bcems134

I thought that I would have to wait for a certain date to come around once a month or so for the exam, but that is not the case. You get your ATT from the board you are testing for and then you go online to pearsonvue and register to take the exam. Once I got there, it popped up a page with the next week listed and times every 30 minutes during the day to test. It was much simpler than I had anticipated. I got ATT on Friday and registered for NCLEX the following Thursday. It was that easy. You do it when you want to, not at the mercy of the state.

OH MY! Congratulations!

My school used ATI during the program as well. I finished 2 weeks ago and the last week was dedicated to ATI review from the instructors of ATI. There were 3 of them and they were absolutely incredible. They were knowledgeable, thorough and easy to approach. Their lesson plans were directly from the ATI books, more specifically the ATI NCLEX-RN review. I will test this week, and while I have a healthy respect for the NCLEX, I am not worried about it. I was well prepared for the ATI review by my school, yet my predictor exam went up a few points afterwards, but the exam does not really show the actual knowledge I gained from the ATI review. The instructors are truly amazing and I would recommend the review to everyone as a recap of all the courses of the year. The peace of mind in knowing I am prepared for NCLEX is worth every penny spent on ATI. In my case, the ATI review was paid for by school and did not cost me anything extra. Having said that, there are many people who use Kaplan and other review courses with success.

I just finished mine and turned it in a week early. It was making me crazy trying to get the important stuff to look good and the minor stuff to disappear. My instructor finally told me "It is just an academic exercise, don't sweat it". After that I put it together quickly and easily. I already had a job interview and nobody asked to see my portfolio. HTH.

I am in NC. I have been in contact with my faculty about the issue and have started thinking about places other than hospitals which I am open to, but I will keep reaching for a hospital job. In the meantime I will keep on working on the next 6 weeks of school and see what happens. CCRN Marie, I am thinking about another position within the hospital where I would like to work, but there is a 6 month hold on applying to another position. So if I were to be hired in say teletech, I couldn't apply as RN for 6 more months after I was hired. I am not sure 4-5 months as a tech while I am an RN is what I really want to do, but I know it will get foot in door, as Ashley said above, so it is becoming more appealing. Thanks for the responses.

I wish the hospital had that program as I specifically asked HR yesterday about New Grad positions yesterday. She said they no longer had that position, and I was overqualified for the nurse externships which would have started as a junior. She recommended getting on at the hospital in another position and in 6 months apply for an RN position. In the meantime, I would be an RN working as a CNA. I find that frustrating, and I am unclear if that would actually lead to an RN job ultimately.

I can understand your frustration and disappointment at getting your last choice. I don't want to make light of your situation either, but I know that if you made it this far in nursing school, you can do 6 months in mental health preceptor. You might hate every minute of it, you might find out its okay after all, or you might really enjoy it. (I doubt it from what you have said, but maybe) I think in that situation I would attend preceptor hours to start off, and if it is just absolutely something you can not do, go to the placement adviser once and ask for another assignment. I have learned time and again that life is not fair, and certainly nursing school is not fair, but those who put their head into it and move on with the assignments with a smile on their face are the ones who come out ahead. Keep telling yourself it is only 6 months... or 12 hours down, 888 to go, or whatever mind game you need to do in order to get through. You are so close, don't let this overwhelm you. You can do it.

You have fundamentals, mother baby/peds, medsurg and psych all at one time? Sheesh! Those were spread out over different quarters for me, they are all the hardest courses I took. The rest should be a piece of cake.

I will graduate in a few weeks, and I have started looking for jobs. I am looking for a hospital job, and would start anywhere they hire new graduates, but it looks like everywhere requires at least 1 year experience! How do you get a job, if you don't have any experience?

If you can't afford to buy your own books for school, maybe you should not get that $300 tattoo you have scheduled for tomorrow after clinical.

I don't understand how you can fail a TEAS test. When I took it there was a number for individual scores and a total score. Not a pass fail grade. Are you saying you did not score high enough for acceptance to a particular program?

I am about to start my 4th quarter of a 5 quarter program, and I told the director yesterday that I don't remember a thing from our first 3 weeks of class! We were all overwhelmed with getting accepted, starting 3 days late due to snow days, and not knowing what to think of it all. Stress plays a huge role in learning, and school is stressful. Sort of a catch 22. A lot of people have doubts, some may drop due to grades or poor choices..my thought is, I have paid for the quarter, there are people counting on me and I will succeed at this assignment, this concept map, this quiz, exam, or IV start or catheter... Whatever the issue is, it is only one small part of the bigger picture. Get through it, have another success under my belt, and gain confidence. I am not about to fail at something I have not given my best. And if I fail at it, I try again sooner rather than later. It's like riding a bike, when you fall and get hurt, the longer you stay off and stare at it and cry, the more difficult it is to get back on. I grab that bike by the horns and give it a thump on the wheels, throw a leg over and do it again. It gets easier, it gets harder, it gets disgusting and frustrating and sad and overwhelming, but I do it anyway because I am not a quitter. Hang in there and good luck.

I bought the online practice tests and saw very similar questions on version V. I would highly recommend the practice test as a baseline and then study my weaknesses based on those results. My school uses the ATIs throughout the year and I have found that tactic to be extremely helpful. I scored a full 10 points lower on version V, than 3.0/4.0.

My private school is 24 months, including prereqs, and will cost around $45,000 The community college in the same town would cost about $6000, unless you are out of state, then it is closer to $24,000. I too am in NC.

Not yet a student, and apparantly I have alot to learn because I don't even know what DDNA is. Developmently Disabled Nurse Assistant? Director of the Department Nurses of Aide? I don't know, help me out here...