Another obligatory PVT post - and how I passed in 75

[Pantaloons RN]

Hi all!

Told myself I would post here if I passed the NCLEX first try.

I used Kaplan, UWorld (only when I was out doing errands, etc), Saunders NCLEX Review Guide and the LaCharity prioritazation book.

I mainly used Kaplan. I was fortunate enough that my school paid for the course and access to the online materials. I know a lot of people use UWorld or the NCLX RN Mastery app to study, but I think that Kaplan was the closest representation of the actual NCLEX exam, and in my opinion, more difficult than the NCLEX. Kaplan is very close to the NCLEX, however the NCLEX exam is actually written better - very straight forward. I studied for about 45 days, with the last 3/4 weeks going full-time, 6-8 hours a day, sometimes more.

I will post my QT scores, but please note that a lot of my classmates scored lower than me and still passed in 75. Before taking the QT's, I came on here to see how others were doing, and I was immediately intimidated/scared by the people posting that they got 65+ on everything. I didn't take QT 7, ran out of time. Kaplan was incredibly useful for me in helping me understand on HOW to answer questions. Towards the end of my 45 days, my problem wasn't knowledge, it was breaking down each question and answering what they are asking of you. The Kaplan decision tree, for me, worked wonders. My study schedule broken down like this: (there are 8 sub categories in NCLEX)

For example:

Pharmacology: 2 days of reading the section in the Kaplan NCLEX Content Review Guide. Day 3 I would take a practice test/QB consisting of 75 questions from pharmacolog, take a break for an hour, then come back and remediate the questions. The next day I took another 75 question QB, and then remediated that. Each section took 3-5 days, depending on the length of any given section (Pharmacology and Health Promotion and Maintentnace are huge chapters). The online resources for Kaplan include videos that for the most part, are word for word readings of the Content Review Guide. So If I was driving around, I would set up a 20-30 minute video of say, antibiotics, and listen to that while driving, or even going for a walk for a change of pace (I listened to all of the videos pertaining to Basic Care and Comfort while walking).

QB average: 63%

QT4: 63%

QT5: 69.3%

QT6: 69.5%

Readiness: 75.6%

A close friend of mine scored - QT4: 60%, QT5: 62%, QT6: 54%, and 66% on the readiness test. He also didn't take QT7.

What is key with these Question Trainers, and Kaplan, is that you take a good amount of time and remediate every single question, right or wrong. Do you really know the ones you answered correctly? Did you not understand the question or know the content? Etc. It took me 5-6 hours to remediate each QT and the readiness test. My friends did the same. So remember, its not about the scores, its about what you learn from them.

I used Saunders to review topics that I needed in depth review on. For instance, I for some reason couldn't get the hang of some endocrine stuff, and some of the psych meds. Saunders to the rescue. LaCharity was great for times when I was just tired of studying, and doing Kaplan. I randomly did maybe 1/4 or 1/3 of the questions in that book. Those questions were hard at first, but after I got the Kaplan decision tree down, they became much easier for me.

Test day: two days after I took the readiness test.

Test was at 12pm. I got 29 SATA, no strips, no math, and a handful of pharm questions. Exam stopped at 75. I did the PVT with a valid credit card - I think I've seen a lot of weird PVT results on these forums with people using wonky CC numbers or expiration dates - I understand, 200 bucks is a lot to risk. I knew tho, if I had failed, I had to pay for it again anyway - so what the heck! I did the PVT at 4 hours after I finished the exam - good pop up and then 24 hours and 10 minutes after I recived the email saying I had finished the test - good pop again. Next morning the BON posted my license.

I did use the study guide that is floating around the allnurses forums, but there was some wrong info there, and the meds on that guide were brand name, not generic. I read over the entire guide 3-4 times in the 45 days of study.

Let me know if you guys have any questions! I would be more than happy to answer anything I can.