Is Uworld better than Kaplan? Taking exam soon.

[ella.13]

I've been studying Saunders 6th edition and i find it really good, I'm almost done with the book when I received my ATT. and now i enrolled myself to Uworld. I was meaning to enroll myself in Kaplan, like its really my first choice, but a lot of people i know from nursing passed the nclex literally like 2 weeks ago, told me that they used Uworld. So i enrolled myself in Uworld. It was really hard. I registered Sept 7, 2017. and up till now my percentile is still under 50%. Im an average student. I never failed any classes, but Uworld Qbank is making me really nervous and all. BTW im subrcribed to Kaplan One Question a Day. And its so easy like i can answer it with my eye close(just exaggerating). Any suggestions? im gonna have panic attack soon.

[filamboy]

Short answer: I signed up for Kaplan's online self-paced course to prepare for my NCLEX-RN. I thought it was money wasted since it didn't fit my studying habits/needs. Some people are born test takers and some are born with stock knowledge. I was the former. If you're the latter then maybe Kaplan is a better fit your you.

Long Answer: So signing-up for Kaplan I thought okay its going to break down everything I need to know for the NCLEX in bite size pieces that I can easily recall when the time exam comes. NOPE! They have hours and hours of lectures teaching you their test taking strategy, but not one lectured about nursing content. (They do have a video content library covering certain parts of the book which you are required to read. But the videos were merely a few minutes of slideshow which the lecturers read aloud. They refer you back to the book for more information which is no help.)

Anyway back to the test taking skill lectures. It's a 5-step decision tree in which you have to reflect on the question to see in which part of the decision tree it falls on. I felt the decision tree relied more on common sense than it did critical nursing judgement. They sometimes stretch out the rationale to make it fit the decision tree. What irritated me was their rationale was to defend the decision tree rather than why explaining why answer was right and the other choices were wrong. For example a question regarding cystic fibrosis. A question is presented with four multiple choice questions. Each choice is classified as assessment/intervention then ABCs. Never do they explain that the first choice is incorrect because cystic fibrosis doesnt manifest this outcome that's why its wrong. They explain that the answer is wrong because it goes against the decision tree.

This threw a big red flag in my head since its basically telling me to go into the NCLEX exam with nothing but the decision tree as my foundation. I was terrified. How can I pass the NCLEX and be a safe nurse when decision making is all I have? The point of a review is to help you remember your nursing material in order for you to make a sound nursing judgement based on the situation presented to you.

There were a few redeeming parts of the Kaplan review such as their question bank and their trainer questionnaires. I do have to say in order for you to get at least a 50% on their exams, you need to know your nursing subjects very well. They were extremely difficult and sometimes asks you obscure questions that weren't all that important to know. They're nice to know but not needed. FYI, Kaplan says at least a 65% is needed to have a high chance of success to pass the NCLEX.

If I could go back I would have signed up for Uworld instead of Kaplan. I suggest you stay with Uworld since they focus more on material and content, unless you need test taking skills. I had access to Uworld's question bank and they were really helpful--much more in line with the actual NCLEX questions. Definitely read Saunders, LaCharity! If you have access to Mark Klimek's lectures those are very helpful as well. A lot of easy recall strategies.

I took the NCLEX yesterday. It sucks California doesn't participate in quick results so the wait begins! Good luck with your review and exam!!