thinking about a kaplan review or ncsbn?

jewel100 · Oct 7, 2008

I took Kaplan and I liked it. Some will tell you Kaplan didn't help, and some, like me, will say that they thought it did. Unfortunately, there is no major review program that will make the NCLEX a breeze. I think the things I learned from Kaplan helped me indirectly. And I do believe that Kaplan questions were tough like NCLEX passing questions.

I had some classmates who took the NCSBN program and they liked it.

Regardless of what you choose, try to work the program. For example, if you choose Suzanne's Plan, do it exactly as she says too. For me, I did the Kaplan program just as I was advised to, and it worked. I did all of the Qbank, and all of the trainers. Also, as I studied, when I saw stuff I had never seen before, I made a flash card. Just making the flash card will help you retain the information, and then later, like when you're waiting for your car's oil to be changed or something, you can review them.

When are you thinking about testing/when do you expect your ATT?

fleur de liz · Oct 7, 2008

thanks for the info. my att should be arriving soon, i registered with pearson two weeks ago. i'm thinking of following suzanne's plan, people who followed it passed, its a good sign...

richo_006 · Oct 7, 2008

I will take NCSBN and will start it tomorrow

SoonMomToBe · Oct 7, 2008

I took Ncsbn and I liked it, Im re-taking mine on the 20th of this month. I also bought the kaplan review book and on my first exam I had one question that was the same in that book. I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was the first time around but hopefully with all the extra work I've done I will pass the second time. Good luck to you.

HikingNinja, BSN, MSN, DNP, RN, APRN, NP · Oct 8, 2008

I took, and passed NCLEX, a couple of weeks ago and did both Kaplan and NSCBN. Frankly, NCLEX was like neither. But I found Kaplan totally useless. The strategies they have you use to figure out questions you don't know did not work with the questions I got. The level of the questions was more like NSCBN too.

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fleur de liz · Oct 8, 2008

was checking the sites for both kaplan and ncsbn, kaplan is ssssoooooo expensive...

CleveRN2008 · Oct 8, 2008

Hi there! I actually took the KAPLAN complete course and spent four days in classroom review and had access to their question banks. I thought it was WORTHWHILE COMPLETELY. I also signed up for the NCSBN question bank, but did not use it very much. Based on my experience, I would pick KAPLAN review (pick the complete one though). IF you do not pass, they refund your money. I passed in 75 questions and believe it was directly related to my Kaplan prep. Just do it...you will not regret it!

Good luck in whatever you decide. :)

lovendove · Oct 8, 2008

I signed up for kaplan even though I really didn't want to spend the money. I'm finding the videos extremely useful as I learn the best via hearing, reading and writing. Since their setup has the videos and the words on the screen, it's perfect for me while I take my own notes.

I can't say how helpful it will be on the nclex as I haven't taken it yet, but I find the questions THE hardest I have ever studied with. I've used saunders throughout my rn schooling and found it helped me pass my exams but did not find saunders NOR my schooling exams nearly as hard as Kaplan questions are at times.

edit to add: however at times I find the rationale for why Kaplan says an answer is right or wrong, completely against what I learned in school so it's a bit like learning a totally new strategy and going against every fiber in my being (at times.

allhrt2rn · Oct 8, 2008

I did the ncsbn website and it is alot cheaper than Kaplan. However, what you are going to get out of that website is a q-bank and content. You could get that out of a Saunders book which is highly reccommended by most of the people on this site, and you don't have a time limit as with ncsbn. I am signing up today for the complete kaplan review course. As one person said earlier the key is to actually do the work! Hope this helps and good luck with your decision!:)

fleur de liz · Oct 8, 2008

decided to follow suzanne's plan...after reading all the testimonies about her plan, i'm confident that it will work for me also. thanks! and wish me luck! just need to focus...focus...n focus...

ChickenJoyRN,BSN · Oct 9, 2008

I've used Saunders, Kaplan and ncsbn. In my opinion, I think Saunders is good to review regarding content. I heard ncsbn is similar to the NCLEX questions and also a good review for content. Kaplan takes you to another level, the critical thinking/analysis level. Kaplan's whole thing is they want to give you a lot of difficult critical thinking questions so that all other questions will be a breeze to you. I found Kaplan to be very hard. I haven't taken my exam yet so I don't really know which worked for me. These are just my observations so far. But most of my friends that have taken and passed the NCLEX highly recommend Kaplan. I heard about Suzanne's plan from this site too. I'm thinking about using that as well. You might want to look into that. It's received a lot of praise on this site. Good Luck.