Re: OCN Review advice please!
I would jump right into the questions, and don't get stressed if you don't remember (or even understand) every little detail. What worked for me was to go through the OCN Core Curriculum Study Guide (the scary book with all the multiple-choice questions in it.) What I did was just start at the front of the book and start answering questions, even if I was guessing. I am impatient, and found that I worked best with immediate feedback-- so I'd do 10-20 questions, and then look up the answers-- and continue until I was done with all the questions in that chapter. If I bombed, I would open up my other book-- the Core Curriculum for Oncology Nursing (4th edition) and read that chapter quickly. Then I moved on to the next group of questions (or the next chapter). I spent a lot of time on oncologic emergencies because I did poorly on my review questions (even though I thought I knew them). Towards the end of my review, I was just so tired of questions that I just stopped. Before that point, I did a few chapters a night. I started studying 2 weeks before the test. If I had to do it again, I'd probably start a month before the exam and spread it out a little more to avoid burnout. I thought the test was hard, but fair-- no surprises-- I felt prepared by doing questions, and found that I learned more by reading why answers were wrong than by trying to read the outline format of Core Curriculum.
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