Here is my view on ATI, Hurst & Kaplan after passing Nclex 1st time.

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First I want to thank god for blessing me with happiness. I took my exam on March 13 and saw my name appear on BON today. I took so many reviews b/c there were gaps between my graduation and test taking. I wasn't confident and went through big personal loss and felt like I didn't know anything, so ended up taking kaplan as my last resource. And I didn't know if I would be able to take one more loss in my life.

1. I did take hurst review in June 2011 that was the last review that was offered to graduating class for 2011 ( Dec 2011). I loved hurst live review, it felt like they taught me whole nursing school in 3 days. They taught me stuff in away that i remember and understood. I could critically think why certain Vital signs change in certain disease. As far as there qbank is concerned it also test you on content. So good way to test yourself.

2. I took Kaplan because I wanted to be sure that I pass the exam the first time. My husband was not ready to pay for it but luckily didn't have to pay full price. I registered for Live class and they had to cancel it b/c they didn't have enough students so they gave me 50% refund back. I also searched for online code which gave me $50 off initially. So overall my class was $232. Things about Kaplan: hated the book its so dry that I never used it. B/c i don't believe in memorizing w/o understanding the material. Qbank and qtrainer great resource to practice questions but compare to NCLEX it was nothing. I wasn't doing so hot on my exam since i had to do more than 75 questions. So I got all type of questions which included content type questions as well and trust me they were rough. Even easiest dieases seemed like what are you asking for? But you all know that you can find them online for free

3. ATI hated it because my school required me to take it and if you don't get level 2 you fail the class. The reason why I hated it was because the answers will only go with there own textbook and not with what you learned in class from the textbooks required by school.

I personally loved Hurst content review, so if you think you hardly learned stuff in school its best for you to go with Hurst. If you feel like you don;t know how to answer priority type questions do lacharity & kaplan. Don't waste your money like I did. As far as NCLEX is concern it is very random, depending on how well you do with test they throw you questions. Oh that 35 page resource ppl use for study is good but you can make your own while doing questions. I learned more by writing stuff that I didn't know. Yes the infection and other mneumonic are very helpful but make your own notes because everyone has their own strength & weakness.

One last tip for NCLEX, know your content inside out. If you are studying disease know why certain VS takes place, know what meds are contraindicated and why? Know what diet to provide? Test yourself it will make your life easier while taking the test.

Good luck to everyone. If you have any questions do not hesitate to ask.

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Connnngggrrats to u..Thanks so much for the tips and advice...this site is so addicting.the more im on here the more confident I become. Thnx again

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CONGRATS and Thank you. :yelclap:

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Congrats!!:o

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Congrats! :)

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Outpatient Surgery, Nurse Informatics.

Congrats RN!:yeah:

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CONGRATS! Thank you very much RN!

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Congrats! I also loved Hurst review. I wish that I had done it in nursing school. Fluid and electrolytes , Heart and Endocrine they made understanding so easy and the rationale behind the illnesses.

NCLEX for me in 6 days and I strongly believe knowing content is key. I hope I do well.

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