Kaplan Vs. NCLEX

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So I graduated from my nursing program 3 weeks ago and took the in-person Kaplan NCLEX prep course right after graduation. Everyone seems to talk about their grades on Kaplan tests in correlation with chances of passing on the first time. Personally, I feel that the Kaplan in-person review was not helpful to me. I was wanting more of a content review and crash course on the NCLEX. But the review was more about testing strategy using principles Kaplan designed. Anyways, post course I have found that I have been doing worse on the Kaplan test than I did throughout the entire nursing program. My diagnostic test I received a 67%, Readiness test a 62%, but the the question trainer test I am averaging low to mid 50's. Anyone else feel they have had the same issue? I am testing in 2 weeks and am worried I am doing worst now than I was pre Kaplan course.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Your Q-trainer scores should be going up as you get better at answering the questions. Perhaps you need some more content review. Did your review come with a way to access the Kaplan RN course book/content review book? It used to be available on Amazon's Kindle store for free as an E-book.

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I have the "Kaplan Basics" book that is generalized review of content most commonly seen on NCLEX. I feel my problem is coming from trying to apply the test strategy to every question I answer, or using the decision tree on every question. I have missed questions that I knew the answer to but using the testing strategies led me down the wrong path. What I am struggling with is finding a balance between content vs. test taking skills. This will be my 2nd time taking a Pearson test (1st one Paramedic) but they are two very different beasts.

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Honestly, I find Kaplan useless. We had it for our nursing program, the rationales are not good, and the in person review was literally spent answering question after question. You have two weeks, get U World.

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my q trainer and q bank scores were in the low 50s but after a few weeks they began to increase into the 60s as i went on. i took the nclex readiness the day before my nclex and got 64%. I was ok with that since they say to strive for 65% and above.

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Hi there,

Don't worry about the scores on Kaplan. Read rationales and understand them. I didn't find Kaplan useful either. We're all different and learn differently. Best wishes!!!

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