Jasoninpa

I too was sure that I failed the exam. Took it on Thur, June 20. Had all 265 questions and took over 4 hours. I even know for sure that I got the last question wrong (some people have said that if you go all the way to 265, if you get the last question wrong, you fail and if you get it right, you pass-- not necessarily true at all). The PVT gave me the good pop up shortly after I took the exam. Sure enough, two days later (actually to be more precise, about 49 hours after I began the exam), quickresults came up for me on PearsonVue and I was able to confirm that I PASSED!!!! And yes, you will feel like you are making a guess on nearly every question. I sure did. Remember it's not the number of questions you get right; it's the level of difficulty of the questions you do get right. NCSBN says that each question you get, you should have about a 50% chance of getting right, because it matches the difficulty of questions up with your estimated ability based on your answers to previous questions. Anytime you're getting about 50% of questions right, you're going to fail like you're failing-- because in the real world, a 50% IS a fail.

Yes, it works!!!!. I also did all 265 questions on Thur, June 20. Thought for sure I failed. Even know for a fact I got the last question wrong. When I got home, I did the PVT and got the good popup. For the next two days, I checked the PearsonVue site and tried the popup about 50 times-- and got it every time. I just received my quick results about 49 hours after starting that exam, and I officially unofficially PASSSEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So excited!!! That wait is torture. Let the PVT be some comfort to you.

Hi everyone. I got my ATT on Wed, June 19. Took a leap and scheduled the exam the very next day-- Thur, June 20. Let me tell you, I was a nervous wreck; couldn't sleep the whole night, had not appetite. I went the entire distance on that test-- did 265 questions and over 4 hours. Thought for certain when leaving that place that I had failed. It was HORRIBLE. I even know for a fact that I got the very last question wrong, because I had heard the rumor that if you get 265 questions and miss the last one, you fail but if you get it right you pass. That is not necessarily true. Like I said, I know I got it wrong because after the test I went home and researched it. I remembered that question well for that very reason. I got home 2 hours later, did the PVT trick. I got the good pop up that says "You recently scheduled for this exam, please contact your member board for assitance. This exam cannot be rescheduled at this time." (not verbatim) I kept checking the website to do the trick literally like 30 times a day, and it always came back. This gave me a lot of comfort, because having done a lot of research on this pvt, I was pretty certain it is 100% accurate or close to it. Just now, about 49 hours after I started the exam, my quick results became available. I PASSED!!!! So, if you are suffering traumatic distress over this exam like I was, let my testimony be some solace. I believe firmly it works. If you get the good pop, you passed. If you go to the cc page, there is a small possibility you still passed. You can get a false neg but you wont get a false positive. And, yes, the NCLEX tested on almost nothing that I learned in nursing school. It's true, you will feel like EVERY question is basically a guessing game between at least 2 choices.

Get a job as a nursing assistant or PCT. The hospital atmosphere and the whole culture and pacing of it will become like second nature. As far as hospital-based programs having better clinical experiences, that's not necessarily true. In general, they do have MORE clinical hours. But MORE doesn't necessarily translate into BETTER. Your clinical experience is going to depend on what YOU make of it, and on the style of your instructor. Every once in a while there is an instructor who makes the clinical time about themselves and about putting you through the ringer; you know, the types with a chip on their shoulders, who, no matter what you do, you can't win. Others are awesome and are truly there to encourage and to help you learn. So, generalizations are not necessarily fail-proof. Community colleges graduate good and bad nurses-- as do hospital-based programs, I'm sure.

Hi everyone. Don't put too much stock into the claim by a lot of people on these boards that every semester they reject hundreds of applicants with high gpas. I'm going into my last semester of the program next month, and I can tell you that a 4.0 is not the average gpa of people coming into the program, as some would have you believe. That said, I would focus on getting as many of my coreqs done as possible-- as quickly as possible. And aim for As. It can only help you. It doesn't hurt, either, to apply to the hospital programs in the area: Mercy (which still does their tuition forgiveness), Shadyside, and St. Margaret. And then, of course, there are other programs like West Penn (assuming it still exists) or CCBC, if you are desperate to start and are willing to drive. Lots of assumptions here, I know. I wish I could offer something more concrete. I have a friend who is trying to get into CCAC or Mercy's program right now with a history of bad grades, so I'm advising him and it's like going back through the whole process-- which is what brought me back to the boards. The program seems like it takes forever to complete (at least in my opinion). And yes, you CAN work and attend school. The schedules are do-able. If you need specifics on anything, let me know.

outside the nursing office door in the 204 posting section

I'm going into my third semester at CCAC starting next month. Don't believe the hype you hear on these message boards about getting into programs...it is mostly B.S. Yes, you definitely have a chance to be accepted to CCAC...and no, contrary to what someone else said, it does not mean that CCAC is "begging" to get people. CCAC is either No 1 or No 2 among community colleges in numbers of nursing students they graduate. It is just that some people on the board decided the Pax was "discriminatory," so they decided to throw it out. There's a difference. When I applied to CCAC, I remember all the hype circulating on these forums saying that CCAC only accepts 1 out of 4 applicants, average gpa is nearly 4.0, etc. And that was from people who supposedly saw the applications and the admissions office deciding who was in and who was out. It is people making up things to pretend to know more than they do. I also remember people talking about how high the fail-out rate is, which is bs also. You'll hear gossip once you are in the program, too. Take it all with a grain of salt unless you see it in writing or hear it from a professor. I would go to the CCAC website and see when the deadline is for the next class. If you can, take some of your corequisities or prerequisites before then to bring up your gpa a little. Don't get your hopes down. :)

