Speechless

I believe there was only one post about increasing the attempts from 3 to 8 and they have yet to post again.. just saying.. but a lot of the posts way after the fact remained to be negative and directed towards the exam in general. It was one post versus the several other posts that have been made on page 31 from members who also agree that comments such as pity party are not helpful doses of reality...

The exam does not create good nurses nor does it prevent inefficient nurses, explains why some intelligent people fail on these boards while we still see terrible nurses working in the hospital. We are put into the situation where we HAVE to write a multiple choice exam for our license, we know it as we prepare for the exam and there is nothing we can do but prepare. There are many positives and negatives of a multiple choice exam testing knowledge and critical thinking but everyone is different, we all learn in a variety of ways and for SOME PEOPLE, multiple choice exams are terrible for them. Not everyone took the same program. Not everyone has the same lived experience of their exam. Yes people are being supportive but when there are berating posts about a pity party, refusing any reason for reprisal, minimizing the difficulty of the exam, these are NOT supportive and definitly not helpful criticism - it's judgemental and downright negative And I passed the exam.. I can't imagine how the others who failed, feel. From the looks of the last couple of posts, it appears to be obvious how these comments are making them feel.

When I applied 4 years ago, I had a 60's in calculus (teacher was a nut job, he got "laid off" soon after), but a 90 in Bio, Chem, and English and high 80's for my other Top 6 U/M courses and I got accepted. The cut off mark back then was in the 70's though and I have heard that the cut off grades have gone significantly higher and competition for spots in the nursing programs have increased as well so I'm not sure if my situation gives you any hope or not. Being a Ryerson graduate myself, it was OKAY, not the best as everyone says, I could make a huge list of reasons why it wasn't. One example was the lack of health science courses and the over abundance of theory courses that were essential the same concepts from year 1 to year 4, seriously it felt like I was in kindergarten (cut and paste, posters, etc). I don't know if you are but apply to other schools for Nursing such as Queens, McMaster, UofT, etc. Personally, I regret going to Ryerson and I should have stayed at UofT and have done their nursing program. One of my professors stated that the pass rate on the 2009 CRNE test takers at Ryerson was around ~40% and while I was taking the UofT CRNE prep course, they had disclosed that 100% of their graduates had passed the CRNE.. Just something to note. I don't know too much about York so I can't say, look up their curriculums and compare and see what school would most likely fit you.

While I do agree that the previous posters about keeping the CRNE at 3 attempts, I do want to say that the person who passed with only one attempt is no way better than the person who took 2 attempts to pass it. I do not think the CRNE is 100% indicative of how adequate a nurse is but I do believe that the CRNE is a very imperative step in becoming a nurse. I know I was smart enough, in practice and in the classroom through peers and professors but my downfall was most likely reading through the questions and not understanding what exactly it was asking for but this does not make me less of a qualified nurse because I passed on my 2nd attempt. Completing your BScN degree should not qualify you as a nurse either. I know I have seen people cheat on their school exams, do they deserve to graduate? No but they did. Same with the people who coast through the 4 years and not giving a damn. I do know a few people who have passed the CRNE and they've coasted through 4 years and cheated, does it mean they are better nurses than me? I seriously hope not and I do hope karma works its magic. The test is to ensure all the nursing students in Canada are able to enter the work-field as a basic nurse with the knowledge and competency to handle a human life. This is not a regular business job, a person's life is literally in your hands so there HAS to be a control measure for new graduates. The test does pass a very high percentage, like a previous poster said (80%+) of individuals, but what has been working for the colleges for many years continues to today. After one repeats an examination many times, is it because of their knowledge? capability of answering MC questions, finally overcome their anxiety OR because they took it so many times, it is just SO familiar to them and they haven't actually learned anything? I don't think people who passed their first attempt are better nurses than those who took 2 attempts but there has to be a line drawn somewhere. This isn't meant to degrade all the others who have failed on their attempts but I seriously hope all of you are not like cant wait RN - learn from your mistakes on the exam and try to overcome it, whining about your osap debt, the way the colleges have been handling the exams or any other trivial matter will not solve anything. Three attempts, no time limit on when you take them (besides your own personal due date because of loans and other matters), 200+ questions - if you aren't taking this seriously and not looking at what you did wrong, the colleges are correct in preventing you from obtaining your license.

I went to Ryerson. Honestly, if I looked back on it I probably would have stayed at uoft and hammered out the 2 years to apply. What is wrong with Ryerson, first of all NO PREFERENCE for your clinical placements whatsoever. Sure they have a form where you write down your preferences but nope they don't even accomodate it whatsoever. I had friends who put down pediatrics and did not get it BUT friends who haven't put down pediatrics got a placement with peds!! None of my preferences got chosen ever. Another thing, for third and fourth year you get to apply to Sick Kids for both semesters but what they don't tell you is that if you got Sick Kids for your fourth year 1st semester you can bet they won't even turn in your application for second semester to give other ppl the chance to get in (this happened to my close friend who confronted the placement office and the managers at Sick Kids, Sick kids had nothing to do win it; Ryerson controls whether your application gets sent) Secondly there are TOO MANY theory courses and not enough science credits. You ONLY get 2 health science course and it's in 1st and 2nd year: anatomy & physiology and nursing pathotherapeutics. The 3rd one is adult/maternal/family health in fourth year that is completely optional. Yes theres health assessment but thats only in 1st year. There are no pharmacology or other health science credits you can take. Uoft: 2 years but they go for 10 months long each year. Shorter clinical stays BUT you will get to experience almost every field of nursing, maternal, peds, ENT, clinics, etc AND you have a saying in where you want to go for your consolidation (not really at Ryerson) there are less people to accommodate at uoft so placements are much easier for them to coordinate not only that but they have a control in the dt hospitals since they also have a medical school. For the last 2 years, students at uoft who opted to have their crne results sent to uoft and it is a 100% pass rate for their students (~uoft crne prep course) i would have went here, I regret going to Ryerson but I have a lot more to say but yeah here aree the reaaons.

