havehope

Congratulations!! I, too passed the NCLEX with low Kaplan scores. My scores usually were in the 50-57% range, with some being over 60 if I remember correctly. I knew for sure I was going to have 265 questions, but thank the Lord I only had 75 questions. Needless to say, I thought I failed. Again, Congratulations!!!

I agree with what the others said above. I am a new graduate working two months of nights and then coming back on days (I started as a CNA on days). If darn night shift didn't mess with my body/rhythm so much, I would stay on nights. My experience so far, is that you truly get time to spend with patients if they can't sleep, etc. I also would stay busy (updating report sheets, reading the patient's plans per the doctor), but it is not the dayshift busy, this made time go by too. For sleeping rhythms- say I work Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. On Sunday I stay up a little later than usual (I usually go to bed with the chickens), sleep in-probably till 9 or so. Then I will take a two hour nap around 1 or so. And of course on Monday, I slept all day.

I got maybe 10 SATA at the max and passed with 75 questions. I also didn't get any audio or ordered responses. Good luck! Just because you didn't get a lot of SATA doesn't mean you failed.

Have you heard anything?? Please say yes and that you passed. :-)

I would focus on finding out your learning style, like now. Reason I say this- when I got into Med Surg I, I was trying to figure out what worked best for me. This caused me to constantly struggle. If you get your learning style down pat it will help a whole lot! I did lots of concept maps, for some reason this helped me. I'm a visual learner. I found for learning diagnostic tests, I would youtube it. That was I big help. I could close my eyes and picture it.

I went the ADN route. First, it only took two years to complete (which means being a broke college student for two years not four). My employer will pay for me to get my BSN. I graduated in December, we had a class of 20 I believe (all ADN) and everyone but two got jobs. One moved back home out of the state and one didn't know where she wanted to work at. The only thing I ran into without having a BSN, I had to agree to get my BSN within 4-6 years or something like that. I'll be honest, I kind of like this because it MAKES me go back to school to get the BSN. On the other hand, it sucks because where I work at you get no pay raise for obtaining your BSN.

I choose to do ADN for several reasons. My program took two years. This means that you're in school (and probably a broke college student) for only two years. I figured i'd start making more money than being broke and then go back to college. Plus, my hospital will pay for my BSN if I agree to stay with them 2 years.

This is the only reason I could see a hold up. Or if someone was suspected of cheating-it may not have been you (or anyone sitting around you), but just clearing everyone that tested that day? I'm sorry you are experiencing this. Also, I tried using that link JustBeachyNurse posted too. I searched on the website by my name and my name also was not found. However, I used my license number and my name popped up. So, don't loose hope! :-)

I loved Kaplan. The live Review was testing taking strategies. However, I got a Kaplan content review book with my course and if I was missing questions simply because I didn't know the content I went back to their content book. I only used Kaplan and I thought highly of it. I can't speak for any of the other review courses though.

I took a live Kaplan review course and scheduled my test two weeks (I did not work during this time and I had no children) from the end of the review. I didn't study until the review course. I took a readiness test and based that on what particular content I needed to review. So, I reviewed that content and continued taking questions every day. I took at a minimum of 75 questions a day. When you review questions, review why you got them wrong and right. I reviewed all of mine regardless if I got them right. Since you are studying 8 weeks, I would not study 6-8 hours a day. I would study maybe 2-3 hours. Because, after studying so much you will start to second guess yourself. Good luck!

Hi Cap2253, I am from Virginia also. I took my NCLEX on January 26th and got my results back on the 27th. I called the license number around 9-9:30 and mine was up. Apparently they only update that once a day (usually in the morning, they said 10:00). I also went to where I applied on the Virginia Board of Nursing. Login in and you can check there too. Mine said "No license". So, I figured I failed and went to apply for applcation again. So, when I did that it said "You already have a license of this type." It will also give you a link to click on (i'm assuming only if you pass? I'm not sure) and I was able to see my license number on that. On the 28th my name was on the Virginia license lookup page- this gets updated every morning around 5 am. I hope this helps and good luck!! Please let us know how you did!

I wanted to restate what you've stated because so many students (including myself until I researched it), just because you are getting SATA questions does NOT mean they are passing. So many students say if you get SATA, priority, delegation, you are passing. This is not true. As JustBeachyNurse said, it's pretty much impossible to tell if it is a passing or failing question.

This is interesting, because on our nursing care boards it is a spot that say's "blood sugar" and the CNAs write the time and the blood sugar down for the nurse. However, with our blood sugar machines it automatically pops up in the patients chart, so the nurse can see it here too.

Mackenzie, My story was VERY similar to yours!!! I, too graduated on December 18th. Took boards on January 26th and passed!! So, first and foremost-congratulations to us!! We are RNs now! It's so insane how life changes once you are out of school, taken and passed boards. I do not know what to do with all of my free time! Anyway, I just want to restate what you've stated. I took my NCLEX-RN two weeks after the end of my Kaplan live review. Thankfully, I did not have to work and I do not have kids. Therefore, I managed to do all question trainers, (which were lower scores than yours, but I posted this in the NCLEX section for others) all Qbank questions, and sample test 1-3. I, too did not study any before the Kaplan course. I went in on January 26th at 0800 to take my exam. I was so shocked-I was very relaxed. Got to the 75th question and it cut off. I was almost positive that I failed. I had only gotten 5-10 SATA, but lots of priority questions. I did not do the Pearson Vue Trick either! I just prayed, prayed, and prayed. I found out on the 27th that I had passed. Crazy thoughts were going through my head, did I REALLY pass? Or did they just post someone else's "pass" on my account that was suppose to say "fail"? I still don't think it has officially sat in with me yet, I am an RN. Anyway, I hope our stories encourages other nursing students to keep pushing along!!

