Topics About 'kaplan'.

Preparing for the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) is pivotal in launching your nursing career. With the abundance of test prep options available, choosing the right resource can make all the difference in your success. Among them is the Kaplan NCLEX-RN, one of the most renowned and trusted test preps on the market. Kaplan NCLEX-RN Overview Kaplan includes over 2,100 practice questions with rationales, known to be like the NCLEX and Computer Adaptive Tests (CATs) in format and adaptability. The CATs are supposed to adapt to a student's performance by dynamically adjusting the difficulty level of the questions based on their previous answers. This allows students to gauge their strengths and weaknesses in specific nursing topics and become more comfortable with exam taking. Video content related to over 300 topics, study guides, a 700+ page eBook, and apps for students to study on the go is also offered, with the addition of the "NCLEX Channel," where students can communicate, ask questions amongst their classmates, and attend live classes with actual teachers to help further enhance their learning. Kaplan emphasizes their use of the Decision Tree Method, which assists students in learning how to think critically, analyze data, and apply their nursing knowledge to realistic scenarios. This method is known to help students systemically develop their problem-solving and clinical reasoning skills, which are necessary for the NCLEX exam, and practicing as a nurse. Overall, Kaplan stands out for its comprehensive content, adaptive testing, and extensive resources, making it a strong contender in the NCLEX test preparation market. Pros of Kaplan NCLEX-RN Some of the pros of Kaplan NCLEX-RN study prep are: Comprehensive Content: Kaplan NCLEX offers extensive content coverage, ensuring students are well-prepared for the exam. It covers all the major nursing topics and provides in-depth explanations. Practice Questions: Kaplan provides a large bank of practice questions, allowing students to assess their knowledge and gain familiarity with the exam format. The questions are designed to mimic the difficulty level and structure of the actual NCLEX exam. Adaptive Learning: Kaplan's adaptive learning technology tailors the study materials to individual strengths and weaknesses, providing a personalized learning experience. Performance Analytics: Kaplan offers detailed performance analytics and feedback, helping students track their progress and identify areas that require further improvement. Review Videos and Lectures: Kaplan provides engaging review videos and lectures by experienced nursing educators, facilitating a more interactive and visual learning experience. Money-back Guarantee: If a user does not pass the NCLEX for the first time after utilizing Kaplan's resource, the user will receive a full refund (based on eligibility criteria). Cons of Kaplan NCLEX-RN Some of the cons of Kaplan NCLEX-RN study prep are: Cost: Kaplan NCLEX review courses can be expensive, making them less affordable for some students on a tight budget. Overwhelming Content: The comprehensive nature of Kaplan's study materials can sometimes be overwhelming, especially for students who prefer a more concise and focused approach to studying. Limited Mobile Access: While Kaplan offers mobile apps, the functionality and access to study materials may be limited compared to the desktop version, potentially restricting studying on the go. Less Focus on Test-Taking Strategies: While Kaplan provides valuable content review, some students feel that there could be more emphasis on test-taking strategies and tips specific to the NCLEX exam. Learning Style Suitability: Kaplan's teaching style and approach may not resonate with all students, as everyone has different learning preferences and needs. It's important to consider these pros and cons in relation to individual learning styles, preferences, and financial circumstances when deciding whether Kaplan NCLEX is the right test prep option for you. Kaplan NCLEX-RN Pricing Options Kaplan has a few different pricing options, which will vary depending on the type of studying a student may require. The following are the pricing options offered: Self-Paced $425 for 6 months Content video library 2,100+ Qbank questions 3 full-length Computer Adaptive Tests NCLEX Channel Decision Tree Method NCLEX-RN Content Review Guide 700+ page eBook Practice Pack From $129 – Computer Adaptive Test 180 Day Access Includes the 3 full-length, adaptive tests designed to mimic the NCLEX algorithm. $159 – Just the QBank 180 Day Access QBank with 2,100+ questions $229 – QBank + Cat 180 Day Access QBank with 2,100+ questions 3 full-length CATs $ 279 – Practice Pack 180 Day Access QBank with 2,100+ questions 3 full-length CATs 24/7 access to live or recorded sessions Related: Picmonic NCLEX-RN Review: Enhance Exam Success with Visual Learning Live Online $525 for 6 months 18 hours of live instruction in an online classroom Question-based lessons 2,100+ QBank questions 3 full-length CATs NCLEX Channel to livestream or watch later Decision Tree method Content videos with 300+ topics NCLEX-RN Content Review Guide 700+ page eBook Kaplan NCLEX-RN Curriculum Through its extensive study materials such as textbooks, video lectures, and practice questions, Kaplan NCLEX-RN test preparation provides students with comprehensive and detailed information necessary to excel in the exam. It covers various subjects, including but not only: Pharmacology Medical-Surgical Nursing Pediatric Nursing Psychiatric Nursing Kaplan NCLEX-RN Platform and Usability Kaplan's NCLEX-RN platform is designed to provide students with a user-friendly and efficient studying experience. The platform offers a range of features and tools that enhance usability and make the learning process more accessible and interactive. One notable aspect of Kaplan's platform is its intuitive interface, which allows students to navigate the study materials and resources effortlessly. The platform is organized into different sections, including content review, practice questions, and performance tracking, making it easy for students to locate and access the needed materials. It also offers various study modes, such as creating custom quizzes or taking simulated exams. These options allow students to tailor their study sessions to their needs and preferences. Related: UWorld NCLEX-RN Review: A Test Prep with Great Practice Questions Kaplan's platform also provides comprehensive performance analytics, allowing students to track their progress and identify areas for improvement, with detailed feedback that helps students focus on weak areas and optimize their study time effectively. Moreover, Kaplan offers mobile apps for iOS and Android. The mobile apps provide convenient access to study materials, practice questions, and other resources, allowing students to maximize their time and study on the go, even with busy schedules. While the platform is generally user-friendly, some students may find the extensive content and features overwhelming. However, Kaplan provides ample support through tutorials, customer service, and online forums. Overall, Kaplan's NCLEX-RN platform is designed with usability, providing students with a seamless and interactive learning experience. It's intuitive interface, study modes, performance analytics, and mobile accessibility offer an effective and efficient test preparation journey.

Passed the Nclex after 210 questions!!!!!The first time I took it I failed after taking the whole 265 questions. I don't think I was ready to take a 6hr exam even if you know there is a chance you can sit for the whole thing. I was ready this time though, after 150 questions I got myself mentally ready to take the whole thing so I was a little shock when it shut off around 210. I was like ????... I didn't see that coming . A lot of emotions pass through me. I didn't feel confident or non-confident either, just calm. I went home and took a nap because I could not sleep the night before even though I wasn't tired at all in the morning when I woke up cause the test was at 8am. After my 6hr nap, I did the Pearson Vue trick and I got the good pop up. THANK YOU GOD!!!! I was relief but not too much because I wanted to see it officially. Lo & behold, next morning I check my name on the license verify website and there it was, I was officially an RN. I was so relieved, it has been a long journey. I'm glad I could finally close this chapter. For those of you still out there getting ready for the NCLEX, be confident in yourself first and foremost, that is very important. Second, you already know the basics to pass, learn how to take the test and work on your weak areas. Don't overwhelm yourself with too many things to study. What I usedPrioritization, Delegation, & Assignment (Practice exercises for the NCLEX Examination 2nd edition)Did half of the book (very important in my opinion, helped me improve a lot in that category, which is HUGE & A LOT in the NCLEX) KaplanUsed it to practice questions in the Qbank, Questions Trainer test, Sample NCLEX test, Focused Review test. Also to review a material in the so fabulous Content Review Videos ....Helped a lot. I kind of follow their guide on how to effectively use the Kaplan website. They have a study guide schedule for when you want to take the NCLEX. I follow their plan a little. Watch a whole lot of videos on what the NCLEX is about & how to prepare for it. I WISH I UTILIZED THE KAPLAN MORE THE FIRST TIME. It really has a ton of info. Just browse through it. It also come with the class session of Kaplan review , with a bunch of questions videos in each NCLEX category which they go with you on answering each question. Honestly Kaplan is all you need. Definitely worth everything. I had it through my nursing school and just continued to ask for an extension over & over (max of 3 month each time) after I fail the first time. PicmonicI also used Picmonic (I wish this was around when I was in nursing school) If you are in nursing school, YOU HAVE TO GET THIS.... It has so many things from anatomy & physiology content to everything you need. You can focus on pharm, med surge, psych, OB , Peds etc.... & it's kinda fun & easy to remember. If you want to have all A's in nursing school while studying things in a fun way without reading too much boring textbook. Get this ****, those drugs & topics that are hard to grasp or remember, it makes it sooo easy. It also cater for students in medical school. Cramfighter.comI use this as a study schedule guide. It does all the work for you, you can rearrange it however you want. I input what materials I am going to study: book, website, flashcards , apps, etc. It may have it or you can manually enter it. It will gives a day to day to day content to study. You can customize everything, how long you want to study each things, how many question you want to do every day, what days you want to study or not, etc. Input your exam date & it will give you the amount of content you need to study till your exam date Well I've said a mouthful, anybody has anymore questions, need advice, etc., don't hesitate to comment or if you need to speak in private let me know too. I'll be happy to help. Good luck to all my future RN's. YOU CAN DO IT!!!

After shutting out distractions and really focusing on studying for the test, I ended up buying alot of NCLEX review materials, so I had the following: NCSBN online review course (5 wks) Content isn't great, very hard to learn from but the questions were NCLEX type questions. I would purchase this if you're only needing questions to study from and not for content review. Kaplan - The RN Course Book: Preparation for the NCLEX-RN Examination 15th edition No online review course, just the book from amazon.com. Must have for content if you don't have time to study, minimum time needed to read over this book is about 1 wk. Only thing about this book is that it may not have all the info you need and there are no NCLEX practice questions in this book. Probably contains about 50-60% info you would need to study for the NCLEX. You would have to purchase the online Kaplan review course for the questions or just use questions from another source. For more information download the official allnurses® NCLEX Study Guide: Expert Insights to Help You Pass the NCLEX ebook... allnurses® Ebooks Library Saunders Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN Examination 5th edition. Good review book, I just feel like it's too showy and has more info than you actually need to study for. Questions to me are okay but appears to be easy. Prioritization, Delegation, and Assignment (PDA) by LaCharity 2nd edition Very important, must review for questions. I feel like this book helped me the most to prepare for the NCLEX style questions, especially for those priority, delegation, assignment type questions in which I saw alot when I sat for my 3 NCLEX attempts. Kaplan NCLEX-RN: Strategies, Practice, and Review 2011-2012 book I read through this book cover to cover but I don't think it helped me at all. Good book for questions only. Exam Cram NCLEX-RN 3rd edition You can actually skim through this book in about 2-3 hrs. It basically tells you the info you need to know for the NCLEX. Only thing, is it's a small book and the info is probably only 30% from what you would see from a Saunders's or Maryann. Good book for questions, as they are NCLEX style questions. Maryann Hogan Comprehensive Review for NCLEX-RN:Reviews and Rationales 2nd edition Must have for content and similar NCLEX type questions if you have time to study, minimum time needed to review this whole book is about 1 month, to me this is the best review book for the NCLEX-RN. The content is cut and dry, which was good for me. NCLEX 4000 Good for questions or alternative type questions, I didn't use it as much or maybe hardly at all. Kaplan Questions Trainers 1-7 from this website Questions are way harder than NCLEX, I would probably use this if I need questions to study. Lab Values Very important, must review right before you sit for NCLEX. Thank you for whoever posted this: LabValues[1]NCLEX review2.docx Yes, I used/reviewed them all. Some people say do as much questions as you can and others have said to study mostly content. It's really up to you on how you study. You must have the knowledge/content to answer NCLEX style questions. In addition, answering NCLEX style questions such as the ones in PDA book helps you to understand why you would choose this answer over the other. That's also important because it helps you to figure out what the questions are actually asking. You probably hear people say to review rationales all the time, well yes review them! It will tell you why you would choose this answer over the other, etc. Doing questions and reviewing the rationales to me is like reviewing content as well. For me, I mostly study content and used the questions from the book (end of chapter quizzes or the comprehensive test at the end of the book, no other review materials used for practicing NCLEX style questions). I think I ended up only studying a total of 500 questions or less from all of my 3 attempts at NCLEX-RN. You're probably thinking, why didn't I practice more questions, well I just ran out of time so I decided to review content more. And also, I did not get to finish reviewing any review books. Saunders was just too showy and hard to follow for me so I probably only read through 2-3 chapters and was like alright no more Saunders. Kaplan, the book has good straightforward info in ADPIE (assessment, diag, planning, etc) format. I probably ended up only using it for 5 chapters and switched bc I found out that Maryann book was better suited for me. The Maryann book I think I only studied through 50% of the book bc my NCLEX date was near so I didn't get to finish. I did finish the PDA and Kaplan strategies book as they were quick reads. It seems that if you're doing well during your exam, you would see more SATA questions. There will be lots of priority, delegation, assignment type questions so PDA is the best book for it. I would say that if you're pressed for time and only have about 1-2 week to study I would stick with the: Kaplan RN Course Book 15th edition, the lab value sheet I attached, the review sheet I attached, and PDA book. The Kaplan book is like a shortened version of Saunders's and/or Maryann Hogan. It seems to have about 60% of the materials you would see from either Saunders's or Maryann Hogan. Very good if you're very pressed for time. I would say that if you have about 1 month or more to study, I would use: Maryann Hogan 2nd edition book, the lab value sheet I attached, the review sheet I attached, and PDA book. The Hogan book is by far better than the Saunders and/or Kaplan RN course book. It even has NCLEX highlights, which highlights info in the chapter that is most commonly asked on the NCLEX-RN. Even if you don't have time to read through the whole book, review the NCLEX highlights in this book is probably enough. In addition, the questions in this book (end of chapter quizzes and comprehensive test is the most similar type questions you will see on the NCLEX). Hopefully, this helps those who have lots of NCLEX review materials and can't decide on which one to study on or for those who are deciding on what review material to buy for the NCLEX-RN. Good luck to everyone taking the NCLEX, if I can pass it without practicing lots of questions and reviewing all the content, you can too! NCLEX-Study-Guide-Must-READ-before-test.pdf LabValues[1]NCLEX review2.docx

Jun 28, 201213 yr
101 replies
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- kaplan
- nclex
- student-life
- study-guide

so I got a 58% on the Kaplan readiness exam and I'm not too happy about it. I heard a 65% is passing. What does a 58% equal out to for the NCLEX? I heard there is like a scale where it will tell you your probability of passing... so far I've taken three question trainers and they were: #1 48 #2 56 #3 53 I havent taken 4,5,6 and 7 yet but I have finished almost every question on the qbank and have been mostly in the middle 50's my highest was a 60. I am retesting on the 17th and I pray I pass this time! I failed 75 questions the first time and did horrible.

