Hello, everyone. My name is Steve and I just wanted to start off by saying that I am really excited to get into a new field of work. I have been in retail for over 10 years and would like to help people in another way that goes beyond your regular customer service you see in a retail setting!

I am currently enrolled in the CNA school through the American Redcross and I have a couple of weeks left. I just wanted some tips on how to be more prepared for the written test portion. I took a sample test online at the Prometric's website and have noticed that either a few slipped my mind or they were just tough questions that I may have not been covered yet.

Also, while we are on the subject, the skills portion..anyone take it with Prometric's? I am very anxious and my instructors are making it to be really tough and it's scaring the class! Lol.

Thank you all for your time!

Steve

I don't think you'll have any problems with the written test. I'm sure you have Two or three tests you take during your class that you need to pass to get through your CNA program. I thought they were pretty much common sense questions.

Make sure you really know your skills step by step. If you omit any steps you may fail your skills portion. I'm not sure how your state does it but in oregon we are given five skills at random to do. The first skill they always watch you do is hand washing. Make sure you get your wrists, palms, and check under your nails while doing it. Back in 2007 when I was going for my CNA 1 I was so nervous while doing my skills and being watched. So hard to try and ignore them while trying to remember all the steps.

Make sure you really know the steps on how to do your skills. If you omit one of the steps you can fail. To tell you the truth...I failed bed bath! So I had to redo my five skills at a later date. I was so nervous and so crushed that I failed. We only get three chances before you have to redo the CNA program. When I retook it I had spent so much time studying. Do you have the mosby disc that shows you the steps? You should really study them if you have that. Very helpful.

When I retook my skills part..I thought I was going to die when I had the same person testing me. After I finished my skills she told me I did a lot better this time around. I was so happy to see my name up on the oregon state board of nursing.

Good luck!

Take the tests at the end of the chapters. Study what you answered incorrectly. The AMR text book is very big and impossible to read and retain all the info. Hopefully your instructor will give you quizzes and you will keep copies.

The six principles of care put everything in perspective for me. It is less threatening to remember Dignity, infection control, safety, communication, independence and privacy. If you remember these principles it prompts you to complete the opening and closing steps. Did you demonstrate these principles of care during your skill?

You will be ok I'm sure. Clinical's will help bring all the information together.