Did you use Kaplan??

MMARN, BSN, RN · Jun 23, 2007

Thank you for starting a thread on this because I was planning on taking the Kaplan courses that are being offered around my house, and I was wondering how useful they would be. So, thanks. :)

Obiwarz · Jun 23, 2007

What I want to know is if you took Kaplan, what were your test scores for test 6 and test 7 of the question trainer?

Kaplan told me to postpone the test a week if I get less than a 57% on test 7. I haven't taken test 7 yet as I am reviewing the stuff I did poorly on test 6 with... which I got a 52% on.

I am SO nervous I might postpone . I can't memorize drugs and diseases are flying out of my head with all the studying I'm doing... ugh.

jillnurse2b · Jun 23, 2007

I haven't taken any of the exams yet, but I thought we were supposed to get at least a 65%??

Obiwarz- when are you scheduled to take your exam??

I am taking it in 1 week (the 29th)! I am sooo nervous too But it's impossible to memorize every drug and disease, so we just have to do the best we can. Good luck!

Obiwarz · Jun 23, 2007

I haven't taken any of the exams yet, but I thought we were supposed to get at least a 65%??
Obiwarz- when are you scheduled to take your exam??
I am taking it in 1 week (the 29th)! I am sooo nervous too But it's impossible to memorize every drug and disease, so we just have to do the best we can. Good luck!

I take mine on the 28th, Thursday. I am really thinking about pushing it back...ugh. We will see how my next few days of studying goes and when I take test 7 on Monday, I will really know.

65% gives about a 99% chance of passing.

59% is 94%

The goal is to have 50% in each of the 8 categories, and an overall 59-65% to be solid.

I have four categories that score, 48%, 47%, 45%, 31% (pharm) so I am really pushing on studying those. My other four I'm doing awesome on, 57-68% in each.

I really want to know how other people faired on tests 6 and 7 and see if they passed the NCLEX (and maybe even how many questions they had). I think it would give me a better picture where I'm at. Good luck to you with studying as well!

-Jason

michellemybelle · Jun 23, 2007

Kaplan suggests that to be ultimately "confident" and ready to take nclex, you should get at least a 65% on test 7. The course book said this, and my instructor reaffirmed it as well. She recommended us to take test 7 4-5 days before taking NCLEX, and if we didn't get a 65%, seriously consider rescheduling the exam. However, it seems like the Kaplan questions can be difficult, and she said with previous exams to use your judgement, in other words, if you are confident about your skills, go and take the exam.

On a side note: I took the Kaplan course and passed test 7 with a 68%. This past Thursday, I sat for the NCLEX exam, finished the test in less than 1 hour and the computer shut off at 75 questions for me. I hope this is a good sign!

Obiwarz · Jun 23, 2007

Kaplan suggests that to be ultimately "confident" and ready to take nclex, you should get at least a 65% on test 7. The course book said this, and my instructor reaffirmed it as well. She recommended us to take test 7 4-5 days before taking NCLEX, and if we didn't get a 65%, seriously consider rescheduling the exam. However, it seems like the Kaplan questions can be difficult, and she said with previous exams to use your judgement, in other words, if you are confident about your skills, go and take the exam.
On a side note: I took the Kaplan course and passed test 7 with a 68%. This past Thursday, I sat for the NCLEX exam, finished the test in less than 1 hour and the computer shut off at 75 questions for me. I hope this is a good sign!

WOW! Good job! Can you give me ANY study tips??

-Jason

ukstudent · Jun 23, 2007

If doing kaplan, do the sample test #3 under q-bank. It is all "who would you see first" type of questions. Do as many questions as you can of all types. Good luck to you all.

michellemybelle · Jun 23, 2007

Hah! I don't know how I did it. I did tons of questions though. I really liked the tutorial mode in Kaplan--where they gave you the rationales while you tested in the q-bank, it saved me a lot of time.

MMARN, BSN, RN · Jun 23, 2007

Kaplan suggests that to be ultimately "confident" and ready to take nclex, you should get at least a 65% on test 7. The course book said this, and my instructor reaffirmed it as well. She recommended us to take test 7 4-5 days before taking NCLEX, and if we didn't get a 65%, seriously consider rescheduling the exam. However, it seems like the Kaplan questions can be difficult, and she said with previous exams to use your judgement, in other words, if you are confident about your skills, go and take the exam.
On a side note: I took the Kaplan course and passed test 7 with a 68%. This past Thursday, I sat for the NCLEX exam, finished the test in less than 1 hour and the computer shut off at 75 questions for me. I hope this is a good sign!

That's great!!! When my friend took hers (and passed it on the first try) she got about a hundred-so odd questions. She studied a lot, but she never really gave me any hints as to what kind of concentrate on. *shrug*

Duncan3178 · Jun 23, 2007

i took the kaplan review course, and i have mixed feelings about the whole thing....

the strategies were useless during the actual taking of the nclex. i took my test last monday. i got 75 questions, and there was not a single question that i could use the strategies taught. i thought maybe that i was just unlucky, until i talked to several other people who tested last week, and they confirmed what i was thinking! every question was a knowledge question. i couldnt even get as far as the "is it assess/implement?".

the online qbank and question trainer were priceless. they were spot on as to what the questions on the nclex were like. like someone said before, test 3 with the "who would you see/call first?" questions was excellent.

my study plan was this...of course i had done some studying before hand, but once i scheduled my test, i got on the ball with the studying. i committed myself to doing around 200-250 questions on the qbank every single day. i chose the testing mode (it gives the rationales at the end) because it would be like how the nclex was. i also chose the option that would include all new questions, and also the ones that i had previously missed so that i could see them again. then, i chose every category. so, for about 2 weeks i did this. i saved the question trainers for the 5 or 6 days before my exam. i only did the question trainers these days. my scores for those were in the mid 50's to mid 60's. on the 7th one, i got a 61%.

so, i took the exam. i got 75 questions. there were atleast 10 drug questions. drugs that i had never even heard of, and could not tell by the name what kind of drug they were. and it was all discharge teaching about the meds (with meals, at bedtime, dietary restrictions,etc). there is no way to study for the drug questions. you either know them, or you dont. i only had 1 alternate style question, and it was a check all that apply question. no meds, no pointing at something on a picture, etc. the majority of the rest of them were priority questions. i cant even remember if i had a delegating question.

like every other person, i left that test feeling horrible about myself!! i felt that i got cheated, and couldnt believe that my 2 years of nursing school came down to 75 questions!! but, i did pass, and it was a relief!!

decartes · Jun 23, 2007

I passed with 75 questions and have used ATI, Saunders and Kaplan's Complete course ($499) and read the Kaplan NCLEX Strategy Review book at Barnes and Noble.

Kaplan was the most helpful route for me. I felt that their questions and rationales were MOST helpful for my success. I suggest doing all seven "Question Trainers" in sequence as it will condition you to take tests ranging from 75 - 265 questions. I believe that going through ALL of the rationales after completing each test will help with content review and indentify content areas you need to review.

Good luck all!