Passed in 75 on NCLEX with Kaplan

[MissRN2016]

I recently passed the NCLEX in 75 questions with NCSBN learning extension, Kaplan, NCLEX Mastery app, and UWorld. First, I'm going to give a brief overview of each tool that I used and then I'll talk more about my actual NCLEX exam towards the end.

NCSBN Learning Extension

I did the 3 week program. Initially, it will give you a pretest to gear where your baseline knowledge and testing skills are. Once you finish the pretest, you can kind of see where your weak areas are. They have different content review material for each section, such as "Management of Care," "Infection Control," "Pharmacology," and etc. In the modules, they give you information that you have to read and takes hours to complete. They also have resources if you want to learn more in depth about the subject. After each module, you take the post test to see what you have learned. They give you rationales too, which are good. Once you have completed all of the modules, they have hundreds of questions you can use. Again, it has rationales for each question. To be completely honest, by the time I took the NCLEX, I wasn't sure if the NCSBN learning extension was too helpful. I don't think it teaches you the strategy that the NCLEX wants you to learn. So even though this was somewhat helpful, I don't think I would have passed the NCLEX with this alone. I scored around 40s-70s on the post tests, and I didn't finish about 200 questions. That's just to give you an idea how I did on it.

NCLEX Mastery App

I seriously loved this app because it was so convenient. I could use it whenever or wherever, and I didn't need wifi/data for it to work. You can put your phone on airplane mode and it'll still work. I had an overall 57% correct rate for all of the questions. I think there was around 1400 questions, and I didn't finish around 300 questions. They have practice tests on there, which I scored around 60s-80s on them. They have great rationales, as well as other resources. It was helpful for me because it allowed me to constantly me in the mentality of doing questions even when I wasn't home. It was a great app, but I don't think I would have passed solely on the use of this app. To me, the NCLEX mastery app was a little easier than the actual NCLEX exam. They have a lot of knowledge-based questions, which isn't considered "passing" questions for the NCLEX. You need more analysis/application questions. They have some of those, but just beware that they have a lot of knowledge-based questions on the app as well.

UWorld

Okay - this was a last minute tool that I used. I didn't use it religiously. I had my friend's account information and used it on and off for the last two weeks before the test. To me, UWorld had very difficult questions and fantastic rationales. However, I didn't have enough time to fully explore this resource. I couldn't tell you if this app was truly all too helpful because I didn't use it that often. *Sorry* I had a friend who passed in 75 questions with this app, but I also had a friend who failed in 265 with this app. Everyone is different on how they learn and what's helpful for them.

Kaplan (My Holy Grail)

I truly believe that I passed the NCLEX in 75 questions all thanks to Kaplan. I did the Kaplan Qbanks and Trainer tests scoring from mid 50s to mid 60s. Apparently Kaplan wants you to score around 65 on the Qbank and Trainer exams. I didn't do that too often. I scored more in the mid 50s. Kaplan said that the Trainer 7 exam was supposed to be the most like NCLEX and I made a 59 on it. For the Kaplan RN readiness exam, I made a 63 on it, which was a good indicator because it was close to 65 that Kaplan wanted you to be at. Overall, I felt as though Kaplan didn't have as great of rationales as UWorld or NCLEX Mastery app, but it helped me think the way NCLEX wanted me to think. The strategy they taught really worked for me. I was very skeptical at first and felt like it was a gimmick. I thought that more content review would have been better, but it wasn't. There was no way a person could know everything about nursing. Kaplan enabled me to learn the content that was most important. Kaplan also looked very similar to the NCLEX so it made me feel a little more comfortable taking the NCLEX. It felt like I was just taking another Kaplan Qbank exam. The questions on the NCLEX was very similar in difficulty to the NCLEX questions. Some questions even seemed as though it was on Kaplan but just reworded differently. So the content material was pretty much the same to me. Out of all the resources I used, I would recommend Kaplan over all of them.

My NCLEX exam

I had 75 questions. 25 Select All That Apply. I think 3-4 questions were where you have to put the selections in order. Maybe 4 pharmacology questions. Lots of priority questions. I didn't get much delegation questions, and no math questions. I took it in 2 hours. The key to me was taking my time. Sometimes I read questions too fast and incorrectly interpret what it is asking me. If you're not like me, then it's okay to go through them fast. I have a friend who passed and finished 75 questions in 45 minutes. People are all different. You just kind of have to figure out what's best for you. Everyone I know said the test was vague. To me, it felt very specific. You will always feel indifferent about the exam because no matter what tool you use, it still doesn't 100% mirror the NCLEX. It's going to be worded differently. You're going to feel unsure about the questions and answers. You just have to try your best. Do NOT over think the questions. Read it on a more superficial perspective. Say "yes" or "no" in your head. "Does this make sense?" Use ABCs (Airway, Breathing, Circulation). Even if the answer sounds good, don't choose it because you don't know if the answer is right or wrong. Choose the answer that you can relate the most to. Chances are, the answers that seem off the wall are distractor answers. So go with what you know! You know more than you think. And if you fail the exam, it's okay. A lot of people fail, but it doesn't make them any less of a nurse than those who pass on the first time. Sometimes certain study tools just don't work out for that person. Try using another study tool. Just be confident in yourself, and anything is possible!! :) YOU CAN DO IT! Have faith in yourself. I will say that the next 48 hours after the exam feels like forever. Do NOT do the Pearson Vue Trick - it may or may not work. You don't want to risk the chances of losing $200 if you passed, but PV allowed you to re-register. They won't give you a refund. However, you can check your Board of Nursing to see if your name is on the list of active RN licenses. But remember BON operate on business hours. So I took my exam on Thursday, but my license didn't post until Monday. I was still able to see my score because Pearson Vue posted my exam score 48 hours after my exam regardless if it was the weekend or not. I found out I passed before my RN license was posted. Being patient can be very difficult, but it will all work out in the end.

Good luck to all of you!! I hope you find this helpful :)