question for people who took kaplan and nclex-rn

locolorenzo22, BSN, RN · Jan 14, 2012

Saunders helped prepare me well for the NCLEX. I felt like the trainers were way harder then the NCLEX. First things, identify if the question needs a assessment or a intervention and base the answers from that. Good luck though.

beautifulbyHisblood · Jan 14, 2012

Hey!

I just took my NCLEX this week and passed with 75 questions! :) You can do it!!!

I actually used Kaplan and Hurst... with Hurst, I just watched the lectures. I didn't use any of their practice questions. It was a really good review and hit all the main things. I made notecards from it and studied those.

Kaplan was AWESOME for preparing me, though. The Qbank/Trainers look just like the NCLEX and some of the questions are really similar. The trainers vary in difficulty... I took all 7 of them and did 100% of the Qbanks, and reviewed the rationales/took notes/reviewed my notes.

I actually thought the NCLEX was harder than Kaplan... but using Kaplan helped me feel confident because I had developed my own way of answering the questions, and I felt confident that I often made good grades despite all the answers I was unsure about. After my NCLEX, I felt like I had failed and only felt confident about 1 or 2 answers. But I passed!!

Stick with Kaplan. You won't regret it.

Good luck!!!

Rachel.

tanyanchlls · Jan 14, 2012

Yes I also used Kaplan and believe me you won't go wrong. I only bought the book+cd, and Saunders book+c that was all, 75 Qs full of SATA and priority and I made it, I never enrolled in any class or qbank, just learn to understand the way nclex is set and believe me you will make it. Don't confuse yourself with too many books because panic will then set in and you start to think that there are too many things you haven't covered. Stay focused and remember your ABC, MASLoW and NURSING PROCESS. Always asses before you plan,implement, evaluate and document properly....you will do it. Good luck.

JessisanRN · Jan 14, 2012

I did a comprehensive sit-in study course in Toronto as well as the Kaplan Classroom anywhere and passed! I used a bit of Saunders but I really felt like Kaplan was the most similar to the NCLEX. I felt the Kaplan questions were harder than the NCLEX questions were but I guess that goes in your favour in the end. Good luck and happy studying!

Bpieslo1 · Jan 15, 2012

Hey!
I just took my NCLEX this week and passed with 75 questions! :) You can do it!!!
I actually used Kaplan and Hurst... with Hurst, I just watched the lectures. I didn't use any of their practice questions. It was a really good review and hit all the main things. I made notecards from it and studied those.
Kaplan was AWESOME for preparing me, though. The Qbank/Trainers look just like the NCLEX and some of the questions are really similar. The trainers vary in difficulty... I took all 7 of them and did 100% of the Qbanks, and reviewed the rationales/took notes/reviewed my notes.
I actually thought the NCLEX was harder than Kaplan... but using Kaplan helped me feel confident because I had developed my own way of answering the questions, and I felt confident that I often made good grades despite all the answers I was unsure about. After my NCLEX, I felt like I had failed and only felt confident about 1 or 2 answers. But I passed!!
Stick with Kaplan. You won't regret it.
Good luck!!!
Rachel.

Hi! I was wondering if you would give me any suggestions on how you used Hurst and Kaplan to study for NCLEX... I graduate in May and my plan is to take the online Hurst course and then once I graduate take the live class of Kaplan... It makes me feel a little more confident in passing after reading your post!

~Bre

beautifulbyHisblood · Jan 15, 2012

Sure! Well, everything I did is pretty much in that original post, but as far as a timeline... my school actually provided Kaplan as part of our tuition, so we took the in-person class sometime in October before graduating in December. That included taking the diagnostic and readiness and all that stuff. We also had to do some Qbank questions during the semester for a completion grade.

After I graduated, I took the Hurst review the week afterward online. Just watched all the lectures and made note cards to study later. Then, I started in on Kaplan. Did the first 6 Question Trainers and then saved the 7th one for later, after I had studied more. After the trainers, I did about 100-150 Qbank questions/day... depending on my schedule. I took the NCLEX about 1 month after graduation.

Hope that helps! :)

Rachel.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Jan 15, 2012

i see more and more people discussing taking these review courses after graduation as if it were a normal part of becoming a nurse. all, just so you know, the vast, vast majority of nursing students do not shell out hundreds of bucks for review courses, and the pass rates for nclex is >90% just about everywhere (it's easy to find online by state and by school).

if your faculty wasn't lax, made you work hard, didn't let things slide by, didn't have a passing minimum grade of d-, and cared whether you were ever there or not, you probably went to a school with a good nclex pass rate . you graduated? they think you're ready to be a nurse. don't waste the money unless you were a very marginal student (average only a point or two above the minimum passing grade).

meltnpointofwax · Jan 15, 2012

my scholarship paid for me to go to the kaplan review. i would never pay 500 bucks to sit in a room for 8 days and do questions with a group of people.

artimjo · Jan 16, 2012

I used Kaplan also, i took NCLEX 3 weeks ago. Kaplan is the best, especially their Qbanks, review every rationale if you can, that will help a lot. Kaplan is also the best when it comes to prioritization and delegation.

kristykat, BSN, RN · Jan 16, 2012

Well, my school made us fork out $450 for the Kaplan review. We have "practice" exams each semester for the material that was covered. It's only pass/fail for those in the accelerated program but I've heard it actually counts as a grade for the regular program.

Fina11yKym · Jan 17, 2012

I agree to an extent- but I think for most schools Kaplan or ATI is used now to maybe prepare you for the NCLEX? I know at our school it was- but I think if you just utilize all available resources ( and you can find KAPLAN online for free if you google it ) just do practice W's and rationalizing they should be good to go =) it's just like you said- if you DIDNT go to a school that was lax- you should be golden =)

*Good Luck everyone!*