Passed my last of 8 exams today + Advice on studying

Published

Hi everyone,

I have some serious eye strain from all the studying and may need

stronger perscription glasses :)

I took my last exam today...Health Differences. All eight completed. Onto FCCA.

Matter of fact I failed a total of two exams while going through the process.

( I began July 2011. Money and life situations held me up)

Those exams were Health Difference and Chronicity. I passed both the second

time. When I look back on why I failed, it's because I didn't understand the concepts

of the material. I first thought it was because I didn't study long enough...

My study habits...

I started with just the paid practice exams from excelsior and very little textbook

reading for these two exams:

Health and Safety

Transition to RN Role....I passed them both 1st try

Chronicity and Health Difference...I failed 1st try

I only used practice exams...the textbook reading was becoming ineffective

for me with my work schedule and life. I was falling asleep studying,

getting discouraged by the study time...just wasn't working for me.

I was blocked from registering for the failed exams by Pearson Vue

for about a month.....point is I couldn't register for them right away.

A policy of there's regarding failed exams I guess.

Onto Reproductive Health...I passed with 'A' 1st try. My favorite subject anyway :)

I used:

my boyfriends college network learning modules. (read all 17 ch)

excelsior's practice exams

Nclex books ( I only used two of them and both were similar to Excelsior Exams I state the books at the bottom)

I was determined to pass and not lose my money again.

College network modules are really good for testing they

have all the material that you would see on the exam. My

only thing is the reading...lots of chapters like 17 or over 20

and most of the information is just "extra" material...but good nontheless

Took Chronicity again...passed.

I used:

College network (read some chapters)

practice exams

Nclex books

Lifespan 1, 2, 3...passed...1st try

I used:

excelsior practice exams

Nclex books

NO college network...the readings were time consuming very tiring. chapters were too much.

took health differences again....passed

I used:

Excelsior practice exams

Study group 101 notes (I marked all ques. I seen from 1st try)

nclex question found online

nclex books

Health difference was difficult for me to study for because most NCLEX books/questions

do not have enough material on those subjects that the exam covers.

So I had to do a lot of "looking" for those question types.

Last four exams I finished within a month. Exam per week.

To have an effective studying time that is not wasted I would recommend;

First, reading through Excelsior's practices exams Both A and B. This will

give you a good overall idea of the material the Exam will focus on.

That way you spend less time reading and studying material that you may never see for that exam.

Second, get your NCLEX books. Read and study the material covered from Excelsior

practice exams. I recommend these two NCLEX books: Nclex made incredibly easy; questions and answers. and Saunders Q&A review for NCLEX-RN EXAMINATION 4th Edition. For Saunders, make sure the book has the CD with it. I bought mine off Amazon under 20 bucks used with CD. With the CD you can break down the study material you want to review unlike the book that mixes all subjects. CD is better.

Transitions to RN role

Health and Safety

Health Difference you may have to do other reading to supplement the information needed to test.

I couldn't afford anymore text books ( bought about 5 of them...med-surg, maternity, peds, nursing diagnosis, pharm. Only used books for 1st two exams.

In all, please remember this is what worked for me. I write this to help those who may be wondering how to start or how to restart testing. Results may vary :)

Either way, you will pass all the way to the end and we will become a RN !!!

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Specializes in peds-trach/vent.

Congratuations.:)

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congrats!!! and thanks for the tips. i ordered

nclex made incredibly easy from b&n;(for $2.00). i only have the ls series to go but any additional help wouldn't hurt. thanks again.

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I understand you completely i have all the life spans left and i failed chronicity also this is my second year and i just want to finish but life of working and children makes it harder. But hearing your story lets me know I'm not the only one out there

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I also started this programm in june 2011 with 5mnths old and 6 yr .Passed 5 exam in first try using study group101 ,TCN and Saunders NCLEX RN .I have to take LS2,LS3,HEALTH DIFFERENCES.Now days am preparing for LS2 .Scheduled to take by next mnth.Good luck to everyone who is struggling thru family children.

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Thanks everyone.

I was a little hopeless in the begining, now I really can not believe

I actually completed those exams. I feel more motiviated to tackle

FCCA and CPNE.

Changing my study habits helped me cut my study time in half

and it became more effective to pass first try.

I believe what gets some people, like it did me in the begining, is the

amount of material you feel like you have to read through, it can be

overwhelming.

Be encouraged and press on.

