Ouch, That hurt!

painful right?? Ugh, I paid mine and nearly cried. My test date is Jan 4 2013. Super nervous. The high price is really motivating me to study hard core! 1 time will be enough. Its a big blow the the wallet to fail, not to mention my ego!

Yeah, that is the biggest thing I have paid at one time in quite a while.

I luckily have a tuition reimbursement at work and have been taking the money they pay me for my other tests and setting it aside for this test. I am still not sure though if they will reimburse me for the CPNE, they are checking on it. Hope so.

I am starting my Study guide (man it is thick) and ordered Rob's CPNE on the recommendation of a friend who did the CPNE about 18 months ago. She said Robs helped her more than anything. She said the Excelsior prep class did nothing for her except take money out of her pocket, but sending sample care plans into excelsior to evaluate helped.

Well, everything has already been approved for my CPNE! Now just waiting on a date.

The are saying that it is 4-6 months to receive a test date and 7-9 months for the actual date?

Does this just vary by where your testing?

I unfortunately can not do the cancellation list since I have to have my work schedule turned in for 6 week periods in advance (I already have my work schedule set through Jan 12).

I hope it is not May/June when I test, I want to be done by Feb at the latest.

When you receive a date does vary on where you are testing. The last person I heard of that applied to MPAC applied in August and got her date in November. If I recall correctly, her date is in January.

It only took me 24 hrs to get my date but I applied to NPAC. I hear SPAC takes 6 months just to get a date! It is all nursing grapevine rumor though (held true for me because I applied to NPAC and indeed got my date fast just as the grapevine said I would). SPAC is MUCH closer to me but there is no way I'm sitting on my thumbs for up to a year waiting to take the test. Plus their background check costs around $50!

I hear the Ec workshops aren't very helpful but I would recommend doing Lynn or Sheri's workshop. I'm doing Sheri's (online) and I can't tell you how much it has helped already (just been at it for a week). Sheri's CPNE pass rates are like 97% or something crazy. I'll take that over the 61% CPNE pass rate any day!

Also, be careful with Rob's stuff. I've heard it is really outdated so be SURE to compare his information with the 19th edition study guide. On the upside, doing that should help you memorize it better.

Good luck and keep us posted!

I will not be happy if it does take that long, but not much I can do I guess. I agree on the SPAC, stupid that their background costs more (even though it is only like $40 different, in the grand cost of everything it is not much).

I did Lubbock since it is the closest to me (their used to be a lot more choices in MPAC/Texas when I started the program) and I can drive there. Maybe I need to look into NPAC even though travel costs will be more? Can I change testing sites?

As for Robs, his site states he has updated for the 19th edition. Like I said, I had a friend pass on her first try about 18 months ago and she did the excelsior prep (she said it was useless, like 24 students, 2 instructors and no real one on one time, she said she only go to do 1 of 5 skills labs) and Robs (she only did his dvd, not the entire online stuff that he has). She also said she spent a lot of time on Excelsiors chats talking with others. I have thought about Sheri's online deal, will see once I get Robs stuff (and when my actual test date is).

I work in an ER so I am already trying to practice the "Excelsior way" while I work (clean hands, introduction, check patient info etc) so once I get the mnemonics down, it will help even more.

I already do most skills on a regular basis (except medications, which I did lots of on the ambulance, but that was much less precise than the CPNE will be).

Pretty sure you can change sites but there i s a fee (naturally). I believe the details and costs are in the CPNE study guide (though I can't remember exactly where off the top of my head). If you haven't actually accepted/confirmed your date, that may not apply. Definitely check into it if you really think you may want to change. People are getting test dates in January for NPAC even as late in the year as this!

I'm driving 15 hours to NPAC for the shorter wait time. I looked at it this way: If it takes 6 months to get a test date but I am actually ready to test in 3 months, think of the RN pay I am losing for that additional 3 months. I'm pretty sure the lost pay will be much more than the increased travel expense for traveling to NPAC. I've also heard that the CEs and CAs for NPAC are awesome.

Will you tell me what you think about Rob's stuff when you get it? If it is really updated, I may consider ordering it myself. I've heard his mnemonics are really good, but I use key words and not (cute as they may be) mnemonics. No offense to those who use mnemonics.

Good luck!