Really Need Some Advice

Get out your CNA workbook and practice, practice, practice! Get someone to act as your patient if you can...if not, use your imagination.

Remember the most important steps are hand washing and patient safety. When in doubt, wash your hands.

SAY the steps out loud as you do them....even when you are testing will help with nerves.

All you can do is practice.

Take your time while doing the skills. If you have to stop and think, stop and think. Yes, there's a time limit but there's no need to rush. Go over the skills at home, practice. Good luck!

YouTube videos!! I just passed my written and skills tests last week without taking a class. All I did was read the manual and watch the videos. I also practiced once or twice with someone acting as the patient and me talking through what I would do. Here's a link to one of the videos I used, if you click on the account for that person you can get videos for all the skills:

. Also, when I was taking the skills test, I talked through everything. If I was giving catheter care, I made sure to state that I was not overexposing the patient while I was washing the tubing. Good luck - you can do this!

Things to always remember on the state test: Wash hands before anything, as soon as you walk in give privacy, bed in lowest position and call light at end of task, wash hands at end of task. Other than that verbalize every step youre doing and it'll be cake. Just wait till you have nursing school skills check offs

I watched the you tube videos and I set up a mock exam room in my house. My friend volunteered to be the patient and I would do mock runs. That really helped because I would verbalize each step (she had the book and would let me know when I missed one) and it helped me with my time. I had two water skills on my skills exam which made me glad I had practiced. Where are you planning on taking it? My instructor gave us a list of facilities to avoid. I took mine at Seni, it was recommended to me by my instructor.

Thanks for the tips and resources everyone! Tomorrow is the big day, I'll be taking my test in Montgomery, Alabama in the morning. In less than 24 hours, I'll know if I defeated this hurdle...wish me luck! My main thing will be staying calm and not getting too nervous. I also need to make sure I don't rush because I'm worried about time limit...that's what happened last time.