PAX in December

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Hi all,

I am starting back to school in the Fall at 47 in the ASRN program..yikes! I took the math compass and bombed it so it looks like remedial math classes for me. I'm OK with that because I want a solid foundation for pharmacology and dosage calculations. My immediate concern is that in order to get into clinicals in the Fall of 2013 I have to take and pass the PAX test in December. I have been looking at old threads on what study guides are the best and it looks like NLN Review Guide for RN Pre-Entrance Exam and the McGraw Hill Nursing School Entrace Exam with CD ROM are the top picks. Just wanted to be sure those are still the best study guides. Also, I see some threads that say the math on the tests is pretty basic since they require you to do the calculating by hand. Does that mean all addition/subtraction, multiplication/division, percents/decimals and fractions with some easy algebraic equations? That's the part I'm super worried about since my math skills are obviously lacking. I did well on the prealgebra part but bombed the algebra section. I'm trying to make sure I am prepared because my school allows only two chances at passing the PAX. So any advice would be very much appreciated. :)

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My School also only alows us to take the PAX twice. The math has all that you've mentioned including Geometry. I'm absolutely terrible at Math, but I've been studying from the same NLN Review guide book as you've described and I am doing a lot better on my pretest scores. I'm scheduled for the Pax test on June 29, next week! Ahhh!! good luck to you!

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Best of luck to you! Let me know how it goes. I'm pretty discouraged right now. I did awful on my compass math. And now when I check my admission status it says...must have higher math score. I thought the compass was a placement test??? My print out suggested intro algebra, intermediate and then college algebra which I was fine with. Now I'm wondering if they are denying me acceptance to the college based on that score? I've contacted the admissions office and am waiting on a reply but I must say I'm pretty discouraged. It's been twenty plus years since I have had any math and it's definitely not my strongly suit. On the other hand, my last three semesters in college, in biology, micro, etc. I had a 4.0! Go figure. Anyway, let me know how you do and what the PAX was like. I'm sure you will do great!

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Thank you!

If you got a 4.0 while completing your Bio classes, then you'll Do Great! I'll let you know how my test goes ;) As for the compass test, I also thought it was a placement test, so I don't think it should determine your eligibility into a school...?

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The Board of Regents in GA crafted a "new"admission criteria..you have to score 20 or above on the algebra portion of the compass to be admitted to a USG college. I got a 19. I have a book to study and I'm retaking the test on July 18th. I don't know what I will do if I don't get that extra point I need. Its very frustrating. I thought it was a placement test too so I didn't really cram or try to learn stuff I had forgotten because I didn't want to learn it the wrong way. I guess I should have tried harder to just get by on it.

Best of luck to you on your PAX tomorrow...I too can't wait to hear how it went and what was on it. My daughter took it in December and got a 94 but the she couldn't remember a thing that was on it. lol

Let us know how you do...will you get your score immediately (my daughter did) or will you have to wait for it?

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hello!

well i took the test and did not pass :down:, and let me tell ya i took it hard....i had mentally/emotionally prepared in case i did not pass, but when i got the paperwork i cried the whole way home(we get results right away). a whole bunch of emotions like a tornado went through me... anyhow enough about me, let me tell you about the test. it's on the computer. it took me 4.5 hrs to complete everything. my school requires the pax test and the nelson denny reading comprehension test. so it could be shorter time for you if your school does not require the nelson denny test. it's reading/comprehension test first(1 hr) , then math(1 hr) and then science(1 hr). after taking the test i can not stress this enough-watch your time because it goes so quick!!! i kept running out of time :cry: that was my problem. especially in the math part, it is extremely important to do your work on the paper as fast as possible, and also learning any available shortcuts if possible! the science part was crazy, there was physics, chemistry, and some anatomy questions. i felt that there was a lot of physics and chemistry with formulas and mendel theory, newton's law, or charles darwin questions... in other words, grab the study book and study it all.... and also i would suggest grabbing the "physics for dummy book", to get more familiarized with physics. math had everything from geometry, perimeters, area, equivalent equations, everything that algebra, and only a few geometry questions(3- ong word problems) my school requires a 97 percentile rank and i scored a 92 :banghead: best of luck to you!

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