CCRN in 1 month?

calivianya, BSN, RN · Jul 12, 2014

I am going to be straight with you - I only really studied for two days. I signed up to take my exam when I knew I only had two full free days in between signing up and taking the exam. I thought I would have the opportunity to study at my two jobs because I usually have free time at both, but I got slammed every single night at both of them and didn't even get to really touch my book at all. I probably studied less than 20 hours total.

I have only worked for one year in a MSICU where we don't do CRRT and I have never had a patient with a Swan. We ship out our neuro-traumas and I can only think of one time in the entire year that I saw a ventriculostomy, and even then I was too busy to go snoop in my coworker's room. All of the hearts/post caths/whatever go to CICU, so I never see those either unless I get floated, which has been happening a lot lately. I have never had a patient on Integrilin, Nipride, milrinone, or a dobutamine drip.

And I still passed this afternoon with 107/125.

The CCRN exam is NOT hard. I'd say 75% of the questions are so basic that all you have to know is what that drug is or what the condition is and you'll get it right. Seriously. These are (mostly) not NCLEX style questions. Some are just straight up identifying a drug or a treatment. There are a fair few questions where they throw a ton of hemodynamic parameters at you - PAOP, SVR, CI, etc. - but they aren't out to trick you. If you know the normal ranges for those things and how to treat abnormal values, even if you have never had a patient where you actually knew any of those numbers, you will still get them right.

I did not use anything by Laura Gasparis. I had that AACN book you mentioned - I probably did less than 100 questions out of it, including the ones I did on the CD. I did buy the self-assessment exam for $50 on the AACN website and took it eight hours before I took the test so I could get a quick idea of what I needed to look over at the last minute. I also bought the AACN review .mp3 course - but beware, they have to ship it to you on CD through the mail, and I didn't get it until Thursday - as in two days before I took my test. I didn't even get to finish listening to the whole thing before I took the CCRN. I listened to the neuro and multisystem lectures, and they were kind of dry. I am thinking about attempting to send it back for a refund because I did NOT get it in time, but it seems like a good resource so I may just keep it and listen to the lectures later. I also found a really awesome book on Amazon, it's called "Adult CCRN Certification Review: Think in Questions, Learn by Rationale" by Kendra Menzies. I really liked it, but - I only read the cardiac section. Can't vouch for the rest of the book, but the cardiac section is great! I would recommend buying it in a paperback if you're interested. I have the Kindle edition and flipping back and forth from the questions to the answer section when you get to questions is a huge pain in the rear on the Kindle. There are situations where real books are better!

If I can do it with as little studying as I did, you can do it. If you have been paying attention on your unit to what diagnoses your patients have had and why they are being treated the way they are, you will probably not need to study much at all. Good luck!

iceyv3 · Jul 12, 2014

Hello Calivianya,

Thanks a lot for your response and CONGRATULATIONS CCRN :)I am sure you feel accomplished.

I am thinking about scheduling it for the sometime in August. I will be back to work then but It will give me time to feel like I am ready. I am in school as well.

I am listening to the D. Woodruff CDs and it's a bit overwhelming but very informative.

Thanks for your words of encouragement.