales, as well as detailed test-taking strategies and tips. The author’s well known Success Pyramid learning features is referenced throughout the book, highlighting key information and more than a thousand high calibre review questions that are designed to mirror NCLEX test plans. An LPN examination disk accompanies the guide and bears questions from the book, as well as over two thousand extra practice questions in an electronically flexible format allowing for customization of the study experience, focussing on areas requiring review.
The book also covers twelve pharmacology chapters, medication and intravenous calculation, paediatric medication administration chapters and prep for the increase in pharmacology questions on the exam. The 3,700 practice questions in text and the companion CD provide ample testing practice in both print and electronic format. This LPN examination review guide also covers alternate item format questions, prioritizing, decision-making and critical thinking as well as page references to Mosby or Saunders textbooks providing specific resources for further study and self-remediation.
Each question is categorized by cognitive level, client needs areas, integrated process and clinical content areas, to allow for focus to fall on areas of weakness. Pyramid Terms at the beginning of each chapter offer a quick preview of key content while Pyramid Points throughout the content outline and highlight content appearing on the exam. Be sure that updated content reflects the latest NCLEX-PN® test plan.
LPN examination review companion, The PN NCLEX for Kaplan Edition 2010 to 11 deals with Practical Nursing Strategies concerning the Licensing Exam for Nurses which offers the most comprehensive guide to the exam, including a practice test based on the most up-to-date information, detailed answer explanations, information on the exam’s content, structure, and additional practice questions online.
Mosby’s comprehensive review of practical nursing by Mary O. Eyles review book for the PN NCLEX reflects changes in practice, and addresses the computerized licensure examination. In this LPN examination guidebook, the author covers core clinical areas, including obstetric, medical and surgical, childcare and nursing mental health, as well as the usual pharmacology nutrition, physiology gerontology and anatomy. A testing sample of one hundred questions accompanies the guide on a disk.
NCLEX Practice Sample Questions
LPN examination candidates can expect the following practice sample questions such as if a nurse reviews the medication of a patient at the change of shift, the following lists which would be a contraindication should the patient have been pregnant. In some cases more than one answers are right and the multiple choice will offer medication such as clofazmine, coumadin, celebrex, catapress, habitrol and finastride.
LPN examination sample question two considers a student of nursing in their 2nd yr who is stuck by a needle whilst administering a positive AIDS patient. The question directs the test taker to single out one of the following essential actions: A – Seek out a social worker as soon as possible, B – Initaitate AZT treatment (prophylactic), C – Initiative pentamide treatment (prophylactic) D – Consider seeking counselling.
A male of 35yrs is dependent on insulin and has been for 5yrs but cannot urinate. The answer would be one of the following A-D: A: Athero sclerosis; B: Nephropathy (diabetic); C: Neuropathy (Autonomic); D: Neuropathy (Somatic)
LPN examination questions can also include an example such as when a nurse is recording the history of a fourteen year old young teenage woman who has a BMI of eighteen. She says she is unable to eat and has constipation along with vomiting that is induced. The following most likely options are considered: A- Multiple sclerosis; B – Anorexia nervosa; C: Bulimia; D: Sclerosis (systemic)
The sample questions above were extracted from NCLEX info.com, offering a comprehensive guide to definitions, preparation and information lists of test questions to expect, as well as flashcards. This information is merely a guide for to what to expect from an LPN examination review, in order to study and prepare comprehensively, it is recommended to acquire a credible guide such as the options discussed in this article.