Excelsior Credit By Exam

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Nov 2, 2014

Hi, there! Your post has been moved to the Excelsior College forum to increase the chances of attracting replies from other students and graduates of the program.

Nibbles1 · Nov 2, 2014

I use the outline content along with Study Group 101. I also purchase the practice exams and try to find the book EC says to use. A lot of people say to get the Saunders NCLEX book. I used it for LS1 and boy did it help. I use a little bit of everything. Some only use SG101 and practice exams. The SG101 is like "cliff notes" on the EC content guides.

SnowballDVM · Nov 2, 2014

I did all the reading, highlighted, and took notes. I didn't do any practice exams. I didn't know about SG101 until I'd finished all the nursing theory exams, but even if I'd used that resource, I still would have done all of the reading.

Nibbles1 · Nov 3, 2014

I still prefer to use textbooks over anything else as well.

nceyshi · Nov 3, 2014

I also use the recommended books and follow the the ec content guide but please make an investment in the practice exams, you won't regret it.Many people use study guide101, basically use what works for you.

NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN · Nov 3, 2014

I did all the reading, highlighted, and took notes. I didn't do any practice exams. I didn't know about SG101 until I'd finished all the nursing theory exams, but even if I'd used that resource, I still would have done all of the reading.

My notes looked like a coloring book in the end. Anything involved clotting or circulation was highlighted in blue (color of collection tube for PT/INR); anything involving the heart and hemoglobin was highlighted in red ink; cancer-related issues in pink, wounds (yellow and blue make green...as in gangrene). You have to be creative sometimes....whatever it takes to learn the information. By the way, for those that don't know, yellow and pink makes orange (in case you don't have a orange highlighter in the pack).

SnowballDVM · Nov 3, 2014

That's awesome! Very clever use of color. I just used one color, my absolute favorite (teal)...I couldn't find the highlighters in stores any more, but I got a box of a dozen online. Phew! :)

I'm old and crotchety, but I also worry about looking for too many shortcuts. I think the Excelsior program has worked pretty well for me, but I DO miss the in-class interaction of traditional schools. I worry if people take TOO many shortcuts to get to the exam, when we're already not having a lot of personal interaction with instructors and fellow students, that, while someone might be able to pass the multiple-choice exams with decent grades, how well are they really learning the material, and how well will they be able to apply it?

Editorial Team / Moderator · Nov 3, 2014

I'm old and crotchety, but I also worry about looking for too many shortcuts. I think the Excelsior program has worked pretty well for me, but I DO miss the in-class interaction of traditional schools. I worry if people take TOO many shortcuts to get to the exam, when we're already not having a lot of personal interaction with instructors and fellow students, that, while someone might be able to pass the multiple-choice exams with decent grades, how well are they really learning the material, and how well will they be able to apply it?

It's a valid concern, but at the end of the day, you can only worry about yourself and your own preparation. The same thing may (and does) happen in traditional education - that pre-exam cram followed by post-exam brain purge. Those of us who are doing or did EC's ADN program are already healthcare providers of some sort, so we should give each other a little credit there. As a paramedic, I had cardiac and respiratory concepts beaten into my brain and I really didn't have to review that material too much. Was I taking a shortcut? No, I already knew what I knew. I ended up with all A's and one B on the nursing exams, not too shabby. :)

NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN · Nov 4, 2014

That's awesome! Very clever use of color. I just used one color, my absolute favorite (teal)...I couldn't find the highlighters in stores any more, but I got a box of a dozen online. Phew! :)
I'm old and crotchety, but I also worry about looking for too many shortcuts. I think the Excelsior program has worked pretty well for me, but I DO miss the in-class interaction of traditional schools. I worry if people take TOO many shortcuts to get to the exam, when we're already not having a lot of personal interaction with instructors and fellow students, that, while someone might be able to pass the multiple-choice exams with decent grades, how well are they really learning the material, and how well will they be able to apply it?

I'm one that never purchased any of the textbooks. I used a CD that I purchased off eBay. I printed the information out as I prepared for each exam. It was still a heck of a lot of reading and reviewing (sometimes upwards of 50 pages of info for just one exam), but a lot of the basics was familiar to me since I'd been working solely in acute care for nearly 10 years, with doing acute care and other areas for a total of 23-24 years at the time I enrolled in EC. Honestly, the only shortcut that I can see is cutting out the middleman found at the whiteboard in a brick and mortar classroom.

EC's exams are not purely factual information. They are worded in a fashion in which I found that the only way to arrive to a correct answer is by application, which requires a lot of 'thinking it through'. Personally, I think that those who fail the exams either have test anxiety or were expecting questions that were in plain black-n-white Q & A. It is VERY important that students know how the correct answer came to be when studying so that they can apply that concept to any given question on the real exam. For me, there was no known shortcut.

NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN · Nov 4, 2014

Oops! I meant upwards of 50 pages per unit. :nurse: (It would have been so much easier if it was only 50 pages per exam).

ChrisRicci · Nov 7, 2014

Even if you decide to use the books, it wouldn't hurt to get studygroup101 because they have oodles and oodles of practice quizzes, like 1000 in each study guide and for $10 you can't beat it with a stick :artist: .