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Mariem
Student
West Orange, New Jersey
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Question
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How do nursing students perform well on the NCLEX without getting performance anxiety ?
I can't even take a quiz at school without getting stressed out. I couldn't imagine 3-4 years worth of information in one test! Is there a certain study hack you use?
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Shelley DeReu RN, BSN, CNMT
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Shelley’s Answer
Hi Mariem,
I completely understand your concern about performance anxiety. My experience with nursing school was like a stair case. You start with the basics and it gets more involved the higher you move. Nursing curriculum starts with the basics and builds from there. The caveat is that you have performance anxiety with each new thing you learn, need to perform or are tested on. So by the time you are ready for NCLEX, you should be pretty comfortable with feeling performance anxiety and you will learn that you can have that feeling and still perform well. I got comfortable feeling that way once I realized I could do well in testing or clinical check offs even when I had the anxiety. Sometimes I relied on it to pump myself up and motivate myself to study or practice longer. I also realized that the world didn't end if I didn't do as well as wanted or needed to. But I am very familiar with the feeling of dread when preparing for testing.
Secondly, NCLEX is about critical thinking. This is the basis of nursing. Critical thinking is assessing a situation and making the best decision from the information available to you. Learn to know what the question is asking you and derive the answer from what you have learned, not necessarily from your personal experience. Nursing school and NCLEX questions are usually choosing what the best answer is, and you are choosing from two similar choices out of three or four options. You will get really good at those as your nursing course questions will prepare you to make those kinds of choices.
Please realize that your nursing program/staff want you to succeed and they are aware that these are new experiences for you, give yourself the grace to allow yourself to learn and do the best you can. I believe there are testing accommodations for those with anxiety. I recommend you ask about it with a course counselor or professor the first chance you get.
Lastly, NCLEX has a program you can enroll in after graduation to prep for the NCLEX and believe me, the prep tests are exactly like the real test. I highly recommend doing the program. My nursing program included the NCLEX study prep with my tuition. I don't have a hack for test anxiety. I learned to use it to my advantage during school and it benefited me during my career because I was so used to anxiety that I could think or work through difficult situations. Which was beneficial when handling difficult patient care.
Another option would be to take lesser course load to begin with until you feel comfortable with managing your anxiety. I am sure there are mental calming processes that help with this that you may want to check out. I wish you the best and I know you can do this.
Kindly, Shelley
I completely understand your concern about performance anxiety. My experience with nursing school was like a stair case. You start with the basics and it gets more involved the higher you move. Nursing curriculum starts with the basics and builds from there. The caveat is that you have performance anxiety with each new thing you learn, need to perform or are tested on. So by the time you are ready for NCLEX, you should be pretty comfortable with feeling performance anxiety and you will learn that you can have that feeling and still perform well. I got comfortable feeling that way once I realized I could do well in testing or clinical check offs even when I had the anxiety. Sometimes I relied on it to pump myself up and motivate myself to study or practice longer. I also realized that the world didn't end if I didn't do as well as wanted or needed to. But I am very familiar with the feeling of dread when preparing for testing.
Secondly, NCLEX is about critical thinking. This is the basis of nursing. Critical thinking is assessing a situation and making the best decision from the information available to you. Learn to know what the question is asking you and derive the answer from what you have learned, not necessarily from your personal experience. Nursing school and NCLEX questions are usually choosing what the best answer is, and you are choosing from two similar choices out of three or four options. You will get really good at those as your nursing course questions will prepare you to make those kinds of choices.
Please realize that your nursing program/staff want you to succeed and they are aware that these are new experiences for you, give yourself the grace to allow yourself to learn and do the best you can. I believe there are testing accommodations for those with anxiety. I recommend you ask about it with a course counselor or professor the first chance you get.
Lastly, NCLEX has a program you can enroll in after graduation to prep for the NCLEX and believe me, the prep tests are exactly like the real test. I highly recommend doing the program. My nursing program included the NCLEX study prep with my tuition. I don't have a hack for test anxiety. I learned to use it to my advantage during school and it benefited me during my career because I was so used to anxiety that I could think or work through difficult situations. Which was beneficial when handling difficult patient care.
Another option would be to take lesser course load to begin with until you feel comfortable with managing your anxiety. I am sure there are mental calming processes that help with this that you may want to check out. I wish you the best and I know you can do this.
Kindly, Shelley