Opinions on Kaplan NclexRN prep

[Cecegirl1030]

Hi !

I would really love some feedback from nurses who have taken NCLEX. I am preparing for my boards and decided to use Kaplan, however I am having an awful time with it!!! My school used ATI and HESI which I did really well with and scored at or above national average for all standardized exams.

Now with Kaplan I am scoring in the 50-60s !!! I have seen similar questions but Kaplan is claiming different answers. According to Kaplan their questions are the MOST like NCLEX, how true is this?? And what do you think of the decision tree they teach you?? At this point all Kaplan has done for me is confuse me, should I throw in the towel?

Example: A question on Kaplan asks for the most beneficial intervention for decreasing pain during an acute attack of gout. Based on similar questions I chose bed rest, Kaplans answer is encourage partial weight baring. All resources I have found since state bed rest.

[Cecegirl1030]

Another example: Priority when dealing with a physically assaultive client. I chose clear immediate area of other clients to prevent harm based on what I had learned from other ATI and HESI. Wrong. Kaplan says restore the clients self control .

I was always taught safety in nursing practice is first.

[Anaeli]

Hello,

I agree with you in everything you wrote. It does confuse in some of their questions, no doubt. Me personally, I did not enjoy Kaplan. Their strategy seems old as the questions are. I remember when I bought the self paced course in 2015 most of their videos were from 2008! And the questions as well. I know that nursing does not change, but you have to update and add new questions every year if you want to mantain the high price and the standard.

I failed twice Nclex. Being an foreign educated nurse, graduated in 1996, was no easy at all. I used to work in east Europe and U.K., and when I moved down to USA I found nursing so different. I did say that nurses are doctors in here.

My first attempt: I was studying only Saunders comprehensive review which is a very good book for the content. I did all their questions plus 3000 more from their Q and A review book.

I failed with 153. Few months later I tried again, this time studying Kaplan self paced course, watched all the videos, plus q bank and La charity. Failed again with 265. I am doing well I said to myself:) At least I failed with 265:) trying to keep me motivated.

This time I bought Uworld. Excellent resource!!! Their rationales are different and explained in a way that makes you understand without refer to any book or review. Kaplan might be good, but it did not work for me. Their rationales are short, they would not explain why is not a good answer. I did not find any similarities between Kaplan and the actual Nclex like I did in between UWorld and the nclex.

Cut the long story short, I don't want to discourage you regarding Kaplan. I share with you my story and my opinion. Some of the students said here that Kaplan is good if you know the content, hm... I would say not only Kaplan. You have to know the content before you start answering questions from Q and A books, qbanks, etc.

I wish you good luck and keep in touch in here. I am testing in January.

Take care!

[Cecegirl1030]

Thank you!!! That is very helpful! Good luck in your studies and your re take! I'll purchase U word and hope to take the boards at the end of this month

[ak3991]

I used the Kaplan Q-bank program last year when preparing for the NCLEX and can hands down say it was worth every penny. We did ATI in school too and I passed all of those no problem, so I was discouraged when I started the Kaplan program as a supplemental study aid and was making 50's on every test. I did every single question though and powered through just to say I tried and I'm so glad I did. The NCLEX was not exactly like the Kaplan questions, but definitely more similar than the ATI questions. I passed the NCLEX the first time with 75 questions thanks to Kaplan.