Extremely difficult pre-entrance exam for LVN school

[Faeriewand, ASN, RN]

I just took an extremely difficult pre-entrance exam to get into LVN school here. Almost 400 people were scheduled to take the test and there are only 60 spots open for the school. I thought I could be one of those that got in but wow after taking that exam I just don't know. I don't know what the name of the exam was we were just told that it was a standardized test. It took three hours to complete. It comes from some testing place in Georgia and our tests are being sent back there to be graded. We will be mailed our results in three weeks. All my friends and everyone taking the test with me all agreed it was the hardest test we had ever taken. My friend cried after she came out of the test. There was a math portion and an English portion. What was so odd in the English portion was that there were graphs like pie charts, bar graphs and such. They didn't just ask a straight question about them either. You had to do math to get the answer. I've studied hard for this test but this just threw me for a loop. I was really down about it for about three days afterwards but I'm feeling better again. So many people after the test thought that they would never be able to become a nurse because they would never be able to pass that test or just get in the top 60. I'm looking at alternatives. Our whole future depends on that score. How crazy is that? I"ve joked to everyone that it is just easier to become an RN because no pre-entrance exam! :chuckle

I've written some about this in my journal but I thought I would post here and see if anyone else had to take a pre-entrance exam for their school and what was it like.

[Stdy2BaNurse]

Our whole future depends on that score. How crazy is that? I"ve joked to everyone that it is just easier to become an RN because no pre-entrance exam! :chuckle

Faerie - Our school does require a pre-entrance exam for RNs - and, yes, our whole future depends on that score and our grades in pre-reqs. A good friend of mine got all A's and 2 B's on pre-reqs, but failed 1 section of her entrance exam and, therefore, didn't pass the whole test. She can retake it in 30 days and pray she raises her score in that one section. Even with that, if her score isn't above 83% she probably won't get it. This may be indicative of her ability to succeed in nursing school or rather that she has test anxiety. No matter - it is hard when we realize that all our efforts come down to a test score.

So I feel your pain but wanted to let you know that some of us trying for ASN degrees also have to take the 'dreaded entrance exam'. Good luck - I am sure you will do FINE! Don't forget to post your score when it arrives in the mail :)

T

[Faeriewand, ASN, RN]

Thanks for you reply. I forgot that some ADN schools also do the pre-entrance exam. In my area they don't. All ADN programs are at the community colleges and students take all the pre-requisites and then get on a long waiting list. It's up to two years now for every cc program in this area.