NCLEX advice from a first-time passer

[Seiya174]

Hello! I posted this in response to someone's question, and I thought it might be helpful to others :

I took the NCLEX on the July 13th and studied for about 4 days using only the Kaplan online trainers. They are VERY helpful, and I highly recommend them. I passed in 75 questions and to be honest I had planned on that happening. Even though when I took the exam I felt like i didn't know anything, the Kaplan questions really prepared me to make educated guesses, and I was so relieved when it turned off.

Kaplan questions are VERY much like the ones that you will encounter on the NCLEX. Just do ALL of the questions you can, whenever you can. Like while you're watching TV or something.

My only piece of advice is to be sure to read ALL of the rationales on the ones that you get wrong AND correct, and you will be ready in no time!!

The Kaplan instructor that my school hired told us that anything over a 60% is a good sign that you will pass. You should aim to be in the 67%-75% area it you can, though. Keep on doing them until you can consistently get those scores and you will be ready!

GOOD LUCK!

Matt

[linsmirn]

thanks for the advice but this is how i feel about the kaplan and hurst review, if you don't know your content you won't pass. if you studied for only 4 days and pass than give credit for the fact that you knew a lot going into the kaplan program. most people will need at least a month to study. i know classmates who took kaplan and right after went and took the test and fail, why because they were using the decision tree but didn't know the content. no amount of test taking strategies will help you pass the nclex if you don't know the material. i do recommend giving kaplan or hurst and whatever else is out there a chance but i also recommend saunders and la charity, and yes doing practice questions and reading the rationales.

congratulations on passing, and good luck on your job search.

[caliotter3]

Thanks for posting.

[jewls67]

Hello, I took the nclex rn three weeks ago and didn't pass so, my game plan is this....Well first, I was told that the hurst review is good and so is kaplan. So, I am taking the hurst review online and then will take the kaplan review online with that too. I am hoping that this is a good decision in taking both classes, but do it one at a time to absorb the materials.,lol! I am hoping and praying that I will be able to pass the second time :)! God bless you all! I love allnurses.com!

[linsmirn]

hello, i took the nclex rn three weeks ago and didn't pass so, my game plan is this....well first, i was told that the hurst review is good and so is kaplan. so, i am taking the hurst review online and then will take the kaplan review online with that too. i am hoping that this is a good decision in taking both classes, but do it one at a time to absorb the materials.,lol! i am hoping and praying that i will be able to pass the second time :)! god bless you all! i love allnurses.com!

i've heard great things about hurst; they really go into nursing content and not just test taking skills. i'm happy you are doing that one first, after hurst if you think you still need kaplan go ahead. i know people who have taken both and didn't pass. what i'm basically trying to say is when you take hurst make sure you pay attention, look things up you don't understand, take notes because i believe it's all you will need. if after hurst you still not too sure of your systems like, endocrine, respiratory, gi than go ahead and do kaplan if it makes you more comfortable.

i also failed the first time and planning on taking my second attempt in two weeks. the first time i didn't study so of course i failed with 265 near passing on everything. this time i'm using saunders, la charity and listening to the feuer review. i love saunders and feuer because it's a content review which is what i needed. with my first test, which i didn't study for, i was getting low 60's on my practice exams and sometimes in the 50's. after reviewing my content now i'm in the high 70's. i know people say that if you are getting 50' and 60's that's good, but that's not good enough for me. i also have been studying for 5 weeks 2-4 hours a day for 5 days a week; i do take time off for myself.

good luck

[jewls67]

thanks, I hope it all works out for me :) question for you, where can i get the feuer review?

[4Karrie2]

Hi,

I thought I would just chime in with a little clarification. The Kaplan Question Trainers are different from the Kaplan Strategies. The questions from the trainers are challenging and you can use the stategies to help you best answer them. The strategies do not help you learn content, but the questions in the trainers do. It's like a two-pronged approach to help pass the NCLEX.