I graduate in three weeks and have not signed up for a prep course. I have explored various sources of information as to whether I should or not, and I am not convinced it will be worth my time or money.
I would like to hear from people who did not take a prep course and are now RNs, whether or not they'd recommend the same route to another graduating nurse or whether they would have done things differently if they had to do it over again.
FWIW...I have made very high grades in all the nursing courses and have always tested at level 1 in ATI, and I also do well in clinical.
Did not take a review course, did not study. Passed the first time with 75 questions in 15 minutes. Of course walked out of there swearing that I failed and sobbing uncontrollably, but i think everyone does that.
As the OP said, it depends on you. do you study for your tests? do you find reviewing is helpful?
Did NOT take an NCLEX review course, but I did spend the equivalent in review books. I actually thought the NCLEX for dummies was really good. You really need to just be confident in the way the test is set up
I did not take a review course, I primarily just did the practice questions that came with the Saunders Q&A (on the CD) book and sometimes looked up things in the Saunders Review book. My friend and I studied the exact same way, and both finished in about 20 minutes at 75 questions, and passed (of course, like everyone, we walked out feeling 100% sure we failed!). Two notes to add to that: First is that my friend, even in the best of circumstances, has pretty bad test anxiety but all the practice questions helped both us feel like we knew how to take the test (as opposed to necessarily knowing all the material, as none of us could actually know everything, there is just too much material). Second, I do know at least one person from my class did not pass, and they are also one of only two people that I know of who took a review class (both took the Kaplan review). I'm not saying it doesn't help people, but it certainly doesn't guarantee success like is often implied.
Study, study, and study some more, and read the strategies in the review books and that will give you the confidence and skill to answer the questions correctly, even if you don't actually know the answer (i.e. the question is about something you're not familiar with). Good luck!!
Specializes in Adult and Pediatric Vascular Access, Paramedic.
Hi,
Did you take the HESI and score well? I thought the prep courses were the biggest waste of time and money! I ended up skipping most of my class. The NCLEX is more a test of common sense (ABCs) than knowledge!
I did not take a course either. I just used the Saunders book and CD's, they are mostly for content review anyway. I did 100 questions a day from the time I graduated till I took the test which was about 2 months and passed with 75 on my 1st try. I agree with others, if you know HOW to answer the Nclex questions you will pass.
We had a mandatory two FULL days of ATI review course for the NCLEX-RN.. and we had to take that one week before we graduated. It was scheduled on our calendar for the class for two days in a row. I also had a few books from amazon/ebay that I used to help me study and answer questions. I wouldn't have paid for a class... I think the books helped me more. I passed on the 1st try with 75 questions. Didn't study like crazy, just enough for me I think.
Nope. Didn't take anything extra, just used my Saunders book. Passed first time with 75 questions. Had a lot of friends that took the Kaplan course and felt it was a waste of money.
I did not take a review course (I hate the idea of paying extra money to pass a test on something I went to school for!). I took the ATI comprehensive predictor four days before I took the NCLEX and got a 99% chance of passing. I passed in 75 questions and I didn't really study much.
I didn't take a review course. I bought a review book and studied on my own. If you are questioning if you should, I would say there is a reason you are questioning it and take a review course.
LouisVRN, RN
672 Posts
Did not take a review course, did not study. Passed the first time with 75 questions in 15 minutes. Of course walked out of there swearing that I failed and sobbing uncontrollably, but i think everyone does that.
As the OP said, it depends on you. do you study for your tests? do you find reviewing is helpful?