Has anyone taken the PAX RN pre-entrance exam?

Nursing Students General Students

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I'm suppose to take my test on January 16th and I just got my study guide yesterday, boy was I shocked.:eek:

I've always considered myself of average intellegence but this study guide might as well have been in Russian. BTW, it's the NLN study guide "english" version.

Does anyone has experience taking this test and if so...is it really as hard as the study guide practice tests?

I spoke with a friend (she never took the test) and she got the idea from the new students she works with the test is sorta like an IQ test not a test where they actually expect you to get all the answers right (thank God).

I'm still worried, please help.:o

Yep! I took the PAX-RN in early autumn of this year. I did really well on it (got into the 98-99 percentile in each section), but parts of it were rather tough.

I got a review book (probably the same one you have) and went through it. Those questions were difficult, but fairly accurate as to how the test was.

Study up on your math. If you can do the basic arithmetic and basic algebra, you'll be fine. Oh, and most of those are "word" problems, so practice those too. The math portion of the study guide really helped me there.

The Verbal portion wasn't bad. Some parts were tricky, but if you look over the stuff in the study guide, you'll do ok. Be sure to do a few questions on reading comprehension too...there are some of those type questions on the exam as well.

Science was my most difficult section (still did really well...but still!). Again, the study guide will help. There were surprisingly a lot of physics and chemistry questions on the exam. Luckily I had taking intro to chemistry the spring prior to sitting for the exam, so I knew a bit of the chem questions. Physics just blew my mind...I guessed on practically all of those. The Bio & general science questions weren't bad, and I knew some of the anatomy/physiology questions since I had just taken A&P I over the summer. Basically...read, read, read that study guide!

Good luck...it's scary to take this kind of test, but you'll do fine. :)

Thanks AmyLiz.

I registered this morning to take the test Jan 16th. I've been looking over the study guide and my dh helped me with some of the math last night. Math is not my strongest subject, by far. I haven't taken any of the biology/algebra or A&P classes yet.

I'm just hoping to pass the test the first time around. If I don't then I'll just wait until after I've taken my Bio 103 and Algebra class in the summer.

I also bought the "cliff note" books for Biology,Chemistry and Algebra and I'm reading through them too. Ok, maybe I'm going over board but I really want to do well.:rolleyes:

I felt overwhelmed at first but I've got two months to study and my dh is an engineer so he's really good in math. Babysitter is graduating this semester with a BS in Biology and my SIL is at Auburn studying to be a vet so she's a whiz at Chemistry.

Are the vocabulary words really obscure like the way they are in the study guide?

Thanks again for the info. Wish me luck.

Originally posted by bamamomof4

Thanks AmyLiz.

I registered this morning to take the test Jan 16th. I've been looking over the study guide and my dh helped me with some of the math last night. Math is not my strongest subject, by far. I haven't taken any of the biology/algebra or A&P classes yet.

I'm just hoping to pass the test the first time around. If I don't then I'll just wait until after I've taken my Bio 103 and Algebra class in the summer.

I also bought the "cliff note" books for Biology,Chemistry and Algebra and I'm reading through them too. Ok, maybe I'm going over board but I really want to do well.:rolleyes:

I felt overwhelmed at first but I've got two months to study and my dh is an engineer so he's really good in math. Babysitter is graduating this semester with a BS in Biology and my SIL is at Auburn studying to be a vet so she's a whiz at Chemistry.

Are the vocabulary words really obscure like the way they are in the study guide?

Thanks again for the info. Wish me luck.

I. too, bought books similar to the "cliff notes" books to study for the PAX-RN. Study them.

I took the PAX at the same time/same place as AmyLiz and passed within the same percentiles. Those scores are not representative of the overall scores of the people who sat for the test at the same time we did. Only 38 out of about 200 "passed" this exam.

I am not saying that because I want to discourage you, but rather to illustrate the importance of studying for this exam. I studied, as I am sure AmyLiz did. The study guides are indeed representative of the exam. It did not seem to me that the test was anything like an I.Q. test. However it is scored on "right answers" only. It would be best then to at least guess and make an answer on those questions which you do not know how to answer. It is also a timed test (I hate timed tests).

The kind of questions that AmyLiz said were on it were right on. I did not have the advantage of having taken A&P beforehand, but a study guide for that subject might really help.

Wishing you the best...:)

Some of the verbal stuff wasn't too hard, in my opinion, but some of them were fairly represented in the study guide.

Oh and I forgot to mention before...study up on some geometry too. I recall there were a few questions on there with angles. (I think)

Basically, just study (don't kill yourself over it though) and you should do ok. :)

my question is how do you know what application to use for the word problems in the math section.

i spent all day going over the math review question from the study guide.

any advise.

thanks

Yep! I took the PAX-RN in early autumn of this year. I did really well on it (got into the 98-99 percentile in each section), but parts of it were rather tough.

I got a review book (probably the same one you have) and went through it. Those questions were difficult, but fairly accurate as to how the test was.

Study up on your math. If you can do the basic arithmetic and basic algebra, you'll be fine. Oh, and most of those are "word" problems, so practice those too. The math portion of the study guide really helped me there.

The Verbal portion wasn't bad. Some parts were tricky, but if you look over the stuff in the study guide, you'll do ok. Be sure to do a few questions on reading comprehension too...there are some of those type questions on the exam as well.

Science was my most difficult section (still did really well...but still!). Again, the study guide will help. There were surprisingly a lot of physics and chemistry questions on the exam. Luckily I had taking intro to chemistry the spring prior to sitting for the exam, so I knew a bit of the chem questions. Physics just blew my mind...I guessed on practically all of those. The Bio & general science questions weren't bad, and I knew some of the anatomy/physiology questions since I had just taken A&P I over the summer. Basically...read, read, read that study guide!

Good luck...it's scary to take this kind of test, but you'll do fine. :)

please help with the math section.

thanks

debbie

the science did have a lot of physics! i did well, but i studied hard. i made study sheets for verything but the math. you can download them from http://homepage.mac.com/melissa33

good luck!

Has anyone received exam scores for April? Just wondering, I am nervously awaiting results. :uhoh3:

Amyliz, is the study guide you used to prepare for the Pax-RN the one reccemended on the NLN site: nln review guide for RN entrance exam 2nd edition-Mary Mcdonald? If so, I have been studyin that book for about a week now. How similar were the real test questions/flow compared to the study guide?

I also hear the official SAT study guide is great as a reference too...

Any help is appreciated...

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