CPNRE - January 11th, 2012

blue eye girl · Jan 12, 2012

Hi guys.

I wrote my CPNRE exam yesterday for second time and let me tell you this was a pure hell.

I thought that 4 hrs is more then enough but I was so wrong. I spend so much time on the case scenarios, which you all know you have to read very carefully. They put too many scenarios. The questions very long and I also had problem with chosing the best answer. I was planning on going back but this never happened since I finished my last question as the guy was asking to put pencils away. So it sucks! It really sucks, I really hope they do something about it. Most of the people didn't finish the exam so it looks like the score to pass will be low. New format of the exam won't work!!!!!!!!!

Insomniac-88 · Jan 12, 2012

Hi blue eye girl,

I'd have to agree with you. There was nowhere near enough time for us to properly read the questions thoroughly. When the announcer said "you have one hour left" you could hear so many people gasping or saying "omg!" and after the exam, people were not happy in the lobby, I did hear quit a few people saying they didn't even finish their exam.

At the '1-hour left' mark I began to rush through the questions where as prior to that I was carefully reading the cases, and question wording since they are tricky.

I also noticed a lot of people raising their hands and asking how much longer we have. You could feel the stress in the room based on the time alone. I have a feeling they'll change this format for May's exam. More time, or less questions.

Good luck on your results! keep us posted :)

Insomniac-88 · Jan 12, 2012

Most of the people didn't finish the exam so it looks like the score to pass will be low. New format of the exam won't work!!!!!!!!!

the College says they don't use a bell curve method when deciding on the passing mark for the exam so I don't believe a low overall average of people who wrote yesterday will change the required passing grade.

I also read that the college sets the passing grade for each writing session before we even write.

melena · Jan 13, 2012

I reviewed the prep guide to study and found that it was waaay easier then the exam itself. I was doubting myself on nearly all of the questions because there were 2 answers that could've been correct. I fortunately had enough time to go back and look over my answers, however I found myself changing answers as I went along... I'm crossing my fingers that I pass because I could not sit through another 4 hours of such discomfort and frustration.

I have no idea how I will wait 4-6 weeks for the results. Paranoia at its best.

Insomniac-88 · Jan 13, 2012

I reviewed the prep guide to study and found that it was waaay easier then the exam itself. I was doubting myself on nearly all of the questions because there were 2 answers that could've been correct. I fortunately had enough time to go back and look over my answers, however I found myself changing answers as I went along... I'm crossing my fingers that I pass because I could not sit through another 4 hours of such discomfort and frustration.
I have no idea how I will wait 4-6 weeks for the results. Paranoia at its best.

I was tempted to go back & change answers but in the past, I found that my first instinct was correct, and my changed answer, for the most part, ended up being wrong. For the exam yesterday I didn't change any answers.

I agree, the prep guide was nothing like this exam. I have friends who wrote the exam before it was changed to this new format, and told me their exam was almost identical to the prep guide as far as difficulty level, and the types of questions. That wasn't the case for yesterdays exam in my opinion, but I'm hoping for the best!

I'm with you, I don't know how I'll wait these 4-6 weeks! It's torture!

CanadianGirl79 · Jan 13, 2012

I wrote in January 2011, and found the study guide way easier then the real exam. I dont think that's changed.

I can't beleive they halved the time given! That's nuts! Hope the time goes by quickly for you and you get your results ASAP!

Geduld · Jan 13, 2012

Hi everyone...I'm new here and grateful that most of you are feeling the same way I did! That was a very long, difficult exam and I'm praying that I passed... many of us didn't have time to finish, and while I'm grateful that I did, I still feel like I was rushed. Plus, after looking into some things that had me stumped, I feel like there was a lot of material that just wasn't covered in my PN program that really could have helped with the knowledge-based questions. I also did the PN guide plus the on-line tests, and feel that the questions were more difficult. Here's hoping everyone passed and we all get good news quickly!

i m cancerian · Jan 13, 2012

hello everyone..

i wrote the exam on january 11, 2012. exam would not be that difficult if we have provided more 30 minutes. 202 questions in 4 hours??? i was on 180th question, when they announced, u hv 30 minutes left. honestly, i just freaked out. after that i didn't even read the questions properly, and now when i think about the answers i chose in hurry, i just wanna give myself a tight punch in the face, i knew the answers but i didn't had time to think n compare the best answer. ya, u guys are right, you can eliminate 2 wrong choices, but the 2 choices left were so close to each other that you can easily make a mistake to select the wrong one. after i finished my exam, my brain was frozen, i went to washroom and it was like a dead silence there inspite there were so many girls in the washroom. it looked like everyone was stunned at the exam. so many people were still writing the exam. pn guide book is merely a waste of $75. as i said 4 hours were not enough for that exam. i felt "rushed". hopefully me and all pass the exam. this 4-6 weeks wait is killing me.