I am currently looking into and applying to several FNP programs. I am wondering if anyone has attended or is attending either Kaplan or Walden? If so, what has your experience been like so far? Thanks! Staff Update If interested in what others have to say about Kaplan University please take a look at our Kaplan University | Peer Reviews.

STEP 1 Familiarize Yourself With the ExamThe first thing you should do is become familiar with what the NCLEX-RN exam is, what is covered on it, how it's administered, etc. You can find this information on the website for the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN). NCLEX & Other Exams | NCSBN On the NCSBN's website, you can find the "Candidate Bulletin", which covers an overview of the exam, registering and scheduling the exam, what to bring on your test day, test rules, how test day runs, the content covered on the NCLEX, and information on the structure of the exam, such as the adaptive testing and the passing standard. You can also find the Test Plan for the NCLEX-RN examination on the NCSBN's website. The Test Plan shows the general content areas covered on the NCLEX-RN exam, including the percentage of items that are covered in each content area. STEP 2 Start Preparing Your FIRST Semester of Nursing SchoolThe best thing you can do to prepare for the NCLEX-RN is to start early, as in, your first semester! In most nursing schools, your exams each semester will include NCLEX-style questions. In my program, many (including me ) complained about the number of select all that apply (SATA) questions on our exams. When I took the NCLEX, over 20 of the 75 questions I had were SATA! Good thing we had that preparation. When you're studying for your exams, you should be answering the questions at the end of each chapter you're studying. Nursing school textbooks generally also have companion websites with even more questions related to each chapter (note: to access these questions you may need a code, and this code generally is only available for new copies of the book, not used). All of these questions not only reinforce the content you learn from your lectures and readings but also help you get into the habit of answering NCLEX-style questions. In addition, look into review books that have NCLEX-style questions. Throughout nursing school, I used the "Success Q&A Review" series of books. I highly recommend these books, as each book has 1000+ questions just on that subject. There are books for Fundamentals, Pharmacology, Research, Pediatrics, Maternal/Newborn, Psychiatric/Mental Health, Medical-Surgical, and Leadership. Check them out here: https://www.fadavis.com/nursing/success-series You may also find the Pearson Reviews and Rationales series helpful as well. These books contain content review, as well as questions, for each subject. Check them out here: Nursing Reviews and Rationales Check your local library for these books, rent them from Amazon, split the cost with friends, either way, doing as many NCLEX questions as possible during school will not only help you do well on exams but minimize the amount of time you spend after graduation prepping. STEP 3 Standardized Preparation Programs During SchoolMany nursing schools also employ standardized test preparation programs throughout their curriculum. This can be ATI, Kaplan, HESI, etc. My program used HESI. Some schools will factor your scores on these exams into your course grades, some require you to obtain a certain minimum score on a comprehensive exam at the conclusion of your program to graduate, and others only use them as guides for you to focus your study. It is to your benefit to maximize your use of these programs. One major benefit to these programs is that they build your test-taking stamina. In my last semester, we took three comprehensive HESI exams, with 150 questions each. This helps you get used to sitting for an extended period of time, under testing conditions, answering NCLEX-style questions. STEP 4 Start FOCUSED Preparation As Soon as Possible After GraduationAfter I graduated nursing school, I took a full week off from everything. I was done with school, I was off from work, and I did absolutely nothing related to nursing. You should definitely take some time off after graduation as well. You completed a great accomplishment: you finished nursing school! Reward yourself with a vacation or a staycation. The next question is how long should you take off? Opinions vary on that. Personally, I think 2-3 weeks max is ideal. You should definitely treat yourself after graduating, and decompress. At the same time, you don't want to take too long to get back into study-mode, especially when, if your school used a standardized testing program, you probably just finished taking a comprehensive NCLEX-style exam, and are already in NCLEX mode. Therefore, after your break, it's time to get back into the books! STEP 5 Content Review BooksOne resource that you can use is a content review book. Lets fact it, there's no way you're going to reread all of those 1000+ page nursing school textbooks. There's no way you're going to go through thousands of PowerPoint slides. A content review book summarizes the most important information from all of your nursing classes, giving you the "high yield" information that can show up on the NCLEX. The most popular content review book seems to be "Saunders Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN Examination". This book has very high reviews, and I recommend it. Now, although this book is a summary, it is still dense. You should focus your reading on areas that you know you aren't as strong in. For example, I knew that pediatric nursing wasn't my strong suit, especially congenital heart defects and GI anatomical disorders. I focused my content review in pediatrics. The Saunders review book is the one I recommend, and you can borrow it from the library, split the cost with friends, buy used, etc. Note that if you buy it new, you also get a code for online questions on the companion website, which help to reinforce content. Check out the Saunders book here : Saunders Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX You can also purchase through Amazon. STEP 6 Question Resources (Books, Apps, Programs)In addition to content, your primary focus on studying should be answering as many questions as possible. For many, content review with a book like Saunders can be skipped, especially if you did extremely well in nursing school. Question practice is a must for everyone. You should have practice answering all types of NCLEX-style questions (multiple choice, SATA, hot spot, ordered response, etc.). BooksThere are a number of books that contain NCLEX-style questions for you to practice. The most highly recommended I have heard are: Lippincott Q&A Review for NCLEX-RNPrioritization, Delegation, and Assignment by LaCharityLippincott NCLEX-RN Alternate Format QuestionsI personally used the Prioritization, Delegation, and Assignment book, and this book was consistently recommended here on allnurses, and I saw why. Many NCLEX questions ask you to prioritize. Whether it's which patient you will see first, which intervention you will carry out first, or which action requires you to intervene immediately, practicing these types of questions is essential to doing well on the NCLEX-RN. These questions are also on the more difficult side, therefore they give you quality practice for the NCLEX. AppsAs I'm sure you can imagine, there are many apps available for you to answer NCLEX-style questions on the go. If you're standing in a long line or sitting on the bus, instead of checking social media again, why not answer a few questions? The best-reviewed app, and the one I used is "NCLEX Mastery". This app has over 1300 questions, and it also has mnemonics and terminology to help you study. Highly recommended! nclexmastery ProgramsThere are also a number of computer programs that offer NCLEX-style questions. The most popular are UWorld and Kaplan, which offer question banks (Kaplan also offers courses). Both UWorld and Kaplan have 1600+ questions in their banks, with all the different types of questions you would see on the NCLEX. I tried both UWorld and Kaplan. I completed all of UWorld, and about 600 questions from Kaplan. Hands down, I recommend UWorld, and I have found consistently more positive reviews for UWorld than Kaplan. UWorld offers challenging questions with a large number of SATA questions. I believe this was critical in helping me pass the NCLEX-RN. As I mentioned earlier, over 20 of the 75 questions I had were SATA, and I often had 3-4 in a row. UWorld's user interface also mirrors the NCLEX, so when you're sitting for the exam, it won't be a shock. Finally, another major benefit of UWorld is the rationales. These are the best rationales you will find anywhere. They are detailed, given for the correct and incorrect options, often have color images, and are essentially a content review. Kaplan wasn't bad, but UWorld was better. The rationales given on Kaplan questions are not detailed, and sometimes it isn't clear why an option was wrong. If you only can get one, UWorld is the one you should choose, without question (they both cost the same). UWorld also has an app that you can use on your phone. NCLEX-RN Exam - Online Practice Questions & ReviewHow do you prefer to prep for the NCLEX-RN®? STEP 7 Review CoursesFinally, a number of companies offer review courses for the NCLEX. Kaplan and Hurst review courses are very popular, and I have especially heard Kaplan mentioned. Kaplan offers a live in person review, a live online review, and a self-paced online review course. Kaplan also offers a guarantee that you'll pass the NCLEX. I have heard good things about Kaplan's course and strategies, so if you have the money, perhaps that is another option for you to consider. A course offers you a set, structured schedule to study and prepare for the exam, which can be beneficial if you need guidance in your studies. My school offered us a virtual ATI online review course. This review course was ok, it offered a tutor who gave you recommendations on what to study based on your scores on assessment exams, as well as access to other questions banks, ATI review books, and powerpoints. I don't think I would recommend it if you have to pay for it. Kaplan Review CoursesHurst Review STEP 8 Focus on Question Strategies!Let's face it: there's absolutely no way you can know everything there is to know that may be tested on the NCLEX exam. But, you can still pass! When I was taking the NCLEX, there were many questions that I didn't explicitly know. However, using test strategies I learned, I was able to narrow down the options and make an educated guess. Kaplan advertises its decision-making tool that helps you answer questions. If you purchase their course, you will learn that strategy. The Saunders book has a chapter on test-taking strategies. There is also a Saunders Strategies for Test Success book that details their strategies and provides practice questions. ATI also has test-taking strategies, and I have attached the document found on their website (note: the exam plan they discuss is not the current one, however the strategies always remain the same). Either way, learn ways to answer questions you may not know, and use those during the NCLEX. For example, if a question asks you which intervention would you implement first, you may use the ABC (Airway, Breathing, Circulation) strategy and choose to open the airway first (by sitting the patient up, for example), then administer oxygen. You may also use Maslow's Hierarchy to answer questions (by focusing on physiological needs before love/belonging needs, for example). Learning question strategies is a must to be able to answer any NCLEX question thrown at you, even if you don't know exactly the disease process or the medication being asked about. STEP 9 So What Should I Use to Study? There's So Much Out There!From all of this, it seems like there's so much out there to help you prep for the NCLEX! Indeed, it can be overwhelming. The key is to only pick a few resources, and stick to them. You absolutely need a question resource, over 1000 questions. If you feel like your content foundation is lacking, even in one or two areas, then a content review book is helpful. If you feel like you need guidance from an instructor to help you prepare, a review course would be helpful. The key is to maximize your resources. For me here is what I used: Saunders Comprehensive Review BookI only used this for a few chapters. I would use it if I found I was consistently getting certain types of questions wrong. Virtual ATI Online ReviewI completed most of this before the NCLEX, but did not complete the Predictor Exam, though I completed all of the modules and assessments. UWorldI completed all 1900+ questions Prioritization, Delegation, and Assignment BookI completed all of the questions in the first half of the book (not the case studies) Kaplan QBankI only completed about 600 of these questions NCLEX MasteryI completed about 1000 of these questions, usually on my break at work or when I was out and had downtime. So, in general, most people would find success (again, if you maximize your study) A content review bookUWorld QBankPrioritization BookFor many, a review course such as Kaplan could also be added. Based on what I have seen posted on this website, the Saunders Book, UWorld, and the PDA LaCharity book all get consistently good reviews. STEP 10 When Should You Take the NCLEX?So you've applied to and paid the state board and Pearson Vue, you've received your ATT, and now you're looking at the dates available. When should you take it? The answer to that question is individual, however, you don't want to wait too long. For me, I finished my program on 8/4 (graduation 8/31), received my ATT on 9/16, and tested on 9/20. So, I was doing focused studying for over a month. If you are doing well on your practice questions and in your review course, then you should schedule your exam as soon as possible. The best thing to do is choose a date, and as long as it's over 24 hours from the test date/time, you can reschedule. I've found that once you choose a date, it becomes more "real", and your studying becomes more purposeful. STEP 11 Tips During the ExamRemember your test-taking strategies!Carefully read each question, and look for keywords/phrases (like "not", "further information", "first", "successful", "priority")Once you choose an answer, reread the question again, check your answer, then click next! Don't dwell on an answer, as you may choose a correct one to an incorrect answer. I know I have!Take your time! Give yourself a minute or two for each question.Take a break! Sometimes it's helpful to step away for a little to refocus your mind. You don't have to wait for the scheduled breaks. If you need a break, take one! STEP 12 After the ExamCongrats! You completed the NCLEX! This is a big accomplishment, and you should be proud of yourself. If your state participates in Quick Results, you can pay for your unofficial results 48 hours after your exam on the Pearson Vue website. My exam was at 8am, and two days later the results were available at 9am (of course I was checking every 2 minutes starting at 8, haha). During the time in between, do something fun to get your mind off of the exam. It can be nerve-wracking waiting what seems like an eternity, but taking your mind off of it helps. Yes, you can also try the Pearson Vue Trick (PVT) (I know you're wondering ). Basically, if you try to re-register for the NCLEX after you put in your credit card information and hit submit if you receive an error message saying that you have recently scheduled an exam, then you passed (maybe). If it accepts your credit card payment or says declined for insufficient funds (some try this with a gift card with $5, for example), then maybe you passed, maybe you didn't. The PVT isn't 100% right all the time, but many try it. I did as well. I tried it 20 minutes after the exam, 2 hours after, 6 hours after, and after 24 hours, all the so-called "good popup". I'm not recommending you do this, but I know that many do it, and at least for me, getting the "good popup" helped me convince myself that I passed while waiting the 48 hours for quick results. ConclusionThanks for reading! I hope this guide helps you in your NCLEX-RN prep. The key is to start early, use a limited number of study resources, do focused studying, learn test-taking strategies, and remain calm during the exam. Whether you're taking the NCLEX for the first time or taking it again, with preparation, you CAN pass the NCLEX.

Sep 29, 20169 yr
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- lacharity
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  - uworld

My grades on the Kaplan were: Overall Score = 81% Math = 93% Reading = 82% Science = 60% Writing = 86% Critical Thinking = 81% (not a section on test, but they give you this score based on how you answer questions) I studied for a month doing practice questions everyday for about 1-4 hours a day. I was in school as well (and worked), so I would have to set time aside to study for this exam. The more questions you do, the better you will get. Do not get discouraged if you get many wrong as you are studying because I found that the test was a lot easier than the questions from the Kaplan practice guide. The Kaplan Pre-Nursing Entrance Exam book gives you way too much that you do NOT need to know. The test is broken down into 4 sections with certain topics that you need to know. Math: Conversions, Operations, Ratios, Word Problems (28 Questions in 45 min)***A calculator is provided which appears on the screen. Personally, the Kaplan book for me was completely useless for the Math portion. I liked using the NLN RN Pre-Entrance exam book (I had the book already from another test). But if you do not have this book, please review how to do proportions, adding, subtracting, division, multiplication, converting fractions to percent (& vice versa), adding & subtracting fractions, multiplying & dividing fractions, converting percent in decimals (& vice versa), mixed numbers & improper fractions. There was NO metric conversions on the test so don't worry about that. The word problems on the test were fairly easy and were proportion related for example: 75mg of a drug is prescribed and the medication is available as 100mg/mL, the nurse would have to give ______? To solve set up a proportion and cross multiply, then divide (answer = 0.75mL). One book that I did find extremely useful for the Math is Math for Nurses a Pocket Guide to Dosage Calculation 8th edition, I bought it on Amazon for around $8.00 and it really breaks down Math to make it easy to understand if you are having trouble. (I did chapters 1-4, they are really small chapters and perfect practice for this test.) You can also use it as help for your dosage calculations class we eventually must take. Khan Academy and YouTube helped tremendously also in breaking each subject down. Reading: Determining logic of a passage, Comprehending details, Drawing basic inferences, Identifying the purpose of a passage (22 Questions in 45 min)I absolutely hate reading comprehension and I was surprised on how well I did. You must do as many practice problems as possible and really analyze why are you getting the question wrong. READ the question and ask yourself what are they asking for? I would read the question first and then go to the paragraph and look for answer. The Kaplan guide was okay for the Reading portion, but any other study guide that has reading comprehension will do fine. I almost ran out of time on this section and guessed quickly on the last 2 questions (please never leave any unanswered). Science: Cardiovascular system, Electrolytes, Gastrointestinal system, Immune system, Neurology, Renal system, Hematological System, Homeostasis, Respiratory system, Sensory system (20 Questions in 30 min)I was disappointed with my science score as I consider myself good at science with A's in A&P, chem, and biology. These questions on the test were not fair in my opinion and some I felt were nursing based. Anyway, I used Khan Academy and YouTube reviewing each subject. ***Please know: blood flow through heart, air flow through lungs, what system controls homeostasis, digestive system organ functions, what are the 3 components in the body water is held, where oxygen exchange occurs, primary function of circulatory system. Take each system and write out what are the key functions of each. (Kaplan book again was useless in my opinion.) NO chem, NO biology, NO anatomy on test, ONLY physiology!! Writing: Assessing passage development, Assessing paragraph logic, Assessing mechanics of writing (21 Questions in 45min)Again another frustrating section for me and the Kaplan book DOES NOT have any practice questions on writing which sucks so I had to figure it out on my own. This section is hard to study for, but as I was doing the test I would ask myself does that make sense? I think I got lucky on this section. ***Please know: comma placement, apostrophe placement, subject verb agreement (reviewed on Khan Academy and YouTube). Questions on the test also asked to place sentences in the paragraph which was confusing, I am going to place a link to a site that has a few practice questions that helped me with that. W:LIT-1 | SAT Suite of Assessments Overall I hope this helps anyone who is going to take this exam. I used a binder to keep my study materials together, whatever works for you. Take small breaks as you study and create a study schedule to help with time management. Remember practice, practice, practice and you will be fine. Do not give up, if becoming nurse is your dream you will do it!

I used Kaplan to study for the NCLEX immediately after graduation. I was originally going to go with UWorld but there was an information session held by Kaplan and I was sold. I was drawn to the live review, as well as the idea of it being a nice little bundle of pre-selected questions, videos, a textbook, as well as randomized questions to routinely practice. I wanted more than 75 random questions a day. I wanted to progress, grow, and know I was ready. Not to mention my friend who graduated a year before said she used Kaplan, passed in 75, and KNEW she passed. I wanted that feeling. So I did it. I had a great instructor, and it helped me see questions differently. I think the instructor makes or breaks it. I also think Kaplan had unrealistic expectations. We were supposed to read the book cover to cover and watch the 300+ short videos prior to doing questions. No. Just, no. It wasn't sticking like that, and it felt like it was just delaying things. So I stuck to questions. ScheduleMonday - Thursday I would do 75q a day with the QBank. These are the randomized questions. After every exam, I would go through it question by question and write down EVERY SINGLE RATIONALE in a notebook. This part is critical. Sure I wrote down facts, the process of writing helped me memorize them. But what was so important was I wrote down WHY. Why did I pick that answer? Why did I get it wrong? Why did I get it right? Some people thought it was crazy, but I felt like I was taking the easy way out since I didn't have to read review books. It'd take about 2-3 minutes a question. I usually did a bunch of questions and took frequent breaks. But if I split it up into 35 and 35 it would probably take about 4 hours. On Fridays I would do the Q Trainers. These are predetermined questions that grow in length and difficulty. They are NOT randomized. As they got over 100, I would need additional time to complete the remediations. Eventually I had to carry it over into Monday or even Tuesday when I was over 200 questions. I would take it a little easier over the weekend, going off and on Saturday but at the same time enjoying myself. Sunday I didn't do any remediation (but I might sneak some in). Looking back, I feel this wasn't wise. I learned that if I do ANY NCLEX prep, even if I take the afternoon and night off, it still is a study day. ConcernsMy approach was goal oriented, rather than specific times. As long as I got X done today, it was fine. I was worried that meant I wasn't focused enough. Also, sometimes remediation would carry over into the following day and I would get overwhelmed. Again, I was worried this meant a lack of focus on my part. My other concern was if I was doing enough. Everybody else was doing questions and reading the books. I only used the book if it was something I had never heard of, or if it was something I knew that I had to get down (like PAD vs PVD). I put all my faith in the rationales. My last concern was if I was backing the wrong horse. People were using UWorld and passing with it. And I was stuck with Kaplan, committed to questionable rationales. Some were short, some were confusing, and few had blatantly false information. But I saw it through and it paid off. BurnoutRemember how I said remediations would rollover into the next day? Well this kept happening. Eventually I got a 47 on a QB and I practically had a stroke. I texted my friend and she told me to just stop and take a break for a couple days. I didn't want to because I was terrified that I would lose the momentum. But she was right. And honestly, I didn't know what else to do. So halfway through remediation I shut my notebook. It messed up my schedule. I would have to pick up the slack. But the fact of the matter is that I did burn out, and the only thing that mattered was to cool down. I took the remainder of that day off, as well as all of the next day. The Comeback I don't remember the exact day of the week this was, but I know that I did maybe one QB and had to take QT7 (the 265 question behemoth) that Friday. I wanted to do QT7 the Monday after, but it would have messed everything up. So I did the QB and that would determine if I was ready for QT7. I got a 61%. Not bad, it was a personal best for QBs. I was ready. I ended up getting a 59% and was devastated. But after remediating, I was so glad I got that 59% because that was when everything clicked. I realized that I knew a ton of the answers I got wrong. I could have done better. That was when I told my girlfriend that I am going to try harder. I know what you're thinking, I should have been ALWAYS trying my hardest. But that's not how it was. It's easy to just go with an answer that feels right, even if you know it's not right. Where it gets picked because it's safe, despite deep down, your gut says it's wrong. I started reading and analyzing questions at a deeper level, and this paved the way to my success. Moving UpMy QBs prior to that 47% were roughly 55%-59%. After they shot up from 61% to even 68%. Moreover, remediating felt like a chore at this point. Granted, remediation was always the worst part for me, but I was actually learning. After my scores shot up it just felt like I was going through motions and wasn't getting anything out of it. I didn't want to burn out again. This was my chance to tackle the NCLEX. I told myself I will take the readiness exam. If I get roughly about a 65% then I will take the NCLEX the upcoming Tuesday. As I was taking it, I felt like I had jumped the gun. I felt like I was getting everything wrong except for some obvious ones. I was shocked when I saw that 69%. I took this on Friday, and rescheduled the NCLEX for Tuesday the 11th, as opposed to the 19th. I had to take it during this small window where I had the hunger to test. It was all I wanted to do. I didn't want to remediate, just test. The Final Days I remediated the readiness test, but I did NOT write it down. From this point forward I was done writing. There was just no point. On Saturday I did the Who Do You See First sample test and got an 83%, which is normal for that test. I also took the Alternate Format test and got a 48%. I was shocked. Most people get around a 20%-30%. It's a good thing I did well on that test, and you can probably guess why... Another thing I did that I would 100% suggest is going to the NCLEX site and downloading their tutorial. It turns your computer into the NCLEX tutorial so you can become familiar with it. Why? Well, because the tutorial you download is EXACTLY the same as the NCLEX's. Same questions too. Not to mention, time you take in the tutorial WILL count against you. I did this once a day until the NCLEX. On Saturday night I started winding down. I did my final two sample tests, finishing with a 66% and a 56%. Although I was half asleep for the final one, so it was kind of expected. This was it, no more questions! On Sunday I went for a hike with my girlfriend and brushed over some stuff I knew I had to just memorize but never did. Like the vaccinations and fetal positioning. I didn't go crazy (although if you ask her she might say differently). This may seem crazy, but I actually had to wean myself off studying. This isn't something that people talk about, but after studying for two months straight it's not easy to just "stop". On Monday I woke up early and did a test drive to the center. I soon realized it was a holiday so the traffic was inaccurate. But still, it was a good thing I did this. I was late leaving the house, I got lost, and I made plenty of mistakes. So I basically knew what NOT to do. Ironically I still got there on time, but I promise you had it been test day I would have panicked. I also continued weaning off. I studied a little, but ended up just stopping. I wasn't studying. Nope, no more. I was done... But I was still talking about the NCLEX and obsessing. I soon realized that this wasn't the correct result of "not studying". It was supposed to take my mind off it as a whole. So I changed gears. I walked about an hour into town and ate a burger. Why? Because I wanted to. It was MY day, so I did it! I set a ton of alarms and went to sleep that night. Kaplan suggests getting up early and also exercising so you can go to bed early. I had no issues sleeping. The Day Of I got up early and had a much better experience than the test run. I got to the test center earlier than expected, so I did some last minute studying (didn't help) and watched a video of a cow rolling a thing of hay (didn't help, still worth it). I saw other people going in so I joined them. There were about 4 of us, all there for different exams. We shared our horror stories of what was in store for us and wished each other luck. I left my phone and watch in the car, brought in snacks and drinks in case I was there for the long haul, and finally signed in. My heart was pounding so hard. For some reason when I sat down, I was calm. People say they get terrified, pray, hear their heart beating. But I think I was the calmest I have ever been. I took the noise cancelling headphones and took the covers off (I thought they were disposable for some reason) but then realized they were to keep them clean. So before I even started the test I was fumbling around to get them back on. Then I did the tutorial, and as expected, I flew through it because it was exactly the same on their site. My first question was SATA. It wasn't so bad. Then the next was SATA. It turned out over half my test was SATA. I didn't make marks because it might disrupt my thought process, but trust me when I say it was rarer to see a multiple choice. The test was simple, most questions being about a sentence long. I knew how the test worked, so I expected to get half of them wrong. I just accepted it, saw it for what it was, and moved on. It's designed to adapt to my knowledge level so I saw nothing wrong with getting a wrong answer because it was just trying to get an understanding of me, nothing more. I could feel the questions getting closer and closer in difficulty as it locked on to my ability level. I didn't know if they were "hard", or if I just messed up by not knowing it. But I could tell sometimes when I was expected to get it right and wrong. No, I didn't try to read the system or beat it. I took every question and tried my hardest. Again, this wasn't to outsmart it. This was just to understand that it's okay to get some wrong. But I knew it would shut off at 75, and it did. I didn't know how to feel after. It took about 90 minutes. I called my girlfriend and she asked when I take the test. I casually said I was done, and it wasn't so bad. She was shocked. The truth is it wasn't the hardest test I have taken. Yes it was packed with SATA, but I did so many in Kaplan that I felt it was... Fair. You hear of people leaving and crying their eyes out, but honestly I left and just went on with my day. Unfortunately, this didn't last long. Post Test Anxiety The day of the test wasn't so bad. I didn't worry too much about it, but it was always in the back of my mind. But this is when self-doubt started to simmer. "It was supposed to be the hardest test ever", "people feel like they guess", "it had tons of medications I haven't heard of", "people fail if they think it was easy". And that's when I started having problems. Tuesday night I started obsessing. Wednesday it was even worse. I chronically scavenged this website for peace of mind. When my girlfriend got home I looked like a mess and I greeted her with "So after hours of searching I found there's a 50% chance I passed". She was not amused. There were two main things that ate away at my sanity, I'm posting them here because if you're doing what I did, then hopefully this can ease some of your fear. The first was the questions were too simple. Okay, so what? It's supposed to be simple. But they didn't feel like higher level, one of them literally asked me to recall something. But was it a recall? Obviously not, since I passed. But if I could talk to myself from the past I would say that it wasn't recall since it involved an assessment. While this question had no assessment data, a diagnosis WAS still presented, thus, an assessment. What I did tell myself was there was no way to know. There just wasn't. Yes, they were simpler than Kaplan questions, but let's be honest, not all Kaplan questions seemed like they were higher level. Yet they were. So if even some later ones were similar, wouldn't that be passing? The other thing that ate away at my sanity was that I felt concerned about my management of care category not being up to par. If one wasn't, then I would fail! Okay, fine. So I thought back to all my questions that I felt fell under this section, and used my judgement on if they were right or wrong. Again, there's no way to know if they were from this category, and if they were right or wrong. But I tried and saw I got half of them right. So then I thought, isn't that's how it should be? It's designed to get half the questions wrong, so it shouldn't be a surprise. Not to mention, it'd probably spit out more questions. Let me emphasize that the previous two paragraphs are speculation. It's to help people who are freaking out like I did and hopefully can help with peace of mind. I can't back it up with data, unfortunately. ResultsThey didn't come 48 hours after I started my test. Obviously, I was freaking out. I thought it meant I failed since it took longer. I had to go somewhere and I didn't want to sit around and let it dictate my day. I was on the highway and people were texting me "DID YOU GET YOUR RESULTS?" It was around 9AM so I pulled over at a rest stop to reply. But before I did I checked quick results and they were in. I frantically put in my credit info. It hit me like a ton of bricks, pass. I cried, I was a sobbing snot-faced mess. And then everything hit me. Everything I had pent up for the last 15 months of nursing school. I cried harder. It was finally over. All I could think about was that it's finally over. And that I couldn't emotionally handle "fail". I didn't know if I had the strength to check my results, but it was one of the easiest things I had to do. Wrapping Up So that's my story, it actually felt good to write it. And I hope you come across this regardless of where you are in your journey, and I hope this helps you. Few things I want to mention. Kaplan. Would I suggest it? I honestly don't know. If you have it already, just stick with it. Don't be deterred from all the negative comments. The questions WILL prepare you for NCLEX, I promise. But expect to put up with frustration. As I said, some rationales have issues. But also some questions are duplicates, so it might slightly skew results. I also used PDA (didn't finish it) and a little bit of Alternate Format Questions by Lippincott (barely used it). Despite not finishing them, I would still suggest them. Use them for how much you need them. Before PDA I was terrible at priority and delegation questions but this helped make it click. Ironically, I didn't get many of those questions on NCLEX. Instead, I got more ethical/legal and I was not prepared for those. Regarding the Alternate Format book, I got it as a precaution but after doing the Kaplan test I knew I was fine. Also, Kaplan was the only source where I wrote down questions. Also, after the test I would say do what YOU feel is right. Everyone says don't think about it, don't talk about it, and don't read about it. I 100% disagree. I spent the following day googling it like crazy, and it somewhat gave me peace of mind. Also it passed the time. Do whatever it is that works for you, but understand that people around you can only take so much. Do your homework too! SATA does NOT mean it's above passing! SATA does NOT mean it's above passing! SATA does NOT mean it's above passing! Sorry, had to emphasize that. I saw so many posts about that on this site. Even the NCSBN confirms this. I would also suggest watching the videos about CAT. Even if you know how CAT works, watch them. They provide info you may not know, such as how the computer starts with a broader difficulty of questions, then narrows the range until it locks on. I never really reviewed my notebook of questions. Again, writing them down helped me process the information. Also it was nice to have something to reference where I could pull questions up right away. For instance, if I thought "Wait! But that said..." then I could easily look it up. My last thing is study in the way that works for you. If everyone is doing X but you learn better with Y, do Y! You aren't going into this blind, doing questions allows you to mark tangible progress. If you know what most of the things mean, or get questions wrong and go "I was going to pick that one!" you probably don't have a knowledge deficit. Scores QT1: 56 QT2: 53 QT3: 58 Practice Test: 47 QT4: 63 QT5: 61 QT6: 65 QT7: 59 Readiness Test: 69 Who Do You See First: 83 Alternate Format: 48 Sample 1: 66 Sample 2: 56 QB1-11: 55-60 QB12: 47 QB13-16: 61-68 And I did a QB today just because I can: 72% (not bad after not studying for a month!) I wish you the best of luck, and when everyone around you says "you'll do fine", just remember that they're saying it for a reason. They see what you don't see. While you and I might see putting in numerous hours a day to study as the norm, it's far from normal. And because it's such a fundamental part of life now, that's why people believe in you. You gave them a reason to.

