passed! using only kaplan

[RN-joy]

this is going to be a LONG post but i want to write out as much advice as i can

took the exam last friday (8/15) and found out with quick results (49 hours later) on sunday (8/17) that i passed in 85 questions in 2 hours! pvt worked for me. i had a little of every topic. i got lucky with only about 8 SATA, 2 drag and drops, 1 ekg, and about 5 drug questions. i was thankful to only get a few SATA but at the same time worried because most testers get a lot of those. majority questions were growth and development, priority patient, delegation, infection control, and therapeutic communication

i only used kaplan to study for about a month. i took the first 4 qtrainers without reviewing and was only getting 47-52 highest. i realized content was my weak area so for the first few weeks i watched all of the kaplan review videos and took my own notes. if you choose to do this, the kaplan videos are EXTREMELY long and boring but i made myself use them. i devoted 2 days to each topic and went in order of my weakest to strength areas. so for example first two days i watched all of the videos for physiologic integrity, read over my notes, and then took qbank questions for that section only to see how much i was retaining and understanding. i didn't have a specific number of hours i studied i just made sure to do all of the videos and questions for that section in 2 days (took 2 only because i divided out my time based on the month i had). i reviewed rationales for all right and wrong answers and googled anything in the question i didn't understand. i also made sure to recognize whether i was getting the question wrong because i didn't know what the question was asking me or because i didn't know the content still. i didn't look at the ebook guide at all but from glancing over it the videos have the same information just without a lot of important details. personally though i was not retaining anything just reading. i learn better when i watch/write my own notes/then review them. i also realized that even though there was a lot more information in the book there was no way i was going to remember everything so i focused on knowing the big picture - which the videos went over. i also only focused on one section at a time because i was getting confused just trying to go over a little of every topic each day. but know what works best for you to study--if its watching videos or reading books cover to cover, etc

about a week before the exam i finished with the videos and did the qtrainers 5,6, and 7 (i did them each a day apart so for the day in between i would spend going over all of the answers) which i scored 65, 67, and 61 on. i also did the 4 sample nclex tests (56, 63, 83, 32- the last test is the alternate question test which i freaked out about on my low score but reading the posts on here most people get around the same score so don't worry). finished q bank with overall 60%. 3 days before the test i did the 2 nclex practice 150 question tests on ati which was provided by my school and got 76-80 on them. they were a good review of basic questions. by the end of it i had a lot of written notes and ran out of time/energy to read over all of them so i just looked at my weak areas. for me i scored lowest in physiologic integrity and health promotion and maintenance so i looked over those notes. i also looked over infection control because that is an important topic

-kaplan strategies were a little confusing for me but i did try to use them for every question - mostly just the first and last step being can i figure out what this question is asking me and then looking at each of the answer choices how does this relate to the question/topic. whenever i was stuck on a question i would try to rephrase it in my own words. knowing when you needed to assess or do something (implement first) based on the question and remembering airway/breathing/circulation/neuro/safety helped also. remember that acute cases are more important than chronic. if you get a question such as this patient has ESRD which of these is the nurse worried about: high BP, high BUN, decreased LOC, etc....think it through. which of these choices would you expect with ESRD and which would you not. for delegation questions it really helped to remember the strategy that RNs do assess/teach/unstable pts, LPNs ONLY get stable patients with expected outcomes, and UAPs can only get standard, unchanging procedures like vitals/enemas/etc. RNs always do initial teaching about anything (esp preop and before discharge) but LPNs can reinforce teaching. RNs only do the admission vitals. the therapeutic techniques helped also (no WHY questions, no yes/no, if you have two answer choices that are both right but one is therapeutic ie: speaks with a feeling tone choose that one) Generally you won't call the doctor first unless it is an emergency situation or you can't assess/implement first. I also got confused about the order of doing things such as do you give oxygen first or position first but doing questions i noticed that it is situation specific. For example if a pregnant woman in labor is having late decelerations you want to stop the oxytocin first and then position her on her left side. for autonomic dysreflexia you would position the patient in fowlers before anything. when you're reviewing pay attention to topics that come up a lot and especially positioning (how you would position a patient in certain situations)

-2 days before the exam i had planned to spend reviewing but i had terrible anxiety and almost rescheduled my date. i spent the day crying really but in a way i knew it was good for me. a lot of people fail because their anxiety gets to them so i think letting it out and thinking all the possible bad thoughts then and only then helped me be calm, though still anxious, on test day. the only review i did the day before was to read through the 35 page study guide floating around on here. i am the person who spent the last night before all of my nursing exams cramming and not sleeping and it was hard not to do this but i think you really shouldn't do that for the nclex. even the day of i did no review. i think the last day or two should be spent focusing on alleviating your anxiety and getting yourself in the mindset that you CAN pass this test...i think nclex is part knowing content/strategy/controlling you're anxiety. but that's just what worked for me

-no one feels confident going into it and there really is no way to know everything. even with all of my review i still got asked topics and questions that i'd never heard of. that is ok! i decided to go through with my exam because of how my scores had progressed to where they needed to be. even after doing all that review and then the last 3 qtrainers there were topics that i thought i didn't know or remember but you'll be surprised how much you actually retain and able to pick answers. also when i went over the qtrainers if there were big things i forgot (like what happens with hyperkalemia for example) i went over that from my notes

-take breaks during your review- even if it is only an hour or two. the first few days i was really into studying but after the first week i already felt myself getting burned out. don't force yourself if you get to this point - relax for a little and then get back to it

-i deleted my fb during this whole time. i realized i was getting more anxious seeing how many of my friends had already passed and had jobs and hating myself for waiting so long to take it. focus on yourself only! i told myself it doesn't matter how long it takes you to get there as long as you get there

-i went into the exam pretending that it was just another kaplan practice test. also i know how important it is and what if you fail and all of those negative thoughts...but it is JUST A TEST. you've taken a lot of those. forget about the pressure. IT IS JUST A TEST. i told myself this multiple times. whenever i started feeling really anxious, i stopped and said to myself 10 times i will pass the nclex i will pass the nclex...and took a deep breath after. it worked to refocus myself. don't panic pick answers!

