What to Study Right Before Taking the NCLEX

(Updated April 2026)

A lot of students want to know what study right before taking the NCLEX. I usually suggest to study all those things that students have a tendency to easily forget or that are just super hard to remember.

So, what are those things to study right before taking the NCLEX?

Content to Review

Here’s my list of content to review! Page numbers come from the NCLEX Nugget Book, 3rd edition.

• ethical/legal & delegation issues: pages 30-32
• basic safety and infection control: pages 37-45
• med administration: pages 47-51
• fluids and electrolytes: page 10
• acid-base problems: page 11
• diagnostic tests: page2 12-13
• diets: pages 19-20
• basic positions: pages 16-18
• tubes: pages 104-105, 138, 144-145
• EKGs: pages 84-86
• milestones: pages 179-182
• how to do a math problem
• labs interpretation: page 8
• Risk conditions during pregnancy: pages 161-162
• Fetal heart rate and contraction strips (VEAL CHOP): page 165
• the top meds to know – read over this blog post and at the very least be able to say: what the med is for and be able to recognize Common/mild side effects vs. KILLER adverse drug reactions
• Changes in older adults (page 4)
• Top 11 adult health diseases (especially for case studies)
  • Be able to at least say a cause/patho/description for each:
    • coronary artery disease: page 92
    • heart failure: page 91
    • Cushing’s disease: page 96
    • diabetes mellitus: pages 97-99
    • GERD: pages 106-107
    • osteoarthritis: page 118
    • CVA: pages 127-128
    • Breast cancer: page 135
    • acute kidney injury and End-stage renal disease: page 139-140
    • COPD: pages 148-149
    • pneumonia: pages 149-148
    • pressure ulcers: pages 155-156

Each topic above should take you about 5-15 minutes to review.

If you don’t have some good notes to study the above topics, my favorite resource is my nugget pages or flashcards. Or you can use my next favorite source of content: the Saunders NCLEX Review book.

Acronyms, Mnemonics, and Sayings

I love using tricks to help remember that hard stuff. I don’t use mnemonics, acronyms or little sayings for everything because then it gets overwhelming. Here are some of my favorites:

• Big K, Big T waves; Little k, little t waves: page 10
• eleVate Veins, dAngle Arteries: page 16
• Gluten free diet: no BROW: no Barley, no Rye, no Oats, no Wheat
• type O blood is the universal dOnor of blood (anyone can get type O blood) page 26
• the “G” herbs increase the risk of bleeding: page 27
• RACE for fires: page 37
• My ChickenS haZ TB for airborne precautions (page 42)
• SSPPPIDERMMAn for droplet precautions
• high alert meds: no PINCH: page 47
• Anticholinergic side effects: “can’t see, can’t pee, can’t spit, can’t shit”: page 51
• the “chill PRILS”: page 52
• OANM for myocardial infarction: page 56
• glargine: “large and long”: page 57
• mean old micins: page 62
• heart sounds: APE TO Man: page 87
• Left-sided heart failure is Lungs: page 91
• Diabetes Insipidus is Dry Inside: page 95
• SIADH is Soaked Inside: page 95
• 3 P’s of hyperglycemia: polyuria, polydipsia, polyphagia: page 98
• Cold and Clammy, need some candy (for hypoglycemia) page 98
• NEX for NG tube insertion: page 105
• The 5 P’s for neurovascular/circulatory checks: page 116
• Up with the good, down with the bad for crutches or a cane: page 121
• COAL: cane opposite affected leg: page 121
• RICE: rest, ice, compress, elevate: page 123
• PERRLA: pupils are Equal, Round, React to light and Accommodate: page 125
• Cranial Nerves: Oh, Oh, Oh! To Touch And Feel A Good Velvet, Such Heaven!: page 125 (the face might be easier)
• Assessing a thrill for hemodialysis: I feel thrilled!: page 139
• ABCDE skin assessment for cancer: page 154
• HELLP syndrome: page 162
• TORCH infections during pregnancy: page 162
• VEAL CHOP: page 165
• LION for fetal distress: page 165

Test-Taking Strategies

You will not remember everything, no one does! So what are your favorite strategies? Be sure to write them down on your whiteboard before you start your test. My favorites are:

• Safe: focus on physical needs and safety before psychosocial needs like feelings
• Link: do any answers go together? especially signs/symptoms or interventions: keep both or get rid of both answers
• Don’t overpick: if you don’t have a good reason of why you are choosing it, then don’t overpick; if it sounds weird, odd, never heard of it AND cannot make sense of it, then don’t pick it
• Caring: those non-technical answers that focus on comfort, ADLs and promoting patient independence
• FIRST: should you assess or implement? if you have no assessment data, chances are it’s probably an assessment answer, if you have a ton of assessment data, chances are you need to pick an implementation that focuses on the problem NOW
• Acute/Bad/KILLER: what’s going to kill or harm the patient fastest? unexpected and severe findings
• one part wrong, whole thing wrong
• Patient centered: People before paperwork and machines

You will pay attention to timeframes, descriptor words and who your patient is (age and gender).

Slowing Down for Each Question

SLOW DOWN and remember to ask yourself “What’s the Problem?” and as you go through each answer ask yourself “Why” am I choosing that answer? If the answer is that obvious, then it is that OBVIOUS. Don’t be scared to choose it.

Day Before Taking the NCLEX

In addition to reviewing the above topics, go practice some questions. The day before the test do about 25 questions just to make sure the strategies and test-taking skills are fresh in your mind.

However, a lot of students also ask if they should actually be studying the night before the test. My feeling is that if studying decreases stress then study. If studying stresses you out, then don’t study. Everyone is different. The main point is do something and make it productive and effective.

Final Thoughts

If the only thing you can remember before test, then it is this:

Safe, Link, Don’t Overpick.