Excell Nursing Review? -- Chicago and elsewhere

ducky2000, BSN, RN · Oct 14, 2015

I'm also in the same position. I signed on to EXCELL because a lot of my co-workers' highly suggested it. I didn't do it the first time because of the price, but I sort of wished I did (I mainly did ATI and Saunders). Majority of the course is content based (really its like going through mini-nursing school).

As for the course, classes meet 8 HOURS A DAY for 12-16 days (depending on your location. You get one hour break for lunch and weekends you have off. They give you notes and questions to study and which you can jot down notes from lecture. The lecturers were very informative (Krass is a pretty funny lady I enjoyed her Medsurg lecture).

The lectures are LONG, so I don't recommend this course, if you cannot sit through 8h of lecture. I can't say this for everyone, but I tend to pay more attention and retain what I learn in a classroom type setting as opposed to studying by myself with a book in front of me. So, it kind of worked out for me. I'm using Kaplan, UWORD, and Saunders CD for questions and noticed a significant rise in score. They are not super high, but it made me realize how content-deficient I was when I first took the test.

Overall, if you need to brush up on content and can sit through long lectures without phasing out, then go for it. If not, I suggest looking up Hurst if you need content.

rootsnvrdie · Jan 20, 2016

Hi! Thank you for your thorough review of Excell. I was wondering if you retested and passed?

ducky2000, BSN, RN · Feb 11, 2016

Yes, I just found out I passed!! I took it yesterday. I delayed my test date until my practice test scores were high enough which showed that I knew my material well. If you went with Excell, I suggest going through the Med Surg section especially the infectious diseases and precautions. Diploma does give out good advice so be sure to write down what she says because it was really helpful on the test.

Also check out the book on Lacharity. It was really helpful on delegation questions.

Good luck!!

bradycardic · Feb 11, 2016

I used excell nursing review held at South SF Bay Area in 2014, it helped and worth the money and the profs simplified the lectures, 8am-5pm for 9 days, all my friends passed and so did I.