Looking for a faster better way to study for excelsior courses

Editorial Team / Admin · Jun 10, 2015

Hello

Welcome to allnurses.com. We moved your thread to the Excelsior forum for the best response.

czap23 · Jun 11, 2015

Each course has a content guide with recommended study materials. There are also practice exams. It's an added expense but I thought it was worth the money. I used Study Group 101 and was happy with results. I have finished all my course work and waiting for a CPNE date.

Good luck. Message me if you have any other questions.

Hotyoungmom · Jun 12, 2015

Each course has a content guide with recommended study materials. There are also practice exams. It's an added expense but I thought it was worth the money. I used Study Group 101 and was happy with results. I have finished all my course work and waiting for a CPNE date.
Good luck. Message me if you have any other questions.

How did it take you from the beginning to where you are now?

Rbeck911, BSN, RN · Jun 12, 2015

I just started also and picked up studygroup101's study guides. I bought the entire package for 100 dollars or so. I've had my nose in the first one for the last 3 hours and it seems very good. It is very long, but only the first 68 pages are content. The rest is practice questions, summaries, and book excerpts at the very end. I have read that some people have passed ever exam using only these guides. Gonna try it.

czap23 · Jun 12, 2015

I've been working on it for a couple years. I finished FCCA Feb last year just before I retired from the Navy. Took a break and applied for CPNE last month. It can be done a lot faster. I think average time is 18-24 months.

UlanaD · Jun 13, 2015

Definitely studygroup101 cause it breaks it all down into one document instead of 5 books. It has tons of practice questions. :cat: Study Guides

UlanaD · Jun 13, 2015

Sg101 audio is absolutely awesome cause i was driving about 4 hours a day and i could drive and study at the same time :3

studentmom521, RN · Jun 14, 2015

I think everyone has mentioned Studygroup101. Also what helped me move faster was a few psychological motivators as well. Schedule your tests when you register so you have a deadline, I wrote a timeline on a dry erase board at the front of my house so I had a visual of my goal everyday. It's easy to get sidetracked when doing self study. Idk if this helps but thought I'd add another aspect.

Lexilou08 · Aug 15, 2015

When you get to the cpne I highly recommend Sheri Taylor's online workshop. I would not have passed without it!

i did use studyguide101 but I found that some classes they made much more complicated and it had a lot of extra stuff in there that I didn't need to know. All I wanted to know was exactly the content that was on the test.

i will say that for micro there is a workbook that you can get along with the text book. Well mine was serveral all years old, but I'm assuming the current required textbook has the workbook as well. If not, look at the older editions and find that workbook! The older editions are the exact same information, just sometimes in a different order. Once I found that workbook I didn't even open the text book or use studyguide101. The workbook gave a chapter summary and quizzes for each chapter. The text book was so long and complicated, and the workbooks were much simpler and right to the point. There may be something similar to that with A&P or some of the other courses. They aren't required but I would Google each book and see if they are an extra things like workbooks or CDs u can get.

The other thing is the excelsior practice tests. It's a pain to pay extra but I promise they are 100% worth it! A ton of the questions on those will be on the actual exam. Keep in mind the practice tests are much harder than the actual test. Most people score pretty low on the practice test, but once they take the exam they do well. An example is my micro wher I got a 48 one on practice and a 52 on another, the next day I took the exam and I got an A! I sure wasn't expecting that! Go over the practice test answers and rationales. i found that the final exam for each class was much much easier than the practice tests. I was usually surprised how simple and basic the questions were. Those practice tests had me convinced I would fail every time lol. But after reading all the rationales it sure helped when the questions came up on the exam!

if you have worked in the medical field you will find that a lot of the classes have a lot of common sense questions. I'm not saying they were super easy necessarily. But if you have been an Lpn for a few years you will find that you already know ALOT more than you realize

good luck with everything and let me know if you need any help with anything! It's all worth it once it's finally over. I just graduated and it wasn't easy, but it's all worth it now! Good luck!

veggieLPN · Aug 19, 2015

I have found studyguide101 useful, but only for some courses. Saunders NCLEX review books are great help for the nursing courses.

One tool that I haven't seen mentioned much by others in this forum is Khan Academy. They have tons of great lectures online. This site has really helped my overall understanding of disease processes. They have topics from 3rd grade math to A&P to multiple myeloma diagnosis all explained and illustrated extremely professionally, comprehensive, and clearly. Honestly I can't say enough about Khan Academy. It's all completely free as well.

Hope that helps!