In terms of difficulty and subject depth, are Excelsior's practice exams good indicators?

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Hello, all

This is my second thread on the subject of Excelsior, but I'm new to the program and am trying my best to wrap my head around what the appropriate amount of work is.

I know nobody can share information about what test content is, and I wouldn't ask that.

What I would like to know is, how closely do the practice exams reflect the depth of content and difficulty of the actual exams you take for credit?

I'm not trying to get out of doing extra work, but rather trying to best understand how much time in my already busy schedule is appropriate to dedicate to preparation for each exam.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

I felt that the practice exams were very similar in flavor - a good representation of the real thing. Good luck!

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I spent about 40 hours of study time for each exam. The practice exams were very helpful with the exception of LS3, the practice exams were useless for that exam. I probably should have spent 80 hours studying for that one.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, LTACH, LTC, Home Health.

I failed every single EC practice exam put before me! But the majority of my grades on the actual exams were B's. My disclaimer is that I went into the college hoping to get the bare minimum needed for graduation. So, I studied for only 2 weeks per exam, with an exceptional, not-recommended-at-all one week of study for LS 3....barely made the grade with sweating bullets all the way on that one. That 2-week period of study was all-inclusive of study notes, EC practice exams, other practice tests, and Pearson Vue testing. Needless to say, my attention to detail was spread pretty thin. Fortunately, there were no failures...whew!!!

That was in 2010. I have since made radical changes to my view and approach of education and the 'need for speed'. Call it transformation, evolution, lightning strikes, or whatever. I didn't have a lot of time to devote to the practice exams (obviously), but I'm sure that if you take the time to spend on them, your close calls won't be as many as mine were.;)

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Specializes in Short Term Rehab; Skilled Nursing.
I spent about 40 hours of study time for each exam. The practice exams were very helpful with the exception of LS3, the practice exams were useless for that exam. I probably should have spent 80 hours studying for that one.

I totally agree for LS3... Those practice exams did not help AT ALL :( I did get B on that one last month, but to be honest I did make a lot of guesses.

"MyStudyGroup101" Study Guides and Practice Exams are usually the only things I use. I spend 4-5 days (3-4 hours per day) for each exam, but that's me. So far - no failures :) In my opinion it is a little easier for LPNs to prepare for those exams because we had pretty much the same type of questions on NCLEX-PN.

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I totally agree for LS3... Those practice exams did not help AT ALL :( I did get B on that one last month, but to be honest I did make a lot of guesses.

"MyStudyGroup101" Study Guides and Practice Exams are usually the only things I use. I spend 4-5 days (3-4 hours per day) for each exam, but that's me. So far - no failures :) In my opinion it is a little easier for LPNs to prepare for those exams because we had pretty much the same type of questions on NCLEX-PN.

Wow that's very nice! That means you were able to take 6 test in a moth?

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Specializes in Short Term Rehab; Skilled Nursing.
Wow that's very nice! That means you were able to take 6 test in a moth?

No :) I enrolled last year - 06/2013 but I was able to take Life Span exams before Fundamentals (Chronicity etc.) It's doable to take all nursing exams in 6 months but I was lazy :) LPNs are waived from Health Differences so one exam less for me.

I did the exams this way:

- 12/2013 - Transition - C

- 02/2014 - Life Span 1 - A

- 09/2014 - Life Span 2 - B

- 11/05/2014 - Life Span 3 - B

- 11/20/2014 - Foundations in Nursing Practice (Chronicity) - C

I have scheduled Safety for next Monday - 12/08/2014 & Reproductive Health for 12/18/2014. Hopefully before Christmas Nursing Component (except FCCA & CPNE) will be completed.

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No :) I enrolled last year - 06/2013 but I was able to take Life Span exams before Fundamentals (Chronicity etc.) It's doable to take all nursing exams in 6 months but I was lazy :)

I did the exams this way:

- 12/2013 - Transition - C

- 02/2014 - Life Span 1 - A

- 09/2014 - Life Span 2 - B

- 11/05/2014 - Life Span 3 - B

- 11/20/2014 - Foundations in Nursing Practice (Chronicity) - C

I have scheduled Safety for next Monday - 12/08/2014 & Reproductive Health for 12/18/2014. Hopefully before Christmas Nursing Component (except FCCA & CPNE) will be completed.

I'm happy for you! Wishing you the best.

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Specializes in Short Term Rehab; Skilled Nursing.
I'm happy for you! Wishing you the best.

Thanks :) Will keep updated :)

I did not follow your posts, hope you're on Excelsior "journey" as well. Wishing you the best as well :)

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Thanks :) Will keep updated :)

I did not follow your posts, hope you're on Excelsior "journey" as well. Wishing you the best as well :)

Thanks sweetheart!

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Specializes in PeriOperative Nursing.

Similar to some of the comments from other posters - I used StudyGroup 101 exam study guides for all of my exams and took both practice tests that are offered for the exams. I took 10 exams from February-September of this year and I am currently doing FCCA. I only got one "C" out of all of the exams. The rest were "A's" and "B's".

I reviewed the study guides to see what material I already knew, then I took practice exam A to get an idea of what my strengths and weaknesses were. I focused the bulk of my study time on my weaknesses but I also reviewed material I already knew just to make sure I was thoroughly prepared. StudyGroup101 was my go-to resource because of its brevity although I did use the recommended textbooks as a resource. I also used NCLEX study guides to quiz myself on the information paying close attention to the rationales. I really like Saunders Q&A and their regular study guide, although I also have Davis' Illustrated Study Guide and Davis' Q&A. A few days before I was scheduled to take my exam, I took practice exam B to see if there were any areas needing further attention. With both practice exams I paid close attention to the rationales for the answers.

I know this post is a little wordy, but I hope it helps!

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Specializes in Short Term Rehab; Skilled Nursing.

Small update :)

Passed Health Safety today :) Got B even tough I expected A :) There was a lot of similar questions (if not even same) from Excelsior Test A and Test B. I was really surprised with the fact that there were no SATA questions :D

Overall, this exam was way easier, to me at least, than Chronicity and Transition.

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