If I had failed however, I would take some time off to think and mentally prepare for my last attempt. Don't rush it guys, the last thing you will need is the thought that you didn't study enough for your last attempt. Use it wisely! I don't know what really happens after the third attempt but I have only read that you must take your 4 year program again so please think about this carefully! It is your choice however, just remember to think about how exactly you failed and how to overcome it. Lovelivelearn, sometimes studying hard will not mean we will be successful on this exam and it does not mean you aren't smart enough either. Pure knowledge questions make up a tiny percentage of this exam, but to critically apply them is a huge portion. The questions that are meant to ask you for the best action, first response, or a specific response to their respiratory or renal or ethics are meant to confuse you. eg. Sometimes when the question is talking about the person and their vital signs are stable but THE actual question asks you about their pain; you can guarantee there will be answers that will relate to the vital signs but that won't be what they are looking for. You said you panicked try having your own mock exams to prepare yourself for the atmosphere. Look through the blueprint you got and clarify how you failed and whether you need to brush up on your knowledge or if it's anxiety or reading comprehension (critical thinking questions) Review of The uoft crne prep course: Cost: $295 if you register early otherwise it's $350 Its a 2-day 8 hour course per day. It is NOT a content review course but rather an analysis of how to answer crne questions. They do a mock 200 question exams and go through the answers and how to answer them. They also split you into groups to answer another set of questions with the uoft nursing profs. You don't get to keep the exam but you get to keep a key blueprint of your answers and what you got wrong, similar to the breakdown of questions and what you got wrong on the crne but in much greater detail. OVERALL: this is great if you need help with READING and UNDERSTANDING crne questions, again NOT A content review course.

Hello everyone, If anyone remembers me, I took the June 2010 exam and I had failed by two points. It was disheartenening, I cried, I was sad, etc. I felt the exam was too medical based (which we are told that it clearly isn't) and I also felt that the readiness exam, CRNE prep guides were useless. WELL, I quickly applied again, I went straight to the CNO and gave them my application since it was near the application deadline for the October exam. I decided to take a course at UofT, the CRNE prep course, money well spent. I started to study 2 months before the exam, did not help because I was just re-reading what I already knew.. the knowledge. So I bought some NCLEX and Mosbys questions guides and did multiple choice throughout the last week before the CRNE. I felt confident, I felt I knew what I was doing and what to expect. The day of the exam, attempt #2, I went in, sat down prepared to write it. I remained calm, looked at my watch and calculated how much time was left and whether I should speed up or not. I felt confidant throughout, finished the exam on time with lots of time to spare and to look back at my questions, I remained confident after the exam. Two weeks later I was still confidant. 6 weeks later, which leads to now, I wasn't expecting it all and got mail from the CNO on Monday, I prepared for the worst, opened the letter and I passed :) Tears of joy, happiness, euphoria, you name it. ------------------------------ Now; for those who were unsuccessful whether it be your 1st or 2nd attempt, figure out why you failed. For a long time, I often thought of WHY I failed, was it because my knowledge was lacking? was it because I didn't read the questions correctly? was it because I was nervous? did I panic so I forgot how to answer M.C. questions? Knowledge is easily solved; read and study more, don't try to memorize, actually learn the material. If it takes you 1 book or 5 books to do it, so be it. Reading comprehension, no this does not mean you are stupid, the questions are worded to confuse you, to throw you off, to specify one instance but really ask something entirely unrelated. Practice this, really read through the question, what EXACTLY is it asking you to do? this is where you should highlight or underline key words to help YOU answer the question. Nervous? try having mock exams before the actual exam, time yourself, pretend it is a real exam, do it in a quiet area. So you know someone who only studied 1 day before the exam? does not matter. So you studied for 6 months and you failed? does not matter. The amount of time does not correlate to success, please please try and remember this. I must have studied 5 times more for my first attempt compared to my 2nd attempt. Everyone must have had some friends who have only studied x amount of time and passed/failed. Its all individually based, if it takes you 4 months to pass or it takes you 1 week to pass; that's fine because you passed. All that matters is that you learn the knowledge required, learn how to read and understand the questions thoroughly and remember to stay calm.

I used Mosbys review guide, 2 crne prep guides, did 80% on the online readiness test, read the compendium of standards. I guess that wasn't enough? There was too much patho on my exam, it almost makes me want to buy NCLEX books as well. Those two CRNE prep guides were useless to me, the exam questions WERE ABSOLUTELY nothing like them. I hardly got any psycho-social questions.. ugh Did anyone find that too? Does anyone else recommend some NCLEX books? Anyone else reccommend any other CRNE study-type books? It's hard to keep my head up after being so close to a pass (119/121)..

I'm so ... My set of questions were mostly patho. I was so prepared to write for psychosocial but instead I got more physio-patho questions, which was not what the CRNE was about but the NCLEX was about. I focused on the opposite.. who knew it would be more patho,.

Failed by two points. Not sure what to do now.