Published Sep 13, 2010
mmutk, BSN, RN, EMT-I
482 Posts
Hey all,
I have been absent from the boards for a while. I went to the SICU to do some critical care nursing for the last year and a half. I have gained some good experience but am tired of getting fat and lazy, so I am returning to the ER next month. I took my CEN and PASSED! on Saturday. No way I could have passed that without studying. I got 127 out of 150 correct.
Advice I would give to preparing for the current CEN is the Emergency Nursing Core Curriculum. Everything I got on the exam you could trace back to the ENCC. Good luck for those who are preparing to take it. :)
MrCare
2 Posts
Congrats! =)
crb613, BSN, RN
1,632 Posts
Awesome! Congratulations to you. I know you must feel very proud!
Larry77, RN
1,158 Posts
Welcome back to the chaos we love :-)
BrnEyedGirl, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN
1,236 Posts
Way to go!!!
Fribblet
839 Posts
If you're an ER nurse at heart, ICU has just got to be plain boring. That's a sentiment I've heard several times from ER nurses who went to ICU for a "new challenge."
The ER is like the mafia: As soon as you think you're out, they pull you right back in!
Welcome back and congrats!
Lemme ask you a question since I"m about to start prepping to take the exam myself (just as soon as I get motivated), I've heard that it's a lot like the NCLEX in the sense you get yourself all hyped up, but that, in the end, it isn't nearly as hard as you'd thought it be.
Would you say that's true?
lkwashington
557 Posts
Congratulations!!!!
alem-tsahai
112 Posts
congrats!!!!
127/150 seems to be a magical number cuz I got the exact same score (I just took it two days ago)! Someone else on this board mentioned a similar score as well, lol!!
To Fribblet;
The exam is not nearly as difficult as you may think. I took all the practice exams using the ENA guide and that really, REALLY helped. I actually found those practice exams much more difficult than the real exam, which was probably because my ED knowledge base was so paltry in the beginning (I only have a year ED exp). Some of the questions on the guide I found were on the exam, I was pleased to see.
Good luck, you're gonna feel great after you pass! :)
Yeah I didn't find it that difficult, but I could just not have passed it would studying for it through the NSG Core Curriculum. I felt as though my ICU experience helped a bit too (lots of ABG questions and ventilator questions).
I thought the NCLEX was a peice of cake, CEN was easy after studying but still no peice of cake.