NLN NEX Math study guide
NLN NEX Math · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The NLN NEX is a nursing entrance examination developed by the National League for Nursing and used by nursing programs as one component of admissions decisions. The math portion assesses the quantitative skills that nursing coursework and clinical practice demand: arithmetic and number sense (whole-number operations, fractions, decimals, percents, ratios and proportions), algebra (expressions, linear equations, inequalities, and word problems), geometry and measurement (perimeter, area, volume, and unit conversion), and data interpretation with basic statistics (reading tables and graphs, averages, and rates). The NLN NEX Math study guide has 4 sections and about 1,263 words.
01Arithmetic and Number Sense: Operations, Fractions, Decimals, Percents, Ratios
Order of operations governs every computation: grouping symbols first, then exponents, then multiplication and division strictly left to right, then addition and subtraction strictly left to right. For fractions, you need a common denominator to add or subtract, you multiply straight across to multiply, and you multiply by the reciprocal to divide.
281 words, about 1 min02Algebra: Expressions, Linear Equations, Inequalities, and Word Problems
Translate words into symbols: sum, more than, and increased by indicate addition; difference, less than, and decreased by indicate subtraction, with less than reversing the order (5 less than x is x - 5); product and of indicate multiplication; quotient, per, and divided by indicate division. Combine like terms only when the variable part is identical, and distribute a factor across every term inside parentheses, including the sign in front.
314 words, about 2 min03Geometry and Measurement: Perimeter, Area, Volume, and Unit Conversion
Perimeter is the distance around a figure, area is the number of square units covering it, and volume is the number of cubic units filling a solid. Know the standard formulas: rectangle A = lw and P = 2l + 2w; triangle A = 1/2 bh, where the height must be perpendicular to the base; circle A = pi r squared and C = 2 pi r; trapezoid A = 1/2 (b1 + b2)h; rectangular prism V = lwh; cylinder V = pi r squared h.
315 words, about 2 min04Data Interpretation and Basic Statistics: Averages, Rates, Tables, and Graphs
Measures of center summarize a data set. The mean is the sum of the values divided by the count; the median is the middle value after ordering the data, and with an even count you average the two middle values; the mode is the most frequent value, and a set may have none or several; the range is maximum minus minimum.
353 words, about 2 min