Kaplan Nursing Entrance Exam

[arojumper]

Who else feels like there is barely anything out there about the Kaplan entrance exam?? That is why I am posting this to help the cause of fellow students trying to get into nursing school that are required to take this exam:) I just took mine today! I hope anyone who was stressed out looking for information on this exam comes across this post and I hope it helps you.

First, let's talk about the average scores... This was a big question for me and I think it's a common question for others as well. From what I have noticed (note that there are no official average scores I can find; this is strictly from my own observation of online searching and asking questions), a lot of schools have a cutoff score of anywhere from 62-69 and it seems to be that if you're in the mid or upper 70s, you have a good score. I have also found that few people have scored over an 80 and I have not talked to anyone yet that has scored in the 90s... There are only 91 questions on this test out of 4 different categories (reading, math, writing, science) so you don't have much wiggle room for missing questions. I have also noticed that a lot of testers feel that they bombed the science part... I saw scores online that were commonly in the 50s or low 60s for science. I will be honest with you. The science was HARD. It was very specific and with only 20 questions in the science, it's hard to say what you will encounter so study it all!

Okay, now let's talk studying. I bought the Kaplan study guide edition 6 off of amazon. From what I have read online and on this specific website from other testers, I was not the only one that was frustrated with this study guide... This study guide is apparently not only for the Kaplan. Like if you buy a HESI study guide from Elsevier, the material is geared for you to pass the HESI. The Kaplan study guide is meant to be a study guide for the HESI, Kaplan, and the TEAS. I wish there was a study guide that was geared specifically for passing the Kaplan and only the Kaplan. I will also warn you... the practice questions for the science in this study guide were pointless. Only ONE of the practice test questions in this book applied to the test. That was a little frustrating. The science is all A&P-emphasis on the physiology!! Do not make the mistake I did and study your face off with physics :). I did not learn the only 4 categories on the Kaplan until a few days before I took the test. Whoops. I learned lot of new things about physics though... I probably will never use them, but hey... I'm a little more educated now in that area now, I guess. The Kaplan study guide did have good information, but I wouldn't waste your time on the practice questions. Just read read read, take notes, and use your best study skills to retain all of that information. I took A&P 1 and 2 (got high Bs in both classes) and still struggled with the science part if that tells you a little about how tough the science was.

My suggestion to you is Youtube "Kaplan Nursing entrance exam study". There are so many helpful videos if you're a visual learner. Those helped me the most. Make flashcards also. They really helped me.

The math was sooo simple. Addition, subtraction, decimals, division, multiplication, ratios, fractions, and word problems. I only got a few conversion problems, but if you're going into nursing school it's probably a good idea to know your conversions anyway...

Reading was harder than I thought it would be especially since that is the area I excel in. I would utilize the practice questions in the Kaplan study guide for that just to brush up your skills. Writing was the same way.

I took the HESI and found it to be easier than the Kaplan, but that's probably why the average Kaplan scores are lower than what I have found the HESI scores to be.

Good luck, fellow students ?

p.s. my poll was supposed to go all the way up to 100, but I messed it up. This was my first time making a poll and I don't think there's a way to go back and edit it. Maybe we can start a new poll in a different thread sometime. Whoops! Sorry, guys!