Adult CNS-EXAM

Specialties CNS

Published

Hello all.

I completed my MSN program in december, and sat for the Adult CNS exam yesterday... and i FAILED! such an embarrassment, humiliation, failure, I was so sure of myself and this test... everyone I talked to said not to worry, no need to really study. I do not know what went wrong, some of the questions were so vague, I could not even eliminate to the top 2 choices.... I did not do the online review course, regretting it now, all I did was read through a book I bought online and some material from my MSN program... I scored low in research, which boggles my mind since i was a research assistant and published in a few journals!!

so now i am having no luck contacting the ANCC regarding the new test blueprint. not to sure which test I have to take now!

anyone else in this desperate situation??? the test blueprint changes on April 5, 2011.... oh gosh, tears are starting again :crying2::crying2:

so disappointed and lost right now

:confused:

Hi!

I am Juan and I also took the Adult CNS Exam March 2011. I graduated in December and started stuyding for the exam January 2011. I purchased the audio review offered by ANCC, Mometrix review, and the Fidzgerald Adult Health NP questions and answers book. I passed my exam and I believe the combination of these three elements helped me. I studied for one hour or so every afternoon. Sometimes, I felt my study time was truly great and others, I just was not able to concentrate. I believe the Mometrix had a good review since it was based on the topics covered in the exam. I found the test taking strategies truly work. But, you need to remember them and of course being able to know at least some of the wrong answers in order to apply them.

I truly recommend to review the material, take lots of practice exams. Review the answers and retake them at least once or twice until you achieve 85% or higher in the score. Read the rationale of each answer.

Reviewing the material is truly important. Spend a couple of months reviewing and practicing exams. Do not take the exam without stuyding.

Good luck!

Juan

Hi everyone,

I also graduated from an ACNS program in Dec and took the ANCC exam last Feb. I know the test has changed since then, but here are the things that worked for me:

1) Following the ANCC test blueprint. Going through every point on the blueprint and looking up things that I was unfamiliar with.

2) Advance Practice Nursing By Hamric and Spross- this book served as a great resource when going the the test blue print

3) Fidzgerald Adult Health NP questions- easy to follow and broke down the major diseases in nice, concise chunks. Plus, the book is rather small so you can bring it with you everywhere.

4) Study everyday (even if its just 30 mins to an hour)- I studied everyday for almost 2 months.

I hope this helps. I know how discouraging setbacks can be. It makes you doubt your abilities, and if you are even 'meant' to take this path. But I do believe that if you have gotten this far and you truly care about becoming a CNS ( as evidenced by you being here :)), you can pass the exam.

Good luck!

Hello, all,

I just took the Adult Health CNS exam and passed. This is what I did:

1. Took the ANCC review course (8 telephone conference calls, with book of slides provided).

2. Followed the blueprint provided by the ANCC to the letter. It was heavily followed.

3. Got a book (pretty new, 2009) called "Foundations of Clinical Nurse Specialist Practice" by Fulton, Lyon, and Goudreau. This book was excellent as it kind of gave me the mind set that I think the ANCC was looking for in formulating their questions.

Would have never passed without the above 3 resources.

And as usual, the multiple choice questions (all 175) had either all right answers, all wrong answers, or all ridiculous answers. Just like the NCLEX! Still surprised I passed.

Anyway, good luck everybody.

Oldiebutgoodie

I am in the same shoes. I failed the Peds CNS exam in January 2011. What a kick in the teeth. I graduated with honors and then failed it. I used the Mometrix book and did the same as you did-Rose23. I did not feel secure with it being such a new publication. I also panicked when I went in to test. I could not settle down and think! I really want to take it again, but I have to find the courage and determine what is the best method for study. Now you say they have changed the test!? One of my professors helped to design the last ones. She had told me to use the NP book to study. I didn't do it. Guess now we will have to! It makes me angry that on the resource list it has all kinds of NP books and help but very little for the CNS.

I am in the same shoes. I failed the Peds CNS exam in January 2011. What a kick in the teeth. I graduated with honors and then failed it. I used the Mometrix book and did the same as you did-Rose23. I did not feel secure with it being such a new publication. I also panicked when I went in to test. I could not settle down and think! I really want to take it again, but I have to find the courage and determine what is the best method for study. Now you say they have changed the test!? One of my professors helped to design the last ones. She had told me to use the NP book to study. I didn't do it. Guess now we will have to! It makes me angry that on the resource list it has all kinds of NP books and help but very little for the CNS.

