by ashemson

I just graduated May 8th, and am taking Kaplan which is the last weekend in May and first weekend in June. Not thinking clearly, I scheduled my NCLEX on the Monday right after Kaplan. Since I have been studying already, do you guys who have taken Kaplan and boards think this is a really stupid idea, or think I should be OK? I have been doing all the Qbank and trainer quizzes. I just really don't want to put it off any longer, but yet I definitely want to be prepared.

Thanks for any advice you may have for me!

Re: Question for KAPLAN takers...

I took the kaplan course and failed my boards and i thought the kaplan Q bank and the question trainers were nothing like the questions on the boards... many ppl had different opinions on it and I took kaplan hoping and praying that it would help me, and it didn't.. I took the learningext.com practice questions and they were pretty close to the boards. I am retaking my boards june 3rd so we will c what happens

Re: Question for KAPLAN takers...

Thanks, and good luck to you.

Re: Question for KAPLAN takers...

I honestly feel that it all depends upon you. Kaplan will give you a readiness test and that can help you decide. You will do fine.

Re: Question for KAPLAN takers...

I finished the Kaplan course on May 11th and took the NCLEX on May 18th. I just found out I passed earlier today. I had scheduled the test before I started Kaplan, but I would've rescheduled to have 2 weeks to study but all the appointments for the month of May had been taken. I ended up skimming through pharmacology and I had a couple of med questions on NCLEX that I had no clue what they were. I think you will be fine if you get through all the QBank and Qtrainers, which they recommend you do before taking the NCLEX.

Re: Question for KAPLAN takers...

Originally Posted by starzburst

I finished the Kaplan course on May 11th and took the NCLEX on May 18th. I just found out I passed earlier today. I had scheduled the test before I started Kaplan, but I would've rescheduled to have 2 weeks to study but all the appointments for the month of May had been taken. I ended up skimming through pharmacology and I had a couple of med questions on NCLEX that I had no clue what they were. I think you will be fine if you get through all the QBank and Qtrainers, which they recommend you do before taking the NCLEX.

Congrats!!! I just wanted to know what were your scores on the QBANK and Qtrainer or just an average? I want to take mine soon but not so sure with right now a 60% average for both qbank & qtrainer. Did you feel ready on the 18th? Once again CONGRATS!!

To the OP my instructors told me not to wait too long because you will still be in test mode. I graduated May 9th and they told me July would be a good time to test, however, I think that is too long of a wait.

Re: Question for KAPLAN takers...

I just found out I passed at 75. I studied Kaplan...and the reason I was POSITIVE I failed was because I thought the questions were too easy(usually if you are getting harder questions toward the end that is a good sign). But I now realize they were easy because I took Kaplan and Kaplan questions(Q-trainer) are harder than NCLEX. Kaplan teaches you how to eliminate wrong answers...what to look for...so you can pick the right one. And because of that the wrong answers were very visible to me during the test. SOOO I definitely think you should take Kaplan and don't take the boards until you've answered many Q-trainer questions(not nec. all, but several hundred). Good luck!

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Thanks Bellarubia for the advice. Congrats on passing!!!

Re: Question for KAPLAN takers...

Originally Posted by snydayz

Congrats!!! I just wanted to know what were your scores on the QBANK and Qtrainer or just an average? I want to take mine soon but not so sure with right now a 60% average for both qbank & qtrainer. Did you feel ready on the 18th? Once again CONGRATS!!

To the OP my instructors told me not to wait too long because you will still be in test mode. I graduated May 9th and they told me July would be a good time to test, however, I think that is too long of a wait.

Thanks! Towards the end of answering all the QBank (50 at a time), I was anywhere between 60-66% (did get 71 on one set) and same with with the QTrainer. By the 18th, I was sick of answering questions and wanted to take NCLEX, plus I was getting major tension headaches from all the stress! Like Bellerubia, I finished at 75 and was worried I failed because I felt I was getting easy questions too!

I think Kaplan was a good investment and their strategies really helped a lot. Good luck everyone with NCLEX!

Re: Question for KAPLAN takers...

On an added note, I typically averaged a 60%(sometimes even a little less, believe it or not) on Q-bank, except for psych, where I got a 75.
Kaplan is the best preparation, just keep doing questions, know the strategies for ELIMINATION of answers(which you probably already do) and don't worry about anything else.