Failed my 2014 CRNE

here's what I used to study for the CRNE: CNA prep guide (200 questions + 50 on CD), mosby review book (read through the community chapter, fundamentals, mental health and maternity stuff only), mosby practice exams (600 questions + more on CD). I occasionaly did NCLEX type questions on my phone when I was bored (maybe 1000 in total)..Then a month from the exam I did the first paid practice test on the website (got 81%) and a week before the exam I did the 2nd one (got 75%).

Finished 1.5h into the exam and passed.

Hi LanaAd, I am sorry to hear about your results. I will tell you what I did to study for the CRNE and what I would have done if I failed to prepare for next time.

I studied after my consolidation for about 5 weeks, I was nervous because it had been suggested that minimum of 3 months was needed for sufficient time. Keep in mind, everyone studies differently and at a different pace. First, I would take a little time off for yourself, enjoy the summer and rest/relax. After all, you've just gone through school and studied hard for the first exam.

Before I started studying any material, I did one full practice exam (200q's) to evaluate where my strengths and weaknesses were at the starting point. I made sure to take notes on what I got wrong and understand the rationale, so that I could look them up and take notes.

I used the Mosby comprehensive book (orange text) to study, in addition to doing the questions in it and along with the blue and green text for more practice questions. (The format of the questions was not like the CRNE, but content was really similar). Everyday I would do a bunch of practice questions to get used to reading the questions, and recognizing key terms (priority, first, etc). When I wanted to simulate the CRNE, I used the 5th edition of the CNA's CRNE prep guide that came with a CD. I did this exam early on and during the last week before the CRNE. I did take notes along the way (not in-depth) but to keep track of things I could review (ie. lab values, number of wet diapers expected, children's developmental stages etc.). I studied in small chunks each day, not like a marathon and would leave my books on a good note, such as getting a good score on quizzes or understanding a new concept. My goal was to build my confidence of taking the exams and not letting questions scare me.

Like you, I did not really use my med-surg book but I did take notes during school that I used as review. For example, when I read a chapter in the Mosby book on cardiac arrest, I would read my own notes at the end just to consolidate my knowledge even more (compare what was important from the text to what was taught in class).

I had the Lippincott book but I personally was not a fan of it and ended up not using it.

The October exam is the last time when it will the CRNE format before it changes over to NCLEX-RN, therefore I would say it is your personal decision when to take it, and how prepared you feel to attempt again in several months. I can't say how different they will be in content, but if I had to study for the NCLEX, I would study more med-surg and practice nclex-based questions. I could only speak of what I would do personally if I was to take the October one, I told myself I would do a lot more questions, learn not to doubt my first choice, and really understand the 148 competencies (these can be found online or at the back of the study prep guides). I probably would have considered a prep course since I didn't take one the first time.

When studying, use the Performance Profile sent with your results to help you focus on which competency requires more review on.

Sorry this is a long reply. I remember I was worried about the exam because the scores I received on practice exams were lower than what I got during school, but as I mentioned again, it's about your confidence. You have to trust in yourself that the knowledge is there, and you have to apply it in a test taking situation. Your score appears really close, I would focus on improving test taking strategies.

Good luck with the future! Let us know what you decide to do. :)

Here’s my advice and how I started preparing:

I honestly did not study as much as I have heard some people. I studied for roughly a month/month and a half before the exam. Marathon studying sessions don’t work for me. I prefer to do a little bit at a time. But it all depends on what works for you. I work full time so I would do an hour when I came home and then more hours on my days off.

-In January, my university offered a mock exam. I didn’t study for that at all since it was only a mock exam and I scored very well on it so that gave me a confidence boost but most importantly it gave me a taste of ‘test conditions’. For me, I found the hardest part is how long the exam is so while studying I timed myself to get myself used to answering questions quickly.

-Around April I bought the CNA CRNE Prep guide and did all the questions.

-Around May I then bought the Mosby’s prep guide (both the blue test questions book and the orange review). I also did all the questions that came with the accompanying CDs. End of May I did the CNA CRNE on-line exams.

