7 Effective NCLEX Pharmacology Tips To Score High
When mentioned the NCLEX test, which part scared you the most? According to a trusted resource, there are nearly 80% of nurses said it was NCLEX Pharmacology tips. The question raised here is why it is hard and how to make it more easily? In this article, we are going to break down why nurses often fail Pharmacology and recommend you some useful tips to pass all of its questions.
1. Is NCLEX Pharmacology hard?
Pharmacology is the study of medication interactions and activities inside a biological organism. When any sort of medicine enters that body, the live creature is transformed into the subject of pharmacology. Pharmacology studies the medications that modify the capacity of living organisms to operate. These medicines might be either medical or non-medicinal.
In addition, between 10 and 16% of your examination will include test items on every aspect of pharmacology that you should know regarding administering medications and monitoring clients who are receiving parenteral therapies.
Moreover, yes, NCLEX Pharmacology is hard. It’s even a nightmare for learners because of the complicated medicine categories and how they indicate.
2. Why do nurses often fail NCLEX Pharmacology?
As mentioned previously, NCLEX Pharmacology is not an easy task, that’s why nurses often fail when they meet this type of question. However, there are some significant mistakes related to nurses themself:
2.1. Try to cram information
When it comes to hard tasks, people often get nervous and try to learn by heart all the information as much as possible. However, it is not an effective strategy. Trying to observe too much information at once is a recipe for disaster when it comes to studying pharmacology. Cramming may help you pass the examinations, but getting excellent scores while failing to put what you learned into practice is pointless. Because the key point in learning is you must understand it clearly and make it practical. Specifically, nurses’ job is to treat patients as doctors and physicians request and determine the effects of drugs, thus, if you do not really understand how medicine works, it will become an urgent issue.
2.2. Create a wrong study plan
All students need to build their own study plan to learn all the information before the examination. However, instead of spending time to digest the NCLEX Pharmacology knowledge, some just do not have any plans for this at all. Therefore, there will be 2 types of NCLEX Pharmacology study plans. The first type is putting it all in once, too rushy for everything. They just run through the knowledge and think that they remember all, but it is usually not. On the other hand, the second type is the slowest learners. They prepare for learning Pharmacology quite early, however, they do not really put their foot on it. And, of course, the result of both types of nurses is not as expected.
In addition, some students do better studying on their own, while others need group discussions to grasp information better, but they choose the opposite methods. Therefore, you should know yourself and choose the best option to make your learning more effective.
2.3. Overused caffeine
First and foremost, we want to imply that it is normal to feel overwhelmed. Because Pharmacology is hard to deal with, some nurses prefer to use coffee or other kinds of drugs to keep you awake. However, it is not what it seemed. Over caffeine can lead to a lot of problems that are harmful to your body, change your biological clock, and even lead to choking.
2.4. Attempt to memorize all drugs
It is obvious that to get a high score in NCLEX Pharmacology, know as many drugs and their effects as possible. However, a lot of nurses choose to look at the list and learn them by heart. It is not wrong, however, it takes too much time and effort. That’s why in our next sections, we are going to suggest you NCLEX Pharmacology tips to study.
>> See more: Top 5 NCLEX biggest mistakes
3. How to pass NCLEX Pharmacology?
We all know that is it much better if we are well-prepared for every test and along with some tricks and tips. Let’s look at our recommendations below to see whether they can help you in the NCLEX Pharmacology learning process or not.
3.1. Use acronyms
Acronyms can assist nursing students to recall medicine names. You can learn popular medications by using the initial letter of each drug’s name. Thus, the initial letter of each medicine may be combined to produce a simple term that nursing students can remember.
3.2. Listen to audio or podcast
Furthermore, you should utilize a recorder in class to assist you in learning about drugs. In addition, you might consider recording yourself reading pharmacological information and accurately pronouncing the names. Moreover, you can search for some useful NCLEX Pharmacology videos or podcasts on the Internet, it is also a good way to learn and remember knowledge.
3.3. Learn through flashcards
The next suggestion is to use flashcards to remember information. This is a popular method that can apply to a lot of exams, not only the NCLEX Pharmacology. You can utilize flashcards to help you remember drug-related facts. Besides, you may also use flashcards to build visual representations that can help you identify certain medications with the sections of the body to which they belong. However, ensure that the flashcards and visual clues are easy to recall and have some certain meaning.
3.4. Group drugs and remember through group name
Besides, grouping drugs together can also help them be easier to remember. In addition, while classifying them into the proper groups, you can also learn the similarities and differences between them. Thus, you also can benefit not only in remembering names but also in understanding the effects of medicines.
3.5. Take NCLEX Pharmacology practice tests
Do you feel bored when looking at a book with a lot of words? Do you think you are doing good and well-prepared for the test? Wait, do some practice first. Practice makes perfect. It is necessary to take some NCLEX Pharmacology Practice Test to familiarize yourself with the format and how the actual test looks. Importantly, all the questions of our practice are selected carefully and might appear in the actual test. Don’t hesitate, it’s time to practice now!
In summary, NCLEX Pharmacology is one of the hardest parts of the NCLEX Exam. However, nothing is impossible. We already provided you with some tips and suggestions for you to score higher on the NCLEX test. You can read the NCLEX Study Guide to get more intention of what NCLEX is about and how to do it! Hope it helps and good luck!