Same here. We had to get an 80.00% to pass with absolutely no rounding (they changed this while I was in my third semester.) I understand why, however it sucks when my 80 in nursing school is considered C and bare minimum passing. But, an 80 for others is considered a B. Oh well, it's life.

https://allnurses.com/nclex-discussion-forum/passed-with-75-1033667.html Here is the link to my experience-it includes my scores using Kaplan. Good luck.

I agree with the above poster. Sodium is 135-145, this sodium level is WAY below that. However, Potassium is 3.5-5.3. 3.4 is not that much of a difference, yes, it is below. But, it's not as bad as the sodium level.

JustBeachyNurse- Sorry, I did not explain the 265th question thing well. According to Kaplan's NCLEX-RN Content Review Guide (I would copy it so you could see, but I can't, maybe copyright reasons?), it say's "If the last question is below the level of difficulty needed to pass, the candidate fails. If the last question is above the level of difficulty needed to pass, the candidate passes." Kaplan goes on the explain that if you took a test longer than 75 questions and failed, you were probably familiar with the content, but you may have had difficulty using critical thinking skills or taking standardized tests. Browneyes0, I would focus on this. The Board of Nursing sends a Candidate Performance Report, I would use this to guide you too.

Browneyes80- I'm sorry to hear that. However, the Kaplan lady said if you get 265 you worked for them. That you are close to passing!! If I remember right, she said that the last question (265th question) is your pass or fail question. I would review your questions and see if it's because you're lacking content (which I doubt since you were at 265) or are you answering questions a certain way.

Go to Kaplan.com, click on nursing, and click on the NCLEX-RN. It is $499, you can either do an "in person" review or a "live review." The live review allows you to work at your own pace. This also gives you all the questions they have available. If this isn't affordable to you, you can buy certain Qbanks. That ranges from $89-$219. Good luck. I told myself if I failed it's not the end of the world, you can always retest (at least in my state). I compared it to nursing school-if you failed more than one class you were done and out the program. At least with NCLEX you can take it as many times as you need, yes it's costly, but you still have a chance. Oh and Kaplan offers a pass guarantee. So, if you do not pass the first time, you can either extend your time Kaplan items are available to you or you get your money back.

Hi Everyone, I wanted to share my experience as those that were gracious to share their experiences gave me a little relief while studying for the NCLEX-RN. So, I pretty much used only Kaplan and attended the four day live review. I was worried to death about my Kaplan scores, until I came on here and read about them (they were a couple years old, so I thought i'd update with my experience). Here are my scores with Kaplan: QT 1: 50.7 QT 2: 44.0 QT 3: 42.0 QT 4: 51.3 QT 5: 62.0 QT 6: 54.0 QT 7: 54.7 (This one is 265 questions. Kaplan recommends that you complete this in one setting. I did not, because I knew I would just be clicking to be done with it. So, I believe I did 150 in one setting and then the rest later.) Readiness: 60.1 I believe My QBank Scores varied from 50s to 64 (highest I got). So yes, aim for the 60-65 as Kaplan says. However, do not beat yourself up if you do not get to this. NCLEX is 50%. So, if you get under 50 you need to study that material and/or see where you went wrong. I also reviewed every single question I took, even if I got it right. Took boards yesterday, January 26th and passed with 75 Questions. Again, the purpose of me posting this is to help relieve some anxiety some are having with getting low scores on Kaplan. P.S. I also did ALOT of praying. I'm pretty sure He got tired of hearing from me. Hehe :)

Med-Surg is based on disease process, etc. I thought Fundamentals was totally different from Med-Surg. For example, subjects for Med-Surg I include DM, amputations, BPH, Cirrhosis, Cholecystitis & Cholelithiasis, Fractures, Gout, Hepatitis, HTN, Joint replacements, osteomyelitis, pancreatitis, UTI, tractions, urinary calculi. Med-Surg 2 included: ABGs, AMI, Acute Renal Failure, Shocks, Trauma, ARDS, CHD/CAD, Chronic Renal Failure, CHF, EKGs, IICP. Med-Surg 2 was more of critical care, at least on my nursing program. The Med-Surg classes were by far the hardest for me (and I work on a Med Surg floor as a CNA/HUC). However, I found when I understood why something happened, it would stick for me. I definitely would not have passed by just memorizing the material. For Med-Surg 1 I believe we lost 10 people. For Med-Surg 2 I believe it was 3 or 4 people. Good Luck!

Our staffing on a med/surg/telemetry floor is close to this.

At the beginning of the semester and up until this past week, I've been doing the same. I know we are all not the same. However, I learned my problem was studying too much and overthinking the whole concept. For example, adding information to the question. You have to look at exactly what the question is asking and that is it. I bought the Pearson NCLEX, it breaks the rationales down and easier to understand (in my opinion). I know it's older, but has the main concept of choosing the correct answer instead of the distractor. I also believe they have a new one coming out soon, not too sure. My professor recommended us to rent NCLEX books and either find one you love or just keep renting different ones. Good luck.

I start from the top and work my way down (trust me, as time goes on you'll get better). I would always forget this or that, but now as I do them all the time it becomes easier. I inspect everything! Look in the ears, check the eyes with penlight, check mouth with penlight, I listen to everything at once-heart, lungs, bowel sounds, as I work my way down I check the pulses, etc. Mosby's Pocket Guide for Health Assessment is an awesome book too, shows you EVERYTHING to look for,etc.