NCLEX Prep Programs/Books

A program is not necessary, IMO. The chapter summary pages of your books will have a ton of useful information.

We used ATI throughout the program and we all passed... I can't guarantee that nobody used a supplemental program but I heard of none.

Would love to hear from others on their thoughts on Hurst vs Kaplan and other questions above. Thanks!

Hurst is great for content. It is easy to follow and covers a lot in a shot period of time. They tell you the 5th day material is just extra info like icing on a cake but if you go with Hurst make sure you review it too...You will need it. Kaplan is great for strategy and prioritizing. Between the two I got the most from Hurst.

"1. Kaplan is expensive - is it worth? Is it really the best program out there?

2. Hurst - less expensive but relatively new. Has anybody done it with success (or not)?

3. Any other programs?

4. Is a program necessary or can you achieve the same with the right combination of books? If so, suggestions of combinations?"

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The following is just my opinion and experience, so take that for what it is lol

1. I didnt do the Kaplan program, I got the book from Barnes and Nobles for 50 bucks. Just as good

2. I got the Hurst book again at B&N for ~50$. Good for fundamentals review, positioning, S&S of different things, some very very good review, but I wouldnt say the questions were comparative to my Nclex.

3. NClex 3500 (Free) was useful, helped alot, especially with training for SATA And alt format questions. the NCBSN program was good, (3 weeks) Had VERY HARD questions, about equal if not harder than the high level questions I ran into. All in all I would highly recommend the kaplan book, NCBSN, and Nclex 3500. I did not use Saunders or Laclarity? Just Kaplan(book), 3500, Prep U, Hurst (Book), Davis/Ohmans review book, and anything else I could get my hands on lol.

4. I did not use any program, I just did thousands of prep questions from various sources. 7500 of them. You should know most of what you need after graduating nursing school, you just need to learn how to understand the questions, and generally by reading rationales you can pick up a good chunk of the odds and ends you didnt get during your education/clinical experience.

Keep in mind that the NClex is different for EVERYBODY. My friends Nclex was totally different than mine. I had a bunch of maternity/pedi, infection control/safety. I passed in 75. He however had a cartload of Holistic alternative medicine stuff, and he passed in 265. (He also had miles better grades than I did through nursing school).

I wish ya the best of luck, but remember to just drown yourself in questions from different sources and READ your rationales. :)

If I can be of any further help, just let me know.

Thank you all and thank you jdl1982 for taking the time to write such a detailed response. It is so very helpful!

Quick question for you: when you said you used NCBSN - do you mean just read what they recommend to do before/after test? Or is there a practice resource on that site that I dont see?

Also, what is the prep U? I went on their site but they just list books by topic...

Thank you!