Studying for the CEN

[apearson]

Hello,

I am scheduled to take my CEN on October 22nd, 2016. I have been studying since August. I have two review books with practice exams and practice question booklets separated by system. One of the review books is the one currently available through the ENA. I have taken 2 practice tests (each test has 150 questions) from each book and the highest score I have got to this point is 72% 😕 I am very discouraged. I have heard, however, that the practice exams are harder then the actual test and that if you are getting around a 70% on the practice tests then you should be fine for the actual exam. Does anyone know if this is true? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank You!

Ashley

[Medic/Nurse, BSN, RN]

Wow, no takers on this question in 176 views and 2 weeks. I'm not sure about your experience level or how well you test, but I'd be concerned about not breaking a 72%. If your testing window will allow and you can push back your testing date, I'd push it back as far as I could and look into some additional prep methods.

I would not want to go into a test only pulling a 72% on the practice exam. I just think that would add to anyone's anxiety and who needs that on test day?

Anxious tester or not — I would need to be in the mid-80's or better to give it an initial go. Otherwise, I'd up my prep.

Prep ideas. Review TNCC & ENPC. Essentials of Emergency Nursing.

Other resources —

Mark Boswell is an APRN that does a set of great YouTube videos (organized by topic/area) you can access for review on the CEN — they are an awesome review. He also teaches formal live CEN review classes.

Jeff Solheim RN publishes a set of PDF files of CEN review resources (an outline) that can be Googled and also teaches various formal review classes.

Also, if you know you are weak in certain areas from prior testing, you might spend a little extra time studying those as well.

Good luck.

:angel: