Passed NCLEX first try in 75 questions. Study plan/Kaplan grades/PVT

Published Jun 30, 2015

11 Posts

I took my NCLEX Saturday, found out my results exactly 48 hours on Monday to the dot that I ended my test, I PASSED in 75 questions! I came to this board multiple times weeks prior to my test with so much anxiety looking for some advice, so I decided if I passed I'd share my experience and my Kaplan grades.

I graduated early May, throughout nursing school we had to participate in ATI, I never performed too well on them, usually level 2 or 1 I would get. Towards the end of our last semester we had to take the ATI Predictor, I scored around a 65, it told me I had an 84% chance of passing the Nclex on the first try. During the month of May I was a little lazy I hadn't began studying for the NCLEX yet, I know some people who began studying and doing questions during nursing school but I hadn't, I didn't have time! But the day after our class graduation our school made us participate in the LIVE ATI review, I found it helpful, refreshed my memory of some things. Once this was over I took the month of May off. When June 1st hit I began my 4 day live Kaplan review, on that same day I received my ATT to test, I signed up for June 27, I only had 26 more days to test! And with receiving my ATT code I wanted to share 3 weeks had gone by & i hadn't heard anything. I heard a girl in my school called up & they emailed her the code shortly after. This is actually what I did, I didn't wait for my code to come in the mail, I called the Pearson extension my school had given me and within 20 minutes I received my ATT code.

But back to Kaplan, sorry for rambling but I wanted to share my whole experience & maybe help someone! I will be honest, during my Kaplan course I kind of thought it wasn't helpful, I was like all we are doing is questions, felt rushed, I thought there would be a little content or medications we would go over. But once the course ended and I started the other trainers & Q bank I realized kaplan really was helpful, a great tool, and helped me learn how to really answer questions. Also, the NCLEX was very similar to Kaplan questions & format. The screen even is identical. I think Kaplan helped me the most. I did all of their trainers and 50% of their qbank, I ran out out of time as I only had 3 weeks to study. With the Q bank I would do anywhere from 50-100 questions a day. I usually did 75 questions or two blocks of 50 questions. Its important to go over your test, I cant stress that enough. I kept a notebook where I wrote all the rationales down, even if I had gotten them right, I found this really helped me remember. I will share with you my trainer grades. On Q bank I averaged 60%, I didn't do that good on Kapaln, its tough but really prepared me for the nclex and I passed with 75 questions! My Q bank scores ranged from 48-67%. Let me tell you where that 48% came from, two days before the test anxiety set in bad, I was freaking out, starting over thinking & as a result my scores were going down. Relax, over thinking will get the best of you! Here are my scores:

Trainer 4A: 62%

Trainer 5A: 55%

Trainer 6B: 51%

Trainer 7B: 55%

Sample 1: 60%

Sample 2: 52%

Sample 3: 83% and I never got to sample 4

As as you can see I never really got that 65% that Kaplan wanted, but I did always remediate my tests and wrote everything down to drill it into my head! I also want to share that the day after Kaplan was over I realized I wanted something more with content review, I signed up for the online Hurst review. I used Hurst for their videos, and Kaplan for their questions. Hurst was really good with little details I had forgotten, and made me understand things that I didn't get as easily in nursing school. Things that Hurst refreshed me on actually popped up on the Nclex. Hurst focuses more on core content but Hurst comes with questions as well, I didn't do them. I definitely recommended both companies if you can do both, but if I had to choose one I would pick Kaplan, I think their questions really prepared me. The NCLEX made me really anxious but it was nothing that I had never seen before on Kaplan.

Now with all that review over, it was test day! I found the NCLEX to be very much like Kaplan I said, it was rough, made me think! I kept track, I got 25 select all that apply, 5 drag and drop, 2 exhibit questions, and one picture! Lots of priority & delegation, I also had a couple medication questions, even in the form of select all that apply. I had no med calculation questions, no Peds, no OB, no Psych! I couldn't believe it, peds & OB were my worst subjects. When I hit question 75 I took a deep breathe hit next & couldnt believe the test shut off. It took me an hour & 15 minutes. I left that test center feeling like I failed! The select all that apply were a little easier then Kaplans but I never did well on Kaplans Select all that apply or drag & drop. I was so sure that I did so bad, there was no hope it shut off at 75! I will point out Kaplan tends to repeat certain medications & diseases in their questions, those meds & diseases that kaplan kept repeating is what a lot of my questions focused on the nclex.

Now I know this is very controversial but I am just sharing my personal experience, I got very tempted and did the Pearson vue trick. I tried it one hour after my test and about four times later that day getting the good pop up, I also tried it 24 hours after. They say your test gets graded twice, once by the computer immediately after and then manually by 24 hours. Pearson recently changed their "trick". It used to be if when you tried to re-register & it took you to the credit card page you failed. Now, everyone gets brought to the credit card page, it just maters what happens after you put your credit card in & hit submit what happens. When I hit submit a red triangle popped up stating, "Our records indicate that you have recently scheduled this exam. Another registration cannot be made at this time". Every time I hit submit my computer would stay on step 2 stating this. Apparently if it takes you to step 3, taking your credit card it means you failed. People say this is not 100% accurate, I'm just sharing my personal experience.

If it wasn't for the trick I would have 100% thought I failed, but I still didnt totally believe it. But 48 hours on the dot of when I finished my test I purchased the quick result for $7.95, I passed! I couldnt believe it, I have never been so relieved!

Bottom line, I studied for 3 weeks, taking a day off here & there, I think 3-4 weeks of hard studying is sufficient. Between Kaplan questions, going over my test & watching Hurst videos I studied for about 7-8 hours a day. My only tools were Kaplan & Hurst, didn't use anything else. You all can do it, just relax, breathe, and believe in yourself! You got through nursing school, you can make it through the nclex!