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That help alot Terry! Thank you so much!

i am beginning to think of furthering my education and becoming a CRNA. i am a peds staff nurse at the # 1 peds hospital in the country, but still find myself cranky, tired, and stressed out more than half of the time. i am thinking of CRNA, which was my initial goal prior to going into nursing. i already have a certificate in massage therapy and 2 Bachelor's degrees, so needless to say, i am not all about going back to school for more 'hazing' as i call it, if the working conditions are not pretty good. i'd like to know from current crna's what do you like most and least about the job, without salary as an answer. thanks. :welcome:

My advice is to spend 6-8 hours each weekday studying at Borders or someplace like this to keep you awake. Take ear plugs. Do between 200 and 400 questions from Kaplan a day. Relax on the weekends and do nothing the day before. Also check out the contact, droplet, and airborne precautions on the Yale website. :monkeydance: I prepared this way after I completed the Kaplan classroom and I passed Aug 30 with 75 questions. Not only did I pass, but I felt confident and felt like the Kaplan kinda tricks you into learning this stuff. For real, I am not a good test taker, and after all of my preparation, there is no way I could have failed. Melissa BSN, RN

I took the NCLEX-RN Aug 30. I passed with 75 questions in an hour and a half. I would recommend nothing but Kaplan all the way. If you use Kaplan like they tell you, you will not only pass...you will do so quickly and confidently. Melissa, BSN, RN

Kaplan all the way. Sorry to hear about your NCLEX experiences. I took the test one time and passed with 75 questions and I could not have done it without Kaplan. I would suggest putting all of your books back on the shelves, so you don't get overloaded and enroll in a Kaplan course. It will be well worth your time and money. Not only did I pass, I was very confident. I am generally a poor test taker and test anxiety is normally excessive for me, but after Kaplan, there was no way I could have choked. Best wishes. Don't lose your confidence, you KNOW the info, you will pass! :monkeydance:

:monkeydance: Thanks for all of the good wishes. I took the test this morning. I had only 75 questions and that was that. I am hopeful. One good thing is that I actually knew some of the answers without just guessing. Thank god for Kaplan. So, now I am anxiously waiting results. I am afraid to have failed at 75 questions because I will be really upset if I was proven incompetent that quickly. I studied a little over 100 hours!! As for now, I am going camping tomorrow with no phones or computers to continue checking and worrying about. I'll have to find some comfort in my hard work, focus, dedication, oh, and the miller lites by the camp fire:) Thanks again and I will post after vacation to let you all know how I did. Hopefully it will be another 75 and done success story to keep others hopeful. Melissa , BSN, 'RN' ?

marieinla - same exact thing happened to me today - off at 75 - i feel good about it - but i don't want to feel to confident until i know

I just took the boards today - It shut off at 75 and I feel pretty good about it. I just finished Kaplan about 2 weeks ago. I purchased the Kaplan complete. I did watch every minute of those online content videos, and to tell you what - I wouldn't bother. I say this because, I chose to watch those videos in lieu of reading that huge Kaplan review book - well if there was info I couldn't remember or that was brought up a lot in questions, I would have to turn to that book. So, here is what I found totally do-able and helpful - during the review class, pay attention in class and when you are about half way through start on the Q Trainer. Don't worry about your % grades. The day after it stops, start going to Borders or someplace similar ALL day long. Spend time on QBank + QTrainer and alternate the time answering questions with time spent on a chapter in the book. This only works if you are like me and study for 6 - 8 hours at a time, but I found this to be the most helpful and I ended up actually reading that whole Kaplan book just in sections and in different order, so I didn't even realize it. Hope this helps.

I'm in the hot seat tomorrow - I have been thinking of you in it today marieinla. I hope it went well!!

HAVE YOU CONSIDERED A KAPLAN REVIEW COURSE?

I am taking the NCLEX Wednesday 8/30 at 8 am. I am feeling very similar to you. I just got to Starbucks for my final 2 hours of studying. I took a Kaplan review course, and spent tons and tons of hours doing the QBank and QTrainer questions. 2 days ago I put it all away and relaxed. The plan now is 80 more questions - one practice of 50 in Kaplan Q Bank that I haven't done already and a review of the 30 priority/delegation questions from Kaplan. (I did the 30 questions test already and did well on it, but from what I hear, everyone has these questions - so I just want to be sure. After these next 2 hours - I plan on looking at nothing until right before I walk in there, I am going to review the lab values so I can write them on the dry erase board right away. My point is, I don't know if our confidence is right or not, but at least we both know we aren't alone. Good luck!

oh sorry - i should have specified - i did the course and now i am completing questions online with the qtrainer and the qbank.

Thank you so much! Seriously the one thing that I keep struggling with are the various precautions, so that website is golf for me! I too have been using Kaplan. My test is one week from today. I am glad to hear that Kaplan worked for you and I will use your kind advice. Thanks and congrats - you earned it!

Where can I find Suzanne's advice for NCLEX? I have read this on a few posts, and I am knew to site, so I am not sure how to navigate. Besides, I only log on when I am taking a study break, and if I try to investigate everything right away, I won't study. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad :chuckle

Thanks so much for your input. I have been doing Kaplan questions like crazy. I also attended the in class Kaplan review. I am learning a ton, and feeling more comfortable with the answering of the Kaplan questions, but my score seems to hover around hi 50 % and low 60 %. It is comforting to hear your scores were not too much higher. I scored very high on prioritization and delegation and I am awesome at Psychosocial, so I am counting on that to increase my scores. Any other advice, please let me know :)

I get excited, depressed, frustrated, and excited again. I have been studying all Kaplan and MedPub, but mostly Kaplan. I am concerned because I am learning a ton, and feeling way more comfortable with the test as I practice more and more, but my % score isn't really changing too much. Anyone else experience this?

Did anyone else take Kaplan and pass? My test is in one week and I am studying as if it is a full time job. I am learning a ton, and my test grades are staying around 60%, but don't seem to be improving. I think I will be fine, if I just take my time and slow down, but I just wanted some reassurance from a recent BSN and Kaplan grad. :caduceus: PS - That totally sucks that RNs make so little money in some areas, in Philly we are very well take care of:) I know it is not all about the money, but that seems to make all the studying hell worth while.