New CEN exam

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Hi, everyone. I am a relatively new RN and have been working in the ER for 6 months. Prior to getting my RN, I was a LVN/LPN for four years, and a Hospital Corpsman in the U.S. Navy for five years. I am preparing to take the CEN exam. My scheduled test date in November 8, 2013. I have been studying from multiple different sources and have taken numerous 150 question practice exams that I purchased through the ENA/BCEN website. I find these a little discouraging. Initially I purchased the official ENA practice exam and scored a 78%. I used the score breakdown to focus on my weak areas (environmental/toxicology, ortho) and put together a good study plan, covering one section a week. Now that the exam date is getting near, I have been taking more of the ENA practice exams and am finding my results to be hard to interpret. I'll take a 150 practice test and score a 80%, feel good about it, then take another practice exam a few days later and score a 55%. I know there are literally thousands of possible CEN exam questions out there. I'm also going to the 2 day CEN seminar by Med Ed this coming week. I was hoping to connect with some other nurses on here who are currently studying, or even better, those who have recently taken the exam and have some advice. Thanks!

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing, Critical Care Nursing.

Two words: PASS CEN. Chuck the book itself and utilize the questions by category/system. It was truly invaluable and I recognized a lot of similar question structure on the test itself. Also, I had several questions about epidemiology (TB, Strep) Mostly about how long someone is contagious. I cannot say this was my strong point.

The only other advice I can give is that if one aspect of an answer appears incorrect or illogical, the whole answer is wrong. Make sure you read each answer option carefully as 4/5 components might be correct but one is wrong.

If you happen not to do well this go around, I would wait until you are at your 2 year mark to test again. It will be very helpful.

Good Luck!

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TexanTough-

Thanks for the info and advice. I appreciate it! I am currently using PASS CEN and am studying from the question bank cd more than the book. I'll pay close attention to epidemiology. Thanks!

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Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency, Education, Informatics.

This is one of my pet peeves.

Going through test banks isn't studying. You have to decide what your goal is and why your taking the test. If the test is to prove the knowledge you've gained over a period of time, then you need to study from the reference material. Sheehy's is a good place to start, supplemented with the source material. Once you have the knowledge, then you can start practicing for the exam, buy taking practice exams every day leading up to the exam.

Taking the review just before testing is a good plan. That helps those area's that may be on the exam, that we just don't see that often.

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CraigB-

Thanks for the tips and advice, I appreciate it. The amount of information seems overwhelming at times when looking at all of the content areas. I'm trying to tackle one section a week, then supplement with review bank questions. Thanks.

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Specializes in ICU/ER.

eriko', i just passed the cen 2 wks ago. i had been working full time in er for almost 8 mos. now and 1 solid yr in icu before. i used laura vonfrolio ccrn cd's (which i used for the ccrn) as a review, though she has a cen cd set too. also i supplemented with mark bosswell youtube videos (which were free on line). i hit the pass cen book a few times and took the cd exams that were provided, always scored in the 70-80's% with them. vonfrolios cd's were alittle aged but the patho review was good. bosswell is great, if you have questions on his you tube reviews you can send him a message and he'll respond. as far as the exam goes, like texan tough posted pay attention to your questions and answers. i had what seemed to be a fair number of toxicology questions and bosswell did a good job of reviewing that on his youtube lecture videos. good luck!

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Specializes in ER.

I found none of them helpful. Use your common sense and good nursing judgment and you will do well.

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yeah youll be just fine. I like Bosswell videos. There were some specifics that he touched on that would show up on the exam.

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Thanks for the tips. I will definitely check out Boswell's review videos.

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Thanks for all the tips, advice, and support! I officially PASSED the CEN exam this morning = ) = ) = )

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nice!

wasnt that bad no?

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