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thanks for that awesome advice! i have been taking the first excelsior practice exam, reading the study group 101 notes, and then taking the second excelsior practice exam. if i got an 80 or better and feel comfortable with the content ... i test. if not, then i run through the college network book. so far this has resulted in two a's and two b's. i took my time to read the actual exam carefully and use good test taking strategy on every question. not surprisingly, the two a's where on the exams that i read the college network books however that could just be because it was more material to explain rationales behind the bulleted point verses just memorization. i did not feel comfortable coming out of any of the exams. based on your feedback, i plan on incorporating the two study prep guides into my mix. reproductive health is my next step. it’s kind of exciting to see how many people liked reproductive health; i would love one more “good grade” before powering through the life span series.

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Hi medic1403,

My advice to you is invest some money buying Saunder NCLEX review book 5TH EDITION .I Used this book for repro and LS1 got A & B.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Medsurg, LTC.
Hi everyone,

I have some serious eye strain from all the studying and may need

stronger perscription glasses :)

I took my last exam today...Health Differences. All eight completed. Onto FCCA.

Matter of fact I failed a total of two exams while going through the process.

( I began July 2011. Money and life situations held me up)

Those exams were Health Difference and Chronicity. I passed both the second

time. When I look back on why I failed, it's because I didn't understand the concepts

of the material. I first thought it was because I didn't study long enough...

My study habits...

I started with just the paid practice exams from excelsior and very little textbook

reading for these two exams:

Health and Safety

Transition to RN Role....I passed them both 1st try

Chronicity and Health Difference...I failed 1st try

I only used practice exams...the textbook reading was becoming ineffective

for me with my work schedule and life. I was falling asleep studying,

getting discouraged by the study time...just wasn't working for me.

I was blocked from registering for the failed exams by Pearson Vue

for about a month.....point is I couldn't register for them right away.

A policy of there's regarding failed exams I guess.

Onto Reproductive Health...I passed with 'A' 1st try. My favorite subject anyway :)

I used:

my boyfriends college network learning modules. (read all 17 ch)

excelsior's practice exams

Nclex books ( I only used two of them and both were similar to Excelsior Exams I state the books at the bottom)

I was determined to pass and not lose my money again.

College network modules are really good for testing they

have all the material that you would see on the exam. My

only thing is the reading...lots of chapters like 17 or over 20

and most of the information is just "extra" material...but good nontheless

Took Chronicity again...passed.

I used:

College network (read some chapters)

practice exams

Nclex books

Lifespan 1, 2, 3...passed...1st try

I used:

excelsior practice exams

Nclex books

NO college network...the readings were time consuming very tiring. chapters were too much.

took health differences again....passed

I used:

Excelsior practice exams

Study group 101 notes (I marked all ques. I seen from 1st try)

nclex question found online

nclex books

Health difference was difficult for me to study for because most NCLEX books/questions

do not have enough material on those subjects that the exam covers.

So I had to do a lot of "looking" for those question types.

Last four exams I finished within a month. Exam per week.

To have an effective studying time that is not wasted I would recommend;

First, reading through Excelsior's practices exams Both A and B. This will

give you a good overall idea of the material the Exam will focus on.

That way you spend less time reading and studying material that you may never see for that exam.

Second, get your NCLEX books. Read and study the material covered from Excelsior

practice exams. I recommend these two NCLEX books: Nclex made incredibly easy; questions and answers. and Saunders Q&A review for NCLEX-RN EXAMINATION 4th Edition. For Saunders, make sure the book has the CD with it. I bought mine off Amazon under 20 bucks used with CD. With the CD you can break down the study material you want to review unlike the book that mixes all subjects. CD is better.

Transitions to RN role

Health and Safety

Health Difference you may have to do other reading to supplement the information needed to test.

I couldn't afford anymore text books ( bought about 5 of them...med-surg, maternity, peds, nursing diagnosis, pharm. Only used books for 1st two exams.

In all, please remember this is what worked for me. I write this to help those who may be wondering how to start or how to restart testing. Results may vary :)

Either way, you will pass all the way to the end and we will become a RN !!!

Hello there and congrats to you, am really caught up and worried about transitions, lots of materials, years and people to remember that did what, what is the best study material to use to study for this and also where can I get college network modules? Thanks.

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Thanks for the post! I'm a working mom, and very discourage looking at the material! I'm starting out with health and saftey and don't know we're to begin, any suggestions would be so helpfully, I don't want to spend hrs studying the wrong material!

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Specializes in Psych-LTC-Home Health.

The the outline from EC, if you follow that and take the practice exams you can't go wrong. I also used studygroup101 for this one and they were right on plus they had lots of practice questions which I feel works well for me! I took one section at a time on my tablet to work on at work and printed some of the quizzes and had the girls quiz me. Good luck to you, Bril

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Thanks for the great advice! I am going to take chronicity August 16th and I'm nervous! I will def start using my prep books!!

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