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I found very few questions on my first exam that I could apply Kaplan's strategy to and was very discouraged. Needless to say I failed, got my money back and turned to Saunders, Learning Ext, and LaCharity. While I felt Kaplan's questions were harder than those I saw in Saunders and the Learning Ext in my opinion I would not suggest anyone to go with Kaplan. Then again everyone is different in what they need, I needed more content than strategy.

My suggestion to those of you who don't think you have time for LaCharity is to put down your other books for a couple of days the week before your test and focus on those questions. I only did the multiple choice/SATA questions out of the book (don't worry about the case studies in section 3). This book was seriously a life saver and nothing compared to the questions Saunders and Kaplan give you (Yes, I have experience with using both). They really make you think and while I didn't get the best scores on each of the chapters (40% on a couple of them) it really taught me how to critically think and determine which patients were my priority and what I could and could not delegate to certain staff!!!

Gold 22 - as far as studying infection control I would really suggest looking over some of the mnemonics on here (My Chicken Hez TB, SPIDERMAn, MRS. (VCHIPS) WEE) and know what precautions are required for each category. As far as the SATA, take your time, they are the hardest questions and know you won't get them all right. I struggled with them too, took a deep breath and made the best possible selection. I hope this helps.

Hope everyone is doing well. I took my NCLEX-RN this morning. After failing my first attempt at 265 questions I decided not to tell anyone except my husband when I would be testing again. I spent over a month reading and answering questions out of Saunders and then got the 3-week subscription to the Learning Ext as well as using the LaCharity book (this is seriously a must have). An hour and half after sitting down at the computer and 75 questions later I left the testing center so nervous that it took them 6 tries to get a match of my palm vein. I just got the courage to do the PVT trick and got the good pop-up. I'm SO overjoyed. Good luck to all of you and never give up on your dreams of becoming a nurse.

May is quickly approaching ... I hope everyone is doing well with studying and the best of luck to those of you taking the test next week!!!

I was using it too and get the same error. It seemed like a great resource, guess I will be sending more time with my Saunders book and cd.

I've been using the NCSBN Learning Ext pharmacology section as a guide to narrow down which meds are really the important one and then looking up more about each class, their action and it's common side effects in my pharmacology book from Nursing school. It seems that I am retaining SO much more this way and it's a manageable way of studying (one body system a day right now).

I too did very well in school, took the comprehensive Kaplan course and failed (265 questions). I live in a small town and dreaded going out knowing I was bound to run into someone, anyone I knew that would end up asking me about the test. I'm sure there were those people that got a great kick out of me failing but I have come to realize that this experience has only made me a stronger person. I know exactly how you feel but as someone else mentioned you just have to try to not think about it and focus on the future exam. I did not renew my subscription with Kaplan for the reason you mentioned (seeing questions that I would recognize). I will always be able to apply the strategy I learned with Kaplan which I feel is the most valuable portion of the course; however, I have moved on. The past month I've been going through the Saunders Comprehensive Review book and just got LaCharity's Prioritization and Delegation book. In addition, I took the advice of my board and enrolled in the LearningExt course. So far it's great, except it only runs in internet explorer and I have a Mac.

I will be testing for my second time at the beginning of May. Used Kaplan last time; however, have decided to use Saunders, LaCharity's Prioritization, Delegation, and Assignment and NCSBN this time around. Good luck to all of you!!!