I failed CRNE. what's next?

fleetfoxRN · Mar 13, 2013

Fairy,

I'm sorry to hear about the bad news, but keep your chin up. With my graduating class in 2011, almost a QUARTER of those who took the June 2011 CRNE failed in my city.

How did you do in school as far as testing? I'm only asking because the ones who failed the CRNE were people who I found usually studied at the last minute or barely passed at all. Now, there's obviously always exceptions - nerves.

I'm anywhere from a B- to A- student, but I studied hard. When I was studying I used the Mosby's book (same one you have) and I got my hands on any material that I could where I could study the questions. I found that yes, I did know a lot of the anatomy and physiology in the books but when I was doing the practice tests, I wasn't reading the questions properly. I know a lot of people never started studying till a good month before exam, but I started studying right when May came around (finished school in april, gave myself a couple of weeks to relax), studied like it was a job. I woke up, read the news, got in some exercise, started studying at 9, finished up around 2 or 3, and then got ready for my part time job at night. I know some people think it's excessive but I figured there was no way I was spending $$$$ to got to Toronto for some test taking class, paying for a test... you have the tools. I also never went to 'study groups'. I studied with one other person who had the same schedule I did. The day or two before the exam, I stopped studying and I didn't get in touch with my class mates. I showed up just before they let everyone in so I didn't have to talk to anybody, I brought ear plugs to my test as well.

I'm not sure what the exam was like this time for you, but I had a lot of community based questions and a LOT of OB. I never did well in Theory but I always did well in complex nursing. I can't tell you why, but those 'easy' classes didn't come well to me. I thought I failed that exam. I was pretty upset.. I didn't even know what to think about it. I know a lot of my friends wanted to go out drinking afterwards but I was in no mood to celebrate. Anyway.. all those people who hardly studied and said 'it's a piece of cake'... well, they FAILED. Was I surprised? NOPE. That test was HARD, and anyone who says it's not, well, I don't believe it. When I got to a question I didn't understand or was spending too much time thinking about, I ticked it and came back to it later.

You need to take some time off, think about what you found difficult about the exam. Was it how the questions were asked? Was it your anatomy and physiology rusty? I mean, I know some nurses that have no idea what SIDE the LIVER is on. . So, just because you failed this test doesn't mean you'll be a rotten nurse or you'll never be a nurse, so don't ever get down on yourself.

I'm not sure about any of you, but I found that Canadian Registered Prep Guide was pretty close to how difficult the questions were.

I also found coming on here was a great resource. Not longer I finished writing my CRNE, I started studying for the US board exams and passed that. I got to the second last question and I thought I just about failed it, but I ended up passing.

fairy_C · Mar 13, 2013

Hi fleetfoxRN,

Thank you for your reply. I found out that this time CRNE is more community-based too and it was a hard one too. The competency I did not too bad was changes in health, other competencies are not so good! My friend who passed this exam, said that she felt like 90% of the exam questions could find answer from Mosby (blue -orange book). I thought mosby is more med-surg based, that's why I did not study this book a lot, and I was mainly focused on the textbook that provided by the prep course.

I started studying around mid of Dec because it was the time the course started. I studied hard for this exam, I studied everyday. Did lots of practice questions.

I am debating that should I just take June CRNE, or wait for Oct CRNE?

C

fleetfoxRN · Mar 14, 2013

fairy_C

I think that's entirely your decision and how comfortable you feel. I think you need to take a couple of weeks and relax, do things you enjoy. As for taking it in June or writing it in October, I'd rather just knuckle down, start studying and get it over with. Use that determination to your advantage and use it to focus. I studied a lot from that Mosby book. I remember a girl I went to school with had every book under the sun, from someone who had studied the exam earlier in the year, and she failed and failed and failed it again. She wasn't a strong student or strong in clinical. I think what it comes down to is how well you study. How well you read the question... and obviously the knowledge application. That book I found is still important to brush up on your knowledge, even if it's still medsurg, but it provides you tools you'll need in nursing. Yes, if I do recall, I found I did have about 5 or 6 questions that were from that book. Maybe not verbatim, but it was the same.