Nov 27, 20169 yr
6 replies
3
- kaplan
- nclex

1st Attempt at the NCLEXI graduated from nursing school with a BSN in December '15. My school has a very high passing rate on the first attempt, so I had no doubt I would pass, after all, I was B+/A student in nursing school, how bad could NCLEX really be. I didn't take NCLEX seriously. I scheduled my exam for February, was getting 50s-60s on Kaplan Q bank, got 58% of Readiness test. I did 50 NCLEX questions per day, read the rationales for every wrong answer, and that's it, I figured that all of the knowledge I had from nursing school was good enough, plus it's impossible to re-read everything. When I took the exam, the computer shut off at 114 questions and I got a big FAIL 2 days later. The only thing I used was Kaplan Q bank. 2nd Attempt at the NCLEXOkay, this is not as easy as I thought. I underestimated the exam and it was my fault. I took me about a month before I started studying again due to family problems (BIG mistake to wait that long). I decided that I didn't use Kaplan right, so I wanted to give it a try one more time. This time I watched every single video in Kaplan, did every question trainer and took notes on anything that was new to me or felt was important, as I continued using the Q bank questions that were left. I reviewed every right and every wrong answer to make sure I understood why they were wrong. I also bought NCSBN, finished the course while taking notes, and did half of their questions (scored around 70-75% on them). In addition, I used Saunders Q&A review. I studied for about 4-5 hours a day every day except weekends for about 2 months before I felt like I was ready to try again. Went to take the test, got to 240 questions and ran out of time. I was devastated. I used Kaplan fully, Saunders Q&A review and NCSBN course. 3rd Attempt at the NCLEXI cried, I cried, I cried. After all, I really tried last time, and it didn't work. Watching my classmates getting jobs while I still couldn't pass the exam made me feel so dumb. It was getting closer to summer, all of my friends were making plans to go out, and all I thought about was NCLEX. I knew I had to finish this before I can finally relax. I downloaded the NCLEX Mastery app and bought Lippincott's Q&A. I also watched lots of Youtube videos on tips, downloaded a study guide for all nurses and other study aids and tricks that I found online, and I reviewed them every once in a while. I used NCLEX mastery everywhere I went. Even when I went to a birthday party, I couldn't allow myself to have fun so I was on my phone doing NCLEX questions from the app. I did around 200 NCLEX questions daily for around 2 months before I tried again. I went in August, got all 265 questions and a big FAIL 2 days later. I used NCLEX Mastery app, Lippincott's Q&A and notes/tips that I found online 4th Attempt at the NCLEXAt this point, NCLEX became my life. I cut everyone off from my life. My friends, my family. I saw no future ahead of me, the only thing I saw was NCLEX. Everyday. Every night. I even had dreams where I was studying, then I woke up and went to the library to study, fell asleep at night and got more dreams where I study (can I say I was studying 24/7? lol). I was falling into a depression because if I'm already doing everything that's in my power and can't pass....then how am I supposed to pass? What if I'm not meant to be an RN? What am I missing? Do I really have to re-read every single thing? But that's over 1000s pages, how am I supposed to memorize that? Even if I'll know every single symptom and intervention for every disease, that still doesn't guarantee that I'll pass, because the exam is all about prioritizing and critical thinking. I drove to the library and studied every single day (1 day off a week) from the time I wake up (10am-11am) until late evening (10pm-11pm). I purchased the UWorld. I did 75 questions in untimed tutor mode and took notes on every single question (yes on every single question, unless you know the topic in your sleep). I had around 7-8 pages of handwritten notes after finishing the 75 questions. I continued using the NCLEX Mastery app everywhere I went and before sleep. I also made drugs notecards, I wrote down every single med that I saw and didn't know. In the end, I had around 400-500 notecards that I reviewed DAILY until the day of my exam. I also created isolation precaution note cards that I reviewed daily. I created a huge binder so I could keep everything organized, put all of the online notes/tips and my handwritten notes there. I reviewed that binder DAILY before doing the 75 Uworld questions and every day I added more drug cards and handwritten notes to the binder to study. I kept doing that since the beginning of September until a week before my exam date on October 24th. When I had a week left, the only thing I changed was I started doing Uworld in timed non-tutor mode instead of the untimed tutor (still reviewed and took notes on every question). 1 day before the exam I didn't do any more questions, I just reviewed my notes and my note cards. The next day I had the exam at 8 am, I woke up at 5 am (I went to sleep early so I guess it worked! haha), ate healthy breakfast, drove to the testing center and reviewed my binder and notecards before going in. I said the prayer. My computer shut off at 140 questions, and I freaked out. I was sure I failed because near the end I wasn't getting any of those "bolded" or priority questions. 2 days later I found out I PASSED! It felt so surreal. I used Uworld, NCLEX Mastery app, LaCharity Prioritization, Delegation & Assessment book and notes/tips I found online. Here are some NCLEX study tips that I wish someone would have told me:Keep a consistent schedule what you're going to study and when (might not seem like it's important, but it is)Don't take too many "days off" between studying, or else you'll start to forget and will have to do everything all over again. You have to study every single day or at least every other day if you want to retain information. Studying for a week and taking 3-4 days break will not lead to anything good.While taking NCLEX, treat it just like any other practice test, it will ease your anxietyTreat all of your timed practice tests just like actual NCLEXBefore clicking 'next', tell yourself "okay, so if I won't help this person, they will die. The rest will not die and can wait". If it makes sense to you, click 'next'On SATA, not every option relates to your questions. The answer might seem good and look like it won't do any harm, but if it has nothing to do with what the question is asking, then it's the most likely wrong answerNote cards are probably the best way to memorize drugsEmbrace it, become a nurse on an emotional level (start thinking like a nurse even in everyday life)You can do it! ? Don't give up and don't stop believing!NCLEX resources that worked for me:UWorld!!!! It truly prepared me for SATA. The questions seemed harder than the actual exam.LaCharity. The questions seemed harder than the exam, and I feel like it really trained my critical thinking.NCLEX Mastery app. The questions are also tough + you can use this app everywhere you goLippincott's Q&A. It was alright, it also had alot of challenging questions, and it trained my critical thinking, but not as good as LaCharity.NCLEX resources that did not work for me:Kaplan. Fully finished the course and didn't work.NCSBN. I felt like their course wasn't detailed enough, and the questions didn't give good rationales.Saunders Q&A. I feel like the questions were too easy, I was getting 80s-90s on it and still failedFeel free to message me if anyone wants any of my notes or needs any help! ?

