If you are currently in a position right now where you are preparing to study for your NCLEX exam and you’re ready and willing to invest in some resources to help you pass then you have come across the right page. In this post, I highlight my top 3 NCLEX review books that I have personally used and recommend. I outline the reasons why I recommend them so you can have some kind of direction on which books may be right for you.
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Saunders Q & A Review for the NCLEX-RN® Examination, 8e
It is highly recommended that you invest in at least one Saunders Review book. Saunders review books are excellent at providing you with questions that mirror the questions on the NCLEX exam. In addition, they provide detailed rationales to each of the questions so it explains the answers to each question. This not only exposes you to more NCLEX like questions but it also invokes critical thinking so that way you know how to answer each question, every single time. I specifically enjoyed this book because it helped me to identify if I was really ready for the NCLEX exam or not by taking notice of how many questions I was missing.
Pros: Ideal to judge how well you understand the questions enough to pass the NCLEX exam.
Also very helpful in preparing you for the difficulty level of the NCLEX exam questions.
Cons: It is a question based book so if you want to have a better understanding of the material topics itself you need to use another resource.
Click Saunders Q & A Review for the NCLEX-RN® Examination, 8e to go to Amazon to purchase this book.
Prentice-Hall Nursing Reviews & Rationales: Medical-Surgical Nursing, 2nd Edition
This book is by far AMAZING if you are weak in your understanding of Medical Surgical Nursing (which by the way is a large component of the exam). This book is a great place to start if you recently graduated nursing school and you need more insight in the medical surgical area. I loved this book because it literally connected the dots of things I was missing and not grasping. It condenses everything you need to know about Medical Surgical nursing and provides you with the critical thinking that helps you to successfully pass the NCLEX exam. Highly recommended.
Pros: Ideal to build your foundation in the medical surgical area so you can critically think through the exam.
Cons: Limited number of NCLEX practice questions
Prentice-Hall Nursing Reviews & Rationales: Medical-Surgical Nursing, 2nd Edition
NCLEX-RN Content Review Guide Paperback 
Now this book is more pricier than the other books but I promise you that it’s worth it. This book is from Kaplan. First let me say one advantage with the Kaplan books is that they not only have one for NCLEX-RN but they also have one for NCLEX-PN.
The Kaplan books are very excellent because it’s more comprehensive than most review books. Not only does it provide the actual content for you to study and better learn from but it also has a WIDE range of NCLEX questions that truly mirror the NCLEX exam that you can practice from. So for example in one section you can learn what you need to know about maternity nursing (content) and in addition in another section you can test yourself on questions about medical surgical nursing. Still highly recommend even if you decide not to take their preparation review course.
Pros: Very comprehensive guide of nearly everything you need to know to study the exam.
Cons: None
NCLEX-RN Content Review Guide Paperback
All three of these books are excellent NCLEX review books
If you noticed, these are all old editions for when I myself was taking the exam, so I highly recommend that if you can, to get these books in the newest edition today but if you cannot the older editions are still an excellent resource.
Thank you for sharing!
