Finally did it!

caps · Jun 3, 2003

Where do I get the Nursing Concepts 1 and 2 studying guides.?Where do I take the test? I am somewhat confused by this whole thing. I am so thankful for this message board! Almost paid "a company" over $6,000 for their assistance. I am thrilled that I came to this site before signing the contract! Thank you all.

Laurie888 · Jun 3, 2003

You get them from Excelsior. You can download them from their website or call them and they will send them to you, free.

I'm going to send in my application this week -- beat the price increase in July, plus starting July 1 they require separate application to the nursing school (an extra $60). I know I'm going to take more than one year, but less than two, so waiting until I have a couple tests under my belt seems pointless.

justrubl · Sep 2, 2003

Originally posted by Spazzy Nurse
Katmease, EMT basics and intermediates can still get into the program, but now they need a certain number (1000 I think?) of supervised hours of experience.

This is only until Sept 3, after that EMT's cannot get into the program.

Agnus · Sep 4, 2003

Originally posted by CraigB-RN
Make sure if your putting off officially enrolling you pay atention to what going on in the program. For expample in Sept the minimum level for aceptanve will be the EMT-Paramedic and not the basic EMT. They give advanced notice in most cases when they make changes like that.

So keep your eyes open, so you don't get blind sided. I've had a couple of my people miss out because they didn't pay attention like that.

Before enrolling I took 2 exams that I did not need to because they changed the requirement for the RN to BSN.

What's more they changed one of the exams all together. This is eliminated it and replaced it with something completely new. (name and every thing) It was one I took before enrolling. The good thing is the change came after I enrolled so it doesn't effect me as long as I keep my enrollment current.

Once I drop enrollment and then re-enroll I would have to take the new exam.

kvalcourt · Sep 11, 2003

HI, all. i wanted to repsond to give you all advice & encouragement. I don't have much time to post at these discussion places, so the following is in epic proportions, so here goes. I finished my ADN program w/ EC (including the courses I took at local community colleges) in 13 months from time of tkaing first exam to taking the CPNE (graduated in 15 months).I spent 3 months of searching everything on the web,i.e. all kinds of nursing & nursing education discussion groups, tlaked (on-line & phone,plus MSN messenger) w/ anyone that i had ever heard of doing the Regents/EC program, even folks that I didn't know previously, i followed every lead, as i wanted as much info as possible before making a decision. I also called my state nursing board to find out any kind of regs about EC ADN grads. After also talking w/ the directors of all the on-site nursing programs w/in a one hour radius ( 5 ADN programs) & being told that i would basically be given only one semester credit & I would not be able to keep my position as a LPN, I decided in Dec. of 2000 (after being a LPN for 15 years) to take the plunge into EC, but I had also found out in round about ways what courses EC would accept. I found out that because my LPN courses had been through a community college system w/in a university system that everything would be accepted. But, i still needed micro, english,& some more humanities. I took some of those courses through a local community college as an on-site class (they had lots of times to choose from & i registered early) & i took only dev. phsyc. through EC. I got on-line constantly & asked lots of questions & listened ALOT! & called EC w/ all kinds of questions before making my decision. I also found a local study partner (one hour away) & we met half-way at a local library & studied together. We also searched the various discussion & auction sites for textbooks, & mostly we bought well-used Chancellor's guides. We bought a couple others that folks had for sale for about $10 & listened to what folks had to say about the various publishing companies. We did not sign on w/ any company & neither of us considered that an option. We chose Chancellors because we both liked the idea of listening to tapes in our car & we both spend lots of time in our car. ( My children, also had those tapes memorized & can still recite info!) I'm a visual & auditory learner, so it helps to know your learning style beforehand. We did not spend over $400/each for our books. We shared whatever we had. I am a homebrth midwife, so i helped my partner alot w/ GYN/OB.. We both had also researched the CPNE & especially lsitened to others descriptions of the experieince. We set up a study lab in our own home & practiced & practied on our fmaily & each other. I already knew that going for a week long study lab somewhere was going to help me immensely & EC's wasn't long enough in my opinion & they never had any of their study labs w/in 5 hours of me. so, for about the same amount of money, i drove 12 hours to Indiana & stayed w/ a friend of a friend & went to the week long Chancellor's lab & it was extremely helpful. all of us also shared what we knew & any tidbits that we could. I also had all of my critical elements memorized & was already working heavy duty on a grid before I went to the chancellors lab & I had been advised to not go until about 2-3 months before planning on tkaing the CPNE. I refrained from anything else (except for an occasional night out for supper & then back to studying)during the time that i studied for the exams & CPNE. I passed all the exams the first time. Including the time I studied for the CPNE, I averaged about 40 -50 hours/week in studying (this included driving time as I listened to tapes everytime I sat my butt in mine or fmaily car). my husband was extremely supportive & my kids were patient. Heck, i figured they were learning critical info, too. When I practiced for the CPNE & was always looking for willing bodies, they loved it because they got my undivided attention (including my husband!!) he has a great sense of humor, but knew when i needed to be serious. I averaged about 20 hours/week of work, also during this time frame.

