Published Feb 3, 2012
Lucy12784
44 Posts
I am trying to figure out which way I want to study this time around, it will be my 3rd time taking NCLEX RN. The first time I relied on saunders and mosby's flash cards, the second time I used Kaplan. Both tests I got 265 ?'s and I didn't feel Kaplan helped me that much. I have heard some good things about ATI, hurst, NCLEX 4000 but I just don't know enough about any of them. ATI seems like the most expensive next to kaplan so that has me worried, but if it works it might just be worth it. Any help would be awesome! Thanks :)
Good4
29 Posts
hey I just failed my NCLEX and in a grieving process, hoping to get back to study asap. I really hoped I would pass this time but . It was such a hard test waiting for official letter to some so I can see what areas I need to improve.
So Here is what I have
Nclex 4000/nclex 3500
la charity priority book
NCSBN 3 week review
HOgan nclex review CD
exam cram book and CD
saunders 4th edition
I don't know what else I need to do to pass this test.I have used KAPLAN and not gonna waste my money on it again its way too expensive for me.I liked there strategies though but if you are weak at content they are not gonna help you.
what book or reviews are your using this time ?
I'm in the same boat as you, I took mine on the 27th and knew I failed before it was even over. I am just now getting over it and starting to fell like moving on with studying. I have heard a lot of good things about ATI but it is $430!!! I was thinking of trying the NCLEX 3500/4000, exam cram, or even hurst which is about $300. I think my problem is my content as I graduated in May last year and since then I have studied off and on for NCLEX, I think I need to focus on my week areas so when my official results come I will go by what they say. I have even thought about getting this book called NCLEX RN made incredibly easy, it looks like a lot of questions but with good rationales. I too liked kaplan's strategies and thought I would pass this time because i scored a 66% on the readiness and i felt really confident, but in my opinion my NCLEX was nothing like kaplan. Out of everything you tried was there anything you really liked?
Same here I took nclex on 30th checked the PVT cc page..so yeah
I am feeling more motivated now I just wanna get over with it...I am not gonna get any new review now,just gonna study hard and study the content coz on nclex the questions are not about strategies I wasn't able to guess an answer using a strategy they have made the questions the way that you have to know the content.I couldn't use decision tree either..Questions were very straight forward and even priority questions were too tricky...My week point is MEDS so I'll work on that ..I really liked the EXAM-CRAM I didn't finish the book but CD was amazing ..:)
what about you what is your favorite book or cd?
oh and here is a free link that I found..thought I would share it here
NCLEX Test Practice Questions - Help your NCLEX Exam Score with free NCLEX Test Preparation
Sadly I don't really have one except for the CD that came with my Saunders NCLEX book. I didn't want to overdo it so I stuck to one think at a time. I liked the mosby's flash cards because of the rationales and that I took them anywhere with me and do questions whenever I could, I liked the kaplan book because it seemed like it broke everything down to a science but i got discouraged with it when my scores didn't improve much after reading a section and watching lectures. I am pretty sure I'm going to try the exam cram this time, I have heard from multiple people that the book/cd was awesome. And I had the exact same problem on my nclex..the decision tree was useless! and when i had a question that i wasn't sure what it was asking, the strategies where pointless unless you knew what every little thing was. I have a friend who swears by Hurst, I will see if I can pick his brain to see what it was actually like. Thanks for the link, I will check that out!
Dakeirus
95 Posts
If you think your problem is content, I'd suggest Hurst. I'll repeat what I wrote on another thread. Did you get many questions in which you just had no idea on what the topic was about or that you needed to know certain infos to be able to answer the question? If so, then it's probably a content issue because it sounds like you're pretty good on strategies since you did well on your Kaplan. You can also try NCSBN if you're really short on cash.
I'm almost positive my problem is content. I know that sounds stupid because I should know these things by now, but I have run into a lot of questions where I was like "What the heck is this question about??" and I would sit there for a while just trying to remember what it was I was looking at. Have you used Hurst or NCSBN?? how do you sign up for NCSBN? I went to the website and I was totally confused, then again it may not have been the right website.
Lucy, it's not stupid at all. Even if you just graduated this December, you can't expect to remember everything from day 1 of nursing school. That's why we have to review. :)
I'm still reviewing myself. But I'll share you my experience so far. I got held back due to some unfortunate circumstances so I was in school for a while. I started reviewing last December with just Hurst. It's a fantastic course. I did the online review so I can watch the videos as much as I want. Marlene really breaks down the material so that you're able to understand it without too much memorization. Well, you still have to memorize but if you understand the topics memorization becomes second nature. I watched the videos and did my lecture worksheets which had blanks that you had to fill in as you listened. I haven't done the practice exams. But that was great.
After I graduated from nursing school, I bought the newest Saunders comprehensive review book. Popped the CD into my computer, did a couple of practice exams (100qs). I could only get half of them right. That's when I realized I'm really lacking in my nursing knowledge. Half of the questions.. I'm like, "I don't know this; What was this again?; This sounds familiar but I don't really remember..." I mean Hurst was terrific review if more than half of nursing school has stuck with you. But it wasn't enough for me.
So, the almost the whole January I religiously studied Med-Surg from my Saunders book. (I still have a bit of Maternity, Peds, Psych and drugs to go) I read each system 2-3 times and memorized important parts. Doing that... I've increased my scores to 70-80%. I also have the Q & A book. Same scores from the CD. They really helped retain the info that I've studied. If I got a question that I don't know anything about (example: trigeminal neuralgia) I would read on it as soon as I finished my practice quiz/test.
My friend told me that I need more challenging questions so I got Kaplan. Kaplan has harder questions to me. But when it comes to Med-Surg questions, I don't go "I don't remember this" anymore. I can rationalize each answer choice with my nursing knowledge. It almost only comes down to eliminating choices and picking from the other two now. I've done some qbank tests from Kaplan and they've been mid-60s. (Still trying to finish reviewing everything )
Link for NCSBN: NCSBN
Luckeus RN
1 Post
I just graduated from the ADN program in December. I passed my NCLEX exam about 3 weeks ago on the first try with the minimum 75 questions. From all my fellow students I have spoken to, only 1 person from our class has failed so far. It was a very tough program. We started with 75 students, and only 22 of the original class graduated. We used ATI through our whole program. I feel it was definitely a big help. We even had a woman from ATI come for a whole week to review. It was 7 hours per day, and she basically condensed everything we had learned. She gave us all a review book, which condensed what we had learned. Also, we had a bunch of tests we could get online to take as often as we wanted. I felt that those ATI tests prepared me for the NCLEX. I got together on numerous occasions with some friends to study after we graduated. We used the ATI review book, the latest Saunders NCLEX review book, a Hurst book that one of my friends had from the Hurst review she took, and we did 1000's of practice questions. When taking the test make sure you know exactly what the question is asking. Read each question 3 times. Don't be afraid to take your time on the ones you don't know. Just pick it apart and pick the best answer. You have plenty of time. Some questions you will know right away, so it will leave extra time for those you aren't sure of. Good Luck on your next try!!