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Best NCLEX Review Courses & Study Materials
Our comprehensive guide to the best NCLEX prep courses and study materials on the market
As you wrap up nursing school, there is one major obstacle left between you and starting your career as a nurse – the NCLEX. Like most others, you likely just want to get this exam done and over with so you can move on and start working. However, in order to do, you’ll very likely need a review course. In this detailed guide, our team (including a licensed RN and NCLEX tutor) breaks down the top NCLEX review courses available.
As this is a detailed and lengthy post, we’ve included a jump-to table of contents above to help you quickly navigate this article.
Video Guide: The Best Way To Prep For The NCLEX
In the video above, TPI team member John walks you through each of the NCLEX review courses that made our best list. For more detail regarding any of these courses, we’ve compiled detailed summaries below.
Nursing.com takes our #1 spot and editor’s choice selection for a number of reasons, but most notably for their combination of awesome practice material and affordable price.
With an all-in cost of under $250 for their 1 Year + NCLEX Prep plan, they are about the best value in NCLEX prep for what you get. This includes 300+ on-demand video lessons, cheat sheets, an eBook, 6,000+ practice questions, and simulated exams.
But it’s not just the quantity and breadth of review material that blew us away with Nursing.com. We also loved the quality of these materials. Their video lessons are short and digestible at just 10 minutes each, and feature all sorts of sharp graphics and diagrams for visual learners.
They are taught by practicing nurses and are stuffed with helpful tips and tricks for passing the NCLEX (and real practice).
One of Nursing.com’s awesome video lessons
Around these video lessons, you also get some of the most helpful study tools I’ve used and reviewed, including visual diagrams, outlines, cheat sheets with mnemonics, and most importantly, practice problems. Their Qbank of 6,000+ problems is insanely helpful and allows you to build custom quizzes whenever you want.
But the clear highlight of the Nursing.com course is their SIMCLEX. This is their proprietary adaptive NCLEX simulator, which is about as close to the real thing as we’ve seen.
The questions get progressively harder or easier as you take the test, adapting to your performance just like the real thing. Plus, each question is followed by a well-written answer explanation.
The practice material from Nursing.com is near best in class
These text explanations offer some nice insights into the rationale behind the problems, and clearly articulate why each answer choice is correct or incorrect. These answer solutions not only accompany the SIMCLEX problems, but every practice question in their Qbank as well.
Bottom line for our team, Nursing.com simply provides the best bundle of NCLEX study material at an approachable price point. Read our full review of the Nursing.com NCLEX course here.
In terms of quality of NCLEX study material, we found Kaplan to be a very close second to Nursing.com. Like Nursing.com’s material, Kaplan offers some of the most realistic practice material we’ve seen.
Their practice questions closely resemble real NCLEX problems, and the accompanying explanations are very good, though almost too-detailed.
Kaplan offers very realistic NCLEX practice material
In addition, their simulated exams do a nice job matching up with the adaptive nature of the real NCLEX. The NCLEX can be a tough exam for prep companies to mock-up given the AI at work behind the scenes, but Kaplan does it very well. Their program truly looks and feels like the real thing.
Kaplan’s video lessons are also very worthwhile in my opinion, but the real highlight of the Kaplan course, and why they make our best list is their series of live classes. No other NCLEX prep company offers class sessions this good. Not even Hurst.
In total, you get 18 hours of live class time with Kaplan. But here’s the best part. At only an additional $100 more over the cost of their self-paced option, this makes each class hour only $5.50.
$5 per hour of live class time is insane value and you won’t find NCLEX live review sessions that cheap anywhere else.
A look at a Kaplan video lesson slide
But these are not just budget classes – they are crazy good. The Kaplan instructors are all longtime NCLEX tutors and teachers, and know this exam inside and out.
They are also great communicators and do an excellent job breaking down some of the tougher concepts with mnemonics and testing tricks.
So in a straight comparison with Nursing.com, we prefer Nursing.com’s self-paced material; however, if you’re the type of student that needs the accountability and commitment of live class time, you have to go Kaplan.
Nurse Plus Academy makes our list of best NCLEX review courses for one simple and clear reason: their combination of value and quality study material. Let’s not beat around the bush and start with the feature that attracts most people to Nurse Plus: cost savings.
At just $139 for their one-year plan (or $99 for the 60-day plan), Nurse Plus Academy’s NCLEX course is a screaming deal. For roughly $100 to$140, this course is an awesome value and offers about the most bang for your buck in NCLEX prep.
Nurse Plus offers one of the best bundles of practice problems
And don’t be concerned about the quality of their materials based on the price here. This isn’t some bargain basement study product at this price – it’s far from. Our team was super impressed with the quality of Nurse Plus Academy’s features, especially their practice work.
With over 2,500 practice problems and an NCLEX simulator that allows for unlimited takes, we think there is a lot to like. We found Nurse Plus’s NCLEX questions to very closely resemble real NCLEX problems and loved the quality of this material.
But perhaps even more importantly, we really like the answer solutions that accompany each problem. The Nurse Plus text explanations have this awesome ability to be detailed, yet still easily readable and understandable at the same time. In other words, they’re written in plain English to make your life easier.
