kaplan can be depressing

Published

i don't know if it's just me noticing, but i think kaplan can sometimes make you feel down about the percentage you get although we all know their questions are extra hard. apparently even if you know the topic they just put a bunch of "coma-comas" in one answer choice. sometimes i even find myself scared to take their practice tests because whenever i take exam cram or nclex 4000, i'm always on high 60's. but then comes Kaplan tests, giving me headaches afterward, and i haven't even made it on the 60% up.

Kaplan is helping me a lot but i think their questions are beyond critical thinking.anybody feel the same way? and last question, has anyone noticed if their qbanks keep getting harder each time? i honestly started out well, but now i keep getting low 40's. has anyone gotten these scores (out of 50 items) and passed? i will be taking the big test in a few days and these percentages are scaring the hell out of me.

Please do not be stressed with the score. I think that questions from Qbank are "desined" to be hard so real questions would be "easier". My friend always had 57-59% and she passes with 90 questions. I think that if you undestand rationale behind each question/situation you should be fine.

I can tell you from my experience (I took the test on 11th of July and passes with 75q) that I found NCLEX is less trickier then Kaplan questions (and I never tested higher then 65%). So again do not concentrate on the score but rather why particular choise is correct. And please read wrong choices too (I found it really helpfull).

Good luck on you test.

thank you! =] that cheered me up a little. lol

Specializes in Peds.

I can't afford the Kaplan review, but I borrowed a book from the library, and did the 180 questions in the back of the book. I got 124 right out of the 180....I felt so stupid! And some of their answered conflict....I'd have to go back and see the exact topic. I wrote down the info about answers I got wrong so I'm gonna keep studying then try the questions on the CD to see if I get a better percentage.

I read through the strategy book today, and I felt the same way. Some of the rationales required me to basically make up a life story about the pt, and then say oh yes of course this is right. But Maslow, I don't really agree fully.

Example, you have a pt who is manic and basically doing stuff that will kill her in the near future, hasn't eaten or slept or taken her Lithium. Do you provide a safe environment first? Or feed her and let her sleep first?

And if a pt comes in with heart failure, do you ask them if they have chest pain on inspiration first? Or ask them where they sleep at night?

Specializes in Peds.

I got the one about the manic right, BUT only because I followed Maslow. If I hadn't read that section, I would have answered safety first just like you did!

The one with the chest pain....ARGH!! I picked the same answer you did!

I also hated the questsions where you ask the woman what birth control does she use....one woman has a yeast infection and another had suspected DVT. I'm sorry, maybe I'm just slow, but BC wouldn't be my first question.

There were more I didn't agree with, such as there is a manic client who is acting out...it says to give them Haldol I think. I was always told do not use medication as a first step to calm someone down. Then there was one where a psych client was threatening other clients, and I said to remove the others first, but it said to round up some staff...I just don't agree. The last one I can think of is a pregnant woman coming in for a prenatal visit, and she has bruises of various healing stages. The answer said to ask her if she is being abused, but I chose tell me about your injuries. I just doubt a woman is gonna come right out and admit that she is being abused...idk!

Kaplan is depressing!!! It is very hard! Others that I have talked to from my class agree Kaplan is the hardest. Kaplan asks some odd questions.

I am getting so tired of how different all the results are from various tests I am taking. I feel like I dont know how well I am really doing. I get 80's in Meds Pub and 60's from Kaplan! What the heck!!!!

Anyone doing Meds Pub?

my worry is that Kaplan may not think the same as the NCLEX people. The NCLEX might say we should provide a safe environment for a manic pt, but Kaplan says let them sleep and eat. That's what worries me, because EVERY different book will say something different...grrr

Just got a phone call from a friend who took the NCLEX this week and said the Kaplan book was the most like NCLEX. UUUURRRGGHHH!!!! I hate that Kaplan book. I am going to now expect the NCLEX to ask questions in odd ball ways.

It seems like it is not what information we know, but if we understand the questions....:bugeyes:

I have read numerous threads swearing that Kaplan is very difficult, making it very good practice material. But my question is, there are several situations I've heard of where Kaplan states the exact opposite intervention than another book, what makes Kaplan the correct one? I know they stand by their rationales, but the truth is, you never know what question you missed on the NCLEX and you never see a rationale from the NCLEX people. My Med/surg book will say do one thing, but according to the Kaplan book I glanced at, they say do another. Saunders will say do the same as my book, but Kaplan will give different orders and priorities. Those 2 sources differ in other examples as well. So why is Kaplan looked upon as correct, or MORE correct than other sources?

Example situation: Child comes into the ER wheezing, what do you ask the parents?

1. are their immunizations up to date?

2. do they have their favorite toy with them?

3. did they choke on a hot dog before coming in?

4. do you or the child have a hx of ashtma?

Kaplan says...ask about choking on a hotdog. Now I understand ABC, but how on earth do I know the kid ate a hotdog? Plus if they're choking, I think the kid would be having worse than a wheeze. Asthma closes an airway just as much as a hotdog could. Kaplan wanted to play the what if they ate a hotdog thing, well what if the family doesn't eat meat?

Now I've never done the Kaplan Q bank or Trainers, I just got this from another post. And I'm not trying to bash Kaplan, I think it IS very good stuff and very helpful. But it's just like...they say don't read into the question too much, but they expect you to make a life story out of some of the answers. My story may be different from the one you make. I don't want it to cause me to overthink a question on the NCLEX because the Kaplan question was "harder".

I had that question as well, but I actually picked the hot dog issue. The reason for it is, because at this moment it really would not matter if you ask about their history of Asthma. There is an emergency and any kind of wheezing tells you that there is some kind of obstruction. Your goal is to ensure a patent airway. So asking the client about the history of Asthma is not going to do anything. However, if the kid did eat something small this might be the cause of obstruction and this will also give you an idea of what to do next. In this case, you would do the Heimlich manuver to dislodge the object. They want you to critical think and most people run for asthma just because of wheezing, but wheezing can have many different causes. To me that was very straight forward and not sure if this made sense or not, but actually this is one of the better questions I think, because it requires you to think bejond. Its not really thinking into the question, because hot dog and obstruction of airway is very straight forward, just most people will run for ashtma because of wheezing.

To the above poster-- actually that is a great question. I did Kaplan. I passed NCLEX first time. Before I even looked to see if I got it right, I picked the 'hot dog' answer without batting an eyelash. NCLEX tests killer vs. non-killer nurses. If you see an answer that is a 'killer' answer- pick it! The choking and wheezing from the hot dog could KILL the patient. Asthma does not typically kill patients. Go with the ABC's and the killer answer. DO NOT read into the quesions. You do not need to know the patient's and family's history. The patient is wheezing from the trapped hot dog- could go into stridor and die. What difference does it make what they ate yesterday, this morning, etc. and who cares if they have asthma. They are wheezing because they choked and it's blocking the airway. Emergency! If they are dead, you will get no history anyway. What they ate is of no concern-- it's the fact they are wheezing from a blocked airway and this an emergency (hence, they are in the ER). It's really quite simple. Hope this breakdown helped! GOOD LUCK!! :yeah::nurse:

I have read numerous threads swearing that Kaplan is very difficult, making it very good practice material. But my question is, there are several situations I've heard of where Kaplan states the exact opposite intervention than another book, what makes Kaplan the correct one? I know they stand by their rationales, but the truth is, you never know what question you missed on the NCLEX and you never see a rationale from the NCLEX people. My Med/surg book will say do one thing, but according to the Kaplan book I glanced at, they say do another. Saunders will say do the same as my book, but Kaplan will give different orders and priorities. Those 2 sources differ in other examples as well. So why is Kaplan looked upon as correct, or MORE correct than other sources?

Example situation: Child comes into the ER wheezing, what do you ask the parents?

1. are their immunizations up to date?

2. do they have their favorite toy with them?

3. did they choke on a hot dog before coming in?

4. do you or the child have a hx of ashtma?

Kaplan says...ask about choking on a hotdog. Now I understand ABC, but how on earth do I know the kid ate a hotdog? Plus if they're choking, I think the kid would be having worse than a wheeze. Asthma closes an airway just as much as a hotdog could. Kaplan wanted to play the what if they ate a hotdog thing, well what if the family doesn't eat meat?

Now I've never done the Kaplan Q bank or Trainers, I just got this from another post. And I'm not trying to bash Kaplan, I think it IS very good stuff and very helpful. But it's just like...they say don't read into the question too much, but they expect you to make a life story out of some of the answers. My story may be different from the one you make. I don't want it to cause me to overthink a question on the NCLEX because the Kaplan question was "harder".

I remember studying in my Peds class where my instructor did emphasize on not giving a toddler hotdogs or hard candy, due to the fact they can choke. I did Kaplan and I had that question and based on what I remembered from my Peds class, I automatically selected the hotdog answer.

The fact that Kaplan was so hard was the reason why I chose to use it. The first time I took the NCLEX the questions seemed way too hard in comparison with what I used to prepare with so I purposefully chose harder materials the 2nd time around. Then when I walked into the NCLEX and saw that the questions were way easier, I felt at ease rather than more anxious with each question! Right now Kaplan feels like a curse but on the day of the exam, it will be more than likely time well spent.

With some of your other testing materials the standard is even higher than Kaplan. For example, if you're preparing with Exam Cram -- their recommended range is 77%. Exam Cram suggests that if you are not scoring at 77% then retake the exams until you do. When I began taking Exam Cram my scores were between 66% - 72%. I didn't retake the Exam Cram questions because I focused more on Kaplan. Exam Cram is definitely a good resource and you're scoring about the same that I did (and I passed).

Keep in mind that sometimes unfortunately the NCLEX seems to be the luck of the draw. There are people who fail while having phenomenal Kaplan scores and there are those who pass with

With that said, here are my Kaplan Question Trainer scores:

1) 52%

2) 64%

3) 55%

4) 61%

5) 56%

6) 64%

7) 61%.

Diagnostic Score 56%.

Readiness Score 71%.

Q Bank: 58% first time

67% second time (I redid Kaplan q bank)

Do what you can these next few days. Review rationales and retake some of the content (there's an option with Kaplan to choose questions that you got wrong). All you can do at this point is think positively and do your best to manage your anxiety. Tell yourself that you can do it! (Because you can) That you've prepared the best you could and can pass the test!

+ Join the Discussion