Finally passed NCLEX on 3rd attempt: What I should have done in the beginning

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Hi guys after an emotional/stressful year, I can proudly say I am finally an RN. Here's my experience I want to share with you and in hopes may help future New Grads along the way.

Resources I used were:

Hurst

Kaplan

UWorld

Saunders purple book

If your content is not strong do Hurst first! After every class, reread what you had just learned. Then use Saunders online practice questions that correlate to the body systems. I would most definitely take a second Hurst class again, if possible, closer to the test date.

Kaplan was very good with test taking strategies. However, I felt the class didn't prepare me as much as I'd hope and the proctor just dove into the practice questions expecting us to already know the decision tree. I suggest doing 25 questions in tutor mode so you can practice using the decision tree and see which areas you need to improve on. Then start doing 75 questions a day in exam mode. If you've been scoring 40s to low 50s after a couple Qbanks tests, email a Kaplan instructor ASAP and ask for advice.

I used UWorld during my second attempt because I exhausted all Kaplan resources. THE DECISIONS TREE WORKS HERE! It just doesn't tell you the strategies, but rather content with detailed rationales. From my peers, they have been saying that you should be scoring above 56% every Qbank test. So it's treated just like Kaplan, but you have more SATA questions to practice with.

On my third attempt, I took a Hurst class again but this time kept doing Saunders content practice questions everyday until I got my new ATT. I gave Kaplan a second chance when I got my test date and took the time to practice the decision tree in Qbank tutor mode. (Note this was 6 months later from my last QTrainer/Test and I have completely forgot everything). After a few weeks, I have been finally getting the scores Kaplan recommended. I went into the testing center with confidence. Test shut off after 86 questions and two days later my license was posted.

Advice:

- Please do not compare yourself to your classmates.

- Everyone studies differently, everyone has their own pace.