Kaplan vs Saunders- revisited...after NCLEX

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Specializes in ER, Urgent Care.

I got a lot of valuable information from this site and now it's give back time.

I took my NCLEX on 1/9 in CA, my school Fed Ex my transcript to the BRN on the 12th, BRN entered my transcript information on the 18th, and my result was posted on 1/19 on the BRN web site. I can talk about the emotion going into the exam and how I felt afterward, but it's very much like everyone else... so I'll just give my two cents on the programs that I used and how they'd or had not helped me in prepping for the exam.

I took a 6 weeks Kaplan course (cost $455) beginning in mid-October. Each class was about 3-4hr long and we mainly went thru tons of review questions and some content review. The course comes with a Trainer CD which has 7 tests, ranges from 75 - 265 questions. (I did the first 6 tests but could get myself to do the last one since it was 265 questions long). I also bought the Q-bank w/ the Kaplan course, which is another 1000 online questions and I did all of them.

I also bought Saunders-Comprehensive Review since it's highly recommended. But since there are SO MANY questions in this program, I only used the study mode to review contents on Cardiac, Peds & L&D. I did close to 1000 questions in Saunders.

After taking the test, I felt that Kaplan's questions styles were very similar to the NCLEX's questions (the way that the questions were worded). However, the answers choices in the NCLEX were much harder to choose from. The strategy that was taught in class and on the Kaplan web site did helped me in narrowing down quite a few answers.

Saunders's questions, on the other hand, were nothing like the NCLEX. Other than providing me the content review, I really didn't feel that it did anything to prep me for the exam.

Here's some stats. I did a total of 2800 questions prior to the exam (my goal was 3000). I took the test in a 1 hr and 45 min. (spent too much time on a few questions in the beginning) and the computer shut down at 75 questions.

Please understand that I'm by no mean trying to discourage the use of Saunders because if you need content review and if you have the time, then you should definitely go thru Saunders first. However, in my opinion, Kaplan icon14.gif was the program that really prepped me for the exam and I would highly recommend it. BTW........... by His grace .......I passed!

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Specializes in Gerontology.

Thanks sooooooooooooo much I tooK Kaplan and I have the Saunders book I am taking NCLEX-RN Feb. 9th and I have doing both but I guess now I'll focus mainly on Kaplan, Again Thanks and :yelclap: :yeah: :smiley_aa :w00t: CPNGRATULATIONS!!!

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Specializes in CVICU, CV Transplant.

Thanks for the info, we are taking a Kaplan course in Feb/March! And congrats on your success!

Avery

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Specializes in ER, Urgent Care.

Best of luck to both of you! Again, I don't want to mislead anyone by saying Saunder wasn't helpful. It was good for content review.

But in my case, since I didn't have time to go thru ALL the topics, and there's no way I will know which topic will be in my exam, I focused on the Kaplan program which prepped me in test taking strategy. Like my Kaplan instructor said, even if you don't know any patho & pharms, Kaplan can still teach you ways to pass the test. That might be an overstatement but it does work on SOME of the questions. None of my Kaplan questions showed up on NCLEX, but the principle & strategy really helped and I was very used to seeing the same style questions.

Just want to clarify.... if you have more than 6 weeks, do Saunders first before jumping into Kaplan. In my case, I did selective content review from Saunders and then I focused on Kaplan.

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After taking the test, I felt that Kaplan's questions styles were very similar to the NCLEX's questions (the way that the questions were worded)...Saunders's questions, on the other hand, were nothing like the NCLEX.

Could you shed more light on this? Personally, I think how the test were generated is very important. In order to having test questions similar to NCLEX exam, ones must study thousands of NCLEX questions thoroughly and intensively. IMO, Questions in which options can be eliminated easily are generally not NCLEX questions.

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After taking the test, I felt that Kaplan's questions styles were very similar to the NCLEX's questions (the way that the questions were worded). However, the answers choices in the NCLEX were much harder to choose from. The strategy that was taught in class and on the Kaplan web site did helped me in narrowing down quite a few answers.

Saunders's questions, on the other hand, were nothing like the NCLEX. Other than providing me the content review, I really didn't feel that it did anything to prep me for the exam.

Thanks so much for your input! You think EXACTLY like me in terms of Kaplan vs. Saunders. I just found out today that I passed the NCLEX!! :)

And coming out of the test, I thought Kaplan questions were the best preparation.

I also used Saunders and the NCBSN online course. By far Saunders questions were the easiest. However, I do agree with you that Saunders is great for content review. It does present all the information you need, and if you have enough time to get through it all, great! Yet Kaplan helped the most with test taking strategies, and what to do if you get a question that leaves you feeling clueless.

Congrats on passing!

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Specializes in ER, Urgent Care.

I should say the question Style is similar. The way the question was structured, make sense? As said in my first post, I didn't say picking out the answers were easy, I could, in most case, narrowed it down to two by used my patho & pharm knowledge but if I still had no clue at that point, then I used the Kaplan method to pick out what I thought might be the correct answer. I guess I'm totally for Kaplan.... because I passed, which tells me that whatever I did to arrived at the answers must be working. Hope that helps.

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Specializes in ER, Urgent Care.
sarita279 vbmenu_register("postmenu_1494318", true); : congrats! we did it!
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Specializes in ER, Urgent Care.

btw, someone sent me a private message and asked me about my average scores so i thought i'll share this with everyone.

according to my kaplan instructor, if you get the following percentage, you are ready for the exam:

kaplan's q bank average: 70 - 75%,

my lowest was 52% and highest was 86% :chuckle , mostly in the 60s% & 70s%.

kaplan's question trainer average: 60 - 65%

my lowest was 51% :imbar and highest was 60%, and i didn't do test 7.

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Specializes in OB/Gyn, Post Partum, Antepartum.

Congrats on passing boards.

I just took boards on 1/13 for the second time, and passed. The first time I did not used the saunders cd, but I feel that if I had the first time, I would have passed. I did the Saunders Cd. You are right the questions are not exactly like the onces on NCLEX, but it prepared me as to how to answer the questions. I definately recommend Saunders.

I have taken a Kaplan course for GRE prep and it was not very helpful to me. I felt it was a waste of my time. So I did not bother using it for the NCLEX.

I just think it depends on how you learn. I am an independent learner so sitting in the Kaplan classroom was not helping me. I needed hands on time by myself to understand what was going on at my own pace.

So I dont think that Kaplan or Saunders is better, I think it depends on the individual. Everyone learns differently, what works for you or me may not work for the next person.

Just my opinion

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Specializes in Telemetry and ER.

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I am just curious what did you do different this time that you did not do last time. Any advice would help us all. Thanks. and congrats on passing!!!!!!!

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Specializes in OB/Gyn, Post Partum, Antepartum.

Johnnrachel,

The first time I used books that has questions that were like the ones on the NCLEX, but the rationales were wrong. For instance I used the NCLEX cram book. The questions were like the ones on boards but the rationales were not helpful. This time I used the saunders cd and concentrated on why the answers were correct and why the other options were incorrect. I dont think it depends on what study aid you use, but how you use it.

People say that the saunders cd is too easy and that the questions were not like the questions on the nclex. The questions on suanders were not as hard as the questions on the kaplan cd, but to me it is just the point that you continue to answer questions. Then when you get those questions on nclex you will know what they are looking for.

Almost every single disease, immunization, herb, multiple answer question I had on NCLEX the first and the second time, were on the suanders cd. The cd help me even with the priority questions.

So what I did differently was used the cd the way it was meant to be used. To focus on the content and to know the types of questions and the answers they are looking for on the nclex.

Hope this helps

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