Prep courses: Ncsbn, hurst, or ati?

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Hello,

Recently, I have taken the NCLEX exam twice and did not pass. I tried two prep courses. The first prep course was more oriented on summarizing the content. The second prep course was Kaplan. I benefited from their test-taking strategies and how to look at each question. However, I followed their course plan to the T and still did not pass. Now I am being smarter about which prep course to look at. I have narrowed the courses down to three; the NCSBN, HURST, or ATI- virtual review. After reading a few reviews I am still confused and not sure what one to choose. Does anyone have any advice or input regarding these three courses? Any would be much appreciated. Thanks!

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

Moved to NCLEX discussion forum to elicit further response. There are several threads regarding different prep courses and books in this forum. I think part of the decision is personal preference

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I took the ati prep course. I thought it was a good general overview of what i learned in nursing school, but almost nothing we went over was on the Nclex. Just my 2 cents.

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Specializes in ED.

I have not taken the NCLEX yet, but I just finished the HURST review and liked it. I'm lazy and have to be forced to study, doing the live review forced me to study. I also had a very close NS friend take it as well, and we are studying together, so having a friend in the same review class has helped me. It mostly focuses on core content, which is what I felt I needed the most help with. I don't need help with test taking strategies, I'm good at thinking through questions and BSing what I don't know, I just needed to refresh my memory on med-surg content from past semesters.

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I recently took my NCLEX, 2 weeks ago to be exact, and I used both the Kaplan and the NCSBN course. The NCSBN course was excellent for reinforcing content material. It has an easy online access, but the practice questions, in my opinion, were not as difficult as the Kaplan course.

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We used ATI in nursing school and it wasn't really like the NCLEX. I found that ATI tests and the NCLEX were two different beasts. I did look over some of my notes from ATI practice tests that I took in nursing school, but overall, I don't think it would help in preparing for the NCLEX.

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Thank you everyone for your input thus far!! After gathering information from the posts above I've came to the conclusion...

HURST: Reviews core content. Those who have taken HURST did you also use the questions they gave to you? I've heard if you take HURST to also buy a book of questions because they only give you 300 questions? What other helpful pointers would you offer me if I take HURST?

NCSBN: Covers content but the question format seems to be easier? Basically does not prepare you enough?

ATI: Only pertains to ATI questions and does not cover NCLEX format questions? If so, would you take it again knowing that? Did you find the online tutor method helped? I like how ATI offers tutoring, although, if the questions do not pertain to the NCLEX than I feel it would be of no help?

Please let me know any thoughts. Thank you all for the helpful information!!

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Have you researched Saunders?

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I have a Saunders book, "The comprehensive review for the NCLEX RN examination" however, I only did a few questions when preparing the first time. I spent more time on a book called "NCLEX made incredibly easy" instead of the Saunders. The second time I only used Kaplan. Do you suggest taking HURST and using the Saunders book? Have you heard good things about Saunders?

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I actually haven't heard of HURST.

I guess choosing a method of study really is determined with what your weak area is versus what you are already strong in. Is it knowledge/content that you're weak in? Or is it reading and understanding what the question is actually asking you that's the problem?

I know that Saunders has a CD that has about 8,000 questions. Plus you get to choose the types of questions u wanna focus on, for example i was weak with select all that apply type questions, the Saunders CD lets you select those types of questions only. To be honest, my best advice is to do as many questions as you can, PLUS reading and understanding all of the rationals to the questions you got wrong and RIGHT.

The Saunders book is very dense in content material though.

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I actually haven't heard of HURST.

I guess choosing a method of study really is determined with what your weak area is versus what you are already strong in. Is it knowledge/content that you're weak in? Or is it reading and understanding what the question is actually asking you that's the problem?

I know that Saunders has a CD that has about 8,000 questions. Plus you get to choose the types of questions u wanna focus on, for example i was weak with select all that apply type questions, the Saunders CD lets you select those types of questions only. To be honest, my best advice is to do as many questions as you can, PLUS reading and understanding all of the rationals to the questions you got wrong and RIGHT.

The Saunders book is very dense in content material though.

Which Saunders book?

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Ncsbn_

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