Oct 26, 20169 yr
25 replies
2
- kaplan
- lacharity
- nclex
- sata
- uworld

Hello friends. I wanted to create this account to share and give my personal experience and give hope and maybe try to calm your nerves down about NCLEX-RN. I took my NCLEX Friday 11, 2016 in Gardena, CA. My license posted Tuesday 15, 2016. For starters, I am an ESL, C student, did not graduated with Honors or A/B in my Nursing classes. I do like to get things done though. I graduated December 2015. Took a whole month vacation January. Got my authorization to test the last week of January and scheduled for my NCLEX March 1, 2016. I did rescheduled my test once, and gave myself 10 more days, because I did not feel quite ready. I always have a hard time deciding what to study or how to start studying so! I decided to focus in only one study plan: KAPLAN RN program. I did every single question!! All Qbanks, QTrainers, Sample test. Although my scores were never great I remediated every single question. I was scared at first, but the key in my opinion on passing the NCLEX is getting used to answering questions. I started studying on February, I started by watching every single video there is, which by the way are really short and straight forward. That took a whole week. Then I started taking the test. This were my scores. Readiness Test A: 50 % Q TRAINER 1: 53.3% Q TRAINER 2: 48% Q TRAINER 3: 51% Q TRAINER 4: 56.7% Q TRAINER 5: 52.7% Q TRAINER 6: 52.5% Q TRAINER 7: 51.7% SAMPLE TEST 1: 52.0 % SAMPLE TEST 2: 58.0% SAMPLE TEST 3: 83.3% SAMPLE TEST 4: 30.6% Q BANK AVERAGE: 51% I also read the 35 page RN study guide floating around in this website. I also keep reviewing over and over Lab values, and went over real quick q trainer 6 and 7 again the day before my test. I know that people say don't study the day before, but I CANT. Plus it wasn't learning it was just reviewing. I want to add that I am Christian, and I prayed a lot. I listened to my favorite Christians songs every time I wanted to relax. The day before my test I drove to the testing center, picked my parking lot, parked, went inside the elevator and walked back and forth three times from the elevator to the door of where I was going to test. I am sure this calmed me down sooo much. I really recommend it. I knew that with my low scores I was expecting to go over 75 questions. So Do not panic is okay! After 75 I stopped, close my eyes and pray. I keep answering the questions which by the way I feel that they were real hard. 100 came and I was offered the 1st brake, but decided not to take it thinking that I was only going to be there for a few more questions maybe 140 or 150. Every 25 questions I closed my eyes and prayed. At the 190 question I got offered the 2nd break and I took it! I went to the bathroom washed my face, had my banana a zip of water and prayed once again. You got to think positive! If the computer is letting you get this far!! Is something good!!! YOU ARE STILL ON THE BORDERLINE OF passing! You haven't failed yet! KEEP GOING. I went back and felt better, like a little refreshed. I continued answering the questions and I felt that I was answering them right because I was getting a lot of SATA together and I knew this was a good sign. 200, 220, 240, 255, my last 10 I stopped close my eyes and prayed again. God is good! I got all 265 questions. Took 5 hours and 49 minutes. I am not going to lie I did walked out of there feeling like I failed, went to my car and cried. You must go alone. Did not turn on my phone because I knew people were going to call me. I played my favorite song and went to eat. I tried not to think about the test. 1 hour had passed since I walked out of the testing center and I turn on my phone called my parents, and I was more calmed now. I got to the house and did the PVT TRICK AND GOT THE GOOD POP UP!! I cried of happiness and felt so relieved. I knew I had to wait for a few more days to see my name on the California license verify website so exactly on Tuesday 15 @ 12:05 AM. My name was there and now I can officially call myself Jenni RN.

Hi there! I told myself after taking the NCLEX-RN exam that I would come back here (like many have) and discuss my experience, results, etc. because I spent countless evenings and hours on this site looking for comfort throughout my nursing school journey and especially after I graduated waiting to take the NCLEX. I took the NCLEX RN yesterday (1/6/16) at 8:00 am and completed the exam in approximately 1 hour with 75 questions. I will post my results in the morning when I get them. I have done the PVT and gotten "the good pop up" and my state (Texas) BON has not removed my graduate nurse license, which is supposed to be a good sign. My boss said that if you fail, the BON will immediately remove your GN license from the site. Anyways....here is what I did. I graduated 12/10/15. I got my ATT on 1/16/15. I signed up to take the NCLEX for 1/6/16, giving myself exactly 3 weeks to study. For the first week, I really got down to business on re-watching my Hurst Review videos. The Hurst has 27 videos total, anywhere from 16 minutes to 1 hour and 24 minutes long.The videos average around 45 minutes. I had already taken the live review the week of graduation with my class (It was mandatory, $300). I had 9 videos left to watch by the time I stopped studying for the NCLEX. (So I did not complete the review all the way through). The Hurst Review online also has 6 practice tests "Q Trainers" that are 125 questions each. I completed all of these before I took the NCLEX. I purchased the Kaplan-Q Bank for one month. It was $49. I aimed to answer 100-200 questions a day and to review all of the rationales. I bought a spiral notebook and wrote down the rationales to questions I got wrong. I also wrote down unfamiliar topics and looked them up after the fact. I purchased the LaCharity: Prioritization, Delegation, and Assignment book. It is a thin, workbook-style book that Barnes and Noble carries. It was $50. I completed about half of the work book. After my first week of studying, I went out of town for Christmas to visit family for 2 days. When I came back, it was very hard for me to get back to 8 hour study days. I could not focus on any more videos. I stopped watching videos and decided to just answer as much questions as I could stand every day. I ended up doing about 150-200 questions a day until the day before my test date. Before I took my test I had ended up doing 1,350 questions and reading rationales. (Yes, I added it up). My bestie from nursing school and I got together each day for 3 days before the test. What we did was take 1 Hurst Q-Trainer test (125 questions each) together each day. We took turns reading questions out loud to each other and working through the answers. Then, we would go back and read all of the rationales out loud together also. We both felt like this was extremely helpful. We only disagreed on about 10% of the test. We obviously scored better together, so we subtracted about 10 questions from our final score for accuracy as to where we really stood. What were my Kaplan Q Bank scores like?Test 1: 57% Test 2: 57% Test 3: 63% Test 4: 59% Test 5: 44% (I think I was tired of studying this day Test 6: 65% Test 7: 55% Test 8: 64% I took 75 question tests in "timed mode" not "tutor mode". I never recycled any questions and I always checked "select all" for content of questions. What were my Hurst Q Trainer Scores? This is questions correct out of 125. They also give you percentages. I did not feel like going through the trouble of looking at the percentages in each test, sorry ? Test 1: 75 Test 2: 77 Test 3: 82 Test 4: 84 (With my friend) Test 5: 93 (With my friend) Test 6: 85 I felt that I was more than prepared for my NCLEX exam (after the fact). My advice for anyone taking the NCLEX would be as follows: Sign Up ASAP After Graduation. Do not wait. Give yourself 1 maybe 2 weeks to study. I feel that trying to learn and memorize content right after graduation is counter productive. You JUST graduated nursing school. You know at least 70% of the information that you need to know for the NCLEX if you passed your program. There is no way of knowing what content-related information will be on your test because everyone's test is so different. DO NOT waste your time trying to memorize and learn new content. Just stop and trust yourself. If you are doing something such as Hurst review, I would recommend watching videos on subjects that you are not strong in. For instance, I am not great at Fluids and Electrolytes or ACID/BASE. If I could go back, I would have just watched these videos. Do not waste time and energy. Maybe look over lab values daily. That is the only memorizing I recommend. I know how some of you feel that you HAVE to do content. If you have Hurst access, look through their "5th Day Material" handouts. They have great reviews on meds by class if you are pharmacology weak. If you do not have Hurst access, maybe try purchasing the Picmonic package. This seems to be a great site to help learn content, meds, etc. and it is cheap. ($10 I believe). QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS!!!Do as many questions as you can. Buy the Kaplan Q Bank. Buy the LaCharity PDA book. Buy one other question source such as NCLEX 4000. This is the MOST EFFECTIVE way to study for NCLEX if you are a new grad. This will be enough!!! Try to go through 1500-2000 questions and rationales before your test. You know the minimum competency for content. You need to learn how to answer the questions. In short...this is what you should purchase: (~150$ total) Kaplan Q Bank- $49 for 1 month accessLaCharity PDA book- $50Alternate question source such as "NCLEX RN Mastery" which costs about $35 for a month of access. My school also recommended "UWorld" question bank. It costs $60 for one month of access. I had another friend recommend the NCSBN study plan/question bank. She passed in 75 questions her first try in June 2015. If you have the Hurst Review, use their Q Tests plus one other source for questions. That will be sufficient.There is a 35 page review floating around on here that is also really helpful. It was VERY accurate on the need-to-know content. I would read over this a few times. I can e-mail you this if you need it, just ask ? This will be more than enough for someone who has just passed an RN program to pass the NCLEX. If you have been out of nursing school for a while and are trying to prepare, I would recommend purchasing the online version of the Hurst Review for 300$ and going through all of the content videos. Take their Q Trainer tests AFTER you watch ALL of the content videos- they will not give you more time in the event that you end up failing the NCLEX if you do any of the Q Trainers BEFORE you watch ALL of the videos. Just read all of the directions so you don't screw yourself out of more review in the event of failing (but you WON'T FAIL!) What type of student was I? I was very strong in clinicals and found most of my nursing school exams difficult. I have never been extremely competent in my "book smart" abilities, but have always been pleasantly surprised by my outcomes and grades. I am a "B" student. I made 2 "C's" and 2 "A's" in nursing school, with the rest being "B". There were times that I did study a LOT, but I still felt that I was able to have a social life in nursing school. Our school did ATI testing. I averaged level 2's for ATI. I was weak in pharmacology ATI. I also passed my ATI comprehensive exit exam on the first try with a 96% prediction that I would pass NCLEX on my first try. What was my exam like? Well..It was 75 questions. I had a lot of SATA...probably about 30. That is all I can say about my actual exam. The content and style was very comparable to Hurst Review questions and also Kaplan Q Bank questions. Remember these things when taking the NCLEX:1. This is a SAFETY TEST. The Board of Nursing wants to make sure that you have the minimum competency to practice safely without harming anyone. 2. With questions, ask yourself: Who would die FIRST if I did not see them?What would keep my patient the safest?If I can only do ONE of these things.....which thing will help my patient the most?What will fix the problem the FASTEST?If it is a delegation question: What patient is the most stable and predictable (for the LVN/LPN)? For the UAP: Can I EAT (Evaluate, Assess, or Teach) it? Then I will not delegate it! I am hungry! If the question is SATA: Read each statement individually. Treat each statement as a true or false as it pertains to the question. Breathe through these! YOU CAN do it!You Passed Nursing School. You Got This!Believe in your abilities and practice practice practice answering questions. No negative self talk. When you get tired of studying, take breaks! Be gentle on yourself. Pray Pray Pray (to God, the universe, whatever you believe in...!) GOOD VIBES ONLY! Good luck future RN's! ? Check Out The Following '5 Tips to Prep For NCLEX RN' Video... NCLEX-RN-2016-Advice.pdf

Jan 7, 201610 yr
145 replies
1
- kaplan
- lacharity
- nclex-resources
- nclex-rn
- uworld

I'm currently preparing to take the Nclex-RN in September and I wanted to know which question bank was the best. I'm using both UWorld and the Kaplan q-trainers but I'm wondering if I should just stick with one. Any advice would be great especially from recent test takers...thanks.

Being and RN feels Great! A feeling hard to explain. It is out of this world especially when one sacrifices so much to reach the goal. These steps will help you get to that goal. It worked for me. They worked for the person who passed it on to me. And, they worked for countless of others. Now, it's your turn. Follow the exact steps. If you want to mix-n-match with other plans that is fine but DO NOT neglect the following steps. 1. Read NCLEX Test Plan (Detail)Do Not memorize it. Just read it frequently to understand how the NCLEX people want you to think as you approach the questions. I Read this daily for a few minutes just so I get a solid understanding of what the NCLEX writers expect of a safe nurse. Once you read and beginning to truly understand it will feel as if the NCLEX people helping you pass the NCLEX. It is a Great Help. Read to Understand and keep it in the back of your head as you do questions. NOTE FROM STAFF: Information found in these files may be outdated. But, it is worth reviewing. 2013_NCLEX_RN_Detailed_Test_Plan_Candidate (RN) (PDF Download) PN_Test_Plan_2014_Candidate (LPN) (PDF Download) Find it in Google if the link below does not work. 2. Davis Question Bank!HUGE! HUGE! Help which correlates with the NCLEX test plan. Once you open the Davis question and answers click on the "customize a quiz." The question bank as about 4,924 questions. Go to the "client need" area and compare the NCLEX test Plan sections. You will see that line by line the Davis Question Bank is a mirror to the NCLEX test plan. Do ONE CLIENT NEED at a TIME. You can go down the list from the NCLEX Test plan or in any order you desire but the key is to First Read the NCLEX test plan client of need (to keep in mind how they way you to think.) Then open the same exact area in the Davis Question Bank and do 20 or 10 questions at the time. The goal is to just apply the way the want you to think accordingly to the NCLEX test plan to each area in the Davis. ** Do NOT worry if you get a bad score. Just do your best each time you take a test and try to remember the concept behind from the rationales. Every time you learn the concept behind you are improving. Remember if you score low does not mean anything because you will never get the same questions in the NCLEX. I was scoring from 60- 70-80 to my last 2 tests 50. I just knew that if I knew the concept I would be able to figure out the correct answer in the actual test. The lady that told me about this passed the NCLEX with 76 question and was scoring 50's and barely made it to 60. Davis question can be harder and you will see once you do Davis and go back to Saunders and even Kaplan. I felt Davis were harder but it was worth my time because I felt they were very similar to the NCLEX. 3. Kaplan Videos On QuestionsThis should be your "Bible" as the lady that told me about this. There is a section in the Kaplan were the director of Kaplan goes over questions in details for each client area. She has 5 Lessons and each lesson has included all client need areas and are about 60 questions each. This is about 300 questions! That she goes over in GREAT DETAIL. Do not write anything just pause come up with the answer and play again and let her explain you. THIS WILL FOREVER CHANGE YOUR LIFE AS TO APPROACH THE NCLEX. She goes over the way Kaplan analyze questions and all the questions are at the LEVEL YOU WILL SEE IN THE NCLEX. It removes the fear of seeing a complex question and not knowing what to do. Do not do them at once. It will take a long time -- she goes in detail but if you do 5, 10, 20 or as many as you might need per night but the key is to do it at night and during the day apply what she says to the Davis questions. You can also do questions from Saunders and Kaplan Q Banks but the, key is to apply what she does. How To Pass the NCLEXRead the NCLEX plan- understand area per area of how the test makers what you thinkUse the Davis because is a mirror of the test plan for each area and apply how the NCLEX what you to think with real questions.Listen to the Kaplan questions video daily at nightAnd practice approaching the question the way she does to Davis and other questions you may want to use. The key is understanding the concept of what you learn. These are just personal thoughts I had in my mind daily which I posted in my computer as I did the questions and on the writing board they give you at the test.The answer is within the question. Once I had that in my mind, I knew that no matter how complex was the question, I could figure the correct answer. This an amazing input from Ms. Diana.I will always "COMPARE" between answer A and B. I would say which one is a better answer for my question. Then I would keep one and eliminate the other. I would continue to compare the one I liked the most and the next one until I arrived to the last 2 and when still in doubt I would use the strategy learned from the Kaplan question strategy videos. Another usually taken from granted strategy yet highly effective way to attack the NCLEX. This was also another great idea Ms. Diana stressed in her class.Before the test and when in doubt during the test I would cross my eyes and say "I am holding your hands and we are going to pass this test together." Each time I said that I felt some energy and questions would become clear because I knew I was not alone and Nothing or anyone could ever defeat the force I was holding the hand of. It is weird to say that but This is something I must say because I will never take full credit when I know I was working with a secret partner that is ready to help if we call for his help. The lady that gave me all the above advices told me about this and until I tried myself I realized what exactly she had experienced. I will not call him any name because we all have different religion and some have no religion so I am just giving facts of what I did. Feel free to try it and you will see for yourself.Let me know if you need anything. I will be here for you.

