Worried about passing NCLEX after Kaplan due to low scores

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Hello Everyone,

I am new to the site and decided to join after I googled a question about qbank. I graduated in december with honors but my instructor for my last few semesters (med-surg content) was horrible. I took Kaplan and got 53% on the diagnostic exam. After I took the class, my readiness score went up to 63%. I took q trainer 1 & 2 prior to starting the class and was around 50%. I took qtrainer 3 after the class and got 42%. My overall qbank after 100 questions is 50%. I have started reviewing the videos but really feel as though I am just going to fail. I keep seeing people on the sight with really high kaplan scores but can't seem to find anyone in the same boat as me that passed. I am also using the saunders book to review. I feel like I will never get my license and as a result, I think I am getting depressed. I am waiting for my att but plan to test within the next month. Any suggestions? Anyone out there like me? Anyone with low qtrainer scores that passed? :(

Specializes in Pediatrics, Med-Surg.

i suggest that you get feuer review, the cd's and the lectures. its about 300 dollars but i tell you that it is totally worth the investment. look them up online and try getting it. you should need about a month to get through all of the content. also don't give up. you know what you know. stop blaming your teacher, you read your text books and learned the content. you just have to apply it. take a deep breath and stop second guessing yourself. wish you the best of luck and keep us posted.

xos4eva

thanks xos4eva,

i am not blaming the instructor at all however this is contributing to my stress. what is the fueer review? is it content? i will keep you posted.

Specializes in Emergency Dept.

I don't have any advice to the actual study prep - but if you go into the NCLEX 'knowing you will fail' - you will. I understand the scores would get you down, and you are studying and doing what you can, which is always positive. I think it is imparitive to go in with a positive attitude though - there is something to those self-full filling prophecies.

Specializes in Acute Care.

I took two of the practice NCLEX exams from KAPLAN... one I got in the 70%s and the other I was like 65%... I ended up passing the NCLEX with 75 questions.

Specializes in Pediatrics, Med-Surg.

Feuer is a nursing review that gives you a review of Med Surg, Peds, Psych, OB and Pharm. they give you a review of the content and then they giave you 3 practice exams for each content. I was a honors student, took the hesi and got a 99% the first try, on Kaplan got a 92% and on the NLN predictor I got a 96%, my professor told me to not become overconfident because of that and I thought I wasn't going to do well but I used the review and did about 100-150 questions daily and passed with 75 questions

My suggestion is to continue reviewing with Kaplan, the last thing you need is to add more stress by adding more study materials. If you are going to purchase something else, HESI with the CD it's $65. Take the tests w/CD along with your Med/Surg book. Take the tests over and over again. Take Kaplan over and over again. I scored with Kaplan in 2007 with an average of a 63%. I passed NCLEX with 75 Questions; your not far off.

Breathe, Pray, Study, Test...

Specializes in Pediatric Intensive Care, Urgent Care.

The 1st thing you need to do is SNAP out of IT!!! You haven't even taken the test yet and you are already acting like someone who has failed it five times!!?!!? You know what you know...don't lose your confidence now! Study study study and find something that will relax you...

Mex

I know how you feel because I felt the same. I had terrible anxiety and was so scared that I was going to fail. I repeated the last semester of nursing school because of my low grade. I studied more than my friends but took longer at tests. Sometimes I didn't even get to finish the test & I would end up filing in the scan tron as my time was going out. I ended up getting special testing when I repeated the last semester of the nursing program and did sooooo much better. When I graduated I was in terror of failing the NCLEX. I was so scared of failing and I knew that if I didn't pass the NCLEX the first time my self esteem/confidence would be so low. I knew I had to pass.

So what happend to me & what did I do? Well-I studied the whole entire Kaplan book. Forget about the text books you had in school. Just get the Kaplan ONLINE study prep. I sat there day after day in front of my computer going through each chapter. If I didn't get it then I just pressed pause-rewind- play and had the nursing instructor repeat it. I changed my test date 3 times. Finally I just HAD to take the exam. I took it 6 months after graduating. My eye twitched the day before and day of the exam from nerves. Kaplan really helped me think like a nurse. It is different from your testing in school. They will state- "this is frequently tested on the NCLEX." And there was a lot of those topics that they said would be on my exam. The only section I didn't study as much as the others was the pharmacology. They say that the computer will find your weakness and it did.....I kept getting drug questions. I passed the first time. The computer shut off at 78 questions. Take the Kaplan. By studying it will boost your confidence. Read the questions. What is it asking? Kaplan will train you how to do this. You passed nursing school. Your instructors believe in you. Believe in yourself and study your but off.

Quitters never win and winners never quit

Specializes in med/surg/tele/neuro/rehab/corrections.

I was very depressed when I was studying for NCLEX and I took way too many breaks. I think I studied for nearly 4 months but that was off and on. I never did get thru the whole Saunders book. Towards the end I picked up a Kaplan book and it really threw me. The questions were different and way more complicated than Saunders. But I had set my date and just stuck with it.

When I finally took the test I kept thinking that all those questions were the fake ones because they were too easy. There were no questions like in Kaplan. The NCLEX seemed easier than that. I passed with the minimum number of questions. I couldn't believe that I had worried so much over nothing. I kept telling people ready to take the test not to sweat it. Just take the test. Don't put it off like I did. :)

You were a pretty good student so just have confidence that you can do it and just take the test. :heartbeat

nclexparanoid,

My suggestion to you would be to go and purchase the Kaplans study guide book, if you already have it use it. Learn how to answer the questions and dont focus so much on the question itself. I paid less than 30.00 for the book. I took the nclex twice, the first time I had 232 questions. I bought the Kaplan book, learned how to answer the questions(statergies) and answered questions from different sources and used the statergies. The second time I took the nclex I passed with 81 questions! So I would highly suggest Kaplan. I also think nursing programs would get higher pass rates if they taught the nursing students "statergies" to answering the questions.

Hope this help!

PS I started to do the qbank, but didnt because of cost.

Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

When I studied for the Nclex, I got the "incredibly easy NCLEX questions/answers". It came with a cd-rom which had tons of questions. I answered fifty questions each day up until I took my test.

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