is the kaplan review course worth it?

PICUmaleNurse · Apr 3, 2008

I always advise NCLEX takers to use Kaplan in persone and NCSBN Learning Extension online course. It helped me to have an in-person review as well as online resources and of course lots of practice questions. Good luck!

wannabeRN2 · Apr 3, 2008

Well, it didn't work for me so I got my money back.

I am doing the saunder review and I am going to answer the cd questions on the back of the book.

I would just study saunders.

Kaplan teaches you how to answer question but i never once used the strategy during the test. They tell you to use safety for the patient first, maslow...but i never used it once.

kcjo · Apr 3, 2008

you are right tried kaplan and it did not work for me too.i still use their book for content review and saunders for question.

Wendy2006 · Apr 3, 2008

I did Kaplan and failed. I like Saunders so far. I still have access to NCSBN Learning Extension online course, but do not use it anymore. They just confuse you.

MaleNursesRock · Apr 3, 2008

i too am using saunders for the content review,i also took a course and it didnt help me either

they tell you to focus on key workds like "never" "all" and to look for the answer that isnt the same--the nclex writers are smarter than that-they know what the "courses" teach us and are very keen NOT to incude those things--i tried using their strategies and it didnt help

BUT kaplan questions, do reflect nclex questons--i answer the saunders ones and other and they seem easy--i would do well on those thats why i felt confident , but when i did kaplan questions-i varied from Bad to ok.

sessions dont help me, but the questions do, so im gonna buy the kaplan qbank

crazylilkelly · Apr 3, 2008

thanks for all your replies!

chsmsa · Apr 3, 2008

Well, it didn't work for me so I got my money back.
I am doing the saunder review and I am going to answer the cd questions on the back of the book.
I would just study saunders.
Kaplan teaches you how to answer question but i never once used the strategy during the test. They tell you to use safety for the patient first, maslow...but i never used it once.

I just finished taking the NCLEX my second time using the Kaplan Course and I failed, not blaming the course but I also used used the "decision tree" and it did not work for me. I also felt that the strategy did not apply. So hopefully the third time is a charm. I will try the Saunders and see if this helps.

labrador4122, RN · Apr 3, 2008

Well, it didn't work for me so I got my money back.
I am doing the saunder review and I am going to answer the cd questions on the back of the book.
I would just study saunders.
Kaplan teaches you how to answer question but i never once used the strategy during the test. They tell you to use safety for the patient first, maslow...but i never used it once.

I passed the nclex-rn last year, and honest to God. I used the kaplan strategies thru the entire 75Q test, except for my 4 all that apply & math.

then everything else were educated guesses that I made using kaplan.

If you don't want to spend the money, on the class. you can use this book:

and it is everything that they teach in the class. Like as if you had the class in the book. It does not come with the 2K questions, so If I were you, I would just buy this book, and get a question book, like the saunders or the book by Alice stein (both are very similar)

anyways. fortunately I had the money to pay for kaplan, but I did buy this book too because this explains it in more detail than the book they give you in the live lecture class.

labrador4122, RN · Apr 3, 2008

I just finished taking the NCLEX my second time using the Kaplan Course and I failed, not blaming the course but I also used used the "decision tree" and it did not work for me. I also felt that the strategy did not apply. So hopefully the third time is a charm. I will try the Saunders and see if this helps.

I think that this happens to a lot of people because they do not understand the decision tree. once you understand it, you will be able to apply it in anything.

at work, there were people doing questions from a cd, a person studying for the CPN exam, and they were surprised that I was answering the questions right...... but it's not like I knew the material, its that I understood how to pick and nit and get the right answer. it's all about understanding how to answer the question that they are looking for.

the nclex-rn exam will give you a clue in the question and a clue in the answer.... there will always be a clue in the question.

chsmsa · Apr 3, 2008

I think that this happens to a lot of people because they do not understand the decision tree. once you understand it, you will be able to apply it in anything.
at work, there were people doing questions from a cd, a person studying for the CPN exam, and they were surprised that I was answering the questions right...... but it's not like I knew the material, its that I understood how to pick and nit and get the right answer. it's all about understanding how to answer the question that they are looking for.
the nclex-rn exam will give you a clue in the question and a clue in the answer.... there will always be a clue in the question.

MAYBE! I thought I knew the decision tree I tried using it with most of the questions but for some reason I just didn't feel like I could apply it. Thanks for the insight though!

learninglessons12, BSN, RN · Apr 4, 2008

I will start by saying that everything isn't for everybody. But prior to taking the NCLEX, every piece of literature that I read about the subject stated that you cannot cram for the NCLEX . I took Kaplan complete and I feel it was an investment in myself. I didn't want to spend the money either but I was encouraged by quite a few people to take a review course. With that being said, even if you don't take a review course, I would advise you to do a comprehensive review of content and study some testing strategies. Also allow yourself a sufficient amount of time to study prior to taking the NCLEX. Do lots of questions and review the rationales. Good luck in whatever you decide to do.