For the CPNE, I borrowed pneumonics from others & made up my own for some. I printed off detailed CPNE experieince & got on-line & e-mailed folks about their chosen sites. once, I chose my preferred site, I learned everythign i could aobut that hospital that I possibly could w/out actually goign there. I downloaded maps of the hospitals, some former EC students drew out maps for me, so I would know in advance how things (like nurse server areas & linen areas) were placed & situated. I wanted to choose the most nurse-user friendly place that I coudl find for ease of functioning. I did vivist one hospital (one in Atlanta, which is 5 horus away) went a stayed w/ a friend for two days & visited that hospital & decided that I didn't want to go there. When i went to chancellors week long study lab, i read of all the grads experiences. They had a book of folsk experiences at various sites. One person had put a map of the layout of the nurse-server areas of the hospital that I was preferring to go to & I copied it. I know this is all very anal, but that's how I prepare best for an unknown,as i can function so much better in a known physical environ. O got on the website of my preferred hospital at vaiours times & I read about the type of patients that my preferred hospital typically took care of in a given season. I arrived at the hospital the day before the start of my CPNE & found the cafeteria, the restrooms & i ate in cafeteria. I found the easiset way to the hosptial & memorized it. I di not stay at the motel that EC recommeded as the one that msot students stayed at, as i knew that to be serious, I had to be incredibly focused & did not go to socialize, smooze or complain. I drove 15 hours to my chosen hospital, as i knew I'd never be as mobile as I wanted to be if I flew & I had a couple acquaintacnes to stay w/ on the way ther & back. I had purchased a 'blow up bathing beauty' from Spencer's gifts as a body to practice on, when my family was unavailable & i took her w/ me into the motel room & set up a lab in my motel room. During my practice at home,I had made up a fake way to start an IV (for my bathing beauty)using kitchen gloves, O2 tubing & the rest of the stuff came form EC's bag of learning supplies which they'll send to you for a small fee & i also collected whatever friendly docs & offices wanted to give me to practice with. Anything that anyone had told me that helped them pass exams or CPNE, i tried it to see if it worked for me & that's how I found all kinds of tricks. I love distance learning & now i'm doing it for my MSN/advanced practice nursing degree. I approached this very seriously & was determined to the best of my ability to pass the exams & CPNE the first time around, as I knew I didn't have the money to do it (exams or CPNE) a second time around. After my CPNE, when i arrived home, I went to bed for a week & slept & watched TV, read books, whatever. Six weeks after graduating from EC,I started an Off-site one year RN-BSN course through a univeristy one hour & 20 min. away & graduated from there this past May. to all of you, this can be done, stay focused & aks me any questions that you want. my personal e-mail is [email protected] Blessings in all your endeavors, karen