-make sure you review to understand not just memorize! for example addisons/cushings can cause hypo/hyperglycemia but do you know why. i realized a big reason i was so poor on content was because i studied for tests in nursing school memorizing facts instead of understanding the process

-SATA was my biggest fear. even though i only had a few of these i got asked questions on topics I had no idea what it was and others I knew the topic but the way the answer choices were worded confused me. make sure you know what the question or topic is and then go through the answer choices- is this true or false. rephrase it in other words if you don't understand, and once you decide something is false don't second guess yourself

-i did listen to all of the pharm videos and took notes from kaplan but this is the only section i ended up not reviewing my notes. i only got generic names on nclex so definitely know these. there were a few drugs i noticed came up on practice questions a lot so those are the only ones i remembered (ie: nph/regular insulin, digoxin, lithium, dilantin, lasix...know what they do, side effects, and therapeutic levels) otherwise i tried to remember drug classes (ie: MAOIs- don't take tyramine) and basic rules that applied to most drugs (most drugs cause photosensitivity...take most with food or in the morning..never use alcohol...)

-for health and promotion focus on knowing what is normal (ie: at 2/6/15 etc months) and pregnancy such as stages of pregnancies/complications of pregnancy like placenta previa/abruptio, normal infant VS

-know normal lab values and what happens in hyper/hypcalcemia/kalemia, etc...

having only used kaplan i don't know if any other reviews are good but it really worked for me. doing all of the qtrainers and questions got me ready to take questions on the nclex, and going over the content videos ended up being enough review for me

i was worried because some people who used kaplan took the nclex and said it was nothing like kaplan, while others didn't find it useful. this is just my own personal opinion, but kaplan was EXACTLY like nclex in the way the questions were worded. i ended up really feeling like i was taking a kaplan qtrainer. again though this was just my own experience

hope this helps someone! and good luck!!! i was in your shoes just 2 days ago. YOU CAN DO IT!!

also the only thing kaplan was lacking i think was practice in alternate type questions. i found this website and ran out of time to use it but it helps to practice. honestly, having taken the exam and although i ended up not getting a lot of those i think the best way to prepare for SATA is just going over content. you don't know what kind of question topics you'll be asked on nclex. the best thing is to know your basic content, and if that fails think it through and strategize...if that fails then take a guess and move on! i did that and sometimes you'll have to. pick an answer and don't look back. just keep focusing on the question in front of you. for drag and drop definitely know the ones that come up in kaplan. i watched youtube videos to reinforce anything i was still unsure of

alternate questions :

http://nursing.slcc.edu/nclexrn3500/contentSelect.do?testType=review

[RN-joy]

one last thing lol- i did use apps on my phone when i was away from home. the only one i did in its entirety was the kaplan nclex qbank- has 180s practice questions and is free. I also used ati RN mentor (lite version didn't pay for it- good for basic level questions). others ones i downloaded but underutilized were silvestri lite, NCLEX RN mastery (good app- has some free questions), and one just called NCLEX. only used free versions didn't pay for anything

link to 35 page study guide can be found on this person's post:

https://allnurses.com/nclex-discussion-forum/passed-my-nclex-750555.html

[amandeepkaur]

congrats RN .really happy for you great post.i like the last part ,,,that's true it is content! if u know it u get ur license right.that's what i figured out after getting medal of failure.thanks

[yedwards42, BSN, MSN]

Congratulations!! And thank you so much for your input and advice on NCLEX - it's very much appreciated!!

[Tanyasands]

THANK YOU SO MUCH !! Congratulations :)

[reeco1]

Congrats on passing your test!

[hm1987]

[COLOR=#003366]RN-joy I am so happy for you!!

I failed the board August 9th and I am taking it again in October.. My mistake I rushed through questions and I didn't spend enough time with each questions because I was very anxious.. anyway I am doing Kaplan again they provided another free 3 months.. and I will be listening to Hurst videos first to review my contents.. I just started studying yesterday.. I had to take a break for a week. I bought the strategy book for Kaplan to do it to help me answering the critical thinking questions.. hope it helps.. Congrats again!!

[RNfindingherway, BSN, RN]

Congratulations RN-Joy. I know now RN that your JOY is complete. I am so happy for you. You encouraged me to take the Kaplan review. Enjoy your Nursing Career.

[dbrenda1510]

I would like to congratulate you on passing the dreaded NCLEX and becoming a RN. Thank you for being so thorough in your posting. You provided a lot of helpful information. I am about at the same anxiety level you were before you tested. My test is day after tomorrow. I am trying to study today but I'm not sure how much will stick. I am the most concerned about SATA questions. I do terrible on those! Your post gives me hope that maybe I will be lucky and not get so many of them. I'm just reviewing a few more hours today and then calling it quits. Tomorrow I plan only to look over labs, growth/development and the 35 page review from this site. Again, I am very happy to hear that you have succeeded in completing your journey to become a RN!