The Nurse Plus Academy NCLEX simulator allows for unlimited takes
If there is one downside with this review course it’s that there are no live classes, prep books or video lessons. This is sort of a bummer for visual learners, but I would note that Nurse Plus does offer a couple decent content review tools, including flashcards and cheat sheets.
You get access to over 300 digital flashcards in total, as well as 4 cheat sheets that cover summaries of essential, need-to-know information.
Bottom line, for students looking for a streamlined and budget-friendly prep option to pass the NCLEX without a ton of substantive material review, Nurse Plus Academy is our preferred choice. Their practice question bank, NCLEX simulator and flashcards are on point – and you can’t beat the price.
Princeton Review lands near the top of our best NCLEX review courses list for several reasons, but there is one advantage above all others going for them: Princeton Review has purchased close to 2,000 practice problems directly from the makers of the exam, the NCSBN.
Of the 3,500 or so practice questions that Princeton Reviews offers (more than just about every other prep company in the space), more than half are official problems. This is something we haven’t seen with any other review course, and is a major advantage for Princeton Review.
Most Princeton Review NCLEX practice problems are past official questions
There is no better form of practice than drilling on real problems, so the fact that you get access to nearly 2,000 is a major value add. Honestly, the value can’t be overstated.
Moreover, the rationales that accompany these problems are very good. They’re not quite as good as those from UWorld, but pretty darn close.
In addition, for those looking for live classes, we absolutely loved the new live classes from Princeton Review. Unlike some other prep courses, their classes are taught by real NCLEX tutors who absolutely know their stuff.
The lesson plans for the classes were well thought out, in-depth, and provided plenty of sample problems to show how theory works in practice on the NCLEX.
Princeton Review offers helpful score reports
The live class package does cost a bit more than the self-paced Qbank package, but can almost always be found on sale for a steep discount (they are trying to push this offering since it’s a relatively new product for them).
Bottom line, we love Princeton Review’s live classes, realistic problems, and detailed rationales. The only thing missing are on-demand video lessons.
UWorld makes our best NCLEX review courses list for a couple reasons: their practice material and accompanying explanations. In truth, they don’t provide the same level of content review as Nursing.com or Kaplan, and therefore don’t get nearly as good of a grade, but it is a good course for what it is.
One of UWorld’s excellent problem explanations
UWorld doesn’t really have a core curriculum or bundle of standalone NCLEX study material. Instead, all of your content review with UWorld comes from their problem explanations.
But it does help that the explanations are very good. They’re detailed, filled with illustrations and graphics, and go to great lengths to break down problems and teach you the concepts being tested.
Honestly, each problem explanation is like a mini-review session or learning module. My favorite feature of these explanations is definitely the visuals that permeate the solutions. Just about every problem has some sort of diagram or drawing showing the process or technique being tested.
For visual learners like me, this is a huge plus. These visuals make the material more digestible and provide a graphic association between topics.
UWorld NCLEX practice problem
And as for the problems themselves, in terms of realism, I would say they are pretty good, but not the best I’ve seen. They do a serviceable job matching the style and difficulty of the NLCEX, but I do think the questions from Nursing.com and Kaplan are a better match.
Bottom line, for students that want some good practice material with killer text and graphic explanations, UWorld is a solid, affordable choice.
Hurst NCLEX Review, or just Hurst for short, offers some solid value at their sub-$500 price tag. Their package includes a killer workbook, live classes (in-person or live online), video lessons, 1,500 or so practice problems, and a handful of simulated exams, among other things.
Hurst is one of those companies that does everything well, but perhaps doesn’t win in any one major category. The best analogy is that they get a solid “B” or “C” in every category, with the exception of maybe their written materials. Their course workbook is fantastic and offers a ton of value.
It is jam-packed with all your need to know NCLEX content and robust breakdowns; however, this is with the caveat that you need to fill it out. It is filled with fill-in-the-blanks, making you watch the relevant video lessons or attend class to follow along and complete the workbook.
That may sound annoying, but assuming you do the work, it walks you through the material in a really straightforward way that helps with retention. In short, we really liked their written prep materials.
A Hurst NCLEX Review video lesson
Also of note for the Hurst course is that they offer their live class sessions in-person. Kaplan, the other major prep provider ranking on our list that provides live classwork, only offers class sessions online.
So if you’re the type of student that thrives in an in-person environment, give Hurst some consideration. Do make sure to check their in-person schedule as live in-person classes are only offered in certain cities and the fallout from the pandemic may have impacted their offerings, but this is a valuable resource.
While we weren’t crazy in love with any of one particular facet of the Hurst NCLEX course (apart from maybe their workbook and in-person classes), we love their consistency and comprehensive coverage, and that is why they make our best list.
FAQ
Do I need an NCLEX prep course?
While some nursing students have the ability to simply study from a single book off Amazon and pass the NCLEX, most aspiring nurses will need a review course. Even the most basic review courses offer practice problems, video lessons and simulated exams to help you pass on the first attempt.
How much does an NCLEX prep course cost?
Most NCLEX review courses are pretty affordably priced. Ranging from around $150 up to $500, most NCLEX prep courses won’t break the bank.
Will an NCLEX course increase my chances of passing?
As compared to not studying or just reviewing your notes from class, if you use an NCLEX review course to help you study, it will almost certainly improve your odds of passing this high-stakes exam on the first attempt.