So I graduated 2 months ago and took a long 2 weeks off...no studying or anything. I'll list all the resources I used to study for NCLEX and my opinion of each and finally state which is most like the real thing. NCLEX Resources Used 1 ) Delmar Online Review for NCLEX-RN This is the review recommended by the national student nurses association, so if you go to NSNA.org first and click the link you can get a hefty discount. For this resource the price is unbeatable. It has a full 1 year access so it would be great to get from the last year of nursing school without breaking the budget. I actually got it during my last semester. In total, I did 8 mock exams and one practice subject test for a total of 860 questions. Delmar's bank supposedly has about 3000 questions. Now when I say mock exams, this Delmar uses CAT logic similar to NCLEX and the degree of difficulty in questions goes up and down just like the NCLEX. I only failed 2 of the mock exams; one was an incomplete and the other I was just clicking any answer to test if it would take me all the way to 265 questions and it did. All in all, the level of the priority questions were or par with the NCLEX, but the program had a lot of knowledge-based questions, which in the NCLEX world, is failing level questions. Despite this, I still highly recommend this program for the broke student nurse graduate, because the practice makes you get used to not having to expect the test to end at 75. 2 ) NCSBN's Learning Extension (learningext.com) Now this program has the name, but it's not the same writers of the actual NCLEX exam; that would create great bias. The content is very extensive but I found their layout to be very clumsy to work with. There is no analysis of the exam at the end of each bank of questions, so you can't identify your weak areas. The only time they do this is in the beginning with the pretest. Once you find your weak area, you're supposed to start reading the content and then do all the questions in the bank. I did most of the content, which also has questions and only about 400 from the bank for a total of about 700 questions. This bank has about 1200-1500 questions. My scores were averaging in the 50% range; their pass mark is 75%. This program also had a lot of knowledge-based questions, but their higher level questions were harder than the actual test. They also had more variety of alternate questions, like hot spot and SATA and place in order. 3 ) Kaplan... Yes, the dreaded Kaplan. Thankfully, someone I knew passed their exam and loaned their account to me, so I was eager to see what everyone was willing to pay 500 bucks for. Firstly, I was highly impressed by Kaplan's layout. The screen for the questions looks EXACTLY like the real NCLEX. I also loved that I could use the analysis at the end of each practice test so I could identify and work on my weak areas. My opinion of the content videos was not impressive. Every time I would try to watch the content video I would literally fall asleep in my chair, in my bed; I tried everything, but the monotone voice of the Kaplan presenters, well, needs a lot of work. I even tried to watch the review of questions they do, but by question 5, I would be sleeping and would wake up at the last question 60...LOL. Knowing this, I would suggest not buying the whole Kaplan review and just buy the Q Bank at $300 and save yourself from boredom. IF you really want the Kaplan trainers, Google them, they are all over quizlet and other websites. Only trainers 5-7 matters because these are the passing level questions. So, in Q Bank, I did a total of 325 questions. I did all the question trainers totaling 1015 questions, and in the Q Bank there were 4 sample tests. I did a total of 200 questions. Pay attention to sample test 3 and 4; they are passing level questions that are similar to the NCLEX-RN...if you are passing; if not, I'd be worried. So I only did 1540 questions from Kaplan. I only had use of the program for 2 weeks. Q Bank has a total of 1300 questions plus the trainers for a total of about 2500 questions. My q trainer scores 1 - 61.3%, 2-68%, 3 - 52%, 4-59%, 5-62%, 6-62%, 7-56%. Again, only trainers, 6 and 7 contained the type of passing level questions I saw on NCLEX, but do the others if you wish to practice content. For Sample tests scores 1 50%, 2- 44%, 3-90%, 4-26%. 4 ) Books - I Just Did Not Have the Time. At first, I tried textbooks and realized I just did not have the time. Sometimes during practice, I used ATI pdf books I had from nursing school to search for topics, but my major NCLEX book was Illustrated Review for NCLEX RN. What??? Who??? Yes, I did NOT use Saunders at all. Honestly, the layout of Saunders bores me to death and it's still sitting on the shelf 1 year later gathering dust. I don't know how anyone could read it. The illustrated review is an ebook, best to get the pageburst version because it's searchable and the book can read to you if you like. The pictures are eye-catching but what I like more is the information is straight forward and to the point. I got the Lacharity ebook but due to time constraints, I only did the first chapter. Note the evolve resources for Lacharity is the same questions as the book if you prefer to do the questions online. 5 ) Youtube - See How They Work How could you answer a question about a bubbling sealed vacuum container from a chest tube drain if you never even saw what it looked like? Youtube it. Get to know the equipment. Youtube gait, crutches, the different type of tractions. SEE how they work and you will have no problem answering these types of questions which involve the use of hospital equipment. 6 ) Audio - Listen and Learn While Driving to Work I listened to those sometimes on my way to work. If you can record yourself and use the program Audacity to create mp3 and listen to them while driving I studied for about a month then with all the stress at home I took another long break...this time 3 weeks. Then after that, I got my ATT, got serious and just SET a DATE and a deadline. I worked 3 days of the week, so on days off, I studied by doing mostly review in late nights and questions in the morning with a long 4-hour break in between. Nothing particularly special, but as I did questions, if I did not get it right, I reviewed that topic right away. Which review course was best? I think all had their strengths and weaknesses, and in the end, I did what works for me. From the level of difficulty of questions, I'd say NCSBN was hardest, then Kaplan, then Delmar. Both NCSBN and Kaplan were similar to what was in the real exam, if not slightly harder. Kaplan rationales were a bit lame. NCSBN rationales were way better than Kaplan's. Delmar was just at the level of NCLEX and a bit easier, but remember, the use of Delmar was to help build confidence, increase motivation and increase my content level. Delmar rationales were also good, and most included a link to go directly to that content area. How many questions did I have on NCLEX-RN? My test ended at 75 questions. I averaged 2 minutes per question so it took me about 2 hours. What particular strategies did I use during the exam? Well, I did not use the decision tree from Kaplan. But I did learn a lot from their methods of looking out for assessment answers and deciding if they made sense. I also learned how to use Maslow's properly by knowing physical answers are a priority. For anyone who does not understand Bloom's taxonomy, please review it; it will help you understand what are passing level questions. What topics are on the NCLEX-RN? In a word EVERYTHING! But if you want to be smart, do yourself a favor, and start your studying by first reading the NCLEX candidate test plan. It specifically includes what topics will be tested. Also read the instructor version of the test plan, because it explains how they create the type of questions you see and this will give you insight on how to answer them. What is the key to passing? Well the NCLEX starts you with a passing level question, usually a priority type question, and the key to passing and completing at 75 is to remain at the passing level or higher. You never want to go past 75, because there's no telling how long it will take for the computer to decide you passed. I think doing questions are most important, and even though I used different sources, I think each helped me in their own way. I'm not saying go out and buy 3 courses, because to some people, it causes a loss of focus. It's the level of questions you are doing that is what's important. Do lots of passing level questions. So just what are passing level questions? Passing level questions require critical thinking, and most include prioritization, delegation and select all that apply. These are the type of question you what. A knowledge-based none passing level question is something like this: Which lab values are abnormal? a. O2 89% b. Na 136 c. BUN 10 d. K 4.0 The answer is A...so knowledge-based questions are very straight forward, you know it or you don't. You do not want a lot of knowledge-based questions. Because they require the recall of information learned, many of them are actually harder to get right. A priority, passing level question using labs would go something like this: The nurse receives report on 4 patients, which patient would the nurse see FIRST: a. the patient with chronic COPD and an O2 of 88% receiving 2 liters oxygen via nasal cannula b. the patient with chronic renal failure and a BUN of 28 c. the patient with acute asthma attack and O2 of 88% d. the patient with chronic heart failure and K at 3.0 So in the above, all the labs are abnormal, and some decision making is required because all the patients need to be seen. Even if you had a brain-farct and had no idea if the labs were normal or not, I would go with C, simply because its an acute condition. In addition, using ABC's airways is first (but not always). By the way, I just made these questions up off the top of my head...they ARE NOT real NCLEX questions nor are they from any review course. Another type of passing level question is the dreaded Select all that Apply aka SATA questions. I honestly don't really see SATA as passing level, but NCLEX does because they really mess with your head, and more than half my questions were SATA. I've always been good at SATA, even during nursing school, even when I failed the tests, the questions I got right were the SATA. Why do I get them right? I just think about the overall situation and patho and if I am not 100% sure I don't choose the answer, If the answer seems possible I pick it. Kaplan says to treat them as true/false answers but I don't like that method. It requires some thought and critical thinking. So if you are in the middle of NCLEX-RN and you getting lots of priority and SATA questions it does not mean you are failing and they are re-testing you; it means you are doing good, so keep begging for more hard ones like them so you can be done with it and pass. One more tip...What do you do when you have no idea what the question is asking, like I had some pharmacology questions from Mars. I mean I had no clue what the meds were, I never saw them during school(not that I could remember) and they no longer show the brand names of the meds, so be aware of that. My strategy for that was choosing what sounded like it would harm the patient the most. The NCLEX is a safety test after all is said and done. Good luck to you all...I'll be glad to answer any other questions on here or just message me.

Hi I was wondering if anyone has seen this chart before. Is it up to date/accurate with the newest NCLEX-RN test plan? Testing Wednesday, wish me luck!! Kaplan Diagnostic Test Score Probability of Passing the NCLEX-RN® Exam Kaplan Readiness Test Score Probability of Passing the NCLEX-RN® Exam 84 100.0% 84 100.0% 83 99.9% 83 99.9% 82 99.9% 82 99.9% 81 99.9% 81 99.9% 80 99.9% 80 99.9% 79 99.9% 79 99.9% 78 99.9% 78 99.8% 77 99.8% 77 99.8% 76 99.8% 76 99.7% 75 99.8% 75 99.7% 74 99.7% 74 99.6% 73 99.7% 73 99.5% 72 99.7% 72 99.4% 71 99.6% 71 99.3% 70 99.5% 70 99.1% 69 99.4% 69 98.9% 68 99.3% 68 98.6% 67 99.2% 67 98.3% 66 99.1% 66 97.9% 65 98.9% 65 97.4% 64 98.7% 64 96.8% 63 98.5% 63 96.1% 62 98.3% 62 95.2% 61 98.0% 61 94.1% 60 97.6% 60 92.8% 59 97.2% 59 91.3% 58 96.7% 58 89.4% 57 96.2% 57 87.2% 56 95.6% 56 84.6% 55 94.8% 55 81.7% 54 94.0% 54 78.2% 53 93.0% 53 74.4% 52 91.8% 52 70.1% 51 90.5% 51 65.4% 50 89.0% 50 60.4% 49 87.4% 49 55.2% 48 85.5% 48 49.9% 47 83.3% 47 44.5% 46 81.0% 46 39.3% 45 78.3% 45 34.4% 44 75.5% 44 29.7% 43 72.3% 43 25.4%

I posted this earlier and did not get a reply, hopefully someone could give me some insight this time I bought the kaplan qbank and have been doing questions daily but I keep getting high 50s to mid 60s. I am using the hurst review to I'll have a little bit of both to grasp from. Every time I tell this to someone they say I'm okay, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!?!? I'm far from okay, I"m freaking out! My test is Jan 20th and I am so scared.

