I realize when I had to write my nursing exam how much pressure I experienced about the whole thing. I wrote mine in June 2010 and passed in first attempt but still remember when I walked out the exam, I was not sure what would be the result.
The purpose of this thread is supporting those nursing students who are planning to write their CRNE in upcoming June. Students, please feel free to share your concerns and questions. Nurses please support those students with tips for study.
Just couple of reminders before we get started:
1. Please do not discuss specific questions or any content tested in CRNE.
2. Please read other threads for more information as well. Other threads give you valuable information and be smart and take them into your advantage.
I'm thankful for this support group. It has helped to decrease some of my worries regarding the CRNE. I think the biggest thing that worries me is the length of the questions, as well as, the time factor. I have been practising exams within the four hour time limit but I still struggle. As far as studying from those books I previously told you about, you're right, there are a lot of details that are overwhelming. I get discouraged by this, and it makes me feel like I'm focusing on the wrong areas. Thats when I question whether or not my studying is productive.
So happy to find this forum thread, I will also be writing the exam this June. I've just started studying in the last week or so and it has been a little overwhelming...I do well on exams when they are one subject at a time, but huge standardized tests like the CRNE make me nervous.
Anyway, I'm trying to develop a study plan and I'm trying to decide how much time should be spent trying to memorize things such as lab values and drug categories (my pharmacology class wasn't stellar). I just want to make sure I am putting most of my study effort where it is going to pay off.
Welcome and I'm glad you've found this thread useful so far.
Just some heads up for your studying. You don't need to memorize lab values for CRNE. The only lab values you need it blood gases which you'll be provided in the exam.
As for pharmacology, from my experience, I only had ONE question on pharmacology. You just need to have a general idea on pharm. Nothing on drug interactions, dosage or routes. So when you play your study, just make sure you're not spending whole a lot of times on those area.
hope everyone's studying is going well--spent the whole day studying today , working through maternity and peds. I've been focusing mostly on 'normal' pregnancy and childhood so far, because there are SO many deviations from normal! By looking through the CNA prep guide it is hard to predict what they will pick and choose--it seems kinda random. Hopefully it will be based on the most commonly seen illnesses. The CNA prep guide says that 20-30% of the questions are based on the 0-18 age group....thats a big chunk!
Anyway, hope everyone's studying is going well! Cheers
It isn't always the most common peds illnesses on the exam. If you have the Mosbys guide, read that whole peds section very well. I was glad I did when I wrote the October exam.
Also, in the CNA guide, know all those competencies. That's what they are testing. Knowing those competencies will help you pick the correct answers.
Can you tell me how you prepared for the longer type case studies? I'm writing in October 2011, not June. I was planning to write in June but it didn't work out
To be hones I like yourself I didn't know that the questions where a bit longer and wordy myself as it was my first time sitting in the exam and used pretty much the sources that you are using now. So this was just kind of experience I had when I wrote mine. I can tell you however, and this might help you, while preparing for exam I had trouble doing case studies. The problem was that I I had to read the cases back and forth back and forth all the time and that took a lot of time of me. But I learned from others how to underline key words and phrases you won't able to take highlighter to exam) and stay focus. I sort of prepared myself by underlying the phrases and key words and read the cases on a moderate speed but ONLY once as accurate as I could and that worked for me. It really put me ahead of game while writing actual exam because let say if you read a case in a minute and know what the topic and question, then you'll get at least two questions. And just a reminder that about half of your questions (about 100) in the exam are from case studies. So take advantage of those.
October is a good time to write the exam too. You'll be MORE prepared. Just keep studying.
I wrote the exam in February and have a few tips/answers to questions I have seen here.
I definitely recommend wearing layers that you can put on/take off. It was cold in the room that I wrote in and it distracted me for sure.
You are allowed to wear earplugs, you just have to have them on the desk before the exam or show them when you take them out during the exam so that they know that they are earplugs and not something else you are taking out of your pocket.
For studying, I would break up the different areas and allocate a certain amount of time to each section (ie a few days for peds, few days for oncology) depending on how much time you have to study.
I did a lot of practice quizzes in the 2 weeks prior to the exam. I took out from my school library past copies of CRNE prep guides from previous years (although I did not find the earlier edition of Mosby - 2005 I believe - to be helpful... it actually confused me more so I stopped using it).
I wrote down the answers on a separate sheet of paper and marked it afterwards. Since I had time, I went back a week later and redid the quizzes and compared to see if I had made the same mistake (and reviewed that section again) or if I changed my answer and now got it wrong. Both times I looked through the rationale given for an incorrect answer or one that I guessed and got right.
Just make sure if you do a lot of practice quizzes, that you do not get complacent and start answering questions based on "having seen the question before and I know the answer without fully reading it".
Another thing I learned was when trying to determine the "best answer" to think about your ABC's first (airway, breathing, circulation) and then nursing assessments before the other answers. I found that this generally worked.
Also, try to think about the questions in an ideal nursing situation. I got tripped up a little bit because I had learned things differently in practice during clinical placements but it may not be best practice.
I didn't really study the day before the exam. I looked over some trouble areas that I had and then tried to relax and do something not related to studying. I actually went rock climbing :) And figure out how you are getting to the exam beforehand. There was a big snowstorm when I wrote my exam and I ended up traveling to the city I was writing in and stayed with a friend because of possible snowy road conditions. They will not cancel the exam due to weather since it is a national exam.
I hope this helps and feel free to ask me any questions you have and I will try to help answer them :)
I would add also make sure you will have a good breakfast and something right before entering the room. You won't be allowed to carry food to the exam UNLESS you have a medical condition.
If you are a coffee drinker, like myself, just make sure you won't drink too much of it. Just makes you go to bathroom! You might think this is very obvious but if you have to use the bathroom use it as soon as you get into the room or before that. Right before the exam, we were told if we wanted we could use it and there was a huge lineup. You don't want to lineup there, believe me. Sit, calm yourself down and take good deep breathes until the exam starts and during it.
Again, keep track of time. I did it every 15 questions. Sometimes I had to speed up, sometimes not but I knew where I was at all the time.
And this is very important: picture yourself everyday sitting on the exam, and doing your best and tell yourself you can do it.
Read and understand the Nursing competencies, its written at the back of each nursing reviewers. It helps you understand what the IDEAL nurse is like. For time management: here's something effective: Do a mock exam (200 questions) and take a habit of checking your watch every 25 questions that way, when your taking the real thing you'll be aware of your time and adjust yourself if your going too fast or too slow. Aim at least answering 25 questions in 20mins. That gives you ample time to finish the exam and review it. Remember: after every 25 questions, stop look at your watch then answer again.
, working through maternity and peds. I've been focusing mostly on 'normal' pregnancy and childhood so far, because there are SO many deviations from normal! By looking through the CNA prep guide it is hard to predict what they will pick and choose--it seems kinda random. Hopefully it will be based on the most commonly seen illnesses. The CNA prep guide says that 20-30% of the questions are based on the 0-18 age group....thats a big chunk!
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Fundamentals2011
7 Posts
Thank you Akardan!
I'm thankful for this support group. It has helped to decrease some of my worries regarding the CRNE. I think the biggest thing that worries me is the length of the questions, as well as, the time factor. I have been practising exams within the four hour time limit but I still struggle. As far as studying from those books I previously told you about, you're right, there are a lot of details that are overwhelming. I get discouraged by this, and it makes me feel like I'm focusing on the wrong areas. Thats when I question whether or not my studying is productive.