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Hi Laura.S, If you're a pre-specialty student, I don't have any recommendations because I entered the program in my specialty year. If you will also be starting the program in the speciality year, I recommend using your free time to do things you enjoy before starting this program. Although the workload is manageable, it is still intense. I spent the summer before starting this program traveling, reading for pleasure, and relaxing--all things that I'm not able to do with much frequency now that I'm in the program. The 3 Ps (advanced pharm, advanced patho, and advanced physical assessment) will require the bulk of your attention and time in the first semester (at least this has been my experience). For all 3 of these classes, test information is based not only on lecture, but on assigned research articles, guest lectures, videos, etc. So even though you could theoretically spend time reading textbooks or review books before the program starts, you don't know which topics to spend time on because you haven't started yet or had your lectures. And in the case of guest lectures or specific research articles that professors assign you to read, there is obviously no way to prepare for that before you start the program. It would be a waste of your time to read multiple 80+ page chapters, or work through a review book, ahead of time and find that the professor only covers a fraction of that in lecture. Most people in my specialty came to orientation and the first couple days of classes without having even ordered books. If you are OMTA and if you will be responsible for finding your own clinical sites, I would start on that as soon as possible. It's never too early to start identifying preceptors. So, basically, breathe and enjoy yourself before the program starts. I can tell by your eagerness to get started that you will do just fine :) I hope this helps, and I'm sorry if it wasn't quite the answer you were looking for! Let me know if you have any other questions.

Chappie- I didn't prepare in advance for advanced pharm or patho, and I currently have an A average in both of those classes right now. I mainly use the lectures and the lecture powerpoints to study, and use the books to clarify anything that I didn't understand from lecture. From my experience, the tests come straight from what they cover in lecture. It will help to get a head start in these classes, but I don't think it's 100% necessary to do so in order to be successful in the class! Hope this helps.

Hi Robin1992- I'm not sure if al specialities have to interview. I am in the PMHNP specialty and I got asked for an interview in middle-late January I believe and was accepted on February 14th.

Hi Tennisoopss, Do not worry! If that's what you were told by your speciality then that it what you should go with. I am in the PMHNP speciality and the specialities all work a bit differently. Hope this helps.

TangoDeux, I can only speak for the PMHNP program, but the prespecialty students DO NOT have to find their own clinical sites/preceptors. Prespecialty students are required to stay in the Middle TN area and the faculty sets up their clinical sites. OMTA students are responsible for finding their own sites/preceptors where they live. They submit the info to the clinical placement office who will then start the process of establishing a contract.

Chappie-- The program is a lot of work, but it's been manageable. Just stay on top of watching the lectures and the assignments and you will do fine. I find that the exam questions are easier than BSN because they are straight forward as opposed to "NCLEX style questions" of a BSN program. In the first semester, at least in the PMHNP program, you won't get to spend much time with your psych classes because the bulk of this semester is devoted to passing advanced patho, advanced pharm, and advanced health assessment. The psych classes for this semester don't have exams or quizzes so they end up at the bottom of my to-do list. We're told that in the second and third semesters, we will focus more on clinical and our psych classes. I'm OMTA. I'm not sure where Clarksville is, but if it is outside of the middle TN area, start looking for clinical sites yesterday. Seriously. Start reaching out to potential preceptors now so that when it comes time to submit then to clinical placement office in the spring, you'll be ready. These contracts are way more complicated to secure than one may think.

1. I spent a considerable amount of time writing/tweaking my essays to make sure that they reflected my personality, my reasons for wanting to become an NP, and my goals once I become an NP. In other words, your responses need to go beyond just "I want to become an NP to help people." Your responses, ESPECIALLY your statement of purpose, should also demonstrate that you understand what your scope of practice will be as an NP will be and that you will be apart of a multidisciplinary team. 2. A professor from my BSN program, an NP that I shadowed, and a work supervisor. 3. Yes, it is okay to apply without having all the prereqs completed as long as you provide them with the plan you have for completing them before the program starts. I am not a pre-specialty student, but I assume you would do this during your interview. Or maybe there is a section in the application where you can write it in? Hope this helps. Any other questions, just leave them here.

