dafishman

Dont give up! I passed on 12/15. See my other thread where I talked about the questions I received and how I studied. Mine shut off at 85 again! This time, I passed. WOO HOO!!!! on the 22nd received my new york state registration and license in the mail! Nice to get that and get closure! Anyways, best of luck to you and dont ever give up, never! You can do it! Time for my RN now...

Hi, thanks for the kind words. I finally passed on 12/15 in my 2nd attempt! Shut off at 85 questions. Check out my other thread about it I explained what I did and type of questions I encountered. Onto my RN now. gl to you!

UPDATE 12/16/14************** Just called straighterline. I spoke to a rep and he said that if you are going into their NURSING program, they want you to take it at their school instead of straighterline. I have to believe it because straighterline is in the business of selling courses and memberships, he simply said any other program at excelsior I could do it, but nursing, he shut me right down and said nope, take at excelsior...... I know I could and others could take it at a local community college (I already took A&P 1 & 2--8 years ago--needs to be less than 5), so I am screwed. I am not putting in 3-4 months, I will test out at excelsior......

Well, I finally caved and bought my quick results, 10 minutes ago and low and behold I passed! To say I am shocked is an understatement! As I replied above, there was no way I thought I passed. The only thing I will say is this: SATA's HAVE to be UPPER level questions, they HAVE TO BE. I had 25, maybe more, 3-4 in a row, there is no other explanation for how I passed at the minimum of 85 questions and it shut off. I know some people say they aren't but they had to be for me. Well, I will say KAPLAN worked for me, that is quite obvious by me passing and that was ALL I used for my 2nd time. It is definitely worth it if you can afford it. Onto my RN now with excelsior college. Wish me luck. Best of luck to all and if you have any questions, dont hesitate to ask.

Well, I finally caved and bought my quick results, 10 minutes ago and low and behold I passed!!!! To say I am shocked is an understatement! As I replied above, there was no way I thought I passed. The only thing I will say is this: SATA's HAVE to be UPPER level questions, they HAVE TO BE. I had 25, maybe more, 3-4 in a row, there is no other explanation for how I passed at the minimum of 85 questions and it shut off. I know some people say they aren't but they had to be for me. Well, I will say KAPLAN worked for me, that is quite obvious by me passing and that was ALL I used for my 2nd time. It is definitely worth it if you can afford it. Onto my RN now with excelsior college. Wish me luck. Best of luck to all and if you have any questions, dont hesitate to ask.

I think I dive in to much into the info and I forget the basics. I really do. I dont know what else to do....This post will be me talking to myself, so excuse me! I didnt get one Hep question, I got Heb C-B-A!!! b & c were SATA (got wrong looked up) and A I got right...... Got some simple ones to me, 2nd stage labor (birth), client getting ready for thoracentesis, what is essential to check (make sure they have the ability to sit). Exhibit one with pulse under 60 (56), hold Dig. Then I got a hand washing one, yes, a SATA hand washing, and I think I screwed it up. How, I dont know, but I cant remember all the choices but I remember sitting there saying REALLY? I had no HF, no ANGINA, NO pneumonia, no hyperkalemia, hypo, natremia, mag, nada....no parkinsons, no AD, no als, ms, leukemia, no ulcers, no stoma, ostomy, no other birth stuff or pregnancy ones except the ones I mentioned. 2 other lab ones which were easy, 3 normal lab values, 1 wasnt.... I just dont get it. I was prepared. Scored 64% on Kaplan, was scoring 88-90% on retests. But, then I get these off the wall questions... Oh, the influenza shot, I put SQ instead of IM. Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo dumb. Heres the kicker, my 1st nclex, if I would have had that same type monday, I would have aced it. Instead, I get these other crazy ones that to me seem to simple or generic to qualify one as a nurse. *** do I know, NOTHINGGGGGGGG... Wow, just perplexed to say the least...... I guess I am going to make sure I have the basic of basic stuff down 1st before my next go round. I know I failed, I do. I will update as soon as I get my letter. The wife said she will look online for me when she gets home and pay the 8 bucks, I said go for it, I wont...I made peace with it in my head. Whats the sense in paying when i know? Sure, miracles could happen but doubfull..... One last thing as I mentioned, I had at least 20-25 SATA and 3-4 in a row!! I was like ***. My 1st time, maybe a 1/4 to 1/3 of what I had today. Also, got a math ? which was flow rate and easy enough............ ******* sata's got me!!!! Dirty dogs!!!!

