**review copy

My life is currently filled with young people in college preparing for various degrees and careers. My own children, nieces and nephews and family friends. As a consequence I have looked at, read and reviewed quite a few of these Kaplan test prep books. (Along with those of Grockit and others.)

THIS book, more than any of the others focuses on HOW to take the exam, and after reading through the book it's clear why. Unlike your SATs, CATs, and even tests you take in nursing school, the NCLEX-PN is not about measuring intelligence. It's about integrating the knowledge you gained in school and using it. Therefore the exam won't be divided into topic sections, and it will require knowing what to look for and how to interpret the questions.

There will be questions like 'which of the following would indicate gestational diabetes is likely': and then you are given the test results which range from 40mg/dL to 180 mg/dL.

But there are also questions about what should take priority in assessing a patient.

THE MATERIALS
=====================
--THIS BOOK is well written and very clear. To me these authors gave the clearest and best explanations for test strategies that I've ever run across in the Kaplan line.

The authors take into account how people learn and try to lead the student through the process of identifying their best approach to the NCLEX-PN material.

THE ONLINE EXPERIENCE was nothing if not frustrating. Theoretically you can download an e-version of this book onto your mobile device. You will be using Adobe Reader to do this. I found an explanation for how to download Adobe but no links nor instructions for how to download the book. Unless you are luckier/smarter than I you will probably have to call their number. It is an 800 number.

The online experience also gives them the opportunity to up-sell you to classes and other products.

Note that when I signed up that the online aspects are only free for 3 Months. So from April to July.

SUMMARY
After reading this book and sharing it with a student, I have to say that I can't imagine taking the NCLEX-PN without some sort of assistance. This test is not your standard SAT exam. And I would think almost everyone would benefit from reading about and learning the testing strategies.

That said, you might also want to pick up a book with more sample tests.

The reasons that this book did not get 5 Stars is two-fold. First, the online part expires in just 3 months. (So don't go online until you have to.) The other reason was that the online experience is not straightforward. One problem I faced was that the silly process could not recognize that my email was the same in the first slot as the second. (And yes, refreshed page and began again, and then had my husband make sure there was nothing I was missing.) I had to use his email to sign up. Go figure.

Overall... RECOMMEND.