CCRN Advice

ACNPmomof2, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN, NP · Dec 6, 2016

Hello everyone! I have been an ICU nurse for 9 years (I came to nursing late in my life) and have taken the CCRN 2 times and have not passed. The first time I was unprepared and I was not surprised when I missed it by 4 questions. The second time I took it I was more prepared but by the time I left the testing site my temp was 101 and I felt like I had been hit by a truck and again missed it by 4 questions! I was sick and devastated at the same time. I have an incredible amount of test anxiety to begin with; and now not passing twice has just made my anxiety go through the roof!! I am taking it again in January and I am looking for some advice. I have watched Laura Gasperis twice and I just purchased Pass CCRN. I started looking at the Pass CCRN and the information is incredibly detailed. My weak area is cardiac because the unit I am on does not do much cardio. The book is crazy detailed and I don't remember the questions being anywhere near as detailed as the book. Any secrets on how to study for the cardiac section and/or suggestions on other types of study material would be so appreciated! I know I will pass this time but I want to do so with flying colors and not by the skin of my teeth!

Hi there! I did Pass CCRN and passed the first time. I skimmed through the sections unfamiliar to me and focused on doing the questions over and over again. My advice is to just buckle down and memorize the hemodynamics :-) That's a hard one!

You can do the question analysis that comes with the book - that is what I did and focused on the areas/rationales - I found it was very helpful for the exam.

Best of luck to you!

Okami_CCRN, BSN, RN · Dec 6, 2016

I studied for about 1 week before taking the exam, I completed the AACN CCRN review, which was $80 if you are a member and $160 for non-members. I found it to be pretty straightforward and un-complicated.

I also watched the Laura Gasparis DVD's that were lent to me by a co-worker, these were good for memorization of trends and values.

A couple of days before the exam I did CCRN practice questions using the Barron's CCRN Review Book and then the night before I took the AACN CCRN practice exam that is supposed to mirror the exam but with 60 questions instead of the 150. The goal was to score at least an 80% and I scored an 85%, which oddly enough was my passing percentage score the next day.

Here are some tips; don't tell anyone that you are taking CCRN, it's your business and other people are not privy to that information. Don't drive yourself crazy over the small details, get a good nights sleep, and eat a nice big breakfast the day of the test.

Best of Luck!!

mrs27smith · Dec 7, 2016

I studied for about 1 week before taking the exam, I completed the AACN CCRN review, which was $80 if you are a member and $160 for non-members. I found it to be pretty straightforward and un-complicated.
I also watched the Laura Gasparis DVD's that were lent to me by a co-worker, these were good for memorization of trends and values.
A couple of days before the exam I did CCRN practice questions using the Barron's CCRN Review Book and then the night before I took the AACN CCRN practice exam that is supposed to mirror the exam but with 60 questions instead of the 150. The goal was to score at least an 80% and I scored an 85%, which oddly enough was my passing percentage score the next day.
Here are some tips; don't tell anyone that you are taking CCRN, it's your business and other people are not privy to that information. Don't drive yourself crazy over the small details, get a good nights sleep, and eat a nice big breakfast the day of the test.
Best of Luck!!

I also used these same two methods mentioned by Okami_RN (I also used Evolve Elsivier's PASS CCRN for the review questions that comes with the book, AMAZING) and just passed my CCRN yesterday with a 97% on my first try. It only took me 1 1/2 hours of the 3 hours allotted to complete the test, and I was rushing cause it was extremely cold in the facility that I was in. I believe that Laura Gasparis DVDs were nice if you are a visual person and need help with memorizing things. She is very entertaining to say the least. But I will say that her percentages were slightly skewed on the amount of questions presented on the exam. I believe that the AACN has the most accurate information needed in regards to covering everything on the exam. I would say do not try and read the CCRN book because it is so detailed, but DO THE PRACTICE QUESTIONS!!!! Some of the practice questions that I had on my exam were the actual questions from the ones online in the PASS CCRN review. And the test definitely wasn't as hard as everyone made it out to be.

Hope this helped!! :nurse:

LAndrewsRN,BSN · Sep 6, 2017

I'm so glad you said this. I originally did all Laura Gasparis in person, on DVD and all 1200 review questions she had over a 4 month period. I was very relaxed going in and scored a 81 out of 87. UGH! I felt her questions were amazing to learn from but they didn't quite mimic what I saw or studied for on the actually exam. Now, I've been strictly doing the pass CCRN questions. I am down to the last 400 questions between cardiac and pulmonology. Either my mind is just over learning or these seem a lot more daunting and mind numbing than the other topics. I was just wondering how much are they like what I'm going to see on the test that I take TOMORROW (Sep 7, 2017).