I just took the Kaplan Nursing Entrance Exam this past Tuesday, and I'm happy to say that I got accepted to North Central Texas College in Gainesville, TX! I just wanted to post information about the test in case there's anyone out there like me who went crazy trying to find information about the Kaplan but didn't.
I used the Kaplan Nursing School Entrance Exams and feel like it is a very good study tool for Reading and Math sections. The Reading section is the same format that will be on the test, extracting main ideas and summarizing each paragraph. I scored an
As for Math, there were a lot of fraction problems; adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions. Also make sure you are very familiar with percentages. For the dosage calculation questions, there were fairly basic problems and maybe 3 or 4 on the test. There wasn't any that involved X grain (I had to google X grain when I saw it on the practice question). The only dosage calculation problem I remember was a situational question...A nurse has to administer a medication twice a day, at 10am and 4pm. The first dosage is 3/8 oz and the second dosage 2/7 oz, she only has one oz of the medication. Will she have enough for both doses? In which you have to find the least common denominator and in order to add fractions together and the decide if it is more or less than the oz available... For the math portion, I also bought a dosage calculations math book from Barnes and Noble, it has a lot of situational problems that closely resemble what was on the exam and will more than prepare you.
Writing was by far the most annoying section of them all. The Kaplan study guide does not reflect what is on the actual test. In the Kaplan study guide, you will have a section for vocabulary and spelling only, neither of which are on the test. I take that back, I had one question on my test where it asked which sentence had an incorrectly spelled word, and it was very obvious. The word was "roll", in which is was the wrong form of roll. The correct spelling was "role", as in "role model". The Writing section was in short story format, each sentence numbered, and it would ask questions as far as grammar, structure, or punctuation - which sentence has a comma where one isn't needed or which sentence is repetitive and not necessary in the paragraph. There were few questions that asked which sentence has an incorrect usage of a verb or which sentence has a subject-verb that doesn't agree. Mostly there would be a question with either a sentence, or even a whole paragraph, that asks where would be the best place to insert it within the short story, those were the hardest for me, I tend to be an over analyzer!
The science section was by far the hardest, and even now I'm not sure of the best way to prepare for it. I used A&P for Dummies, which was of little help. There were mostly questions about the Cardiovascular system - the pathway of a blood flow through the heart is the one that I remember most because that was one of the only questions I was completely sure of! Which system is responsible for regulation the pH? What is unique about the cells in the nervous system? Which organ of the digestive tract does the most absorption of nutrients? These were the easier questions that I can remember, the hard ones I can't even think of because in the moment, you either know it or you don't. I had taken A&P I and II about 5 years ago, and I decided to retake A&P I this past Spring in order to get my gpa higher. The systems that were mostly on the test - Cardiovascular, Endocrine, Digestive - are covered in A&P II (well, at least that's the way it is in Texas). So I think taking A&P II the semester before you test would be beneficial.
My overall score is an 80, not bad considering I did horrible in the science! Hopefully this information is of use to you, and good luck!
