diverguy

YES absolutely. But only if you know the core content. I failed first attempt because although I had good strategy I was weak on content. I did HURST to strengthen my content. But to answer your question I do believe that knowing what the question is asking and being able to decipher what the actual question is makes a huge difference. If a pr visits a clinic because his dog died and he is depressed are you really worried about ABC's? Kinda basic but you have to think about the question.

I took all the Kaplan test and most of the time scored in high 50- low 60. And I passed NCLEX today. Honestly the more questions I practiced the more confident I felt about test taking. Don't concentrate do much on your score but more on understanding the rationale.

I hated the Kaplan live review, just question after question, nothing on content. HURST is great if you are weak on content. I did HURST twice, once in Jan for HESI and when I failed NCLEX they opened it back for me to review and I did the complete review again to get strength in core content. id o believe it helped tremendously.

I will say this also. I studied for a min of 10-12 hr every day for almost three weeks. did HURST a second time to review content. I took all six of their test over again, I put sticky notes on my screen so I couldn't see the answers or the choice I made the first time. I did probably 3000 Kaplan question. I wrote anything down that I thought was a hint for me. I did saunders questions and reviewed saunders book for clarification of subject. I also did exam cram for questions. I did a lot of questions and read all the rationales. my Kaplan scores for this test ranged from 59% to 65% and my hurst scores were in the 82% range. exam cram test ranged in the 75%

honestly, the SATA were pretty straight forward, maybe just one that was questionable but most were dead on T or F answers. the put in order was very easy. but I had MANY priority, who would the nurse see first. and MANY med questions on drugs I never heard of and no indication for what they were for. if I didn't now I went with ABC on what to check. one question threw me and I do believe it was a sample question because it only gave one drug name and the word priority was not bold in the question. I will say that I thought the second time for me was harder than the first, but I took my time and read each question and each answer several times before I choose an answer. TECHNICAL HINT!!!!!!! if you choose an answer but you are still thinking about the others. DO NOT PUT YOUR CURSER ON THE NEXT BUTTON. cause if you accidently click the mouse its to late. I did that twice and was still considering the other answers. I would go with my gut then go back and read the other answers to see if I was still confident with my choice then accidently click the mouse while it was on the next button.

75? In two hours. "Good popup" so relieved.

Well I just finished my 2nd try at NCLEX and it cut me off at 75 questions. Had 18 SATA and 1 put in order, maybe 35 priority questions. I thought it was harder than when I took it first time but I am scare to do PVT. I will i just have to decompress. Cutting off at 85 is a good sight though right? Update. Did PVT and got the good pop up.

wishing you the best of luck. I to take mine tomorrow (for the second time). GOOD LUCK!!!!!

this may be helpful, pharm covers 16-19% of the test. so is it important? YES, very. but pharm also covers dosage cal, IV therapy, meds, med administration, delegation of meds. so if you break that down you "should" only get 3 or 4 "med" questions. BUT..... it also means that all 16-19% could be medication question. when I took it the first time the question gave a hint. like, pt is taking med XXX for CHF, or the nurse would know to question which med for the renal pt. I am getting very familiar with categories of meds and what the sound like. LOL, PRIL, ONE, INE, CILIN, and such the knowing the basic info for them. learn side effects vs adverse reactions. like side effects are expected and manageable, adverse reactions need attention. pt stung by a bee and suddenly has trouble breathing, what do you do, admin Epi. breathing trouble is an adverse reaction. hope this helps.

would like to add to this that initially all suspects of meningitis are put in isolations. CSF is drawn and tested for glucose. viral is the more common and less serious. bacterial is harder to fight and more contagious. bacteria bad viral visit (with friends) that's how I remember them.

edit and corrected

well the time is coming closer. although I studied quite a bit for the first test, I have studied my BUTT off the second time around. reviewed Kaplan and completely reviewed HURST for content. I took HURST back in Jan to prep for HESI and never looked at it again really. Honestly I have watched several of the Kaplan videos but dang, watching them is like watching paint dry while getting a tooth pulled. its so slow and monotonous. so far here are my practice test scores Kaplan QT 1= 66% QT 2= 72% QT 3= 52% QT 6= 62% QT 7= 55% Hurst test 1 =76% test 2 =81.2% test 3 =81.4% test 4= 78% I took these hurst test back in Jan so I couldn't actually retake them but I reviewed my results and put sticky notes on the screen to cover up what I chose previously and cover up the answers and marked new score on a piece of paper. I don't remember any of the questions and honestly read the questions and answered them as if it was the first time taking the test. for both Kaplan and HURST I am reading the rationales for both correct and incorrect questions because sometimes I do guess correctly and want to know the true rationale. YUP I am honestly tired of studying and I am scared to death. giving this go a round a lot more respect than I did the first time. I take the test Tuesday morning at 0800 and I plan on closing the books sunday afternoon about 300. ANY THOUGHTS, SUGGESTIONS, COMMENTS, TIPS, ENCOURAGEMENT IS GREATLY APPRECIATED.

I'm not 100% sure its helping. seems to frustrate me more than help, but my scores are getting better. just had a question about a guy returning from surgery with a drain and no drainage noted by nurse. what should she do. I chose check vitals but answer was check drain for kinks. NOW I understand this rationale but the rule is check pt before equipment. so I checked pt first. then BAMMM no check the equipment. FRUSTRATING!!!!!!!

ok I took NCLEX 45 days ago and failed and I am taking again in 8 days. nervous.....uh yes..VERY. been working through the Kaplan QT and so far scored #1 65.5%, #2 72%, #6 62%, #7 58%. QB cumulative is about a 59%. Sample test 1 is 64%. my scores scare me but I also see from other post that my scores are close to a lot of others that have passed. and I am not worrying so much about scores but reading rationales of every question when done. the rest of this week is devoted to HURST review of content. my most frustrating thing about Kaplan is their rationales. they are hard to figure out sometimes. like the rationale is the writers opinion. I've heard it said over and over to assess first then implement. then I get a question with three implements and one assess and BAMM you do an implement first. that's frustrating. or 2 assess and 2 implement and its an implement. so that's confusing to me. I'm just trying to not kill my pt. anyone else feel this way? well just had to take a break and rant for a few min. back to the studying....

maybe its this. aspirate has to do with the administration of heparin, not heparin itself. the question didn't ask about administration. just my thoughts and thinking outside the box.