I noticed you used the Lippincott prep CD – to be honest I found that the worst of all the prep guides. The material was strangely worded and not very helpful. Plus, I found some of the ‘correct’ answers with Lippincott were in conflict with the CNA CRNE Prep guide.

I did not review any of my class notes/textbooks unless it was a very specific topic (e.g. TB and TB meds) that I got a wrong answer on a multiple choice question. Some of my friends did this but it seems like you would drown in information plus make you overthink questions. My advice would be: do as many multiple choice questions as possible. Work through the rationale for questions you got wrong. What areas are you weak on? Maternity/PEDS? Geronotology? There’s always going to be lots of questions on gerontology. Time yourself when you do the questions. Grab a buddy you feel comfortable with and go over the questions that you got wrong. A nurse instructor told us “don’t answer questions thinking ‘well that one time in the hospital we did it this way’ “Nope, answer with the ‘textbook’ definition even if it doesn’t always seem realistic or practical. Do any mock exam that is offered.

Some other points I was thinking about:

I don't know about you guys, but I imagine the CRNE is very difficult to write if English or French is not your first language - especially with some of the more 'subjective' questions. I felt very comfortable with the straight forward 'med surg' questions (you either know your lab values or your ABCs you don't, know what I mean?) It was the more subjective situational questions that are tricky where you could really argue for two answers. I can't offer any advice on how to prepare for those type of questions except to do as many practice questions as possible so you start to get a feel for what the CRNE is looking for as the right answer.

Hi, LanaAd!

I, too, was in the same position as you 4 months ago when I received a fail letter from CRNE. Just imagine opening that letter on the eve of my birthday, hoping to see a pass. Well, it did not turn out the way I have hoped. I did mourn about it on that day but quickly I told myself that I was going to pass the next exam, which is exactly what I did. I reflected on where I went wrong and that was time management. I wanted to offer some encouragement to you to not give up. This is your chance to re-evaluate where you went wrong and what you can do to succeed on your second (and last) attempt.

I started studying on my birthday cause I was determined that I was going to pass the June 2014 exam. I used an agenda to guide my studying, so for example:

Week 1: Mosby's Comprehensive Review (orange book) for content and practice questions on the textbook or CD.

Week 2: Mosby's Prep Guide for the CRNE (blue-green book) for practice questions.

Week 3: CRNE Prep Guide, competencies, lab values, more pharmacology, calculations, etc.

Week 4: Fundamentals of Nursing & Medical-Surgical textbook - review and answer the questions at the end of each chapter; assimilate 200 questions from CNA's Online Readiness Test or use the 200 questions from the CRNE Prep Guide.

Along with the prep/guide books, I would take notes on the terms that were unfamiliar to me or practice questions that I got wrong. Review the rationales for ALL the questions you got wrong AND right. These information will become repetitive and it helped drill acute scenarios in my head. This was my schedule for one month and then I repeated it all over again on the second month. Don't forget to set a time assimilating 200 questions for 3 or 3.5 hours, giving yourself enough time to check your answers on the scantron sheet on the actual exam.

I hope this information was some what of value to you or to anyone who may be browsing this forum looking for advice. Again, do not give up, study, pray, and be confident that you will pass on your next and final attempt!

Hi LanaAd,

I want to encourage you by saying that, your past does not define your future. I have experienced this first hand. As we have learned about social determinants of health, about how many different factors lead to an outcome, I believe the same applies to the outcome of the exam. The exam does not define you. The exam you took in June is independent of the exam you will take in the future. As to taking the exam in October or not, you know yourself best (most likely), so you will know the best answer to that.

I will tell you what I did to study and some of my thoughts, but take it with a grain of salt because you and I are unique in our own ways.

Resources I used:

Mosby's Comprehensive Review for the CRNE

CNA Prep Guide

CNA Readiness Tests

I didn't see the exam as a big deal because I didn't want to make it a big deal. I feel that sometimes things are as big as you make them to be, and thinking they are big can make things more stressful then it needs to be. I planned to study a month before the exam and did not want to spend the whole day studying, so I thought of maybe studying 5 hours a day. I planned to read Mosby's Comprehensive Review for the CRNE and do the CNA Prep Guide questions (I later decided to do readiness tests as well). I did not join any prep courses or do any group studying, I just self-studied.

