Saunders or Kaplan?

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Hello everyone!

My name is Adam, and I'm about to graduate nursing school next month (woo-hoo!), and I'm trying to figure out which study guide (book/cd/questions,etc.) would be the absolute best for one ready to take their NCLEX-RN?

I understand that the NCLEX-RN has increased in difficulty this year, and test scores are showing a drop through out the nation. So, I'm wondering which material you guys would think will benefit me the most? I've heard great things about Saunders and Kaplan, and before anyone mentions it, I cannot afford to simply purchase all of them :) I'm primarily looking for one source (that costs $), and I'll utilize the many other free resources online, such as the NCLEX 3500, and I've also been practicing with ATI.

Any additional links to free practice/help sites would be greatly appreciated! As well as recommended material that you personally believe I should purchase that will help. Feel free to include personal stories, and rationale ;)

Much love to everyone, thank you and God bless!

Love,

Adam (future R.N.!)

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Specializes in Medical Oncology, ER.

i say go for Kaplan. but i also think its best to limit how many sources you study from, just my 2 cents.

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If your talking about just purchasing a textbook, I'd go with Saunders. You can get the q trainer for Kaplan for free on the internet and I wasn't overly pleased with their textbook or CD. Saunders has dozens of questions...some are certainly NOT NCLEX difficulty but at least you can practice doing dozens of questions. I bought Kaplan and Saunders textbooks and did the Hurst review course that I highly recommend! I think I definitely overdid it with the studying but my dream job was on the line so I didn't care the expense or the time I allocated to studying.

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i say go for Kaplan. but i also think its best to limit how many sources you study from, just my 2 cents.

Well, when I say I'm utilizing multiple free sources online, I really mean practice questions. I'd like to have one main source for studying, and multiple sources for questions.

But if I can get both from one source, that would be excellent. Did you use Kaplan and pass?

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If your talking about just purchasing a textbook, I'd go with Saunders. You can get the q trainer for Kaplan for free on the internet and I wasn't overly pleased with their textbook or CD. Saunders has dozens of questions...some are certainly NOT NCLEX difficulty but at least you can practice doing dozens of questions. I bought Kaplan and Saunders textbooks and did the Hurst review course that I highly recommend! I think I definitely overdid it with the studying but my dream job was on the line so I didn't care the expense or the time I allocated to studying.

As mentioned with my previous quote, I'm looking for one (super awesome) textbook, and then more forms of practice questions to help prepare.

So you'd recommend the Saunders book over the Kaplan, but say that the free Kaplan online questions are good as well? Can you provide link(s) to the Kaplan (or anything else) that you think would help?

Also, what is the Hurst Review course? Does that cost a lot?

Thank you, by the way, to you guys responding! I truly appreciate all input.

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If you can, I'd recommend both. Saunders for content, and Kaplan for test taking strategies. I incorporated both and managed to pass at 75 questions on my second try.

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I also went through ATI and I really don't think it was all that helpful to me.

You can find both Saunders 5th edition text and question CD on-line... have to look in the right areas.

I would recommend Kaplan if you feel you are strong in content and need that extra push to test taking strategies.

If you just want a boat load of questions to complete until your eyes bleed,purchase the Q-Bank only.

You can find the Question Trainers online.

After completing Qbank and then doing some of the questions in Saunders, Kaplan will truly test your critical thinking...exactly what NCLEX is testing you.

NCLEX 3500 for SATA questions.

Good Luck!

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I have a friend at school who said that she received an extra copy of the Saunders review when she purchased it online. As long as it didn't charge her for the second copy, she said I could have it. So, that's awesome.

I see many people mentioning the free Kaplan stuff, but I cannot seem to find it. Can anyone provide a link for me, please?

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Sheesh.

I just took 400 questions in the last 48 hours (ATI & NCLEX 3500), and I cannot seem to get above a 66%. It's required that we turn in at least 200 questions a week, with a score of 75% or better. Academically, I do great in class! Getting a little frustrated...

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Sheesh.

I just took 400 questions in the last 48 hours (ATI & NCLEX 3500), and I cannot seem to get above a 66%. It's required that we turn in at least 200 questions a week, with a score of 75% or better. Academically, I do great in class! Getting a little frustrated...

I hear ya. That's where my downfall is. I have trouble with answering questions and that's why I went with Kaplan. So far I have done about 1800 questions with Kaplan and my eyes are bleeding. lol I hope it helps when I sit for boards this Thursday!

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Don't focus on the stupid scores... Just keep taking questions and understanding the rationales. That is particularly why I don't understand how people don't do a content review... IMO doing a zillion questions isn't going to help you, if you don't know the core content well. Especially since on NCLEX they can ask you anything.

I passed boards on my first try with 75 questions. Which does mean anything other than I had the confidence in my abilities going Into the test and was trained by a great nursing school. Hurst was $350 but well worth the money and my hospital is reimbursing me $550 for NCLEX materials so essentially I didn't pay for the course... But is was worth double that in helping my confidence going into the test and in my nursing interviews (scenario questions). You can find the Kaplan q trainers via a simple search on google there are 7 of them. I believe up to 6 are free online.

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Specializes in Medical Oncology, ER.

I don't recommend saunders as a main study souce as it's very saturated with information. I recommend Kaplan because the books are concise and tell you what you need to know, straightforward and no bs. I did use saunders as a reference if there was something in particular i wanted to know in detail, i used that book maybe twice. For kaplan, the RN Content Review book worked wonders for me in studying, if you can just buy the book on ebay and purchase the kaplan on-demand course (?) it allows you to access the qbanks and trainers this will save you money. Whatever you choose, I wish you the best of luck in your studies and on your nclex exam!

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