But yeah... that's all I really did. I would look up what other nursing students were studying on here, looked up the best reviews on books, bought it and studied it, and used that prep guide... then I tried to do as many questions as I could. If I did the questions, and I got them wrong (or even right) I would go look up the body system and understand it so I'd know how it would work and I could apply my nursing knowledge. I wouldn't recommend going to those nursing courses. I felt like they weren't telling me anything that I already knew.. It sounds sad, but I felt like even other people I went to school with wouldn't be so forthcoming about how they were studying or what other things they were doing to study or how often they studied. I don't know why.

If you need to vent or have any other questions feel free to PM me or I can give you my email.

fairy_C · Mar 14, 2013

for some reason, I can't PM. but this morning, I used the allnurses APP PM you. Not sure if it went through.

Would you mind to give me your email?

JustBeachyNurse, LPN · Mar 14, 2013

for some reason, I can't PM. but this morning, I used the allnurses APP PM you. Not sure if it went through.
Would you mind to give me your email?

FYI one cannot gain access to the PM system until you have 15 quality posts on the board (I.e. not "me too" posts).

Brownie_43 · Mar 15, 2013

Hey fairy_C

I also wrote the Feb 6, 2013 CRNE exam. I found the majority of the questions were in some way related to emergency nursing. If I had to rewrite I think that's what I would focus on. I also found what helped me to pass was to read the ENTIRE textbook (Mosbys Comprehensive Review) page for page and make notes on all the diseases- manifestations, diagnosis etc and then review all the notes I had made as I went along (usually before bed, or once I woke up). I found the Mosbys book to be somewhat vague though, so I also had the NCLEX Comprehensive Review for RN by Maryann Hogan to refer to when I thought Mosby's wasn't explaining things well enough or being to vague. I also had a little note book that I would study medications in (I recorded all the drugs that I came into contact with by doing the practice questions, and their significant side effects) and tried to add 1-2 drugs per day into my study book. I did all the review questions in the textbook after each chapter. I also used the CNA prep guide, and answered the questions 2-3 times before the exam. I found they are not related at all in difficulty to the actual exam, but they do teach you what the CRNE is looking for (for example, I found themes of what/how they wanted you to answer the questions ex. How to handle conflict, how to find out the needs in the community by using focus groups etc). When I did all of the practice questions, including the CRNE prep guide, and I found I got a question wrong, I would write the correct answer on a Q-Card, with the rationale on the back, so I could continuously study all of the questions I got wrong until I memorized everything (by the time I was done studying I had literally 500 Q-cards lol). I studied everyday for about 5 weeks from around 10am to 3pm, and then reviewed the Q-cards at night. I also agree with fleetfoxRN that you should study the body systems. I found that I forgot alot of this stuff from first and second year, so when I was reviewing respiratory problems, I would review how the lungs worked, which helped me logically think of answers during the CRNE. Good luck though, and don't give up, you can do it!

fairy_C · Mar 15, 2013

Hi Brownie_43,

Thank you for sharing your strategies with you. I think I am going to use Mosby book to study. This time, I will be dependent on my self, not the course instructor. One of my failure was: I was too dependent on the course instructor, and did not study other resources.

Thanks,

C

studentbecominganurs · Mar 15, 2013

All i want to say is that don't give up. It feels like the end of the world when it happens but believe in yourself because you're going to pass.

I found that what was helpful for me was instead of reading those prep course textbook, I focused on med surg. I was struggling with med surg throughout nursing school; I never had the solid foundation so it was important for me to go back to my med surg textbook. I know it sounds intense but focus on the main ones, like heart failure, diabetes, acute/chronic renal failure, hip fracture, MI, COPD, Asthma etc AND fluid and electrolyte. I was struggling with changes in health, the rest I was fine with so I mainly focused on changes in health when I studied which means med surg/patho.

I was working 2 months before the exam so I spent 2-3 hours after work in the library. I stopped working 3 weeks before my exam so I spent 3 weeks straight at the public library EVERYDAY from 9-5 or 6 with breaks in between reading the med surg textbook to make sure I completely understood what acute renal failure was. I focused mostly on my med surg text because I didn't understand mosby or the prep course textbook. I even brought my lunch to the library so I wouldn't be distracted by getting food to eat/going out for lunch. I took Sunday off as my break so that was my only day to fully relax. I also didn't do work after studying from the library and I was ready for bed by 10:30 pm. I would do questions once in a while but I would make sure to go back to my med surg text BECAUSE if you are getting questions wrong on your practice tests, it means you need to study more! I did not work for 3 weeks before my exam and didn't go hang out with friends. I saw my bf who came to the library to visit but that was it, I didn't hang out much with him and i went out with my family for dinner once but ALL i did was study because I knew I did not want to write it again.