Hello, i failed nclex last week. Do you recommend me Using kaplan or uworld? My weakness is sata and i want to Practice on different types of nclex questions. Thank you.

Jan 8, 20188 yr
12 replies
1
- kaplan
- uworld

I just finished Nursing School in July so I understand the confusion on how and what to study. Along with my anxiety-ridden journey here's what I found. I hope it helps someone! Let me start by explaining what works for me... I never learn by reading; med surg textbook with over complicated words and no way to establish priority? NOPE. Never helped me in school, not going to help me on the NCLEX. Old notes that I'm never going to look at again? Nope threw those out the day I finished Nursing school. Why? Because NCLEX isn't testing on patho. It wants application. It wants you to take simple concepts and be flexible with them. I learn best by hearing, seeing, doing, and WRITING. Concepts to me need to be broken down and simplified so that they stick. Example: magnesium and calcium are sedatives so their signs and symptoms will sedate you if you have too much of them. So far I've used UWorld, Kaplan, and Hurst. I did not pay for UWorld, my friend let me use hers. Kaplan was paid for with my tuition to school. And Hurst was my choice. Here's what I found on these websites... UWorld Great concept based questions with amazing rationales. But that's it, questions. Unorganized content review. The questions are harder than the NCLEX from what I have been told. My friend also used UWorld and failed NCLEX. Kaplan They offer a course that teaches you how to critically think through questions. Which I liked and found helpful in getting questions right on their website. It also allowed me to better understand the "Who do you see first questions". (The person with something going on RIGHT now. Not the potential for injury person). But the decision tree is not the end all be all. You have to have content to back it up. At times the decision tree will get you out of a bind and guess and other times it just doesn't. They have tons of questions in the Qbank (1800). And trainer tests that simulate NCLEX. The questions are more like the NCLEX than UWorld but they questions are still harder than NCLEX. The rationales are basic at best. Overall Kaplan is my choice for questions and practice because of its NCLEX like questions. They also offer videos for content review (300 of them) but they are at your own will to watch and are out of order so you can't build upon topics easily. A book also comes with their program which has tons of content including drugs. But the drugs don't differentiate between Side effects and Adverse effects. Remember side effects are bothersome. Adverse effects are never good. Hurst My savior at this point. I'm using the Hurst option that lets me move at my own pace. Hurst is content review and at the end, you get 4 practice tests. Hurst has videos that you watch in order and a (you print) study guide that you fill in as you watch the videos. At the end of the course, these study guides are your notes. There are options for closed captions that are accurate to what is being said. The content review videos are AMAZING. They break down confusing topics and giving the real explanation to WHY someone has these symptoms and why are we treating them without overcomplicating things. Hurst is allowing me to connect the dots between conditions and making feel like I will be a better Nurse. It's filling holes that I didn't fill in nursing school in a simplified way. Honestly, Hurst should have their own Nursing school. I have yet to do their practice tests but I'm over halfway done with the video content. They don't go over medications in detail in the videos but they bring them up and mention basic stuff about them enough for you to say hey I probably need to look more up about this medication but I'm glad it told me to check BP and HR before giving it and explained what it does. They have an Ebook that gives you the detailed information about the drugs they mention in the videos too. Also, the ebook includes content like infection control and giving blood which they don't go over in the videos. Hurst takes 5 days to watch the videos, but this doesn't include going over the ebook material and going back over your notes. They recommend you study the notes for 1-2 weeks and then coming back to do their tests. I also find myself crying laughing over some of the videos. The instructors are so funny! So which do you choose? If you feel like you don't know where to start and want the content review - choose Hurst. The Kaplan book that comes with the course is great with content but I can't sit around and read concepts and expect for them to stick. Especially when the book doesn't give rationales or priority or break down concepts to make the memorable. After content you need practice questions, it's a must. I pick Kaplan. Simply because of its a tried and true resource. And is similar to NCLEX questions. UWorld- Although I enjoyed the resource, I didn't feel it was necessary or as close to NCLEX as Kaplan. Books I'm using the Kaplan book for medications, you can also buy their companion drug book. Focus on medication stems and major drugs. Ex. lithium and digoxin, antithyroid medications, Synthroid, anti-infectives. I never got a great review of pharm either in school so it isn't my strong suit. Davis's Q&A also has 10k questions, it's sitting on my shelf and I haven't touched it yet. I plan to after I finish content videos. Prices Kaplan and Hurst are in the 300's. Hurst offers payment plans. Each site has a money back guarantee if you fail NCLEX, stipulations do apply. Read into these beforehand. Look for coupon codes online before purchasing. Sometimes you can find them on AllNurses. UWorld is 80 per month. When to study? I recommend 1 week after graduation/last day of class. Why? Are you really going to be focused on NCLEX when you are studying for your final exam? No, not really. Is the undue stress worth it? No. It's stressful enough. And you deserve a break after you finish Nursing School. It's an amazing accomplishment you deserve to celebrate it. Take time to reorganize life and do something you love. Then hop back into the "grind". You will feel refreshed and ready to take on the world. This is the confidence and energy I needed to face the NCLEX. How long to study? It's recommended you take 4-8 weeks to study for the NCLEX. Remember you want to pass the first time. So make it count and give yourself time. You never know when a family emergency will interrupt your studying, or when your internet will be out for an entire week because of your terrible internet service provider. Truly plan for these emergencies and give yourself time. TIPS: Do practice question sets 75 at a time and then go back and review all of them and read the rationale. This can be painstaking and boring, so if you aren't fond of doing this, you'll be glad you didn't schedule your test as soon as you graduated. Take notes of everything you didn't know or want to remember as you read the rationale. This will help it stick. Also about half of NCLEX is select all that apply questions. Also, check AllNurses for study guides others have made via the search bar! I hope this helps! Good luck on your NCLEX study journey!

Study With KaplanI graduated in May 2018 and immediately started testing with Kaplan a few days after graduation. As much as I wanted to take a few days off to enjoy my graduation, I got right down to business. I'm not going to lie, it was hard studying and watching all of my friends celebrate and take vacations! Kaplan made me anxious at first. Watching the intro videos the instructor said many times "Even though you did it this way in nursing school, do it this way now" or "you may have learned to answer your nursing tests this way, but this now". How frustrating. You watch many tutorials about the NCLEX, how the test works, how to use the site, etc. After, you take several trainers before you start either the live/online course. I started out with lower scores on my trainers- I thought the questions were somewhat challenging and had a difficult time picking "the best answer". I originally signed up for the live class and found out 4 days before the class that they had to cancel, leaving me to sign up for the 3-day online course because the other live locations were too far away to drive. I don't learn well online but found that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. The instructor I had the 3 days of class was very engaging, they gave you breaks often, and you were able to ask questions that were answered right away by the instructor. The class was very interactive. After the class, you have an exam which gauges your learning in the class, after that is completed you move to phase 3. Phase three is essentially more trainers, the readiness exam, and qbank practice questions. Ready For The TestAnyways, enough about Kaplan.....I got my okay to test about a week and a half after I graduated and signed up to test on June 4th. I made it through all of the Kaplan course except for finishing all 2,000+ of the question trainers before I sat to take the exam. I went the Friday before my test and checked out the location of my testing center, timed the drive down, and even went up to the room number I was given (I strongly recommend this because it helped decrease my anxiety on test day). I stopped studying the day before my exam (I will admit that I looked over labs and some meds the night before- I couldn't help myself). I tried to get decent sleep and got to my testing center 45 minutes early the next morning I was beyond nervous once I sat to take my exam, it was hard to concentrate but I just had to keep trying to calm myself. Many of my classmates that were scoring similar to me on Kaplan were passing in 75-80 questions, so I automatically assumed I would do the same. DO NOT DO THAT TO YOURSELF! I can't stress that point enough. After I passed question 75, 90, 100, 120, 130 I was a nervous wreck. I had the optional break offered to me at question 139. I took the break and broke down in the hallway. After I collected myself, I went back in, answered one more question and my screen turned blue I couldn't believe it. I walked out of the testing center very unsure of how I felt about my performance. I blew threw 140 questions in a little over 2 hours (my friends were finishing 75 questions in the time it took me to answer 140). After finding this out, I accepted the fact that I probably had failed and was discouraged and upset with myself. Looking back I wasn't even sure what had happened, everything was a blur! PVTI gave in and did the PVT 4 hours after my exam and got the good popup and again in 24 hours with the same result. I know the PVT isn't 100% but it helped calm me down a smidge. I got my quick results today and found out that I PASSED. Sorry for the long post but I hope this post helps out another fellow graduate taking the NCLEX! Study, study, study. Take questions and remediate on every single question- whether you got it right or wrong! Brush up on your weak areas of the testing plan (Kaplan was good at pointing these areas out to me). There is no way to describe the feeling you see when you get your passing unofficial results. Keep pushing- it's so worth it in the end!

Jun 6, 20188 yr
7 replies
2
- kaplan
- nclex

Since I was looking everywhere for information regarding ATT and confirmation of my passing probability, I figured others may be too.. so here this is for future nurses! 12/5/2018: Applied to BRN 12/17/2018: Graduation 1/10/2019: School sent transcripts to BRN 1/15/2019: Application approved on Breeze (BRN) website 1/16/2019: Received ATT from Pearson 1/22/2019: Took NCLEX 1/28/2019: STILL WAITING FOR OFFICIAL RESULTS ? I got "the good pop-up" from Pearson Vue, but it isn't the same as seeing your license on the BRN. When I got ATT from Pearson, the closest test date available in a 50-mile radius was 2/7/2019. I signed up for that day, but I checked Pearson multiple times a day to see if someone had rescheduled, thus opening up a spot for me to test earlier. It worked. I rescheduled to 1/31/2019, but I still kept checking. Alas, 1/22/2019 opened up, and I jumped on it. As far as reviews/studying for NCLEX, here is my data. HURST: "Our recent study of pass rates revealed that Hurst Review students who were successful on the NCLEX®RN exam achieved a median score of 77 out of 125 on the Q Review." Q Review 1: 86/125 Q Review 2: 85/125 Q Review 3: 93/125 Q Review 4: 92/125 Q Review Average: 89/125 I only studied my weak topics/topics of high importance from the Hurst Review book before taking NCLEX. Fluid/electrolyte, endocrine, renal, and management of care. I utilized the majority, if not all of their practice questions and their Q Reviews. READ THE RATIONALES! KAPLAN: From a 2014 quote, "The goal score for the Diagnostic and Question Trainers 1-5 is 65%. For the Readiness test, Question Trainers 6, 7 & all QBank tests, the goal is 60%. See Chapter 2 of your book for details." From a 2017 quote, "...any score above 60% on the Readiness is favorable." I didn’t do any of the Trainers – I only took the Readiness Test and got 63%. On the NCLEX I had 75 questions and finished in 1 hour. It was HARD. Majority were SATA. My advice to you: do practice questions, READ RATIONALES, take the night before the exam off to relax, BREATHE, trust your gut. I can't wait to update you all with "I PASSED!" ....hopefully this week!