Hello all- I am currently a specialty PMHNP student at VUSN (entered the program with a BSN). Please feel free to ask me any questions. Good luck with your applications!

Is it to early to assume that it's not a good sign if you applied for PMHNP before the November 1 deadline and havent heard anything yet?

Thank you so much for the kind words! The Q bank login has been given away, but maybe that person will pass it on once she passes her NCLEX ?

I looked through these discussion boards a lot while I was preparing for the NCLEX, and I told myself that I would come back to share my experience if i passed. I also wanted to share my experience because I got stressed out reading about others' preparation on this site because it seemed like everyone was doing so much more than I was. BEFORE THE EXAMI graduated from my accelerated BSN program in the middle of December. I moved back to my hometown and did not do anything nursing related until I bought the Kaplan Q bank (the Q bank ONLY, not the course) around 12/22. When I bought the Q bank, I did the NCLEX practice exam 1 and got 58%. I was discouraged with my score so I took a break until after the new year and did not do any questions or review. After the new year, I really got down to business and started completing the Kaplan q bank, I did 75-150 questions a day until I completed the entire bank. My cumulative score for the bank was 62%. I then went back and did ONLY the questions that I got incorrect the first time around. Each day after I completed my questions, I would go back and review the rationales for ALL of the questions. I wrote down some of the rationales (the ones I had trouble remembering) into a notebook. It was really helpful to review the rationales because they sometimes contained information that did not have to do with the particular question asked, but would help me for other questions. My scores on the Q bank questions ranged from 52%-77%. So if you are scoring low on the q bank questions, do not get discouraged!! I finished the entire q bank plus the ones I got wrong ~3 days before the exam. My practice NCLEX scores on kaplan were 58%, 54%, 90%, and 32%(all SATA questions). I also found the Question Trainers online (did not pay for them) and did QT 4,5, and 6. I do not know what my scores on them though because of the way the website was set up. THE DAY BEFORE THE EXAMThe day before the exam, I babysat from 8-5:30. Throughout the day, I did 106 Lacharity questions that I found on quizlet. After I got off, I went to the bar with my friend for a couple of drinks. When I got home, I skimmed the 38 page study guide that's floating around on here and then went to bed. EXAM DAYI woke up at 6:30 am (test was at ? and had breakfast. I got my dad to drive me to the testing center so that I could review lab values and nutrition info (what foods are high in potassium, phosphorus, etc). I went into the testing center at 7:30 am and waited for my number to be called. I started the exam at around 8:05. I completed the entire process (exam instructions from the test center employee, pre test questions, test, post test survey) in 1 hour and 50 minutes. I was nervous during the test, but not to the point where I was shaking or anything. I was able to focus on the questions. I had 22 SATA, 3 drag and drop, 5 medications, and no calculations. I wasn't sure on any of the medication questions, but I guess that I was able to make good guesses. When I got home, I did the PVT and got the good pop up. I used a visa gift card that had $2 on it. The card you choose to enter has to VALID. It does not have to have $200 dollars on it, but the card number and expiration date has to be valid. After I got the good pop up the first time, I tried it again by changing the last number on my card. It said "invalid credit card number". When I entered it again using my real number, I got the good pop up once again. Today when I woke up, I checked my state board website and I saw that I was officially an RN and I have never felt so relieved! In case you didn't read my ramblings above, here is a summary of what I did to prepare: The entire Kaplan q bankLacharity questions I found on quizlet3 Question Trainer banks38 page study guide that I found on this siteI studied for 3 weeks total. I hope that this helps anyone that is discouraged about their Kaplan Q bank scores or anyone that is only using the Q bank to study. GOOD LUCK to those of you preparing to take the exam soon! Just believe in yourself, trust your knowledge, and do as many practice questions and you can get your hands on! Check Out The Following Videos... NCLEX-Study-Guide (2).pdf