Best order to take the EC nursing exams?

Editorial Team / Moderator · Apr 12, 2012

I pretty much took them in order, with the exception of taking Transitions between what is now LS2 and LS3. Congrats on passing Transitions!

Nervous1 · Apr 12, 2012

The LS series exams seem to be the ones that are the most difficulty, but I failed Chronicity on my first try, so what do I know. I passed LS2 which is suppose to be the hardest, on the first try and failed LS3, but passed on the retake. All in all, I failed 2 exams. My best grades were on Repro and LS2.

Aliakey · Apr 12, 2012

OP, I'm taking a wild guess by your screen name that you are a paramedic, lol! If correct, may I suggest sort of following the order that is given by Excelsior? I've completed all of the exams, and have to say it helped to "have my hand held" though Health Safety, Transitions, and Chronicity as my first ones. The nursing process, nursing diagnosis, and other non-medic ways of doing things took a LOT of mindset adjustment on my part. I think that if I dived right into LS2 or LS3 without hitting those other exams first, I would not have as well as I did with them.

medic1282 · Apr 12, 2012

I've found that I have to change how I think about things in the nursing world. We're so used doing things on our own that it's hard to flip sides.

Medic1403 · May 1, 2012

Thank you for all the advice, I finished the Transitions and Health Safety with B's. So far all I am reading is the Rue study guide, SG 101 notes, and taking the Excelsior Practice Exams. I plan to take Health Differences next, do the exams get harder as you go or are the first two generally representative of how each exam is?

Aliakey · May 3, 2012

For me, they were all harder except for LS1 (being that the three areas of focus in this exam were cardiac, respiratory, and oncology, and paramedics should be very comfortable with the cardiac and respiratory areas of study already). LS2 and anything related to mental health or "theory"... ugggggh! Learned there was a heck of a lot more to the medical world than depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideations :eek:

I guess the degree of difficulty is going to be very dependent on what you have been exposed to beyond your paramedic education. So, it's hard to say. Would I rely on notes and study guides created by others? Not one chance, but I am also the type that wants to learn everything, *needs* the textbook, and longs for all of the gory details on the disease conditions. Other folks have more background with chronic conditions, such as LVNs, and can use other resources and their experience that are optimal for them.

On the average, I took one exam every six weeks with about 20 hours of reading/taking notes per week, and also purchased the practice exams. Most grades were "A"s, and nothing less than a "B". Hope it helps! :twocents: