#pnle

1. Have a clear mindset.

You have to have a strong grasp of the reality that in the next few months, you will eat, breathe, and live nursing concepts. It may sound horrifying but the earlier you accept it, the easier it gets. When review period started, I had a hard time concentrating on lectures. I just didn’t have the urgency. I felt like the NLE was months away and I still had time to relax and enjoy finishing nursing school. I attended most of the classes but I wasn’t mentally present. It was not until two months before the boards that I had a wakeup call. Seeing all of my batchmates posts on social media about how they were done with this and that concept but still had a long way to go woke up something inside me. I thought that if they started early and still had lots more to learn, how about me who hadn’t started anything seriously yet? That’s when I mentally slapped myself and started setting my being for what was to come. When you feel like you’re uninspired and lax, remind yourself every time you wake up that you are a day closer to the most important exam of your nursing career. Make the most of the days you have left. A great way to set yourself is to post things up your walls. I had a whiteboard and I wrote my name with the letters RN. I also wrote the score I wished to have. I even wrote “#nurse” and “#topnotcher” on my notes and that whiteboard to motivate myself. It was exciting because I knew that if I worked hard enough, I could get what I really wanted.

2. Organize your mess and label your strengths and weaknesses

I did this by organizing all of my notes and handouts and anything I had that was about nursing. May it be physical of digital, organize what you can just so that you don’t feel overwhelmed with everything. This also helps when studying because you have everything you need in one space/stash. I would usually keep a folder or box for each subject and then put a mark or sticker on the topics I’m not too familiar with. That way, I’d know which topics to start first and work on longer.

3. Listen and analyze what you hear.

When attending review sessions, you will usually have 8-hours-a-day brush up lectures. Listen and listen very well to these. Usually, what they give you in these sessions are the must-knows. This saves you a lot of time rummaging through your notes and books. Remember, the PNLE is a 500 item exam which covers the entirety of your whole 4 years in nursing school. It won’t have everything but it will have the essential things. However, don’t forget to analyze what is given to you. Although rare, there will be times when your lecturer tries very hard to condense everything into 8 hours that he/she misses some points or mixes some of them up. You have to have a attentive mind to catch and check these. It’s better to clarify and look ignorant than to look smart but very very sorry in the end.

4. Read! (What you need)

I know some people say it’s not wise to read your books during reviews. They say it takes up time and energy. I partially agree with this. Who would want to read a chapter on something they already know by heart anyway, right? But for those concepts you just can’t remember or understand no matter how much you try reviewing your notes or listening to your lecturers, I genuinely believe that reading chapters of the book about them is best. In my case, I’m weakest at fundamentals. No matter how much I listen or review notes, I just can’t understand anything. (Which is ironic considering this is the foundation of my whole nursing school life). So I read my book on it. I wasn’t able to finish the entire thing because of time constraints but I was able to read 10 out of the 15 chapters. After that, I chose Medical-Surgical topics I miserably failed at namely Oncologic, Endocrine, Emergency, and Cardio-Pulmonary. I read the whole chapter of each one of these topics. I believe doing this really helped me with the NLE.

5. Answer tests until you get sick of them. (And then answer some more)

As cliche as it sounds, practice makes perfect. Reading and reviewing is nice and should consist about 70% of your review. The remaining 30% should be about answering the tests. What good is having the concepts locked and loaded in your brain when you can’t apply them to real life situations. I think I’ve answered more than 3000 questions for my whole review. That’s actually low compared to others. You need to train your mind to look for context clues, highlight important details, disregard confusers, and quickly analyze situations. You also have to time yourself to get used to time pressure and to train your whole body when answering the tests. You will have your head bent down and your hand shading endlessly so it will be a great help come exam day if your muscles were already exposed to that kind of stress (repeatedly if I may add). And of course the most important part of this, check your answers after. There’s usually a rationale given (either spoken or written) with every answer. Take note of those and pay extra attention to those you got wrong. If the rationale doesn’t suffice for you, go ahead and look it up on your notes and books.

6. Keep a good company.

Nothing feels better when you know you’re not in this alone. During my review, I was with a really great company of friends. We were keeping each other in check whenever we were falling back a bit or just feeling lazy. Also, I constantly asked them for simpler explanations when I’m too overwhelmed with the topics. We were also sharing goals about the boards like all of us being a part of the top 10 which was a really good motivation. And when it’s already too much, we take breaks together either pigging out our stress away or just laughing about random things. You might think that shutting out everyone will help you concentrate, and it may do so for some, but no one wants to feel alone. The burden is too heavy for you to carry alone, having friends with you to cheer and help one another will definitely help and might even keep you sane during these very hard times.

7. Take breaks and take them as long as you need them (within reason).

The last thing you’d want is to feel worn out. It’s useless to keep on studying when you can hardly retain anything because you feel so fed up. Take breaks if you need them. I usually watch my favorite series or check on social media for breaks. Of course you have to set limits to this too. Set yourself to say, 2 episodes and then you go back to reviewing. Extend to 3 if you really really need it. Don’t overdo it though. You might regret the wasted hours you spent binge watching a season of Grey’s Anatomy.

8. Exercising is a great help.

Me and my roommate/best friend used to jog each night after review classes. At first, I did it to shed off some weight but then I found it really relaxing and a good boost of energy. I usually jogged for 30 to 40 minutes and then go back to my room and start reviewing. It’s a refreshing routine plus, you get a fitter, slimmer you all ready for the boards!

9. Keep yourself healthy.

Stress has its way of messing up our systems. In my case, I had these really bad allergic reactions. If I took pain killers or ate certain types of food (which I all took perfectly fine before) my eyes would swell up and then my throat would start to tighten. (It was really bad). I looked really awful during this time because I avoided most food and I a lot of weight and I looked ashy and had really dark circles, dry lips, brittle fingernails. I even took a CBC and found out I was verging on being anemic. Being sick is the last thing you’d want come exam day. Take care of yourself. Eat healthy. If something comes up suddenly, go have yourself checked up early on to correct/treat anything you might have. Your brain needs all the glucose it could get to come out victorious. Don’t starve it.

10. Do not let anything distract you.

May it be boyfriend/girlfriend issues, parties you were invited to, a concert that happens once in a blue moon, etc. You have to learn to say no. You need to focus in the next few months and if you let these things distract you, it could cause you precious time you should have used to read up on that chapter you feel weakest at. It’s okay to indulge once in a while as form of break, but don’t give in all the time. These things will come again but that chance to be an RN might not.

11. Prayers really work.

I’m a protestant but every chance I get, I go to the church inside our university to have a quick chat with Him up there. I know you can talk to Him anywhere you wish to but there’s a calming feeling for me to do it in His house. Just share everything you’re worried about with God and everything you wish for. I remember my mom telling me to be very specific about what I want when I tell Him because He might just give it to me. That’s what I did. And when I felt really down and hopeless, I also talked to Him. I shared my sentiments. To whomever you believe in, utter a little prayer. It’s a thing that could possibly get you through.

Those are all my tips. I hope you could use a few of them to help you successfully get that RN attached to your name. If some of the things on here don’t feel like they suit you, that’s perfectly fine. Everyone has his own style and it all depends on you. The important thing is you still enjoy (somehow) even with hectic months ahead of you. Good luck on your exam and may you get what you wish for!

Thanks for reading!