low score in kaplan. suggest me pls

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Hello Everyone,

I need a suggestion please. I am giving my NCLEX-RN exam on july 28th 2011. I have been studying more than 5 weeks. We started kaplan since I joined the college and I have completed all the Q-bank- i had around 50-60%, DXtest-51% and readiness 57%. I did Q trainner 1-2,3,4 and 5. I have 60s in 1and 2 and 50s on 3 and 4. But when i gave 5th, i got 49%. I was really dissapointed with my result. When i reviewed, i found that I ended up getting 2 answers and pick up wrong answer at the end. I always look at the time and give test. I feel like i have test anxiety. So, would you suggest me to reschedule the date of my exam or not. I still feel like i know the content, I read all the kaplan book once and I am reviewing med again coz i keep on forgetting. I am also worried becz what if i get more from one part where i am weak.

I am studing almost like 10hours a day. I have been reading posting about low score in kaplan and passing the NCLEX. But still I am worried coz i dont wana make it too far. my thinking is i will give test 6 and If i get less than 60s i will reschedule exam a week later.

Pls suggest me and comment how should i study these few days. I would be glad to hear abt recent test taker so that i would have less anxiety.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Moved to the NCLEX forum

Plenty of threads discussing this

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Do the Qtrainer 6 and 7 and take your time, see how you do and go from there. You have to feel comfortable and confident with the information you know, if you don't than maybe you schould change the test date. Also studying 10 hours is probably one of the problems. Nothing you learn will stick in your mind after 10hrs of studying because you will be so tired. Try and study from now on for no more tha 4 hours a day, I study between 2-4hrs a day including practicing questions.

I know some who have gotten low scores on kaplan and still passed the exam so its up to you. But I always say no amount of test taking strategies will help you pass the exam if you dont know the content. So be honest and ask yourself "Do I know the endocrine, respiratory, GI, GU, and Renal system". If the answer is no, reschedule the exam.

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I scored around the same scores with my Kaplan Review Course Question Trainers. I ended up getting 265 questions on NCLEX and passed it. One thing I did do was review over the rationales. So if you are feeling a little discouraged, review the rationales and take the tests again. I took one of them again and of course scored 94% the second time...but it just helps a lot...or for me, it did.

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An educator at a hospital told me that Kaplan aims very high (scoring 65 or greater) and that scoring in the 50s is a good indicator of passing as well. I was freaked out at first but then calmed down. I was scoring in the low 50s then started moving into high 50s to low 60s, occasionally 70s. I scored 58 on trainer 6 and 59 on trainer 7. I did most of the Q bank questions and always reviewed the rationale (most important). You made it through nursing school-you can do this. Studying 10 hours per day is not profitable and only stresses you out more. Cut way back. I was even advised to take a day off from studying each week, and not to study at all the day before NCLEX, just relax. So, I went to the movies, shopped, relaxed. Remember that you will NEVER know every single question. No one will ever know the answers to every question. This test is for minimal competancy. I took the NCLEX last week and it reminded me of the Kaplan questions. I took my time, got 91 questions and the computer shut off. Praise God I passed! You CAN do this! :yeah:

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Thank you so much to all for the comment. And congrat to those who passed. When i think about rescheduling exam, i dont think it will help me again coz a week really doesnt matter. I read the content and I know the content. The only problem is finding the right answer between two and I change my answer a lot. Though there is saying, first instinct is always right. I do believe also but I can't help myself. When I gave test 5, there were 20 of those from correct to incorrect and when i reviewed it, I knew where the mistake i did while rationalizing abt the test. But, still I want wait till coming sunday to decide. This forum has been helpful a lot for me. This is my 2nd facebook and I grab a lot of ideas from here.

Again thanks a lot, I think I would stop studying that much from today just reviewing the kaplan that I did.

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Maybe you should cut down from 10 hours of study a day. Or break it up. Give your brain more frequent breaks so that you "toughen" it up, rather than "exhaust" it in marathon study sessions. Good luck.

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Specializes in Med/Surg Nurse, Homecare, Visiting Nurse.

I studied two hours a day. I did all of the Qtrainers and my scored ranged from 53-65%. The NCLEX-RN was much like doing the Qtrainers, it's a pretty random test. I really don't think your going to get every single thing you study. If I didn't know an answer on the exam I would choose the best one and keep moving on. I really didn't want to spend too much time on one question, I passed with 75 questions.

Keep doing questions and review your rationales and take your exam, you truly will never feel well prepared.

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i bought the Kaplan strategies book and did the practice test in the cd-rom. the questions on the cd are way more hard than in the book itself. i ended up getting a 71% for 180 questions. Anyone know if that's considered good? I also did Hurst. And I got a 71% and 66% on their Q review. Is that good too?

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Hey I just want to give you some input as well. I took Kaplan and did the classes online. I did not do all of the Q T's but 1-4 I was freaking out a bit becasue I was getting 59's on all of them. I did alot of the Q Banks and I actually got a 73 on one and the very next day I got a 58. I would make sure ( just like others said) to go and make sure you understand all of the rationals. I used Saunders to look up info. that I felt I was not finding in Kaplan. I ended up taking my Test on Thrusday. I felt like I wanted to push it back forever and last minute I decided to push it up by a whole week! :eek: Well it stopped at 75 and I found out I passed Today!!! :nurse:

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hello everyone,

thanks for the suggestions that you all gave me. finally i got the result that i passed my board exam. i had 265 questions and didn’t take any break. i stayed straight 6hrs for the exam and didn’t know the time went so fast. but when i came out from the exam hall, i felt that i failed. i wasn’t worried that much because i was tired and i wasn’t been able to sleep other 2 last nights. i couldn’t stop studying even last day and that morning. after i came from the exam, i tried the pearson vue trick trying to register again. i got the message that i can't register again and felt that i passed. today i got the official result that i passed.

i studied for 10 hours daily for 6 weeks and took break only on july 4th. i finish studying kaplan and i reviewed q-trainer from 1-5 2 times, finished all q bank, studied my notes that i made during kaplan review, other notes that i found in internet. still i felt that i wasn’t ready for the test. i had 59 on q-trainer 7 and 54 on 6 but 60’s on 1 and 2. i had more than 50% from psych and i was so disappointed with that becz most sata questions were from psych esp therapeutic communications. i saw many topics which i never learned in nursing school as well as in kaplan. i had almost 30 sata and most of them were from psych.

any way at end, i passed. i am glad that i made it.

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Congratulations!

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