It depends on what course it is that you need completed. If it is just a coreq or prereq such as English 101 or A and P II or Micro, you can take those at any campuses. BUT, all campuses should be scheduling all the classes you need to complete your degree. If the course you need is say, one of the core classes such as NRN102 and you completed NRN101 at another campus, then you have to officially submit a form-- and be approved-- for transfer. IDK much about where other campuses do their clinicals, but at Allegheny, in 101 I had clinicals at Kane and UPMC Mercy. This semester in 102, I was at AGH for Med-Surg, West Penn for OB and am now at Children's for Peds. Clinical groups are divided into about 7 or 8 people in each group, and where they go may differ a bit. One group for Med-Surg went to Kindred Hospital, which is in the South Side by AGH. I believe for 202 we go to Western Psyche for a rotation, though I have not received formal word on that yet. There is a lot of work the administration does behind the scenes to arrange all these clinicals, so will prob find out in January when the next term starts. Here's a good link: http://www.ccac.edu/default.aspx?id=143292 Hope that helps.

For those of you who are stressed/hesitant about CCAC due to the Pax: they are no longer using it for admissions, starting with the Fall '12 entering class. You need a 2.8 gpa. As far as St. Margaret's program: I know someone who left their program and is in my class at CCAC now. He said their assignments are extensive...as in a royal pain. For nursing employment, the Diploma is essentially the same as the Associate's Degree. The credits are equivalent to each other also, so they transfer in the BSN. UPMC favors grads from their nursing programs for hire. AGH hires CCAC grads regularly, I hear. I'd rather work at AGH anyway. You can't beat CCAC's cost. I ended up going to CCAC because of cost and location and hearing actually negative things about Margs-- and the fact that Shadyside severly rolled back their tuition forgiveness program. Regardless of where you go, the program is what you make of it. How much do you want to study? That is what largely determines how much you learn.

I'm in the 102 program, and we just finished the OB portion of the lectures. The people who say the program gets harder and harder, and more and more is required of you as you progress through the semesters, are spot-on. I've never done so poorly on tests as I did on the two OB tests. All the smarts in the world are not going to be any substitute for raw studying. The students who do well are the ones who put in the grease work. They had the 204 final course grades posted, and not even one person got an A as final grade in the class. There were several Bs but mostly all Cs. The tests are all multiple choice, and there are a lot of scenarios ("What would be the priority nursing interventions, etc).

Lauren, thanks for offering to give information. I haven't heard anything about them bringing back the NET. I suppose by them saying the PAX is "discriminatory" to international students, it is talking about becaues they have to be able to read the english language. I've never taken the NET, but I know that a section on it was reading. So, don't see how that takes that out of the equation. I did have a question: so how was the job search for your graduating class? Thanks

I don't know what the hours requirements for nursing students is in Pa, or how many hours CCAC's program includes officially. But, doing the math, it actually quite a few hours. 8hours/week x 16 weeks x 2 semesters=256 hours. Plus, last two semesters, we do I think 16 hours/weekx 16(2)=512. 512+256=768. And the total is actually higher than this, because for the last five weeks or so, we have a nurse mentor we work alongside. But I don't know the specifics on how many days a week and how many hours that is. So, in all, probably around 1000 or more hours completed in clinical for the ADN at CCAC. That being said, the quality of the education is dependent on the instructor, sites, etc. You can spend 10 years in a setting, but if you aren't exposed to certain things, you will never learn them.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that instructors who allow students to be slackers are good. A teacher can be great without being a drill sergeant. When the instructor makes clinicals about *learning* rather than about *them,* that is what I'm talking about as beneficial. Sometimes learning can get lost in all the ego. My instructors this semester have shown us how to do things, and I've learned a heck of a lot more in the last six weeks than I did all last semester. Besides, it is hard to learn in an environment where a teacher is trying to intimidate. :)

Sewnmom, I heard the head of the nursing dpt at Allegheny campus say something about they needed to keep their Nclex pass rate above 85% or so. That is a threshold that apparently the state looks at for nursing school accreditation. I know that at one point West Penn's nursing program was on probation from the state for low pass rates. As far as liking nursing, who you have as an instructor, in my opinion, can make a big difference. My group has been lucky this semester because we've had extremely supportive, knowledgeable instructors who have made the focus on student learning rather than running clinicals like a drill sergeant. I'll admit, the first semester I felt kind of lost. I felt like I was just basically a CNA, but without CNA training. Because of that, people were still wondering how to turn off the bed alarms and count I/O or turn off a call light in second semester. Now, because of the right instructors, we are being showe a LOT, and all the pieces are really coming together. So, if you feel discouraged, hang in there, seriously. It will all make sense. IT REALLY WILL. :)

You're right, Amy. And the point about the test being "hard" is beside the point, because you are not scored based on the percentage of questions you get correct; you are scored based on HOW YOU DO IN COMPARISON TO EVERYONE ELSE. That's what a percenTILE means rather than a percentage. So, presumably if it is "hard," it is harder on average for everyone, and as a consequence, everyone's average number correct is lower. CCAC requires/required a 50th percentile (not a 50 percent), which is the very definition of average. That is not "good"-- it is AVERAGE. I think you should be at least average to be a nurse. Dear God. lmao. I won't go into specifics on here, but I've seen things happen already at clinical where literally patients' lives were at stake, and skilled nursing made a big difference in the nick of time. "Discriminated against international students" is just code for political correctness run amok. I'm curious to see what they substitute it with (if anything); apparently being able to read at an 11th grade level is discriminatory. And you're right about everyone talking about how hard the program is to get into. I remember on this forum before I applied, people said that like only 1/4 got accepted, etc. Now they act like they're practically searching for applicants. Okay.That's all I'm going to say about this. lmao.