USING KAPLAN

Ebouster · Jul 28, 2009

I just took my NCLEX yesterday and I used both Kaplan & Hurst. I did probably about 45% of the QBANK questions and ranged from 45-65%. I actually did really bad on my readiness exam (like 49%) which it was then I decided that I needed to review content, which is why I then started using Hurst. Hurst is unbelievable for actual content review, it helped me a lot during the NCLEX.

After I did Hurst, each time I did a QT my scores were getting higher and higher, ranging from 52% on QT1 and finishing with 65% on QT7. I think using both of these services together was very helpful, but of course it is expensive. I had a hard time trying to review content using Kaplan's book, for some reason I didn't like it.

So for me, if you're kind of hazy on actual content and need help learning it, try out Hurst. Kaplan is good for preparing for the NCLEX in a sense that the questions are very similar to what you see on Kaplan, so it just kinda feels like you've done it before. Although I personally felt the NCLEX questions to be a bit harder =/

Daddyowen · Jul 28, 2009

Thank you Ebouster, I am actually looking at the Hurst website and it looks convincing especially with the money back guarantee. One question, how different are the lectures given by Hurst from those from the Kaplan videos? I really want to use something that will help me improve my score and pass the NCLEX.

. Thanks

Ebouster · Jul 28, 2009

Well I never actually listened to the on-line lectures for Kaplan. I did attended the live class, so I am assuming they are not much different. For the Kaplan lectures all they did was go through each question and talk about strategy. Was it helpful? I suppose so, but if your knowledge content isn't the greatest then it can only get you so far.

The on-line lectures for Hurst were much different than Kaplan's. It takes about 4 days to listen to the lectures if you spend a lot of time each day on it. She lectures about almost everything that is related to the NCLEX (not to mention that she is pretty entertaining to listen to at times). She lectures on Hypo/hypervolemia, GI, renal, cardiovascular, pediatrics, orthopedics, endocrine, oncology, psych, maternity. There's this big packet that you print out to use to go along with her lectures that is REALLY helpful. It'll be like your study notes when you're done listening to all the lectures. The way she explains things and breaks things down makes it seem so elementary, but its very effective at making you understand the content.

So for me, personally, it helped a lot. I think Kaplan + Hurst is a great combo to prepare for the NCLEX. Except for math calculations, which kinda messed me up on NCLEX, heh.

Daddyowen · Jul 28, 2009

Thanks so much. I know NCLEX complete has this inclusion of video streaming lectures on nursing content plus the review of the questions. I want to believe that you did well. I know the challenge with the KAPLAN book is that at times its hard to remember what you read in the first chapter by the time you get to the middle of the book. But as you say I want to believe the improvement on your QT scores was because of the combination. Please let me know how you do on your exam once you get the results. Thanks again.

Flames9_RN, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Jul 28, 2009

I did kaplan and thought it was fine! I watched 95% of the online videos, did 100% of the questions, marks ranged from 52 to 66%. read the book twice. Did questions from Saunders 4th ed NCLEX guide and passed with 75 questions yesterday! NOW did kaplan help? Hard to say as for the majority of the questions I found one couldn't really use their method, ie is it assess time or implement time! I think the question bank helped, and i did like the kaplan text book.