Saunders Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN Examination

Saunders is the best Review for the NCLEX hands down. I can't personally say that I have tried other books, but I'll start off by saying that I passed the NCLEX. On my first try. With 1 month to study. After being out of nursing school for a year without reviewing. For reasons that are too long to detail here, I was having difficulty scheduling my NCLEX due to various factors. Due to some miscommunication mostly on my part, I found that they had scheduled me to take the NCLEX and had given me a test date which was exactly one month away. You can imagine the overwhelming panic that came over me as I realized I had been out of nursing school since December 2012, and it was now mid-January 2014. Anyone reading this that is thinking of "taking a break" from nursing after graduating before preparing for the NCLEX... do not wait a year like I did. This will help prevent a lot of unnecessary stress. The tools I used to review included this book (the Kindle version) which is the 6th edition, and NCSBN's learning extension review for the NCLEX online. Now the reason that I purchased the Kindle version of Saunders was because I had ordered the physical copy of the Saunders 5th Edition book and it was taking much longer than expected to arrive to me. At the time I was living in a small town in Alaska, and Barnes & Noble or was not readily available to me to purchase an NCLEX review book. As I became more and more anxious for the 5th Edition to come in, I could not NOT study and wanted a textbook in addition to the lessons online on NCSBN. I opted to purchase the Kindle edition of this book so that it could be delivered to me right away electronically and I could begin reviewing. I wanted the physical copy of the 5th edition for a reason though. Many reviews online from students expressed that the CD that comes with the 5th edition hard copy was very valuable and the practice questions and lessons on the CD helped other studying students tremendously. That CD was what I was after, to help me review & master the material that I would be going over in the book. I had an issue with the 5th edition not coming with that CD... and other reviewers online had the same concern. But I will clear the air and say to anyone using the CD as a deal breaker between these two editions, the 6th edition may not come with the CD, but it comes with an online membership to a website containing the EXACT SAME MATERIAL found on the physical CD that comes with the 5th Edition! Once I received the 5th Edition in the mail I was able to compare the two, and really, the content on the Saunders review website with the 6th Edition is the same as the content on the CD with the 5th Edition. Even more, the content of the entire book of the 6th Edition is nearly identical to the content within the 5th Edition. The difference between the two texts are unnoticeable besides the fact that the content is reordered in the 6th Edition. The content in these books were incredibly informative. For someone who had not reviewed for a long time, I was able to get back into the swing of things using these texts, and the "Pyramid Points" were absolutely KEY to remember. Every chapter was equipped with important, to the point information, highlighting facts & strategies that were imperative to remember. Each chapter then concluded with review questions that were similar to what I was actually tested on. I would also recommend the audio reviews on the CD or review website. Use the testing strategies that are outlined in these books. When I was stumped on a question because I just didn't know the answer from not knowing the content, I was able to use the strategies they taught to narrow down options to find the right answer. When I took the exam I used up the whole time and I answered questions at my own pace. I tried to not feel rushed, and I didn't really utilize the breaks except for once. At the time I took it, I didn't feel completely confident that I passed, but at the same time I knew that I had been prepared well and a lot of the content I was tested on had been covered in my Saunders texts. A couple days later I found out that I passed! What a gratifying feeling, and I do owe it to Saunders mostly, and in part to NCSBN's review, but if I could weight it I would give Saunders 89% of the credit and 11% of it to NCSBN. Bottom line, I would recommend these books, both the 5th and 6th edition, to any nursing student preparing for the NCLEX. If I could pass the NCLEX studying only for 1 month (technically, 3.25 weeks, as I was delayed in starting from waiting for the 5th edition to come in before I began studying with the 6th edition on Kindle), and I had been out of school for over a year, then you definitely can pass using these tools especially if you have a lot more time to study than I did. Hopefully this helps! Good luck to all studying! Regards, Nicole, RN-BSN ;)

To start, I have not tested yet and have only reviewed the first chapters and the online platform. I will say, however, that I am pleasantly surprised by the scope of the "comprehensive" title. I took a practice test through Kaplan and felt horrible (39%) then realized a colleague did the same. We felt that it was them making us seek their product and services. My sample test with Saunders neared the passing rate, and so I trust their outcome measures more. Secondly, this title is still current as the NCLEX review board has not changed the testing path in the last three years - they simply tweaked one concept. With Saunders it seemed that there were many products and I wanted the best overview of the material to be able to learn what my strengths and weaknesses are. Well, this was met with full stride as I started off on the online platform, which is included in every book inside the front cover (if not you can purchase one following the instructions on the cover, I believe it is $26, so best buying the book.) It does a quick and easy-to-understand exam of your skills and builds a study schedule for you to follow that is based on your results. It is a quick study guide so that I can finish it over the Christmas break, and this is only the online portion. The book is very easy to read and after the introductory chapters you can go as deep or skim as much you want for every subject. I first off started watching the online review videos and then did the "sounds" portion, where you can listen to the heart, lung, and bowel sounds. I then started in on each chapter. They give you strategy and rationale (where to review if needed) on every question (even the examples in the beginning). I am feeling more confident than ever.

I am currently in my second semester of nursing school (I will graduate after 2 more semesters) and have had this book since the beginning. I mainly purchased this book based on previous reviews to help me get through my classes. This book has been THE BEST investment I have made during my nursing school career so far! I have been able to use this to supplement my studying for ALL of my classes. Nursing text books are dense, and Saunders does an excellent job at pulling out the most important material and simplifying the information in a way that you will remember what you have read.There are also tons of NCLEX style questions in the sections, along with a code to access more, plus their rationales. The questions, overall, are not all that challenging; however, reading the rationales is extremely helpful when learning the material and how the information may be applied in a question or situation. Ever since I started REALLY using this book to help me study for my exams, my grades improved and I was actually spending slightly fewer hours trying to learn the information because I was able to understand it better the first time when reading the simplified content. I could not vouch for how helpful this book is in regards to passing the NCLEX exam itself, but it is a great review for the content/information and it was worth purchasing for how much it has helped me in school so far. I highly recommend this to nursing students. The earlier on you get it, the better off you will likely be.

It is very useful book.....totally awsmmmmm,,helpful ,,,,,''''''''''''

This book helps me to study, it contains a lot of information, colored images, diagrams, questinos... it's so easy to learn with it.

Would recommend to anyone interested in the NCLEX-RN exam. Well written, informative and very helpful​ book.

Well structured. It covers a great deal about the NCLEX-RN. The price is also adequate, in my opinion. Good deal.

This book was a great help for me to pass my NCLEX. I would suggest to not spend all your time reading all the contents because there is WAY TOO MUCH, but instead go through all the practice questions. This book is also a book to keep after passing the NCLEX because it is great for reviewing information when you are practicing as a nurse. Good luck everyone!