I wanted to share a post in here because like so many of you reading this I too was on the fence about paying for uworld. So let me start off my saying.. yes, I literally used all of the above quiz banks. I used Saunders and the Mastery App throughout nursing school, I was forced to use Kaplan by my program, and I choose use lipincott because it was free for me. Between school and studying for boards I had exhausted all questions on all the sources. Here is what I think about each one.

Kaplan- our school pretty much forced us to use it since we paid for it in our tuition. We would do about 1-2 of the secured exams based off of each semester (fundamentals, med surg, diagnostics..). During school I by no means was "studying for boards", I was just trying to get through the program. It wasn't until the last few weeks of my last semester until I graduated I really started utilizing Kaplan. Kaplan has a ton of videos, mini exams, prep tests, and pre-made subject question banks. I literally did all (I really mean all) of the questions and tests in there besides trainer 6, 7, and the readiness. Kaplan took away my confidence, didn't help me understand why or why not something was right. The rationales were horrible and unstructured. I feel like at some point (probably though a delusion from studying too much) there was a question the pretty much said the answer is right because it's right and that's it. My QBank was struggling at and overall of 57%. I did above the benchmarks for all the trainers and secure predictors, but I feel like it didn't prep me.

Saunders- this comprehensive book and online QBank was hands down amazing! It helps me really have a good grasp on content. I used this throughout my last year of nursing school and used the questions to study for each of my exams. The rationales where much better than Kaplan, but it just want enough for me. I wouldn't use this as a solo prep guide for NCLEX.

Uworld- I feel like a theme song should come on every time I say it. The holygrail of prep, the reason why I passed my boards in 75 questions in 45 minutes. It is hands down a no brainer. The question were so unlike any other QBank I used. They were not wordy, got to the point, didn't confuse or try to trick me. The rationales were the light at the end of the tunnel. There was a sentence that explained what the topic was as a definition, it gave rationales for each answer as to why or why not it was chosen and why it why not it worked for the question. It then give you another full paragraph of an overall explanation of why it all worked together. It was mind blowing. I finished all my QBank (98th percentile) and the 2 assessment (both in the high 90s). Gave me the probably of passing NCLEX (very high) in 75 questions. Not only did the questions prepped me but it looked like the NCLEX exam! Literally the same layout, color, clock... it made me feel comfortable and confident. At one point I thought I was doing terrible and almost lost it. I just kept in reminding myself it's just like uworld, you got this... well 35 minutes later and 75 questions later my screen shut off and found out 24 hours later I passed.

Uworld I worth it! It helped me in so many ways and I don't think I would have done as well as I did if I didn't use it. If your one the fence like I was about it just take my advice and get it. Saunders and Lipincott are also very good but only as extra sources! Kaplan is setting you up for a struggle. Unless it's free I wouldn't even bother with it. I hope this helps and good luck to everyone!!
edited by on 6/16/2017