Before reading Mosby, I read Chapters 1-3 and the CNA competencies in the CNA Prep Guide. When it was 2-3 weeks before the exam, I probably had only read 50-100 pages, when I thought (and was clearly overestimating myself) I could just finish reading the Mosby book in a week. This is when I decided to just try the CNA prep guide questions because I was going so slow and I thought it should be useful to do practice questions (I sat there for more than 4 hours straight doing the 200 questions and when calculating my mark, I excluded the questions that I answered in overtime) . From doing the questions, I got an idea of the type of exam this was. I thought, I am not looking for the correct answer, I am looking for the best answer/how CNA would like me to answer. I had to learn to let go of what I thought was the right answer based on my own values and beliefs and just think, how would the people from CNA respond to each situation/question or why would they say it's wrong.

After doing the CNA prep guide questions, I read the Mosby book for roughly 2 weeks about 12 hours each day and finished reading Mosby around a week before the exam (including the practice questions after each chapter, keeping in mind that these answers and rationales are not from the CNA. I did not have time to do the mock exams in Mosby that were near the end of the book because I thought doing the readiness tests would be more relevant). In the middle of reading Mosby, I also freaked out a bit, wondering if just studying from Mosby would be enough, but in the end I didn't have time to read anything else, so I just moved on to doing questions. I wrote notes while reading the Mosby book, but near the end I didn't write that many notes because I did not have enough time to read Mosby and write notes. I usually do not go back to my notes anyways, although I always have the intention to (I probably ended up reading my notes once afterwards).

After I finished reading Mosby, I went back to the CNA prep guide questions and my answer sheet to go through every answer I picked and compared it to the right answer and rationale. I also looked at the wrong answers and the rationales as well. I made a list when dissecting the CNA prep guide questions (this took a lot out of my time, but for me it was worth it). When comparing an answer over a more correct answer, I put the main concept of the more correct answer higher up on the list than the less correct answer. I was trying to figure out the order of what the CNA thought was the most important concept when different answers (that could be backed up with important concepts) for a question were put against each other. I did this with a readiness test from the CNA as well and added to my list or "confirmed" my list using the readiness test. Finally, after going through the list and having an idea of what took precedence over what (I didn't really have to read the list over much actually, because tediously going through all those questions and making the list basically allowed me to sort out the order in my brain), I tried using this list and applying it to a second readiness test to see if it worked. For me, it worked (by "worked", I mean I got a score that I was satisfied with, it wasn't perfect). I found that there were exceptions, certain circumstances where a concept would be more important over another concept that is usually higher up on the list, in specific situations.

I felt that scope of practice, safety, and assessment were important concepts (I believe you can name them whatever you want to name them, as long as you see that thing recurring). Possible questions you may also want to think about (in the perspective of someone from the CNA) include: Has the nurse already assessed the situation in the question? Is reassessing necessary? With conflict, has the nurse already tried talking to the person in the past and did talking to them work? Should the nurse do the same thing and talk to her or him again? What is the order of who a nurse should contact first when conflict occurs? How does the nurse determine if this is an emergency situation where the physician needs to be notified immediately and what are not emergency situations then?

The day before the exam, I read Chapters 1-3 and the CNA competencies in the CNA Prep Guide again. To be honest, I do not think I did too well on the questions I thought were straight up knowledge questions. I did not have time to worry about what I didn't know, so I just picked an answer and moved on. I believe that it is possible to do better on the CRNE by focusing on areas that need improvement, by enhancing on areas that you are already good at, or by doing a mix of both. Something completely different may work as well! Similar to how we are taught to see every client as an individual and tailor our care to their needs, we must see that we are individuals that need things tailored for ourselves as well.

Good luck!

Hi everyone! Good news , I PASSED THE OCTOBER CRNE :)! I would like to thank everyone for the awesome words and also for new tips and ways to study for the second exam. I truly feel like that helped a lot! I am not celebrating with friends and family :)

thank you again! IM AN RN!!!!!