Meeting with the TCN Rep in the morning

I bought two or three used TCN study guides on ebay, paid $15 for two of them and $20 for one. I glanced through each of them and ending up not studying from any of the three after about half an hour on the first one. I was very glad that I had not wasted any more money that the $50 I paid for three of them. Overrated and not useful in my opinion. And after I took the first test, I too, found that the guide did not match the test. This told me not to waste my time on the others.

I did buy TCN books...that being said i'll tell you the pros and cons of TCN.pros- the books have worked for me so far. I have passed 3 classes. they send you the books and you can also read them online. they give you 2 practice exams with each class. excelsior make you pay 60 for each practice exam...so that's a good deal I think from TCN. Also, if you don't have good credit or credit cards they do have a credit union that will lend you all the money you need for the modules, exam fees, and the cpne......now that being said......CONS- THERE ARE MANY...i wish I had found this site before I signed that dumb piece of paper because I did not know I could do this without buying from them. I realized they weren't a college but I thought hey I have to buy books from somewhere to go there why not TCN...well I didn't know u could use books off ebay to do it...which I should have cause I love shopping ebay...anyways the modules are like 400 dollars a piece ...i ended up borrowing 7000 dollars from their credit union...that also included exam fees though. but what I didn't know is that to get that exam money you have to fax your scores from your tests to them to prove you took it and so they know you are ready for next one. I don't own a fax machine so that's kinda going out of my way to find a place to fax from after every test I take. they also want a receipt faxed to them to prove that you paid that amt to the testing site so make sure you print and save all receipts!!! I just wish I knew then what I knew now cause I could have done this program a lot cheaper....

At about $495/study module for TCN, they darn well better give you something. I think EC's price for practice exams is better. Besides, the EC practice exams aren't like the TCN ones -- they're better, besides the fact that they're coming from the people that write the actual exam. I highly recommend EC's practice exams to everyone.

Also wanted to add. When you sign with TCN. You have to pay Pearson vue at least $200 to test plus you have to pay EC's exam fee. When you break down all the fee's. It cost roughly $800-900 per test which is INSANE! My only request is that you get educated about TCN before you sign. I had a rep that came to my house in the beginning of my studies and give me the same spill. I got on the internet and did my homework. Needless to say, I did not sign and I told them why? Too much extra money.


Lol!!! Lisa is right! For $495 per module. The practice test should be free! Also their practice test are very generic. More definition based. EC gives you some of the actual questions off the real test. On Health Safety. There were at least 5-8 question from the practice test on their.

yeah, i agree that they should supply free practice tests ... i just meant you get two so then you dont have to pay $495 or whatever for the module and another 60 for each practice exam...im very dissapointed that i went through tcn....
but about the paying 200 to pearson and an exam fee thru excelsior...i dont know about that. all i had to do was pay 240 for my test thru excelsior and it would show up on pearson vues website that i was able to sign up for test.

I would make a list of the recommended texts that EC has on the website and take it with you to the major bookstores and the bookstores of any local schools with nursing programs. Take your time paging through each of the available med surg books, pharm books, peds books, etc. and pick the one that you seem to like after this look see. Then go home and buy them used off half.com or any of the other book websites. Or you can do what I did, get the books from the library for free. Or you can rent them from one of the text rental websites. If you rent them, rent the previous edition for best cost. Then, later on, when you have more money, you can buy any book you want to own. Good luck with the program.