Hey all, today was my first pearson vue exam and fortunately my first pass. I know there is a bunch of threads related to passing but I know when I was preparing for this exam I tried to find all the advice I could. Anyways I passed with an A
Since this was my first Pearson vue exam (I've done many Cleps before) I was unsure as to how to prepare for these exams so I did a bunch of stuff. Ill highlight what I found to be useful.
First off I didn't buy or use a micro textbook, mainly because I don't have the attention span to read a 1000 page textbook, Mind you I already have a college degree and never read an entire textbook in college so this might not be the best idea for everyone. Anyways I first purchased the SG101 notes and after reading them did not find them useful. It was essentially line after line of text with very little explanation or examples, also after taking the exam I can tell you the information provided in SG101 is too far in depth and not required for lower level micro exam. Next I downloaded the Vangonotes for microbiology, this is an audio book that highlights the main points of the chapters. I did find this useful but it's the opposite of the SG101 as it does not go in depth enough also I found it easier to let my mind wander while listening to the notes, It's not that they are necessarily boring its just easy to passively listen and then realize at the end you heard her voice but didn't hear anything she said. Next I read and took notes from Microbiology Demystified, this is where I gained a majority of my knowledge. The book is an extremely easy read and provides enough information without being boring. I also believe this is the only medium that provides the correct depth that excelsior tests to, I've heard some good things about "Clinical Microbiology made ridiculously easy" but never actually read it myself. Next I used the excelsior practice exams and after taking the first one I was scared out of my mind considering I only scored a 53. It's a good thing I took the practice exam just a week before my exam because I began to obsess over it and read through the thing at least 50 times memorizing the questions, answers, and all the rationales. I then took the second exam and only scored a 64 which caused me to repeat the behaviors of the first exam. Do not do this as it is not helpful. As far as the actual exam goes there was only about 4-5 questions that came directly from the practice exams and I found the actual exam a lot harder than the practice ones. The Microbiology exam because it tested very broad but also very specific if that makes sense. All in all while taking it I felt like I was answering more questions wrong than right but when they handed me the paper it said A. I was ecstatic and maybe just a bit lucky with my guesses but it's over and onto the next one.
