Failed nursing school entrance exam. Now what?

[Jessi_Lee]

Hello everyone,

A few months ago I took the PSB (Nursing school entrance exam) for the second time in my life and I totally did not do as well as I had hoped. I am 22 years old and I live and go to school in Pittsburgh, PA. I am trying to get into UPMC SON (either ST. Margaret or Shadyside). The last time I took the test was in 2007, which was the year I graduated high school. I was in the ninety something percentile in the math and reading sections and got like a 60% in science. That was five years ago. My new scores are far lower and all of my past scores have now expired (here in PA they expire after 5yrs.) I suppose I did not prepare as much as I should have. I got some info about an entrance exam preparation course here at a pretty decent university in Pittsburgh. Its a 5 week online course. The only thing is that is it costs 200 bucks. I guess my question is: Is it worth it? or has anyone taken a similar course or have any other type of solution? I've already tried studying the books. Any input would be appreciated. And good luck to my fellow students out there :cheers:

[Stephalump]

Hmmm...I think the key is in why you aren't doing well

If you managed to get into the 90th percentile in certain sections, I'd say that means you aren't having an actual test taking problem. It must just be the actual science material.

If the books really didn't help, maybe you tube videos/lectures? Honestly, if you can find good reviews about the class you're thinking of taking, I'd go for it. $200 is cheaper than retaking all of the science classes you're struggling to remember, and it seems worth it to be accepted to NS. If it doesn't help, I really don't know what else to suggest, except maybe auditing an actual science class.

[pixiestudent2]

Maybe I can help.I took my PSB test for the first time in February and failed, I retook it in march and passed and now I am going to UPMC Mercy!!! What i redid the second time was I stayed calm and answered all the questions. Did you fail all the sections? well here are all my tips.

Reading: I did not read the passages, I read the question and went back and skimmed to get the answer. I scored in the 98th percentile.

Math: Don't over think it, all of the math is very basic, If you can't get an exact answer you are pretty much able to guesstimate.

Science: this was kind of all over the place, If you didn't get what you needed from studying from the books I would take the course at Chatham. What i found helpful was reading the answer explanations a few days prior to my test.