Those who failed on Kaplan are scaring many!

BabySweetpea · Jul 15, 2008

I used Kaplan, scored high 50's low 60's on their tests and passed NCLEX in 75 questions. Kaplan was great IMO.

crazylilkelly · Jul 15, 2008

i know the reason i passed was b/c of kaplan!!

i just took my nclex this fri & found out yesterday i passed!

i did the class portion of kaplan & did ALL of the QTs & qbank. I got from 51%-58% on QTs & 61% on qbank. What helped me was taking my time going through all of qbank, reading ALL the rationales, looking up anything I didn't understand (ex---if i didn't know what a dz was I would look in kaplan bk to review everything about it....& make sure i UNDERSTOOD it, not just memorized it), wrote down all the rationales that i didn't know (i learn a lot by writing, so i figured that was just one more way to reinforce what i was learning). Also, I would read it in my head, then, before going to the next question read it aloud.

Good Luck Everyone!

PS---so far, everyone in my class has passed....they all used kaplan---we all were in the same class. everyone i've ever talked to who used it has passed.

crunchymomx3 · Jul 15, 2008

I started out with studying Saunders and scoffed at the price of Kaplan. Then I used my friends Kaplan online after she passed the NCLEX and I was so impressed, I wish I had started out with it! The strategies alone are worth the cost, the questions are just like the NCLEX. I felt it was very useful!

adknursie · Jul 15, 2008

I used Kaplan and scored 54%-61% on my tests. I did though pass my boards on Saturday. I have no clue how, but I did. I wasn't too pleased with Kaplan though, I found it boring and useless. I got 118q on my boards. :yeah:

Good luck to you! Don't worry. If you do fail though, they do refund your money!

PennyNickelDime_RN · Jul 15, 2008

I used Kaplan also and had scores in the 60's on all question trainers and qbank questions and failed the first time. I don't think there is any one program that can guarantee passing. It is very individual and depends on so many variables imo. The luck of the draw as far as the test you get, whether or not you have test anxiety (I do and always have), and most of all at least to me is that we should give ourselves adequate time to prepare. If any of your nursing schools drilled into your heads to take your exam "ASAP" like mine did, I think that is the worst advice to new grads. I have read research studies that indicate that although yes it is true that you should not postpone testing for months and months...at the same time 3 full months is a realistic time frame before taking the test. We were told we would be idiots if we didn't test within 6 weeks or so or make your appt. as soon as you receive your ATT for the first available opening. I did that and I should have trusted my instinct that I was not ready since I had started working full time about three weeks before my test date and my time availability to study was greatly reduced since I was exhausted after working.

I have sent in all the required paperwork and fees in order to test again. I am still waiting for it to be processed. I wish the State would hurry up and update their files sooner rather than later because to me that just prolongs the agony of waiting to know when I will even be eligible to retest. In my State we have to wait 45 days which is a good thing and I may even extend that closer to 60...depends on how I am feeling. I will not go into the test again though unless I feel much more confident this time around. I found that once I started working I felt as though I was losing knowledge every day rather than gaining with Kaplan, but in this day and age when people must work asap in order to make ends meet what alternatives do we really have?? Also my school did not tell us that if you failed, you lose your GN license and basically cannot practice. To me that was inexcusable for them not to make sure we were aware of that. If I had known, I would not have scheduled my first test until August....

Just my thoughts, hope it helps in some way to alleviate everyone's anxiety and most of all good luck to all that are testing in the near future or just beginning to study. We can all do it but it just may not be on the first try however difficult that is to hear.

emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Jul 15, 2008

I used Kaplan Online Complete. Only watched about 15 minutes of the videos. Read the blue book cover-to-cover the weekend it arrived and didn't really bother with it again. Did all the tests:

Diagnostic - 72

Readiness - 68

QT1 - 72

QT2 - 73

QT3 - 65

QT4 - 65

QT5 - 60

QT6 - 66

QT7 - 71 (this was the day before I took the NCLEX-RN)

QBank - 70 average

NCLEX Sample 1 - 68

NCLEX Sample 2 - 82

NCLEX Sample 3 - 66

Took the NCLEX not quite 4 weeks after graduation, 75 questions in 48 minutes, 23 SATA, no math. Passed.

Now, here's how I view Kaplan. The Kaplan folks assume that you already know the content and just need to refine your test taking skills. And I think they do a great job in demonstrating how NCLEX is presented. I really thought the NCLEX was just like another Kaplan quiz. Looked the same, questions phrased the same.

How long you take between graduation and the NCLEX is definitely a YMMV decision. I think 3 months is waaaaay too long to wait. That's almost a semester. But that's me.

Good luck.

glamgalRN · Jul 15, 2008

Hi KCR411,

I took Kaplan and passed with 75 questions. It's funny you say a lot of people you know who used Kaplan recently failed because the 20 people from my school who I still talk to that took kaplan all passed the nclex with 75 questions and two other students passed at 265. I swear by Kaplan and thought it was much harder than the actual nclex. As long as you do every single question kaplan offers and seriously read the rationales I think you'll do great!

Gdschild · Jul 16, 2008

I just took the nclex last week and passed with 75 questions w/20 SATA, 3 math, 3 med. I took the nclex before and didn't pass. I did have Kaplan but I only did the question trainers. This time I did the whole question bank plus the question trainer (1-7) again. When I took my test I was familar with every question and felt comfortable with the answers i choose. Kaplan for sure helped me to pass this go round, reading the rationals after I took the each kaplan test is what helped me the most. Kaplan really saved me this go around and alot of prayers.

CANewRN · Jul 16, 2008

Averaged 68% on Q bank, got a 67% on trainer 7. Passed with 75, about half were SATA, one math. My advice is to follow their study schedule diligently. Do questions every day. Read ALL rationales. Read the book, and re-do questions you got wrong. I dont know if I passed because of Kaplan itself, but it DEFINATLY was helpful in preparing me for the questions and I learned a lot of info from it. Also if you have access to another study plan (Saunders, etc) use that as well. :twocents:

teebee · Jul 16, 2008

I used Kaplan as my main review source, scored between 58 - 72 on the question trainers (67 on QT6, 72 on QT7). I also watched some of the Hurst Review lectures for content review. Anyhow, I think that Kaplan most accurately simulates the style and difficulty level of the NCLEX and passed in 75 questions, 20+ SATA (lost count after that), no math. I usually am not a very disciplined person when it comes to studying but this was an exception - I made sure that I reviewed rationales for EVERY QUESTION, whether I'd gotten it right or wrong - I wanted to make sure that I got it right for the correct reason (often not!) and review content that caused me to get a question wrong. Additionally, on the questions I got wrong (and some that I got right, but had guessed), I basically made up flash cards and kept reviewing them periodically whenever I had some spare time. Oh, but I didn't use any of the Kaplan strategies like the decision tree - it was pretty useless.

sweetmya · Jul 16, 2008

Has anyone used Kaplan for LVN/LPN?

ANd had success with it on board exam?

The reason why I ask is because kaplan for LPN does not have all the other stuff in the review that kaplan-RN get.