Passed NCLEX Second Try with Low Kaplan Scores

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I am writing this post for two reasons. 1) To give God all the glory. He is the only reason I passed NCLEX. 2) To encourage people who may have low Kaplan scores like I did.

I graduated nursing school December 2016. I took NCLEX for the first time January 10, 2017. I did not take any review courses. The resources I used were a Saunders book and a Kaplan book. I did not get much sleep the night before the exam and my confidence as not very high. When the exam continued to give me questions after 75, I freaked. I tried to tell myself to calm down but this was very difficult. Test anxiety is a real thing. I took all 265 questions. I knew immediately that I had failed. I did the PVT later that day and got the bad pop-up. A few weeks later I got my Candidate Performance Report. I was "near passing" in all categories. I felt like I was an idiot. I felt so stupid as I saw all my nursing friends pass on their first try.

I decided I would not take the chances again. I paid the steep price for the NCLEX self-paced course. Their videos are so helpful. They have an entire library of content videos. They walk you through questions step-by-step. They also teach you how to be confident and how to keep your stress level as low as possible during the test.

These are my Kaplan scores:

Diagnostic: 60

I did not take Q-trainers 1 and 2

Q-trainer 3: 54

Practice Test: 80 (this was shocking)

Q-Trainer 4: 54

Q-Trainer 5:55

Q-Trainer 6: 53

Q-Trainer 7: 58

Sample Test 1: 56

Sample Test 2: 52

Readiness Test: 62

My scores were not the lowest I've seen but they definitely were not the highest. Kaplan wants you to consistently get scores in the 60s and I just couldn't do that. Please, do not lose confidence if you can't get up to those scores.

I retook the NCLEX March 8, 2017. Again, it kept giving me questions after 75. And again, I began to panic. I prayed and prayed and prayed. I begged God to let me finish soon and pass. My computer shut off around 120. I had 26 SATA and only 1 med question. A few days later I got my quick results back and PASSED!! A few days after that my license was posted on the board of nursing.

Work your hardest, PRAY, and make sure you talk yourself up. I know it's weird to talk positively about yourself but it really does work. It helps build confidence. You can do this!!

"I can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me" --Philippians 4:13

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Congrats on passing! Did kaplan helps you were questions similar to NCLEX questions?

Thank you and congrats!

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Could you please elaborate what kind of SATA question did you get? How difficult were they? I keep missing on SATA questions. Did you get a lot of prioritization and delegation questions? how important to memorize lab values?

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I felt that the Kaplan questions were very similar to the ones I saw on NCLEX. I tried out the Qbank before buying the full course. I suggest getting the full course. I was not doing well on the Qbank questions but once I finished the course the questions seemed pretty easy to me.

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I had a few SATA that were more recall than application or analyze questions. I'm not allowed to tell you exactly what questions I had. I had some that were pretty straightforward and others that took some more thought and critical thinking skills. My advice would be to take a deep breath when you see a SATA. I tend to freak out when I see them. It helps to look at each answer option as a true or false question. Good luck!!

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I have the full course i failed with u world twice with 265 questions and i am listening to content videos also i go to the content book if i need more information about a topic.

Thank you!

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I hope Kaplan helps! I think the Decision Tree is really what helped me slow down and answer each question to the best of my ability. The Decision Tree helps you think through the question even if you have no idea what the answer is. Good luck!!!

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Sorry to hear Uworld didn't work for you because I credit a large portion of my success to Uworld. If you are having trouble with content Hurst is the way to go. But if you need test taking strategies Kaplan will definitely help with that. I only found the Kaplan decision tree helpful.

This what I did:

3 Week's ā NCLEX – Hurst live review, Qbank(77/125, 69/125, 77/125), specialty videos.

2 Week's ā NCLEX – 1 Hurst video, 30-40?(U-world), review, repeat. Max 4hr daily.

1 Week ā NCLEX – Uworld study mode 30-40?, 30 min break repeat. I would build up to 75? Max 4hr daily.

Make sure you do something every day that makes you happy. For me that was skating with my dog and I would do this before and after my study sessions.

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Thank you for your tips! i have done Hurst review before and I did u world and i failed with 265 questions all near passing! i feel i am lack in test strategies more than contents... there's no way to know everything but i know what 2 weeks of fresh nurse need to know :( like hurst says!!

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I haven't tried it but the director of my nursing program suggested S.O.A.R

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Congrats on passing!

Which state did you take it in, if I may ask?

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Thanks! I took it in Missouri.

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