Im in NY. Results are in but I am not even going to buy them. I made peace with it. I really did. I know I failed because I looked up a lot of the questions I remembered and 1/2 were right and 1/2 wrong. Need to be above passing pretty good for it to shut off at 85 and I know I wasnt. Even if the 15 pilot ?'s were wrong ones, I know it. I will await my letter next week and reschedule and send in another 200 and wait the 45 days. Crazy, but I cannot beat myself up or be mad at anyone else. I obviously dont know the info...Its that simple.......

I will say congrats to you! I would not recommend hurst, please see my prior thread about my experience. I took my exam today, if I failed, ncsbn, is where I may turn to next....I don't know, I really don't!!!!!

Just took the exam. Shut off again at 85. I think I failed, I really do. had about 20-25 SATA (3-4 in a row once), 3 exhibit ones. 1 math. few UAP questions, couple 1st, priority, would you see 1st. I hit next on 85 and went off....Man, I don't feel good at all. I will know in 2 days........I wish the PVT trick stick worked. Stomach is in knots....

Update: Just finished Q-bank. Ended up at 64% cumulative. I am hoping I know enough now to pass the boards 2 weeks from today. If I retake the Q-bank I will update my new results, I would assume I would be in the 80's or better...... Any questions, ask away....

Update: Sunday night, Im at 94% through Qbank and my scores are at 63%. I plan on finishing tomorrow and hopefully I will at least stay where I am or maybe even increase a little more... Test is 2 weeks from tomorrow. Update tomorrow. Night all...

Quick update: 81% of the way done, this is my 1st time and I am at 59%. I am hoping I can get into the 60's. I am planning on being done sunday at the latest. I think after that I may have them reset the Qbank and retake the test and hope I score into the 80's, maybe higher......Try to reinforce some of the earlier questions and the ones I had difficulty with.... I do re-mediate after every test and put the content on note cards, seems to be helping..... Will update soon!

11/11/14 update: Well, I finished all the vids except the pharm ones. I am going to do them on my own. When I took the Nclex I had 3 questions on Pharm. Not going to get too crazy with all the pharm stuff. Anyways, 3/4 done with the book and making notecards, will be done with them in 1-2 days and then its just studying them daily and finishing my q-bank... So far on the Qbank, I am at a 55% overall, I have taken 450 questions, so 45% of the way through them. I am REALLY hoping I can get to the 60%+ mark!!!!! I really dont want to have to do the Qbank questions again, I want to be able to get their the 1st time! Scheduled my exam for 12/8 (monday at 8am), wish me lucK!!!! I will update in the next week, I should be about done with the qbank and see where I am lacking and then its studying the notecards every second I get. The cards are outlines from the videos. They highlight all the key points. I highlighted the book and then am going back and making appropriate cards.....Easier for me then thumbing through the book page by page and studying that way.. I am hoping what Vanessak83 days is true!!! I should be close to the 60%. Talk to you soon.....

Quick update. Took about 6 tests, 25 questions each. Lowest was a 52, highest was a 72, few were 60's, so I am improving! Kaplan videos follow along with their book. They tell you the high points and areas to know. I watch the vids and highlight the book. Then I make notecards from my highlighted text. One thing that I dont like it the biggest part of the test is coordination of care and safety and infection control, but the book BARELY touches the coordination of care at least according to the test question in the Q-bank. My scores are the lowest in that area. Like 46-50%, same with the safety one. I went through the book ten times, there is no more information I can get from it. So, once I am all done with the questions and the book, I may look at another book and see what their coordination of care and safety and infection control looks like and see if that would have given me more info in regards to the questions I got wrong... Kaplan will spend 2 hours on the 2 I talked about and 6 hours on a section that is worth 6-12%, just dont make much sense to me..... BUT, I do LOVE it a lot compared to Hurst, hands down 100000% better. Simple Nursing I now only go to if I need to know the entire patho from top to bottom, so far, I think its working as my scores have increased. I have did about 34% of the Q-bank questions and my overall score is a 54%. Kaplan says you need 60-65%. So, I can hopefully keep bumping them up. I will try this weekend to add some pics of how the Q-bank breaks down everything in the categories and show some people in case they were wondering how it worked.....

