NCBSN vs ATI

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

So I failed my nclex :( So I am looking into new methods of studying since saunders did not work for me. I already payed for ATI since I had to for school but did not use the post graduation portion of the system because I disliked it. They suggested the 6 week plan for me. It's very time consuming as it has a lot of material and the tutor makes you send them answers to case studies etc.

I was looking into the ncbsn review course and saw that the three week course is only 50 bucks. After all the money I've spend during and after nursing school I think this seems reasonable. Is it super time consuming? It's not the time I care about, I am happy to dedicate time and effort to pass this exam, but I was just wondering if you felt like the course was worthwhile and less redundant than I feel like ATI is.

Thanks for the opinions!

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Do u think your weakness is content or is it strategy? I highly recommend kaplan. It worth every penny you pay. They have a very high 98% pass rate... they way they teach is failure is no option! Sorry u failed and I wish you the best!

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

NCSBN is a VERY intensive course with content and questions. I used it more for the questions than the content. I know cohorts who ONLY used it and passed the first time.

Find out what was below passing first, and go from there. Once you know what you need to cover for studying, then you can choose how long you want to study. NCSBN gives you a average amount of time per day that you need to study with the learning extension, depending on the weeks.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

Thanks for the suggestion. As much as I would love to try Kaplan, I cannot afford the $500. I was thinking that if I do not end up going with ATI or even if I do, that I can buy a kaplan book to practice questions.

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In all honesty, I found the ATI books much more helpful than the online component. The books are pretty generous in the teaching component which was easily 60% of my test (75q).

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Thanks for the suggestion. As much as I would love to try Kaplan I cannot afford the $500. I was thinking that if I do not end up going with ATI or even if I do, that I can buy a kaplan book to practice questions.[/quote']

The kaplan book for strategies is like 20 bucks and the course book that is content book is free on kindle. ATI has good strategies too. In your tutorial products or something lime that search and do "Nurse Logic" and "priority setting". Again Identify your weak areas maybe take a 75 question test and as you review the ones u got wrong tally if it was because of content or was because u didnt understand language. If its language u otta do strategies. If its content read priority tx and goals for most disease processes.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

Thanks for that. I plan to fully take advantage of all the ATI resources this time around since I did pay a good amount for it and my classmates that used it all passed. I am also going to get the kaplan book for strategies and the mosby's book for pharmacology. Do you think doing a combination of these things for six weeks or so is a good plan?

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Thanks for that. I plan to fully take advantage of all the ATI resources this time around since I did pay a good amount for it and my classmates that used it all passed. I am also going to get the kaplan book for strategies and the mosby's book for pharmacology. Do you think doing a combination of these things for six weeks or so is a good plan?

I suggest mosbys pharmacology memory notecards. Its a small pocket book but its the best thing cause it has pictures and mnemonics to help u remember the meds....

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Specializes in CMSRN.

I used Kaplan and ATI to prepare for the NCLEX. I didn't do all of the tutorials or use all of the Virtual ATI but we had a live review and I did all of the Live Review tests. I felt like going through those, as well as reading every rationale very carefully was a big help to me. I didn't do a lot of content review because I was pretty strong on that going in to review but I needed to make sure I understood the NCLEX questions as best as possible.

I would definitely wait for your results and see what areas to focus on. Good luck!

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