EC....Where to start?

do you have any general ed's taken?

for the asn thru ec, you need a 3 credit written english (like eng comp, or eng 101), 6 credits humanities (ethics, religion, etc), A&P, microbiology, 6 credits social studies/history (including a life span developmental psych class), information literacy, 7 credits arts/science electives. total 31 credits.

then you need 36 nursing credits, earned thru 7 nursing exams, and the 8 credit CPNE.

your best bet is to either call them, (look on their website for their number), and talk to them about your situation. they have always been helpful to me, even before i enrolled. they will send you out a nursing information packet, with all the information you need.

if you haven't studied this type of class before, i would (in my opinion!) take the nursing concepts 1 exam and get a feel for what you need to study, etc. you can download all the content outline for all their exams on the website for free. they list all the books they suggest you need for the exams, but you don't need all of them, at least i didn't. i got a saunders nclex rn comprehensive review, and that was the greatest source of concentrated review for me. anything i didn't fully understand, i googled and researched, but 95% i got from the saunders review. i did get a few of the books, a fundamentals, the peds book, psych book (my weakest area). that's it. i made all a's and one b on my exams. and i had to start from scratch. i needed all the general ed's and nursing exams, and just now, 18 months later, am finally eligible to apply for the clinical (cpne).

if you want to talk more, feel free to pm me, i would surely give you lots of information, talk you through it. for me, it was the only way to get my RN. i won't say this programs for everyone. you need to have strong study skills, and lots of motivation. but it's a doable program. like anything, you get out of it what you put into it. i learned a lot, truly. it's not an easy way out like some think. it's a hard, long process. but totally worth it for those who can't, or choose not to go the traditional route.

so, that's my advice. call them up, ask to speak to an advisor. ask them to send you out an information packet for nursing. you'll get it in a couple days. you don't have to enroll until you're ready to take the nursing exam 3-7 and cpne. you can take all the general ed's before you enroll. for i think 65$ dollars you send in your transcripts and they will tell you what exams you need to take, and you also need to apply to school of nursing with that fee. then, make out a study plan, take your exams, and stick to it!

join the yahoo groups, and there's a ton. likewise, pm me and i'll be glad to give you the list of em i belong to. they offer tons of notes, study tips, and support. just be careful about the honesty policy regarding sharing test information! people i know have been booted from the program for sharing info like that. check out ebay or half.com for used books, and used study guides from the publishing companies (instead of signing up for a few grand worth of study guides!).

i hope i answered your questions. i'll be glad to share more info if you pm me. i am nearing the end of my journey with ec, i hope to be done with boards by september/october. it was the perfect solution for me.

i wish you the best of luck! now, go call excelsior....