failed NC1 , being so sad and amazed

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I just took NC 1 yesterday. It was a nightmare for me. Before taking the exam I thought I have prepared well, Reading through the textbook, taking practice exams. But when i really take the NC1 , I found so many questions are asking what the nurse should think , do or say and so on. By looking at the 4 answers, you will feel each one is reasonable.

I was really confused by the questions because it is not like a scientific question which definitely have a certain answer and no doubt. I feel very sad and now questioning if EC suits me or not. I don't know if all the concepts are like this . I like questions asking for the real medical knowledge. Can anyone kindly provide me good suggestions for me ? How to prepare NC1? I found the real exam is harder than the practice one.

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Specializes in Telemetry, OB, Peds.

You CAN do this. Now you know which areas you are weak on, so develop a plan to better prepare yourself to RE-TAKE the exam. I took NC1, 1 week before you did and I thought that it was so hard but I passed it and you can too. Note that Excelsior College wants to produce functional nurses who can think critically. Good luck...

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Specializes in Certified Diabetes Educator.

These tests are all designed similar to the RN NCLEX and based on theory and on Nursing Diagnosis/Care plans. So, to answer the question, you have to think about what your nursing diagnosis would be and what your goals and interventions would be. You have to remember that nursing is a theory based practice. You do not learn "real life". The theory gives you a basis on which to make decisions and use your critical thinking skills. For these exams, you need an overall knowledge base of what is on the test and then you have to be able to relate it to a care plan. Many of the questions will ask you what you would do first or what would be the most important thing to do. All of the answers will be something you would do, but which one is #1. I found the NCLEX study guides really helpful in studying for these tests.

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Singlelife, Excelsior provides study guides for each of their exams...use them! You can do this....... ok! Get in the study guides and study what they require. Trust me...it is hard work but you can do this....same with all the exams :smiley_ab

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Hang in there, singlelife! It's likely that you just needed a little more study time. You are correct that the exams in medicine and nursing are very different. For EC, you'll often be required to select the best answer among several acceptable answers.

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Thank you for the answers. Now I am changing my study method to pay more attention to nursing instead of medical knowledge.I have to think in a nurse way. By the way, when I read the textbook, I only read the chapters but didn't pay attention to the detailed outlines. Perhaps this time, I need to follow what the outline gives ,especially the examples, right? Can I take the con1 recently or I have to wait 2 months?

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You would have to wait 60 days. After the second failure, the wait would be 120 days, but hopefully that won't be an issue.

Paying attention to the outline and recommended reading in conjunction with the practice exams would be a great way to go.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

there is so much more to learning to be a nurse than just learning the facts. critical thinking, prioritizing and eventually delegating tasks play a major, major role. professional licensed nurses are leaders and need these skills. this is the first time i've seen a post by someone in ec posting about this topic. it is often the students in the traditional programs that find themselves in this situation. what the nursing instructors recommend is that they get a good nclex review book to help them learn to think the answers to the test questions through critically. the nclex-rn and nclex-pn boards are loaded with those types of questions. the company that writes the nclex test has a website where they post one free question every week. they explain the correct answer and the reasoning behind it. here is the link to that site:

http://www.learningext.com/students/qofweek.asp - question of the week. every monday a question from the online nclex-rn examination course from ncsbn and it's answer is posted here on this page.

here are some websites that are out there to help nursing students prepare for nursing tests and improve their grades:

http://go.dbcc.edu/hhps/nursing/study_skills.html - study skills for the nursing student from daytona beach community college nursing department with some good advice.

http://go.dbcc.edu/hhps/nursing/test_taking_skills.html - test taking skills also from daytona beach community college nursing department. a couple of sample questions and how to chose the correct answer for these application type questions.

http://www.efn.org/~nurses/ - this is a website maintained by the nursing students at lane community college in eugene, oregon. for study and learning tips specific to nursing students click on "tips for learning" at the left side of this home page.

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I just took NC 1 yesterday. It was a nightmare for me. Before taking the exam I thought I have prepared well, Reading through the textbook, taking practice exams. But when i really take the NC1 , I found so many questions are asking what the nurse should think , do or say and so on. By looking at the 4 answers, you will feel each one is reasonable.

I was really confused by the questions because it is not like a scientific question which definitely have a certain answer and no doubt. I feel very sad and now questioning if EC suits me or not. I don't know if all the concepts are like this . I like questions asking for the real medical knowledge. Can anyone kindly provide me good suggestions for me ? How to prepare NC1? I found the real exam is harder than the practice one.

I am sorry that u failed NC1. I am thinking about taking exceslior courses. Are u with a book publisher like college-net work etc. If u don't mind me asking. I talk to the counselor from exceslior and told me that I can buy books online or get them from their library for concept 1. Good luck!!!:blushkiss don't give up!!! elidel

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Thanks for all the words above. I didn't buy any review books but I borrowed textbooks. I will try to borrow some NCLEX-RN review books to help me to prepare well. Maybe this is a good begining letting me have a taste of RN exams.

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Specializes in Certified Diabetes Educator.

Look for text books on amazon and ebay used for a fraction of the price. Some of the recommended EC texts I got for under $10.

You don't have to do the tests in any order. Maybe think about going ahead and studying for one of the other tests and come back to NC1 later. I failed NC3. Couldn't believe it! I went ahead and took NC4, NC5 and NC6 and then went back to NC3. I passed with a B.

You can do this.

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I took NC 1 exam today. Wow it was just like you described it. I had to guess on most or pick what I thought was best on them. I passes with a C and calculated my percentages and found out that I only got about 70.3%. Thats a close call. I was wondering if anyone knows if all the NC exams are like this one. Is it just the subject covered that makes this NC1 wishy-washy for me? Or will I need to expect this on all the NC subjects. I feel like the other subjects will be more concrete answers and maybe eliminate some of the guess work.

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