On March 23, 2017 I passed my NCLEX-RN with 75  questions! I did a lot of studying and preparation prior to taking such a big test. My school used ATI for our NCLEX preparation including the 7 week Capstone and Live ATI review. I do feel like it was helpful in preparing me for the NCLEX- but I felt the rationales were difficult to understand at times and they weren’t very clear. I also didn’t like that on a lot of the assessments- I couldn’t see what I got right and wrong- and they provided no rationales. After graduating I decided I wanted to try something other than ATI. I used Saunders and Kaplan for my LPN NCLEX prep and liked both of them- especially the Kaplan live review and decision tree.

UWorld Review

There was a lot of buzz about UWorld so I decided to give it a try- and I am so happy I did! It was by far the best test prep company that I have used. It has a Q-bank with over a 1,000 questions and I really felt like the difficulty and content was comparable to the NCLEX. The screen set up is also very similar to NCLEX which is a nice bonus in preparing you to take your test.

The rationals are amazing! They give you charts, graphs, diagrams, pictures- along with a detailed explanation of why each answer is right/wrong! It definitely is like an excerpt of a helpful and user friendly text book along with each question. It was nice to have the information I needed right there as to why I was right or wrong- and not have to look the answer up in another book/program.

There are assessments that can help you find your weak areas and know where to put your focus in the beginning of your studying. You can choose from different content areas for your Qbank questions. I did this for the first few weeks of my studying- and I added in pharmacology even though it wasn’t an area I scored low in surprisingly! I also felt that UWorld had a lot of select all that apply questions that were similar to the content on the NCLEX. The week before you test I think its best to do comprehensive questions over all content areas- to prepare you for the actual test.

UWorld was the only test prep I used after I graduated to the time I took my test- and I feel it more than prepared me for the NCLEX! I obviously felt a little uneasy when I came out of the testing center and had my doubts- but this seems to be common for everyone. A lot of my fellow classmates also used UWorld and agree that they really benefited from it and feel it helped them prepare to test.

Uworld does cost money to purchase access- on top of all the money you are shelling out for tuition and boards. I did the cheapest package which gave me 30 days of access and cost me 80 dollars- and felt well prepared when it came time to test. I felt the price was really reasonable for the quality of the content. I took a few days off after graduation to spend time with family and loved ones- it’s something I think everyone should do. If you do plan to take time off- take that in to consideration for when you want to make your purchase. I waited until after so I didn’t pay for days I wouldn’t be using it. If you need to renew- you can add time to your package before it expires for a reduced price.

This post is not sponsored- I just loved UWorld and wanted to share with my fellow nursing students! You obviously can use other test prep companies- or no test prep company- and still be successful. However, I recommend at least considering UWorld! Head over to UWorld and check it out!

Happy Studying!