College Network LPN to RN

barbiedee · Jul 6, 2004

Hi J Lynn, yes you can get all of your 'electives' and nursing courses through Excelsior. You can print the course outline off of the Excelsior website for each course you would need. The course outlines recommend textbooks, and tell you what subjects will be covered in each exam, anad they have a short exam at the end of the outline for practice. This practice exam is especially helpful, I find, as they give rationales for the right and wrong answers. There are also other sites similar to this one (allexcelsiornurses on yahoo is one) where you can get great tips, find course notes, and best of all, find other practice exams. Excelsior even offers their own practice exams for each of the nursing courses. (I think they are about $65 for each nursing concept course). Hope these bits of info help!:)

Spazzy Nurse, RN · Jul 7, 2004

J Lynn, pay close attention.....this Barbiedee chick knows her stuff. :wink2:

Hi J Lynn, yes you can get all of your 'electives' and nursing courses through Excelsior. You can print the course outline off of the Excelsior website for each course you would need. The course outlines recommend textbooks, and tell you what subjects will be covered in each exam, anad they have a short exam at the end of the outline for practice. This practice exam is especially helpful, I find, as they give rationales for the right and wrong answers. There are also other sites similar to this one (allexcelsiornurses on yahoo is one) where you can get great tips, find course notes, and best of all, find other practice exams. Excelsior even offers their own practice exams for each of the nursing courses. (I think they are about $65 for each nursing concept course). Hope these bits of info help!:)

J Lynn · Jul 17, 2004

Ok, here's what I need cleared up for me.........I could go straight to Excelsior, and still take all my basics, get study guides from them (for free) and take my NC courses with them....and only them. Or, I could go through a company like College Network, Chancellors, etc. and pay them for study guides along with their support and all they have to offer to get me to pass the test with Excelsior.

I'm also confused about which publishing company is best. I'm not necessarily going for the cheapest, just the best. Or would it be best to go straight to Excelsior? Is there perks to doing that?

barbiedee · Jul 18, 2004

If you go to Excelsior, you don't get "Study Guides", those come from a 'for profit' company that prepares material you can use to study for a course. Excelsior provides you with a course outline (you can print these off of their website, or they will send them to you). The course outline tells you what that specific course covers. Excelsior recommends text books or other reference material. It is up to you to choose the texts or reference material you want to use. A study guide company puts together a package of material, usually their own study notes, perhaps a textbook (you have to ask if they come with the study guide...I went with DLSII and they provide new/used textbooks that are recommended by Excelsior). I imagine every study guide company is a little different. However, when you purchase a study guide, you should check what you are paying for. At DLSI, I pay for only the study guides. I still have to pay Excelsior to write the exam. You can usually find pretty new study guides on places like ebay or on other student nursing websites for a lot less than new. You can also buy textbooks, new or used, from ebay or book selling sites. There are lots of options out there. I went with a study guide company as I live in Canada, and thought this way would be easier. More expensive for sure, but easier. And most study guide companies guarantee a pass. (But remember, you still have to pay Excelsior each time you take or re-take a test) If you want any more info, don't hesitate to email me, but most of what I can tell you is already on this website! Remember....buyer beware! Research first, pay second!:)

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Spazzy Nurse, RN · Jul 18, 2004

The publishing companies sell their study systems for $300 and up, for each and every study system. 300 x 7 NC courses is an extra $2100 that you wouldn't have to spend. As Barbiedee said, you still have to pay EC to take their exams, whether you use a publishing company or go through EC.

Here's what I did, after foolishly signing a contract with RUE and realizing that I didn't like their stupid study systems or their way of doing business........

1) got the free content guide off EC's website

2) bought a couple of the recommended texts used on half.com

3) took that content guide (which is a general outline of the exam) and expanded it into a broad, detailed outline.

That's how I studied. Worked real well for me. :)

J Lynn · Jul 18, 2004

Thank you barbie and spazzy! I didn't realize that the publishing companies costs that much. I may do what spazzy said.......enroll with EC, print the outline, find the recommended books at a used price, and search for other helpful material from the Yahoo groups or on Ebay for a cheap price. I know it might be a lot of work to put it all together, but I'm really not willing to sign a contract and pay over $2000 for study material that "might" get me to pass.

Thanks you so much for clearing this up for me.

Spazzy Nurse, RN · Jul 18, 2004

You don't even need to buy ALL of the books EC recommends. I bought a used Fundamentals of Nursing (very good for CPNE study too) and I used a bunch of my LPN school books.... med surg, A&P, Maternal/Child Health, etc. Plus NCLEX review books are excellent sources. Going this route you'll have to flip around to find the information, but hell--- I'll flip around to save $2100.

mtadoc · Jul 21, 2004

Exams are exams! I have taken three CLEP exams so far (Microbi, Gerontology, Developmental Psych).
I have actually just finished my developmental psych book. I am using The College Network, and they tell me that if I try to take the exam and fail it twice they will provide a tutor and pay for the exam after two attempts, so I am not as worried as I was. I took the practice test and scored in the high 80's, so I will work on it a bit more before I attempt the exam.
Thanks for your feedback!
Hello, my name is Amado I too am enrolled in the excleisor college program. I am using chancellors but I am looling into using Dr. Frye Professional Developement Systems program. It is an rn fast track program. Would you know about this program?

Spazzy Nurse, RN · Jul 22, 2004

I am using chancellors but I am looling into using Dr. Frye Professional Developement Systems program. It is an rn fast track program. Would you know about this program?

A 3rd party is a 3rd party. They all give you materials for EC's exams, and as far as being "fast track"---- you can go as fast as you want with any of the publishing companies, not just Dr. Frye. His materials may just be more condensed than some others.