**review copy

It's been very interesting reading and evaluating the Kaplan NCLEX PN and RN study guides. Unlike the many other SAT and ACT guides that I've looked at --by Kaplan, Grockit, and others -- these NCLEX guides focus very tightly on how to approach the tests. These are not "recall" exams. The question on the NCLEX RN test involve judgement and critical thinking. The student is expected to absorb the information that's given and then decide what's important, looking for a pattern and identifying a problem or solution.

Because the critical thinking process is so important more of the PN/RN books focus on your mindset and how to approach the problems.

One interesting observation that came up with my pre-med niece is that she realized that reading this book before any big accreditation course was even looming helped her to reexamine how and what she was learning. There's a lot of recall, she told me, but now I'm going to ask the teachers to help me understand the material in the larger context.

THE MATERIALS
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--THIS BOOK is well written. To me these authors gave the clearest and best explanations for test strategies that I've ever run across in the Kaplan line. (I'm including the NCLEX-PN book here.)

-- THE ONLINE EXPERIENCE you might find frustrating. I know with the NCLEX-PN book I could not locate where to download the digital version. There is an 800 number you can call. I didn't do this as the book download is only good for a limited time.

SUMMARY
I would think almost everyone would benefit from reading about and learning the testing strategies taught in this book. THAT said, I should note that it's entirely like the 2015 edition. If you aren't going to use the online features then you can probably find last year's version cheaper.

There are only 2 Practice Tests so you might want to pick up yet another guide so you can practice some more.

Overall... RECOMMEND.