kaplan products are helpful or not

gwafuh_rn, BSN, RN · Jun 19, 2008

try purchasing the kaplan q banks.It seem helpful

suzanne4, RN · Jun 20, 2008

I only use one book, the Saunder's, in my review program and have had excellent results with it.

It is not just doing questions but the rationales that come with the questions and understanding them. That is the goal in passing the exam.

jadu1106 · Jun 20, 2008

well personally i took the kaplan course and then after my 1st fail at the nclex, i extended my membership. i tested again and failed. i had 265 ques both times. i would not recommend kaplan, it is pricy and they do not go over content. only strategies. so if your wanting more content practice, i would just stick with the saunders book your using. its not wise to use more 2-3 books/notes, it will just confuse you more.

i just purchased the saunders review book 4th edition and am planning to do suzanne's plan. it is free, you just have to put time and effort into her plan, and i want to pass, so i will do her plan thoroughly as long as it takes, so that i can succeed and finally post "i finally passed". i will be testing for my 4th time once i'm done with her plan and i hope it will be my last time testing.

happy studying~

good luck. :)

jadu1106

gwafuh_rn, BSN, RN · Jun 20, 2008

jadu1106

-The kaplan has a course book wherein you could read the contents

gingergirl123 · Jun 20, 2008

ok...heres what i think....i failed the 1st time i took it. horribly! i went home and studied my lippincotts and nclex made easy books, but the one that i found helped the absloute best is the kaplan strategy book. this one actually helped me break down the question to see what it was asking so that i could figure out the answer whether i knew about the content of the question or not.

one person said that all kaplan did was cover stratgies and not content....unfourtunatly that is how the nclex is as well. it does want to know what you know about a disease it wants to know what your going to do in a certain situation based on what you know about the nursing process. if you dont have the stratagies (that i found kaplan taught) then you are walkin blind. i thought they were the best at helping me pass and i only bought the book...:heartbeat

p.s. i failed in 75 the 1st time and then passed in 75 after the kaplan book.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Jun 20, 2008

I think we need to remember that what works for one doesn't always mean it works for another. We can give our recommendations but it all depends on that person's way of studying to what will help them. I do agree general census with the study books tends to be Saunders and Kaplan with learningext.com. You have to decide what is suited for yourself and stick with it. There are other study books/sites/aides available but you need to decide

gingergirl123 · Jun 20, 2008

I think we need to remember that what works for one doesn't always mean it works for another. We can give our recommendations but it all depends on that person's way of studying to what will help them. I do agree general census with the study books tends to be Saunders and Kaplan with learningext.com. You have to decide what is suited for yourself and stick with it. There are other study books/sites/aides available but you need to decide

AGREED!!!!! I dont do well in groups (i just end up talking ) thats why the books worked for me. Once you know ur study style you will be good.

learninglessons12, BSN, RN · Jun 21, 2008

I took Kaplan complete and I feel that it really helped me but I put in a lot of work. I did all the q-bank questions and all but 1 q-trainer and reviewed all the content. With that being said, I think review of content is really important no matter what product you use. I think alot of people focus on testing strategy which is important but I really think you should combine testing strategy with content to really have a solid foundation. So do lots of questions, review rationales and study the content because they really don't cover everything in nursing school but you are expected to know about everything for the NCLEX. Hope this helps.

I<3Nursing · Jun 21, 2008

I used Saunders because it was the book that we were required to purchase for school. I also used RN 3500 and NCLEX MP3 because they were free online. I did not buy anything to review for NCLEX, I spent too much money in nursing school to spend more. I just took the exam on June 16th and passed with 75 questions. I did well on the HESI and felt very prepared reviewing questions for about 2 1/2 months, some nights I would only do a few, but the next day I would review labs and listen to my ipod during my breaks. Whatever method of learning and reviewing you were successful with in school is what I recommend. If you need lecture to retain information than take the class, if you can self-review than reading books with questions and content I believe is best. Good Luck!

Tiffany, RN, BSN · Jun 21, 2008

My school made us take Kaplan in order to graduate and I found it very helpful. I did the entire q bank (and reviewed rationales) and 4 question trainers, plus reviewed stuff that I missed from the course book. I really only seriously studied for 2-3 weeks. I didn't finish the question trainers because the last few were too long and I told myself I didn't intend on getting past question 150 on the NCLEX anyway. Plus when I talked to my Kaplan instructor she told me that the qbank questions were most like the actual NCLEX and not to worry too much about my question trainer scores (which were pretty sorry anyway.) When I took my NCLEX, the computer shut off at 75 and I saw a lot of questions similar to those on the qbank. Hope this helps!