@insomniac-88--------hi there, could you please tell me where did you read that college has fixed the passing grade? bcoz as i was told, passing grade is average or something.

Insomniac-88 · Jan 13, 2012

assessment strategies inc. - canadian practical nurse registration examinationhow is the pass mark for the exam set?

the pass mark is set in reference to the content and the difficulty of the test questions. the pass mark is not set using a norm-referenced approach such as “bell curving”. the pass mark is set by a panel of content experts from across canada. these content experts work closely with entry-level practical nurses, and include educators, experienced practitioners and administrators. the pass mark is set at a level that represents the performance expected of a competent entry-level practical nurse.

the panel of content experts reviews each exam question and produces ratings based on a common understanding of a competent entry-level practical nurse. in addition to these ratings, a variety of relevant data (for example, information on the preparation of new graduates, data on results from previously administered exam) are carefully considered to ensure that the pass mark that candidates must achieve on the exam is valid and fair. based on this information, an appropriate pass mark is set. also, to ensure fairness, the different versions of the exam are equated so that all candidates have to meet the same standard regardless of the version of the exam.

for each form of the cpnre, the pass mark is the same across writing centres and across provinces and territories. the pass mark is also the same for english and french versions of the cpnre.

rita21 · Jan 13, 2012

hi everyone,

i also took the cpnre for the first time 2 days ago. i found the questions challanging and there definitley was not enough time. before going into the exam i remember telling others i would probably be out in 2 hours or less and instead as another poster when the proctor said there was an hr left i was on question 180.

those questions were tough, there was never a break. i used both the 3rd and 4rth edition prep guides reccommended but i also studied out of the nclex pn examination prep guide and the large green prep guide by mosby's.not to mention i did both the asi predictor tests. by the end of the exam i was so drained my eyes were watering and my head was pounding.

i had also heard from others too that had taken the exam in september that it was easy and that it was the same as the prep guide but these questions were definitley harder. plus, i think sitting for 4 straight hours is a long time. by hour 3 i really wanted to get up and just stretch. and did anyone else notice how fast the time went???? it was like one minute it was 8:30 and the next their telling you you have 30 minutes left.

fingers crossed that everyone passed! i think this exam was much harder as many more competencies have been assigned to the rpn in the last few years and we are able to do a ton of things with the right training.

i've heard for the january exam the results sometimes come at 3 weeks since not that many students take the exam during this run due to school schedules. by the way i took th exam in hamilton and there were only like 100 other people in the room with me so there was tons of space in between us but i heard for those who took it in toronto it was brutal with over 1000 people in one room. imaging the noise as people leave..........

blue eye girl · Jan 14, 2012

Without talking about specific material from the exam of course, discuss how you found the exam? difficulty level? did the CPNRE prep manual/predictor test compare to the exam itself?
Also, feel free to post results here, when they arrive of course!
This is also the first writing of the "new" CPNRE. Prior to yesterdays writing, the exam was 8 hours long, divided into 2 booklets, rather than 4 hours and 1 booklet. As far as the content and difficulty level of this exam compared to those prior, I'm not sure if that changed as well.
I personally found the exam to be a bit more difficult than the practice exam in the CPNRE prep guide, as well as the online predictor test. I scored %95-%100 on the predictor tests, which means it concluded I have a 95-100 % chance of passing the CPNRE. I found the answers in the prep guide and the predictor test to be fairly obvious, where as on the actual CPNRE, I read a lot of questions, thought I knew the answer before looking at the available choices, but once seeing the options I wasn't so sure anymore.
Through my PN course I averaged a mixture of high 70s and low 80s during finals but I must say, I have no idea how I did on this exam. It's really one of those exams where I either did extremely well, or failed miserably. At least that's how it feels!
I wish everyone the best of luck and I hope we all get that PASS letter in the mail!
Keep us posted & share your thoughts here! :)

Hi everyone,

I'm reading all the posts and feel like we got ripped off last Wednesday. Things are not looking too good and the worst part is that we only have 3 chances to write this exam. They should have predicted that and put less case scenarios. This was really not fair and I hope we all passed cause as I said earlier we weren't prepared for this. Also, there were way too many pharm questions, we are not pharmacists , are we?