I personally would not recommend the toronto school of health or nursing courses to anyone. It's good if you already have a solid foundation of your med surg knowledge. Because the course goes through each system REALLY FAST and you wont have time to slowly digest the material. You also have a bunch of tests in class that are taken directly from the textbook. The only good thing about the course is that it guides your study - tells you what to focus on i.e i never learned anything about chest tubes in nursing school yet you would need to know it on the exam but again you could read through the competencies to find out what you need to focus on. I think its better to study in groups or self study. I didn't study with anyone.

MY BIGGEST ADVICE IS

if you have a good foundation of all the diseases/patho stuff, you should be fine unless you are struggling with nurse/client relationships or professional practice. Those areas, you would need to do more questions and go back to the CNO practice standards.

Good luck

Thats what I did to pass.

studentbecominganurs · Mar 15, 2013

I also used the CRNE Prep Guide from CNA and Potter and Perry, though I did not read the whole textbook. Always go back to Potter and Perry!

fairy_C · Mar 15, 2013

Hi studentbecominganurs,

Thank you for your reply. I am not good at patho sections, sometimes, I have resistance to patho stuff. I tried to memorize patho things, but it did not work out. Did you memorize med-surg stuff? how you study?

Thanks,

C

studentbecominganurs · Mar 26, 2013

Hi fairy_C

Sorry for the late reply. I was never good at patho or med surg. In nursing school, I almost failed the med surg course. What I did for the CRNE was, I read the med surg book over and over and over again until i started to remember things without intentionally memorizing it. I hate memorizing too and trust me, you can pass without memorizing everything. BUT OF COURSE the lab values you should know (Potassium, Sodium, USG). and dont worry, i did not read the whole book. I read pages on the diseases. It worked for me. I just kept reading the same few pages on Acute/Chronic Renal Failure, COPD, Asthma, Heart Failure, MI, Diabetes and I passed! I didn't really study/read Stroke but I would suggest understanding the basics about stroke. I would also suggest reading Cystic Fibrosis, Liver Cirrhosis and Fluid & Electrolyte Balance because there were questions. Know your ABGs! and study Maternity! If you don't have a good foundation, i would suggest going back to your maternity textbook because thats what i did.

What you want to do now is focus on reading the med surg and patho textbook until you understand the disease. Focus on one topic at a time for instance, start with diabetes, read 5 pages of diabetes in one day and then read a smaller topic like hip fracture and then the next day read diabetes again and Sodium (less pages) until you understand diabetes. Third Day, back to diabetes. Try to spend 3-5 days on one disease until you FULLY understand the disease, thats when you know to move on to the next disease. BUT don't forget to go back to diabetes (a brief review) so you don't forget what you studied! I would suggest reviewing it once a week to refresh your memory.

And try doing some questions to see if you understand the disease. Try to do questions on the weekends. But for now, start studying 3-5 hours a day and then add more hours. By May you should be spending 6-8 hours a day studying/reviewing. Don't forget to do practice questions. I remember seeing a few exam questions from the practice questions that i did somewhere. I don't remember where. When I had time, I did the Mosby Practice Questions from the Comprehensive Review and the Practice Book. I also used Lippincott but I did Lippincott in the beginning and stopped because I couldn't borrow it anymore from the library.

If you ever get sick of reading the med surg textbook, read Potter and Perry. Don't read the whole book. I picked and chose topics like ABGs, Braden Scale, Chest Tubes etc. When you get bored of reading, you can also youtube videos on heart disease to understand the patho. That helped me too but make sure you don't spend time youtubing other non relevant videos! I find watching youtube videos helped QUITE A LOT too and it's more enjoyable than sitting down for hours studying because it gave me the basic understanding so when I read the patho book, it made sense to me!

Good luck!