Passed NCLEX in 75 with very low Kaplan/UWORLD scores

Published Jul 10, 2018

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Hi, I just wanted to share my story of passing the NCLEX with very low Kaplan and UWORLD scores in order to provide some insight/reassurance to those studying. I graduated this past May from a BSN program with a 95-99% NCLEX pass rate the first time. I was never top of my class, more so 30th/100 students I would say. I have never been a good test taker and definitely have some test anxiety. My school provided us with Kaplan which I somewhat liked and I purchased UWORLD monthly subscription for $100 which was definitely my best decision. I did the entire UWORLD q-bank with an average of 52% and then did most of the questions I got incorrect. I would hardly ever get about a 55% on UWORLD tests and was often in the 40's. I did most of the q-trainers on Kaplan and scored right around a 50% on all of them. Some of my q-trainers were in the 40's. I did 800 Kaplan q-bank questions with a definitive average of 50%. My readiness exam was a 53%.

The day BEFORE my exam, I took 2 75-question tests from Kaplan q-bank. I scored a 59% and a 50% on those respectively (and that was the day before testing!!). I went into NCLEX super nervous but honestly found the content manageable. I saw topics directly from the NCLEX that I had previously read about in UWORLD rationales...like straight from UWORLD almost verbatim. My studying consisted of doing straight-up practice questions. From April 2018-July 4th 2018, I had around 2500-3000 questions under my belt. This was my only form of studying (and understanding rationales) that I did. I also memorized lab values. I never opened a textbook or tried to memorize pharm information (which is my weakest).

My NCLEX consisted of ~30 SATA, 1 math, 2 put-in-order, 2 pharm and the rest priority/delegation/other multiple choice questions. The questions were so similar to all of my practice questions that I wasn't even nervous/confused during the test. The exam shut off at 75 questions and I left feeling "just ok." I definitely was not super confident that I passed but I also was pretty convinced I did not totally fail it. Sure enough, I found out I passed in 75 today. All I can say is do thousands of questions! Understand them and keep creating tests from q-banks. I hope I can provide some insight to those struggling with low scores on Kaplan/UWORLD. I was so discouraged for most of my studying but came out on the other side almost with ease!