The new outline for the test is at:

http://www.nursecredentialing.org/PediatricCNSTCOs.aspx

I went through the Adult CNS outline point by point, most questions on my test were not so much clinical as other stuff such as leadership, research, etc. Unfortunately, the ANCC doesn't seem to have a review class for Peds CNS.

The book, "Foundations of Clinical Nurse Specialist Practice" by Fulton, Lyon, and Goudreau (2010) is reallly good, should help with some of the studying.

Good luck,

Oldiebutgoodie

Specializes in Home Health.
Hello, all,

I just took the Adult Health CNS exam and passed. This is what I did:

1. Took the ANCC review course (8 telephone conference calls, with book of slides provided).

2. Followed the blueprint provided by the ANCC to the letter. It was heavily followed.

3. Got a book (pretty new, 2009) called "Foundations of Clinical Nurse Specialist Practice" by Fulton, Lyon, and Goudreau. This book was excellent as it kind of gave me the mind set that I think the ANCC was looking for in formulating their questions.

Would have never passed without the above 3 resources.

And as usual, the multiple choice questions (all 175) had either all right answers, all wrong answers, or all ridiculous answers. Just like the NCLEX! Still surprised I passed.

Anyway, good luck everybody.

Oldiebutgoodie

That is great! I plan to graduate in July of 2012- I will do those things- but do you think it will change for next year- the test blueprint?

Specializes in Home Health.
Hello, all,

I just took the Adult Health CNS exam and passed. This is what I did:

1. Took the ANCC review course (8 telephone conference calls, with book of slides provided).

2. Followed the blueprint provided by the ANCC to the letter. It was heavily followed.

3. Got a book (pretty new, 2009) called "Foundations of Clinical Nurse Specialist Practice" by Fulton, Lyon, and Goudreau. This book was excellent as it kind of gave me the mind set that I think the ANCC was looking for in formulating their questions.

Would have never passed without the above 3 resources.

And as usual, the multiple choice questions (all 175) had either all right answers, all wrong answers, or all ridiculous answers. Just like the NCLEX! Still surprised I passed.

Anyway, good luck everybody.

Oldiebutgoodie

I will be graduating with my MSN (adult CNS) in July of 2012. Do you think the material will change?

I doubt the test blueprint will change, since they just changed it April of 2011.

Cheers,

Oldiebutgoodie

Specializes in Home Health.
I am so sorry. Take a little time and then start a new pathway. I took the adult exam in 2006 and I know it has changed. I'm gathering you used the Mometrix study guides? I just took the peds CNS exam last week and used the Mometrix study guide and did fine. However I also found it helpful to look at the study guide template from ANCC. This told me that most of the questions (30%) were on growth and development for instance. So what I did was only study the part they were testing on the most.

You can get the study guide from the ANCC website. http://www.nursecredentialing.org/Documents/Certification/TestContentOutlines/AdultHealthCNS-TCO_April2011.aspx

So it doesn't look like it's broken down as much. When I used the Mometrix study guide I only looked at the top two or three categories in the order of which category would have the most questions. Does that make sense?

Good luck.

What is a Mometrix study guide? I am still in graduate school for MSN- CNS, and I want to start preparing and gathering study material to pass the exam.

Specializes in Home Health.

Thank you ;)

I went to the momatrix website - it looks scandalous - where did u find your study guide of the momatrix?

Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

The study guide was actually from ANCC.

I purchased the mometrix study guide for the Adult Mental Health CNS exam - which I will be taking this upcoming week. In my opinion, a complete waste of money. Very poorly organized and written with factual errors (I only spent about an hour looking it over, before I trashcanned it). I am using the Adult Psych NP study guide written by the ANCC (they don't produce one for adult psych CNS) and the ANCC book for general psych nursing certification. I also bought the 150 questions for the CNS exam and used the NP questions that a colleague bought. I hope I pass... never know. Anyway, that is just my experience with the mometrix book.

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