johnrye858

Hi everyone, This forum has been so helpful so I wanted to give back and share my story. I failed the nclex the first try after using Kaplan. Kaplan was not helpful for me because I needed more than just questions. The resources that helped me pass the 2nd time: 1) Hurst- I listened to all the Hurst online lectures and took notes (read these notes 4 times before I took the test). I did their q bank. 2) Saunders (yellow book)- I did not read this book but I paid attention to all the helpful hints in red and the priority boxes. You should do the questions on the CD. I did all of the questions related to MedSurg and took notes. I also did all the alternative type questions. 3) Lippincott's Q & A review- I did all the comprehensive tests in the back and some questions from some sections. This book has a lot of questions but I think if you do the comprehensive tests, they are helpful. My scores were between 60-70%. 4) LaCharity PDA- My life saver. You should do the first 18 chapters in this book. I highlighted each answer in this book and wrote next to each answer why the correct answer was correct. I skimmed through it the night before the NCLEX (for 2 hours). My scores were pretty low the first time I went through this book 40-60% because the questions are challenging. I finished this book in 3 days so its an easy read. 5) Exam Cram 1,490 questions book- i just did the last section with the alternative type questions (90 questions) because of time constraints. 6) Nclex 3,500 (free online resource)- I just did the alternative type questions (194 questions). 7) 35 page study guide- it was helpful. I read this 3 times. I think you have to study like its your job. I did 100-300 questions a day after listening to hurst online videos. For the last week, I didn't do questions. I read all the notes I had written while doing questions, read hurst, and made sure I knew the content. My total study time was 2 months after the first try. I needed this time because I didn't want to take it a third time. In total, I did about 5,000 Questions before the second try. I wish everyone the best of luck, you can do this.