CCRN 2018

Published

Specializes in Cardiothoracic ICU.

Hi guys!

In my preparation for the CCRN, which I took and passed today with 108/125 (passing cutoff is 87), I noticed that there isn't a ton of up to date info on the test! I wanted to offer my insight-for whatever that's worth-on what I felt did and did not work well for me.

Background: 1/2 year small med/surg ICU, 1 year aggressive CTICU experience

Study time: One month

Resources used:

Pass! CCRN question bank

Barron's

CCRN Flash Card Secrets

AACN SAE

Pass! question bank was PHENOMENAL! If you feel fairly confident in the content, I'd say this is the only real must have. Some of the questions were way more in depth and more specific than what was on the actual test. I began my month of prep with a practice test (150 Qs, timed) benchmark and gauged the effectiveness of my studying off of my practice test scores (one practice test a week, content-specific questions after I reviewed). Starting percentage: 66%, final percentage 84%.

Barron's content was SPOT ON and the format of this book made studying so easy. I made the mistake of purchasing the ebook and subsequently made my own notes (I have to have something physical to highlight!), but I think it'd be totally possible to effectively study just straight from the book. I focused on cardio, pulm, and neuro (a week each) with the final week being a brief review of the lighter weighted topics. The questions in this book are off the chain hard! Not really close to the actual CCRN questions.

Flashcards: These were borrowed to me by a senior nurse on the unit. They were EXTREMELY helpful for studying on the go, and were also great for when I wanted to be productive but felt my attention span fading ������ Some of the content was a bit excessive in detail, and it REALLY bothered me that there were grammatical errors on some of these cards. I'd say pass on these unless you can borrow them for free from somewhere.

SAE (Self Assessment Exam): This was an additional $50, but it was a GREAT investment and gave me a lot of peace of mind. It gets you used to not only the format of the test, but the verbiage of the questions. Would recommend if you can justify the price. If not, I wouldn't deem it a MUST have.

Test: I took 2 of the 3 hours and was able to go through a second time to review all of my answers/iffy questions within this timeframe. There were only maybe 5 questions where I truly had no idea, many of them I either immediately knew or could at least deduce down to two answers by process of elimination. The test allows you to mark questions for review and return/review even after you've selected an answer. Mandatory survey at the end. Results are printed within a few minutes or so (although it seems like an eternity!).

Content was pretty much on par with the AACN blueprint. I'm not sure what I can all share given the agreement not to disclose the test info. But I hope some of that was helpful!

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Thank you very much for taking the time to post this. I' ve been studying on and off gor about 2 months now but I still don' t feel confident mainly because of my Type A personality.

I' m using Pass CCRN and Baron.

Congrats to you!!

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Interesting. My experience was that the questions in Barron's were very close to what was on the test. Pass CCRN was helpful for having more practice questions, but as you said, many of questions were more in depth than what was on the test.

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Specializes in Cardiothoracic ICU.

Mayflower: If anything, I'd say I OVER studied (also type A!) I'm sure you'll do great!

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passed the test too yesterday.

Bought pass ccrn question bank, and got Laura review course and borrowed Kaplan ccrn prep. Was hoping to share with someone to save cost but no luck.

I used two weeks, 1 to 3 hours per day. question bank rational is useful but covered more and is deeper compare to the test level.

Test experience wise, some of the wording were awkward. And remember, there are 20 some questions not for counting and some of them sounds ridiculous so don't hang in there and waist ur time.

Good luck if you take test soon!

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This is very helpful thank you so much!

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Great tips. I did my CCRN in February and the absolute best for me was the PASS CCRN bank. I did not use the book. They most closely mirrored the exam and I loved that I could focus on subject matter. Working on the big three - cardiac, pulm and neuro was what helped me the most.

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I really found the question bank in PassCCRN very helpful. It was my only study source. I focused on Cardio/Pulm only.

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Where can I access the Pass CCRN "question bank" versus just the Pass CCRN regular book?

I think I may just do the bank since people say it's adequate enough. I tried Google but came up empty handed.

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BTW I could only open it in Internet Explorer, not Chrome.

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Thanks BrittanyNicole, appreciate your help.

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