First off give yourself credit for completing nursing school and getting to this point! So many wish they could be in your shoes, so never discredit yourself although it's hard to not doubt yourself as you're going through the brutal studying that is NCLEX prep. I know we've all heard the stories of those who passed and didn't pass. Each story is different and unique to that person; yours will be too so never get down or allow yourself to listen to just one person and draw comparisons. Everyone gets different questions on NCLEX & everyone studied differently to pass....so remember to run your race and do what works best for you! I personally used Kaplan and UWorld to study. I signed up for Kaplan because it was the most "popular" in terms of passing the first time so I took the live version. I was very adamant about passing the first time so I wanted to cover all bases; I heard amazing things about U-World from recently licensed nurses (within the last 2 years) & this website. I LOVE U-world. If you're making a choice between one or the other, pick Uworld. Looks exactly like the actual test and I learned SO much! Amazing rationales and everything just made more sense as opposed to Kaplan. I felt Kaplan was purposely trying to "trick" you on a majority of their questions to make them harder and the real NCLEX isn't going to do that; U-world was straight forward and just like the NCLEX. Study Schedule:I gave myself 3 weeks to hard core study after I completed the Kaplan review. I studied for about 12 hours a day taking breaks to eat/relax my mind in between. I did about 300 questions per day and watched 20 Kaplan videos per day to combine content (the review videos) with practice questions. I also studied every rationale whether I got the question wrong/right. I cannot emphasize that enough; read every single rationale especially the rationales on U-world. I made notes on the videos from Kaplan and read those notes over again at the end of my study week, which would be Sunday. I also took the Kaplan NCLEX readiness tests and one of the predictor tests (rates your chance of passing NCLEX) a week out from my testing date. I completely finished the q-banks for both Kaplan/U-world and turned my attention to U-world during the last 4 days of studying before my test date. I went back over each Uworld tests (about 9 per day) and made notes on the rationales and studied those every day. I saved the second predictor test from U-world to take two days before my test day. The day before the test they say do not study; well I could not do that so I just went over notes (LIGHTLY) but I didn't do anymore practice questions so I didn't get mentally fatigued. TIP: I stayed off social media the entire time I was studying. I didn't want to see people passing or failing because I knew it would psych me out and put extra pressure on me. I only talked to my close friends/family during this time and I think it's worth while. I literally ate/slept/breathed NCLEX. Pretty sure it helped me pass only having that in my head. NCLEX Day:I tested on a Wednesday, I had late morning exam since I function better around that time. I kept calm even though I was nervous. I reviewed notes and prayed from the time I woke up until I pulled into the parking lot. You have to realize you'll never know EVERYTHING and that's not what the test is about. You just have to be confident and if you've been scoring well on your prep-tests then you just have to trust in yourself. If you walk in there self-defeated, you'll psych yourself out. So practice positive self-talk. I got about 12 SATA, one calculation question, one multiple choice that involved pictures, and the rest were standard multiple choice. I was done in 75 questions and honestly I felt good afterwards. There were questions I know I got right but I still felt nervous because now comes the dreaded waiting period.... Finding Out I Passed:I waited about 24 hours for the results. I did not do the PVT because I didn't want to obsess over passing/not. I could not sleep that entire night; honestly everyone second guesses themselves in the waiting period. It's only natural so just distract yourself. My boyfriend took me out for drinks and we had a wonderful time so that helped. After 24 hours it didn't show up on the Pearson site (freaked me out) but I checked on my state's board of nursing website for kicks/gigs and saw my license posted! I am officially an RN and I could not be more proud! Final Thoughts:I honestly think U-world is the reason I passed in 75 on the first try. The test looked so similar to U-world it was crazy. Even if I didn't completely know a question just the constant practice of eliminating the wrong answers helped me select the best right answer. When I got SATA's I was actually happy; I've heard it means you're doing well. Plus, U-world gives you so many SATA's that I just became comfortable with them I could knock those out of the park (which probably kept me at a high "above passing" level). Staying off social media during my study period really helped me remain focused and only have NCLEX stuff in my mind; I could not be happier now that I am an official RN and all my hard work paid off. NCLEX studying is brutal/extensive...you'll have good days, bad days, and ready to throw your computer out of the window days but they all will work out in the end if you stay consistent. Be confident in yourself guys! You can pass this test! Since everyone looks at these, here you go.... Kaplan Scores: ✔️ Diagnostic Exam: 67% ✔️ Qtrainer 1: 69% ✔️ Qtrainer 2: 67% ✔️ Qtrainer 3: 62% ✔️ RN Practice (session 7): 70% ✔️ Qtrainer 4: 64% ✔️ Qtrainer 5: 63% ✔️ Qtrainer 6: 65% ✔️ Qtrainer 7: 54% ✔️ Overall Q-bank Average: 63% ✔️ NCLEX Sample Test 1: 66% ✔️ NCLEX Sample Test 2: 66% ✔️ Who Do You See First: 83% ✔️ Readiness Test: 74% (99.6% chance of passing) U world Scores: ✔️ Overall Q-Bank: 66% (92nd Percentile) ✔️ RN Self Assessment 1:69% (88% chance of passing) ✔️ RN Self Assessment 2: 76% (96% chance of passing)

Aug 1, 20178 yr
1 reply
1
- kaplan
- nclex
- nursing-students
- uworld

I was quite paranoid about not passing... so I used all 4 of these methods. For anyone curious about comparisons between study options, here is a breakdown and my own personal opinions of each: Hurst (I used the online self-paced version, about $350): These content videos looked like they were from the 1990s but boy did they help me learn and consolidate material from nursing school that I either had forgotten or never learned well enough. The videos are very colloquial and their humor is hilarious - I can hear their voices when I think of certain topics they covered. I highly recommend this course for the videos, but not for the Q-Reviews (it comes with six 125 question practice tests). Their question rationales were weak at best and a few of them didn't make any sense at all. I gave up on remediating these tests on the third test because I felt like I wasn't learning anything from their explanations. But I watched each video at least twice, sometimes repeating videos while doing dishes or folding laundry, just to remember things better. Hurst content is amazing for sticking in your mind. Hurst test scores: Q review 1: 60% Q review 2: 62% Q review 3: 60% Didn't do the other 3. Kaplan (online self-paced version, $350): So overwhelming at first because there's so much stuff available to you on the account. Literally 300+ mini content videos on various topics, about 25 hours of lecture-type videos (the meat of the course), almost 2000 questions in their Q-Bank, and about 11 practice tests of varying lengths. They tell you what order to do things in, so it's not too bad. Kaplan is definitely what I had heard - a lot of emphasis on question strategy using their "decision tree". I thought the decision tree only helped some. A personal opinion: Despite what Kaplan says, I believe the NCLEX is not more of a strategy test than a content test - it is a content test more than strategy. You can have all the strategies you want for eliminating options, but if you don't know that disease's symptoms then you're not going to know which options to eliminate. Especially for the select all that apply questions - you can strategize all you want, but certain questions (even the high-level analysis questions) require that you know enough about the content first. The Q-Trainers were fair. The rationales were a bit more organized than Hurst's but still were very lacking. I often found myself having to email Kaplan to figure out what they meant by "Answer 2" being "not as important as the patient in Answer 4". The Kaplan team that respond to your emails about questions were super duper helpful and wrote long emails of explanations to me each time I asked a question, but it would have been more helpful to have good rationales on each question in the answer key to begin with. I only did like 50 questions in the Q-Bank because I ran out of time before the NCLEX. I did make an intense effort so that I could finish every one of their official practice exams, though (and almost did). The scores were really useful to me because I needed to see how I was doing according to a trusted NCLEX prep company. My Q-Trainer scores were: Diagnostic: 60% Q trainer 1: 57% Q trainer 2: 59% Q trainer 3: fell asleep during it Q trainer 4: 63% Q trainer 5: 62% Q trainer 6: 65% Q trainer 7: didn't have time to do it before the test date RN Practice test: 68% (surprised by how high my score was) Sample Test 1: 54% Sample Test 2: 64% Sample Test 3: fell asleep during it Sample Test 4: 20% (absolutely crushed me, but turns out upon researching, other people didn't do so well on this either) Readiness Test: 72% (literally cried at this score, it really surprised me) Watch this helpful video, 'From Failure to Success' U-World (1-month subscription was about $99): Didn't start this until 2 weeks before my exam date. I bought it out of desperation because I was getting fed up with how horrible the rationales for Hurst and Kaplan exams were. So glad I did. I believe U-World made the difference between me passing in 75 questions and me getting into the 200s. Their rationales for each question are top of the line - they're usually about 5 paragraphs long and include really nice charts and diagrams. You can also see what % of users are getting each particular question right or wrong - so you won't feel like a total failure if you get a question wrong if you see that only 15% of users got that question right. I felt like I was less in the dark this way. U-World's interface is really nice and you can see how you rank compared to other users. I was in approximately the 85th percentile by the end of the 2 weeks, after I had done about 1100 questions (there was about 1900-ish total). Overall, I was getting 60% of questions right. Their pie charts and graphs really motivate you to keep going. I also liked that there was a mobile app for it so I could do mini tests of 5-10 questions in bed before sleeping. Learn more about UWorld NCLEX-RN Qbank Impressions... P.S. Saunders (book and online question bank access, $60ish): I only did about 500 questions total and it was the first review method I used. The book is gigantic but good for reference. l only used this in nursing school and it wasn't part of my hardcore studying sprint because I realized Saunders wasn't asking high enough level questions. Their rationales are good though, and I recommend using the book/questions during nursing school before you dive into the big $ review courses like Kaplan and Hurst. I averaged between 50-70% for each topic category. Hope this helps anyone preparing for the NCLEX! Don't give up on studying. Every bit of studying becomes a tool in your orificenal for your success on the test date. Related Topics UWorld RN prep.. Is it reliable? Has anyone passed NCLEX specifically using UWorld? Passed with 75 questions using UWorld UWorld vs. Kaplan Passed with 75 questions thanks to UWorld & Hurst

Hi all! I am just looking for some guidance on studying for my NCLEX- RN. In the past, I used Kaplan to study for my NCLEX-PN and passed first time in the lowest amount of questions, but this was five years ago. I am now going to be graduating from an RN program and it seems that people are all about UWorld. I guess my question is: What did you use and what did you find the most helpful? Is there anyone who only used UWorld? Is there anyone who just took it and didn't study? I also have a Saunders book that I just got but it's a billion pages and I'm kind of just having a hard time deciding where to start. Help meeeee! Thanks ?

Hello Future Nurses! If you have your NCLEX coming up, and you're anything like I was, you're FREAKING OUT. I wanted to make a post about my experience with NCLEX and what I used and how I benefitted from those resources, hopefully ease some nerves. My school included Kaplan in the package, and quite frankly, I couldn't afford UWorld, so Kaplan is what I used and stuck with. In addition to Kaplan, I used the Saunders book for content review, and Nurse Achieve for their Computerized Adaptive Test (CAT). Nurse Achieve is doing a deal where they offer a free 30 days to sign up and utilize their test bank and CAT btw!! I did the question trainers through Kaplan and had average of low 60s and high 50s for question trainers 1, 2, and 3. Q Trainer 4: 60% Q Trainer 5: 57% Q Trainer 6: 58% Q Trainer 7: 62% If you have scores around these or even more than these, try not to worry, you are doing well!! I then went on the other exams. Who Do You See First: 80% Alternate Format: 38% (which is normal, people usually score in the 20-30s) NCLEX SAMPLE 1: 58% NCLEX SAMPLE 2: 48% (YIKES) This is where I got super discouraged. I knew under the 50% line was not ideal, and I needed to do some further review and strategy to do better. After a bit more content review, and some QBANK in my weak areas, I went ahead and took the readiness test and scored a 67%. This was good! I knew > 65% was the goal and I started to gain a little bit of confidence. At this point I was less than a week away from the NCLEX and this is where I started to take my CAT exams from NurseAchieve! This was essential! I was able to gauge the difficulty as I was taking the exam and could tell when I was getting some wrong and some right. This is how the NCLEX is designed and those adaptive tests taught me what difficulty level that questions were, and how to feel if I was doing well, or doing poorly. After taking the CAT exams 5x and receiving Solid-Pass on 4 of them, and Pass on 1 of them, I felt ready. I was going to pass this test, I knew it. I kept telling myself, there is no reason for me to fail. I am prepared. I will do well. Speak positively to yourself because you will be there in no time!! Try not to focus on bad scores, but remediate the topics and TAKE NOTES to review later!! The day of my exam, my husband drove me up to Sacramento and we had a nice lunch. He spoke positively to me and told me he believed in me. Support people are everything. We prayed together, and I left my phone in the car, and started heading for the building. Talk about an ANXIOUS MESS! I felt my heart beating out of my chest. Before I knew it, it was time to press start and do this test! At question 60, my heart was beating quickly again, when I pressed next, the screen shut off. I DID IT, IT'S OVER. Now the waiting game....... I received the email from Pearson Vue, that I had taken the test but still had questions, and didn't do the Pearson Due Trick right away, but when I got home that is the first thing I did! Got the "GOOD" pop up! Worked for me, since I found out 2 days later that YES, I PASSED! I didn't pay for the unofficial results, instead, I went to the Board of Registered Nursing and looked up my name. There it was. My license. Registered Nurse. Praise GOD! He brought me this far and came through! I hope these study tips and scores help some who may be testing soon. Remember with Prioritization think: Expected/Unexpected Stable/Unstable Acute/Chronic & ALWAYS Airway, Breathing, and Circulation - Safety! Keep your head up and remember you got this!! Every time I spoke about my test, my family and friends said they knew I would pass. I'm sure many of you relate. I didn't believe them fully, I kept saying "We will see." I should've taken their good energy and said YES, ABSOLUTELY, I WILL PASS! You will pass! Have faith! Prepare, and get a good night of sleep the night before. Good luck!!

I'm a recently graduated BSN student scheduled to take their NCLEX in mid-July. I've never been a great test taker and it shows on all the practice exams I've been doing so far. For reference, here are my Kaplan trainer scores and UWorld statistics. Kaplan Trainer 1: 53% Trainer 2: 55% Trainer 3: 55% ^Taken before graduation Trainer 4: 43% Trainer 5: 45% Trainer 6: 46% ^taken post-graduation NCLEX Sample 1: 38% NCLEX Sample 2: 42% NCLEX Sample 3: 70% NCLEX Sample 4: 24% ^all taken in early June Current Qbank progress: 52% correct, 875 questions left UWorld Self Assessment: 53% with a "borderline" chance to pass UWorld Qbank progress: 42% correct of the 30% questions used. I still have one self-assessment left on UWorld, and my school recommends that we take Kaplan trainer 7 a week before the actual test date. I've heard from other nurses that content review is much less helpful which is why I've been doing more practice questions (50-75 questions a block, with around 150-200 questions per day) but at this point, I'm worried that there's no way I'm going to pass the NCLEX. Is there anything else I can do at this point to boost my chances other than continuing the repetition of practice questions? I'm aware that test scores don't "mean anything" long term and I can still be a great nurse but the fact still stands that I have to pass to even be able to practice as a nurse. Any tips are appreciated!

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