Update: Watched Kaplan vids and they went hand in hand with their book but seemed to only hit the high points (or im hoping). For example: TB. In the book they have like 10 S/S's. In the vids and their powerpoint, they listed like 6. I assume the top 6. Same thing with Varicella, Rubella, Mono, they hit the key points and moved on. In the book when your following, you can see much, much more info. Same thing for AIDS. They touched a little bit in the video and in the book their was 3 pages, same with Hepatitis. Going to keep doing these vids and highlight in my book and make notecards and things I dont understand I am going to use simple nursing to further explain them since the videos really just tell you what it is and doesnt give a lot of examples to go with it. Will keep you updated! Going to try a few more tests tonight and see if anything stuck or if i regressed or improved or still at my 50%. Thats my overall % after 18% of all the ?'s, 50% correct.....Kaplan says you need 60-65%. So, im subpar still.....Got a lot of questions to go though and I think I need to get this content done and quit doing things backwards and wondering why I score low.... I keep trying to put the cart before the horse!!

I will check out them vids, look interesting!

Yup, I have watched some vids and then the next vid hes like, in my last video I made a mistake! I agree, should be a little more organized and make new videos for sure! But so far, so good!

I pay 39.95/month, cancel anytime. Hurst was 250 upfront....I had to have credit card company chargeback hurst because they never responded to anything from me....See my other thread about it....

100000000% better. I am a visual learner and Mike at SN breaks stuff down into simple terms. Again, I dont know IF the info he gives digs down into what is needed for the NCLEX. One example I know he did for sure was for Parkinsons. He had a video on Parkinsons and he said you would want a HIGH fiber, I think high protein, (have to check notes). I had this same question on my NCLEX that I failed. The other questions I remember on my NCLEX were a lot of priority and safety and stuff like that so he doesnt have much for that stuff. But if you want to know about the heart, respiratory, etc, hes been good for me.... I am going to watch some KAPLAN vids tonight and see how they compare and update. I am as UNBIASED a person as you would ever meet... Stay tuned............

Updates: Went on vacation for 8 days, never studied. I know, it's ******* terrible!!!! Tough though, had the trip planned since June, not much I could do. Brought my books and everything, just never got around to it... I did take one test down on vaca, scored a 62%. Took one yesterday scored a 52%. So, not where I need to be... DCMOM, I have not watched any of the kaplan vids. I have subscribed to the simplenursing and I like his much better BUT I dont know if he provides the intricate details. Soooooooo, yesterday I put in 3 hours and today I will also, im shooting for 5 days a week here. I have to take my test by jan 19th, havent scheduled it yet because the anxiety will kick in. Want to make sure I am getting adequate scores and learning. I am learning, thats for sure....Filling up my notebook, breaking everything into categories like Neuro, Adrenals, Psych, etc and then going to put on notecards and really try to study off of them.... So, im really focused now being back from vaca and no excuses. I will get this done.... DC mom, I will watch a kaplan video and I will compare it to simplenursing and I will tell you my opinion how well they pertain to nclex. I will try one tonight as I plan on heading to the local college about 5-6pm for some serious study time....

Quick update: Bit the bullet and joined simple nursing for 39.95/month, cancel anytime, no strings attached. Cant say I have ever seen a better site for content if you're a visual learner like myself. Kaplan is amazing for breaking down the question and how to answer them, SN is amazing with content and how he breaks it down into such simple terms and it all makes sense and he ties it all together.... Watched probably 10 videos today and like the videos from 3 weeks ago, just sticks with me. I take notes in a notebook and I will transfer them to note cards. Gonna try a test in a few days or a week and see if increased. Will update then....

