PCCN 2014 - any & all comments appreciated

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Hi All, :)

I am a critical care nurse working in a very busy Medical/Surgical PCU w/ cardiac monitoring for nearly 2 years and will be taking my PCCN exam this Tuesday (unless I chicken out and reschedule it haha), and I would greatly appreciate any feedback regarding my preparation in terms of likely hood of being sufficient to pass, as well as anyone's personal experience with studying and taking this exam. CCRN experience is also appreciated.

I have prepared by doing the following:

Watching twice over the entire Laura Gasparis Vronfolio CCRN lecture series - disregarding specifics related to Swans etc, but otherwise paying close attention and taking concise notes (writing helps me memorize facts). My co-workers swear by her lectures, and indeed, nearly all her information has been helped me with the PCCN practice exam booklet.

Studying most of the Progressive Care Nursing Certification, Preparation, Review, and Practice Exam book by Thomas Aherns. This book gets a little wordy, but because it's specific to the PCCN, I have studied most of it, in particular, reading the the cardiac section twice.

Attempting to complete all or most of the questions in the Laura Gasparis CCRN Review Questions & Rational book - this is a tough book at times and it has over 1,200 questions categorized by system, but I have only 3 more sections to go. My co-workers tell me doing test questions is most beneficial, so this is the largest amount of questions I've been able to find. I did pretty well in cardiac & pulmonology, not so good in renal though.

Reviewing the handouts I got at a PCCN/CCRN review class I went to about 6 months ago.

Completed the 120 question official PCCN practice test booklet and got 83% (20 questions wrong out of 120). Do you think this gives me a good prognosis for the test?

I will do the 75 question official online PCCN practice test tomorrow, which I am nervous for, as my co-workers tell me it is quite difficult and a definite blow to one's confidence, however they say it did not keep them from successfully passing the exam.

I have been a nurse for almost 2 years (just shy by 2.5 months), however because of overtime, I have the hours of experience necessary to qualify for the exam.

I have never failed an exam yet, and I (foolishly) told some of my co-workers my test date, so now I will be quite embarrassed if I fail. I'll also be sad if all this studying is for not. :sorry: To be honest though, I have not been able to study in a concentrated fashion for more than a few days at time (2-4 days concentrated studying at various periods) over a 2 month period because I am busy with work (I work 12 hr nights) and personal matters.

I would greatly appreciate anyone's advice and feedback regarding my studying, preparation, and advice for taking and passing this test. Thank you in advance! :)

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Specializes in Critical Care.

If anyone has taken the CCRN recently, your advice would be appreciated too :)

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I took it in July. I didn't think it was that hard. The passing threshhold is pretty low (I think you have to get 68 questions correct out of the total graded). I don't know if your PCU takes stable vents, but there aren't any questions about ventilators. As AACN says, the majority of the material in the exam is cardiopulmonary.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Thank you so much for replying :) I completed the Laura G book - all 1200 questions haha - and did the online official practice exam which had only 75 questions. I got 83% on the paper official practice exam and 73% on the online exam :( I'm taking it in 1.5 hrs so hopefully those scores are sufficient.

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Like I said, I didn't think it was that hard, but kind of like NCLEX you never really feel confident while the test is going on. I thought I passed when I walked out, but I was at least mildly surprised that I got 90% of the questions correct.

Thank you so much for replying :) I completed the Laura G book - all 1200 questions haha - and did the online official practice exam which had only 75 questions. I got 83% on the paper official practice exam and 73% on the online exam :( I'm taking it in 1.5 hrs so hopefully those scores are sufficient.
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Specializes in Critical Care.

Great job and thank you for your advice! Wish me luck please :)

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I passed with 93% !! :) I would say that Laura G's videos and book definitely helped with almost everything on the test, but I'm very glad I supplemented the cardiac section with other study materials and took the official practice exams.

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I passed with 93% !! :) I would say that Laura G's videos and book definitely helped with almost everything on the test, but I'm very glad I supplemented the cardiac section with other study materials and took the official practice exams.

Congratulations. It's not that bad, folks. Really.

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Soo I'm taking my pccn in November , super nervous bc my test taking skills suck but none the less I've been studying for it the past two monts, any questions in particular that I need to concentrate on , abgs interpretation ? anything specific , anything at all will help :)

as far as studying goes , I've been reading the progressive care nursing certification book by Thomas Ahrens, donna prentice, ruth kleinpell. my coworker recently passed the pccn and told me it was more common sense bc I told her the book has some really tough questions , so it makes me wonder how ready I am .

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Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news: but it is what it is. I took the PCCN exam and did not pass. I was upset, disappointed, and a few other choice words and feelings to say the least. I could not get into the T.Ahrens book (it is too wordy). I have been nursing 6 years, studied my tail off (not literally, lol); but I know that I have never had confidence when it came to testing. I seem to be able to narrow the answers down to 2; but pick out the wrong one most times. I can talk myself into the answer and out of it. I failed by 7 questions (3 of which I knew the answers but with my testing anxiety on high alert, I chose the wrong one). So for those who say the exam is common sense; I have common sense and book smarts; but that didn't work for me. However, I have started studying again and plan on taking it again before the year of up (actually by next month). I do realize that I like to talk things through with others; finding others to meet with and actually discuss the exam (not work or our personal lives) is difficult.

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