Excelsior Textbook Question

Hooked on ER · Dec 27, 2008

This is what I have done. I took Transition to RN first. I ordered all of the books EC recommended. I bought them used through Amazon.com. :twocents:I bought Lisa Arends study guides, Medi-Tech (or something like that) study guides and My Study Group 101 study guides from E-Bay. I also bought the EC practice tests.

When I received the textbooks the stack was so tall I was really overwhelmed . :grn: So I put the books away (I haven't looked at these or bought any more since) and studied only the notes I bought from E-Bay, and the EC practice tests. I got an A. :wink2:

I have since taken Health Safety, Chronicity, and Reproductive Health. I have gotten A's on all of them using only Lisa Arends notes and the EC practice tests.:w00t:

I like Lisa Arends notes the best. They are organized and contain everything you need to know. :bowingpurThe EC practice tests are also invaluable. They let you know exactly what the real exam will be like. They also give you rationales for every right and wrong answer for every question so you can learn to "reason through" the questions to get the right answer.

I hope this helps. It has worked well for me. :tbsk:

caliotter3 · Dec 27, 2008

I already had some of the texts from another program, and bought some that I needed. This was before I discovered all the other learning resources you can find on ebay. I recommend studygroup101 notes (avail on ebay and from their site), flashcards from http://www.flashcardexchange.com. You can also find study resources in the files sections of the various EC groups on yahoo. Easier to get through the material with these notes, but some people recommend doing all the reading from the recommended texts also, or other texts that you may have. Just depends on whether you only want to do enough study to pass the test, or if you want to really go into the topics in depth. You can never have too many resources, just depends on whether you get through all of them or not.

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Dec 27, 2008

I bought them via half.com or amazon.com.

Buy the med/surg, pharm, peds, maternal.

DebanamRN, MSN, RN · Dec 31, 2008

I just bought the Life Span Psychology book and workbook from Amazon.com. I bought them used, and paid 9 cents! for a used copy of the book, plus s&h. I paid $2&change for the workbook, plus s&h. I don't care how crappy they are, I just need to get thru the material. As for the other classes, I have a ton of books from 1 yr of RN school and 11mo of LPN school.

As an aside note, a book series I really like and bought from Overstock.com is LWW's Straight A's series. Another good book is Prioritization, Delegation Assignment by Lacharity, Kumagai, & Bartz. Helps you really learn prioritization. This is excellent and the best $25 I ever spent.

Deb

BBFRN, BSN, PhD · Dec 31, 2008

Oooo...I've been a nurse for a while, but will definitely check out that Prioritization book- sounds very interesting. I never cease to learn from the fabulous membership here. :heartbeat

DebanamRN, MSN, RN · Dec 31, 2008

It's definately an excellent book. I forgot, but it's got 17 case studies in it, too. It's strictly a question and answer book, so you don't spend a lot of time reading extraneous material. It does have a short guidelines chapter, but for the busy nurse, it really gets down to business right away.

BBFRN, BSN, PhD · Dec 31, 2008

Case studies are even better (nerd alert).

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Dec 31, 2008

Case studies are even better (nerd alert).

Like we needed an alert.

:coollook:

BBFRN, BSN, PhD · Dec 31, 2008

Bwahahahahaha!!!! Iced tea through the nose: not as pleasant as it would seem. :rotfl:

DebanamRN, MSN, RN · Dec 31, 2008

You ladies crack me up!:chuckle