Update for 9/25 Bad scores. 52% on 1st and 36% on 2nd. Lacking in content. No way to sugar coat it. Questions were 90% on these last 2 tests about content and obviously I thought I knew more than I did. Going to dive into content and take a few days off from the q-bank..... Will update.....

Hey, Yes, you are supposed to watch the content videos and read the book. The book is very in depth and about 500 questions. The vids are probably about 12-14 hours in total. I do lack in content but overall my biggest problem was finding out what they wanted and how to go about eliminating the wrong ones. Remediating is teaching me why I got things right/wrong. They do give you an outline, I am not following it 100% but by remediating, I learn what I don't know, sort of filling in the blanks. I am not sure how one could read and retain 500 pages and hundreds of drugs and diseases, its nearly impossible. But as I described above in my example about renal failure, I am starting to put the puzzle pieces together! You see you can know pretty much everything for content and still fail. Don't get me wrong, that isn't me, but on my initial exam, I scored a 66%, my problem was reading into the question too much and not answering what they wanted. Take the question and answer what they want, don't add to it, don't add steps to how to prepare a sterile field. Take what they give you and answer accordingly. In your head you know there is a "better" answer, but if its not there, you have to take what they give you and choose the "best" answer that fits accordingly. Whatever you choose, ask yourself, does this answer, answer the question they are asking? I plan on doing another 50 questions tonight and I will post an update. One last thing in regards to content, I have a hard time reading something one time and understanding it. Values are different, but I need to repeat it and repeat it. That Simplynursing videos I watched 3 weeks ago, I STILL REMEMBER!!!!!!!!!! Myasthenia Gravis, Pancreas, APGAR, Its like I watched it last night!!! So, I guess I am a visual learner. I think I am going to use him starting this weekend (40/month with no contract) to help me with pharm, peds, and OB. Those are my weak areas. Again, what works for me doesn't for others. I spoke to a classmate yesterday and she swears to god she didn't study for the boards, she left crying, 2 days later, she passed!!!! I had higher grades than her in school! So, a lot is luck depending on what questions you get. One other classmate had all 205 questions, she swears half were SATA and she passed, she thought she failed! Doing the best I can with the time I have. Will update later.....

instructor got back to me said that's doing good and keep it up and focus on areas under 60%. Started the Q-bank and I love it. Shows the ?, shows the right answer, and tells you why and all about what the question is looking for. I decided to break the tests into 25 questions at a time. 1st test 28%!!! I didn't know what to expect and honestly wasn't ready, was really nervous like my nclex!!!!. That was 9/23 2nd test 9/24 25 questions, 64%. 3rd test 9/24 25 questions, 60%. I have a notebook and after every test I remediate like they say to do. Some of the med ones I have gotten wrong, I honestly have never, ever heard of. A few others I changed the answer and I shouldn't have. Some I had narrowed down to 2 and just picked the wrong one....So, I could easily be at 50% or 75%+. Even after qbank im going to remediate them all again and make sure I totally understand...You need to know why you got it right or wrong. For example. Client had renal failure. I didn't know that meant low calcium which is hypocalcemia, which causes numbness and tingling in the hands which can then be a sign of an impending seizure....So, I am learning to put things together which is what you HAVE to do in order to get through this. THe answer sometimes on NCLEX is black/white but most of the time you need to critically think and work through it..... Will update as I go! So far, I will say Kaplan is hands down the best I have used......

Update: Took my PN readiness test last night. 100 questions, 2 hours. Took me 1:30. Scored a 66%. Not sure how good that is. I emailed them and am awaiting a response. Cool thing is it breaks down the questions into the categories. Bad news, you dont see the exact question with your answer and the answer choices, it just gives you the topic and the definition and what you should know about it. I wish it showed me what I chose, what the choices were for review. I hope the Q-bank does it that way!!! Plan on starting the Q-bank as soon as I hear back on the readiness results.....