Need Help With Establishing An Excelsior Study Plan

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Specializes in Clinic, Travel Meds, Acute Clinic.

I am new to Allnurses! I have already learned so much from all of you.

I just signed up with Excelsior and I need some help with a study plan. I work full time at a very, very, busy onsite occupational acute care clinic. I am trying to plan the fastest, least resistant way to get to the RN. My tentative plan so faris to use the practice exams for all the nursing classes, Saunders RN NCLEX Book, Excelsior content guides, and Lisa Arends study guides. Has anyone else approached it this way and if so did you use any Excelsior books? Also, advise from those who have worked full time and how long (hours of study per week) it took to finish (how many months). One more thing . . . I need A&P, Lifespan Psych., and one humanities class. I hope to clep on those . . . anyone else do that? I know this is a lot of questions. Thanks for your help!

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Specializes in Med/Surg Nurse, Homecare, Visiting Nurse.

It took me just one month shy of a year to complete all nursing exams and a general ed requirement. I still have the FCCA, Micro and CPNE to complete. It's taking me this long because I have to work one full-time and one part time job. I also have a daughter who needs lots of help in school. It's very hard but if you want it you can complete it all. It gets tough but I use this site for the encouragement I need.

Feel free to ask as many questions as you need. I'll help in any way I can, I'm still trooping on.

Best

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Specializes in Clinic, Travel Meds, Acute Clinic.

Thanks! your story is a great encouragement!

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Specializes in Cardiac Care, Palliative Care.

I used Lisa Arends notes, Study Group 101 notes, Excelsior study exams, and NCLEX-RN Made Incredibly Easy review book for the Nursing Concepts exams. I've studied for 3-4 weeks, 2-3 hours a day. I've enrolled with Excelsior in January 2009, and have only 2 exams and the CPNE to complete. I also use the EPN discussion board and of course allnurses for tips on a particular exam!

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Specializes in Med surg and Psych.

Welcome to all nurses and to EC. Traci

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Specializes in Clinic, Travel Meds, Acute Clinic.

So you did not use any Excelsior books? Do you also work full time? Thanks for any tips!

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

I worked (and still work) 3 12's a week in an ER, and I volunteer as a paramedic. In between that, my nose was in some sort of study material for much the remainder of the time. I used the EC content guides as my syllabus, and tailored my learning to the subject matter in those. I used textbooks (purchased used on half.com, amazon.com, etc.), notes from Lisa Arends, excellent study guides from StudyGroup101 (http://www.studygroup101.com), and the EC practice tests. I also had a bunch of Chancellor's guides I'd purchased used on eBay -- wanted those for the audio component because I have a long-ish commute, so that was perfect. Those are kind of difficult to find, though.

EC's program is highly individual, so it's really up to each student how/when he/she studies. But typically the first thing I'd do was schedule my exam for about 3 weeks to a month out. Then I'd do a first pass of studying, take one of the EC practice exams, and see where I needed more focus. I'd re-study, take the second EC practice exam, and hopefully be ready to test. Scheduling the exam first gave me a deadline to work with. I was coming from more than a decade as a graphic designer/desktop publisher, which is a very deadline-driven occupation, and I work best with deadlines (i.e., I know how long I can procrastinate ;)).

By the way, there is no CLEP for A&P. http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/clep/about.html -- you can find info on available CLEPs there. EC does accept the Human Growth and Development CLEP in place of Lifespan. As far as humanities, I'm not sure -- I had plenty of those types of credits long before EC, so I didn't need to do any of those.

Good luck, and welcome to Allnurses!

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Specializes in Hospice, ER.

Welcome! Lunah is our guru. I use textbooks I already have, used books from whomever sells them cheapest, and EC content guides.

I take the first EC practice exam, use that as a guide, make notes, take the second EC practice exam, use that to fill in any gaps. I also schedule my exam so I have a deadline to meet. I work better under pressure.

Good luck!

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Definitely pop for the practice exams. I used those and the texts only. I downloaded the study guides and stuck sticky notes on each chapter I needed to read.

I always scheduled the exam when I started studying or I just wouldn't do the reading.

:)

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Specializes in Cardiac Care, Palliative Care.

I work full-time 2nd shift, so that allowed me to study for a few hours before work without being tired and stressed out. I did not use any Excelsior books.

So you did not use any Excelsior books? Do you also work full time? Thanks for any tips!
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Specializes in Clinic, Travel Meds, Acute Clinic.

Thanks everyone for all your advise. I feel like I have a plan now to get started.

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I worked (and still work) 3 12's a week in an ER, and I volunteer as a paramedic. In between that, my nose was in some sort of study material for much the remainder of the time. I used the EC content guides as my syllabus, and tailored my learning to the subject matter in those. I used textbooks (purchased used on half.com, amazon.com, etc.), notes from Lisa Arends, excellent study guides from StudyGroup101 (http://www.studygroup101.com), and the EC practice tests. I also had a bunch of Chancellor's guides I'd purchased used on eBay -- wanted those for the audio component because I have a long-ish commute, so that was perfect. Those are kind of difficult to find, though.

EC's program is highly individual, so it's really up to each student how/when he/she studies. But typically the first thing I'd do was schedule my exam for about 3 weeks to a month out. Then I'd do a first pass of studying, take one of the EC practice exams, and see where I needed more focus. I'd re-study, take the second EC practice exam, and hopefully be ready to test. Scheduling the exam first gave me a deadline to work with. I was coming from more than a decade as a graphic designer/desktop publisher, which is a very deadline-driven occupation, and I work best with deadlines (i.e., I know how long I can procrastinate ;)).

By the way, there is no CLEP for A&P. http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/clep/about.html -- you can find info on available CLEPs there. EC does accept the Human Growth and Development CLEP in place of Lifespan. As far as humanities, I'm not sure -- I had plenty of those types of credits long before EC, so I didn't need to do any of those.

Good luck, and welcome to Allnurses!

Thanks so much for all the great tips. I will start to schedule some of my exams. I have had books laying around for years. I have not been able to study them. I would start and stop. I hate deadlines, but I too work better with a deadline.

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