kvalcourt · Sep 11, 2003

HI, all. i wanted to repsond to give you all advice & encouragement. I don't have much time to post at these discussion places, so the following is in epic proportions, so here goes. I finished my ADN program w/ EC (including the courses I took at local community colleges) in 13 months from time of tkaing first exam to taking the CPNE (graduated in 15 months).I spent 3 months of searching everything on the web,i.e. all kinds of nursing & nursing education discussion groups, tlaked (on-line & phone,plus MSN messenger) w/ anyone that i had ever heard of doing the Regents/EC program, even folks that I didn't know previously, i followed every lead, as i wanted as much info as possible before making a decision. I also called my state nursing board to find out any kind of regs about EC ADN grads. After also talking w/ the directors of all the on-site nursing programs w/in a one hour radius ( 5 ADN programs) & being told that i would basically be given only one semester credit & I would not be able to keep my position as a LPN, I decided in Dec. of 2000 (after being a LPN for 15 years) to take the plunge into EC, but I had also found out in round about ways what courses EC would accept. I found out that because my LPN courses had been through a community college system w/in a university system that everything would be accepted. But, i still needed micro, english,& some more humanities. I took some of those courses through a local community college as an on-site class (they had lots of times to choose from & i registered early) & i took only dev. phsyc. through EC. I got on-line constantly & asked lots of questions & listened ALOT! & called EC w/ all kinds of questions before making my decision. I also found a local study partner (one hour away) & we met half-way at a local library & studied together. We also searched the various discussion & auction sites for textbooks, & mostly we bought well-used Chancellor's guides. We bought a couple others that folks had for sale for about $10 & listened to what folks had to say about the various publishing companies. We did not sign on w/ any company & neither of us considered that an option. We chose Chancellors because we both liked the idea of listening to tapes in our car & we both spend lots of time in our car. ( My children, also had those tapes memorized & can still recite info!) I'm a visual & auditory learner, so it helps to know your learning style beforehand. We did not spend over $400/each for our books. We shared whatever we had. I am a homebrth midwife, so i helped my partner alot w/ GYN/OB.. We both had also researched the CPNE & especially lsitened to others descriptions of the experieince. We set up a study lab in our own home & practiced & practied on our fmaily & each other. I already knew that going for a week long study lab somewhere was going to help me immensely & EC's wasn't long enough in my opinion & they never had any of their study labs w/in 5 hours of me. so, for about the same amount of money, i drove 12 hours to Indiana & stayed w/ a friend of a friend & went to the week long Chancellor's lab & it was extremely helpful. all of us also shared what we knew & any tidbits that we could. I also had all of my critical elements memorized & was already working heavy duty on a grid before I went to the chancellors lab & I had been advised to not go until about 2-3 months before planning on tkaing the CPNE. I refrained from anything else (except for an occasional night out for supper & then back to studying)during the time that i studied for the exams & CPNE. I passed all the exams the first time. Including the time I studied for the CPNE, I averaged about 40 -50 hours/week in studying (this included driving time as I listened to tapes everytime I sat my butt in mine or fmaily car). my husband was extremely supportive & my kids were patient. Heck, i figured they were learning critical info, too. When I practiced for the CPNE & was always looking for willing bodies, they loved it because they got my undivided attention (including my husband!!) he has a great sense of humor, but knew when i needed to be serious. I averaged about 20 hours/week of work, also during this time frame.

