I just wanted to share my experience with the NCLEX-RN with all of you and hopefully this will help some! I passed with 86 questions. I graduated with a BS in nursing from an accelerated nursing program this May and took the NCLEX about 4 weeks later. I decided to go on vacation for a bit so this is why I pushed my test date back from 3 weeks to 4. After I got back I buckled down and studied. I would say I studied about 4 hours each day up until the test. I mostly used NCLEX-RN Mastery App, Kaplan (Qbank only, no Qtrainers), and Lippincott. I studied content for about a week and did questions for the next 3 weeks. I would recommend doing as many questions as you can before the exam hits. You need to think NCLEX style not nursing school style. Reviewing rationale also = reviewing content.
Here is a review of what I studied with/how I studied:
1) NCLEX-RN Mastery App- I think I payed $30 on it, but it was worth it. I always had my phone with me so it was easy to pull the app up and do a few questions at a time. They have awesome rationales as well... write them down if you get the answer wrong or even if you get it right and still want more clarification. Do as many questions as you can. Why I love this app so much is because it let's you put a "tag" on each question. You can tag them either with Know, Don't Know, or Somewhat Know and you can go through each category again and do those questions. It's broken down into the most important and most tested on categories on the NCLEX. Another great thing about this is they will give you double your money back if you don't pass the test and you used their app.
2) Kaplan (Qbank only, no Qtrainers). I used Kaplan the most.- I believe I payed $50 for the Qbank or $60 can't remember, but it was definitely not more than $70. I purchased the 1 month one and got a plethora of questions. You can choose the amount of questions you get and always take a test in test mode not the other mode... I think it's called practice or tutor mode, but I'm not sure. Practice/ tutor mode will show you the answer right after you answer the question and that's not how the NCLEX is. So, use the timed mode and look over rationale after. I started out doing 20 questions a day slowly building up to 50 and then 75 questions. I ended up doing two 75 question tests every day for the last 2 weeks. After every test I reviewed rationale for all the questions... even the ones I got right! You'll see a pattern form on how to solve certain questions/ work through them while looking at rationales. I noticed that even for the questions I got right I wasn't thinking NCLEX style, but Kaplan would teach me how to think the NCLEX way. After I finished all the questions in the Qbank my overall score was a 65%. I then went through and did all the questions I got wrong and reviewed rationale.
***I'm telling you right now to not get caught up on the scores at all. My practice test scores ranged from 50-85%. So, even though you'll read somewhere that Kaplan wants you to get above 60% on your tests don't get discouraged if you are below that because Kaplan questions are UPPER level questions. As long as you are getting about 1/2 of them right you are on the right track. Also, if you understand the rationale you are on the right track as well!!!! Remember these are upper level questions... Kaplan is difficult!
I feel the best way to study is with Kaplan though because it readies you for the upper level questions and if you are getting them right you are staying above the passing line. My NCLEX was very much like the Kaplan tests I took. For a breif summary of how the NCLEX works keep scrolling.
3) Lippincott Q & A Book: I never really used the book, just the CD in the back. The reason I did this was because I wanted to get used to taking a test on a computer. I would take paper tests any day over a computerized exam because you can underline things on paper and you can't do that on a computerized test. With that said I used this the least out of all the study tools. I think the reason I used it less was because I didn't really need content just questions. Lippincott gives wonderful rationales and a lot of content if you need it too. The CD though will not remember the questions that you already did so I did all the questions on the CD in tutor mode/ "the one that shows you the rationale after you answer it" mode just because that would be easier, for me at least, to go through questions. I recommend this for those who need a little more content, but use this along with Kaplan.
I did try the NCSBN online review course as well. This did not help me at all and they ended up giving me a full refund which was nice. The reason it didn't work for me was because the questions seemed to be worded very differently from Kaplan and NCLEX-RN Mastery and were in a sense easier. The wording was very confusing as well. This however is a good option for people who need content because this gives you a review class online to study with at your own pace. It has different modules, quizzes, and tests on each of the most tested categories on the NCLEX... it just wasn't for me. The program cost $50 for 3 weeks and you can pay more to have it longer as well.
How the NCLEX works: This test is called a comptuerized adaptive test. This means that the computer will give you questions depending on where you fall (below or above the passing standard/ line) to determine how competent you are. The computer will give you harder questions as you keep getting them right and easier questions if you get the hard questions wrong and then it'll go back up to harder questions if you got the easier ones right. Just think of a balance beam. This test is not about how many questions you get (people pass at 75 as much as they fail at 75 same goes for those who get 265, but I'll explain that later) it's how many of the harder questions you get right. The test starts off with easy quesitons then as you get them right the become harder and harder (usually the more SATA, analyzing, and prioritizing you get the better you are doing, but that's not always true). You are deemed competent by the computer when you can answer about 50% of the harder questions right. I read somewhere that at 60 questions the computer analyzes your competence level to the passing standard and determines how close you are to that and how many more questions you need. If you are way aboe the passing standard you pass and the exam shuts off, if you are way below the passing standard you fail and the exam shuts off, if you are hovering between pass and fail and are very close to the passing line/ fluctuating with it and the computer doesn't know if he/she can pass or fail you, he/she will keep asking you questions. So basically as long as you can get 50% of the harder questions right you are good to go as far as competency goes. I also read somewhere that if you do get all 265 you fluctuating below and above the passing standard for the whole exam and you need to get #264 right. It doesn't matter if you get 265 right because that's the one it looks at and if you don't get #264 right you'll be below the passing standard and it doesnt matter if you get 265 right or not, but if you get #264 right its vice versa.
Hope this helped some of you!! I am open to answering any questions you may have as well! Don't hesitate to ask!