For the CPNE, I borrowed pneumonics from others & made up my own for some. I printed off detailed CPNE experieince & got on-line & e-mailed folks about their chosen sites. once, I chose my preferred site, I learned everythign i could aobut that hospital that I possibly could w/out actually goign there. I downloaded maps of the hospitals, some former EC students drew out maps for me, so I would know in advance how things (like nurse server areas & linen areas) were placed & situated. I wanted to choose the most nurse-user friendly place that I coudl find for ease of functioning. I did vivist one hospital (one in Atlanta, which is 5 horus away) went a stayed w/ a friend for two days & visited that hospital & decided that I didn't want to go there. When i went to chancellors week long study lab, i read of all the grads experiences. They had a book of folsk experiences at various sites. One person had put a map of the layout of the nurse-server areas of the hospital that I was preferring to go to & I copied it. I know this is all very anal, but that's how I prepare best for an unknown,as i can function so much better in a known physical environ. O got on the website of my preferred hospital at vaiours times & I read about the type of patients that my preferred hospital typically took care of in a given season. I arrived at the hospital the day before the start of my CPNE & found the cafeteria, the restrooms & i ate in cafeteria. I found the easiset way to the hosptial & memorized it. I di not stay at the motel that EC recommeded as the one that msot students stayed at, as i knew that to be serious, I had to be incredibly focused & did not go to socialize, smooze or complain. I drove 15 hours to my chosen hospital, as i knew I'd never be as mobile as I wanted to be if I flew & I had a couple acquaintacnes to stay w/ on the way ther & back. I had purchased a 'blow up bathing beauty' from Spencer's gifts as a body to practice on, when my family was unavailable & i took her w/ me into the motel room & set up a lab in my motel room. During my practice at home,I had made up a fake way to start an IV (for my bathing beauty)using kitchen gloves, O2 tubing & the rest of the stuff came form EC's bag of learning supplies which they'll send to you for a small fee & i also collected whatever friendly docs & offices wanted to give me to practice with. Anything that anyone had told me that helped them pass exams or CPNE, i tried it to see if it worked for me & that's how I found all kinds of tricks. I love distance learning & now i'm doing it for my MSN/advanced practice nursing degree. I approached this very seriously & was determined to the best of my ability to pass the exams & CPNE the first time around, as I knew I didn't have the money to do it (exams or CPNE) a second time around. After my CPNE, when i arrived home, I went to bed for a week & slept & watched TV, read books, whatever. Six weeks after graduating from EC,I started an Off-site one year RN-BSN course through a univeristy one hour & 20 min. away & graduated from there this past May. to all of you, this can be done, stay focused & aks me any questions that you want. my personal e-mail is [email protected] Blessings in all your endeavors, karen

kvalcourt · Sep 11, 2003

Sorry for all the typos, esp. pnuemonic for mneumonics & the message being posted 2 times.karen

opalmRN · Sep 11, 2003

With all this information I didn't even notice!

C

Agnus · Sep 12, 2003

Originally posted by kvalcourt
Sorry for all the typos, esp. pnuemonic for mneumonics & the message being posted 2 times.karen

Your typos and spelling are not a problem.

However, Pleeeese, use some paragraph breaks. Even poorly placed breaks make for much easier reading. Especially on screen. Thank you very very much:kiss

kvalcourt · Sep 12, 2003

i was typing quickly as I like to help out & had to get back to finishing several papers to take w/ me tomorrow up to StonyBrook, NY (which is a 15 hour drive for me) for a week of classes. i won't be able to check in on this forum for a while. Good luck everyone! Karen

mona b RN, BSN, RN · Sep 15, 2003

Hi Everyone,

It has been a long time since I have posted here. I have been very busy with family stuff (and nothing is more important than that). I hope everyone is well. Anyway, I am finally getting ready to take the A&P test and I am getting nervous. I hope I do okay, it seems like I have been studying for this forever. Anyone else recently take this exam? I am starting to get nervous because this is a tough exam.

Wish me luck!

mona b

opalmRN · Sep 15, 2003

Hey there,

Just me sending you a good luck wish although I am sure you will do great.

Been thinking of you a lot lately. One semester down and 3 to go. Drop me a line or give me a call sometime. I have cable internet now so I can actually get phone calls while I am using the computer. Jeeze what a concept!!!

If I don't here from you before, I want to hear from you after to take the exam.

Cathy