The ERI--what are people's thoughts on this?

nurz2be · Nov 24, 2007

We have been taking the ERI test through nursing school and we are scheduled to take a two-parter next week (Med-Surg in the AM and Psych in the PM). I took a practice test yesterday and felt like I was reading Greek.
It seems to me that all of the NCLEX questions I have run into are much more straight forward and less complex than these ERI questions. I understand that the ERI is supposed to prepare us for the NCLEX, but I am not seeing how it helps--its only panicking me and making me think that I may not survive my 2nd last semester.
Any advice or fellow groans would be appreciated!

I got a HUGE GROAN from this side of the country, Florida.

Well to boot, our tests cost us out of pocket 40 bucks each. These tests aren't in our education/financial packets. So, we poor students have to pay for those along with every other thing. We take 6 in the 18 months we are at school. Last week the instructors, I think absent mindedly, told us that, "these tests prepare you for the NCLEX, although they are harder. (Here is the kicker). The school wants you to take these because they use this information to compare with other local nursing schools to see how well you are doing compared to other nursing students at different stages of the program." WTH? Ok, it is BAD enough we have to take them, but IF the school really wants us to take them for a comparison the school should be forking over the money for these frustrating things.

I TOTALLY AGREE they are WAY harder than any NCLEX book or materials I have for studying. If the NCLEX is like these damnable tests I might have some problems (too general a question for such a defined answer).

Ok, vent over.

RN007 · Nov 24, 2007

We have been taking the ERI test through nursing school and we are scheduled to take a two-parter next week (Med-Surg in the AM and Psych in the PM). I took a practice test yesterday and felt like I was reading Greek.
It seems to me that all of the NCLEX questions I have run into are much more straight forward and less complex than these ERI questions. I understand that the ERI is supposed to prepare us for the NCLEX, but I am not seeing how it helps--its only panicking me and making me think that I may not survive my 2nd last semester.
Any advice or fellow groans would be appreciated!

I graduated in May and was in the second class to use ERI exams. First of all, I remember when I took the final ERI test (the one that's supposed to help predict if you'll do well on NCLEX), I noticed that some of the questions were actual study questions. So do the practice questions!

Keep in mind that the more practice questions you do, the better prepared you'll be. I did not find that the ERI questions were harder than NCLEX. Many of my NCLEX questions were prioritization that required you know and understand a particular process. If a person gets mostly straight-forward questions, it may mean they're on the road to failure. I know of one grad who kept getting content questions and she failed with 75 questions. I left NCLEX feeling I did okay but not sure (75 questions). I have several friends who left the test site crying, knowing they'd failed because the exam was so difficult, but they passed.

I don't think it's right for a school to make you pay so much extra money to take the tests. We paid only $60 for the exams, access to study questions and an NCLEX review after graduation. I also don't like the idea of making it part of your grade, but I guess if they didn't, students wouldn't take them. At my school, ERI helped collect the data that showed that students who made certain grades typically passed and those who were borderline had a difficult time passing.

The key to passing NCLEX is understanding the material and knowing the nursing process. I used Saunders and NCLEX Made Easy for review.

Good luck!

midcom · Nov 24, 2007

I had to take them during LPN school. While taking them, I thought they were a waste of time. It frustrated me that there was no way to see what questions you missed except on the practice tests. I had no problem passing them well above the national average but many of my classmates had to take them over & over to pass them. Our school feels they help so much that they will not send in the paperwork for NCLEX until you have completed and passed all of them. We were done in Sept & I understand that there are at least 2 of my former classmates who haven't completed them yet & are waiting for their authorization to test.

Now, that it, as well as my NCLEX is in the past, I see the value of them. They did help prepare me for the NCLEX although, in my opinion, NCLEX was much harder. The ERI's helped get me prepared for that type of test & helped with test anxiety.

I was wandering around my BON's website & discovered that a few years ago they authorized a study of the RN schools in my state because in 2003 there was a big drop in the number of students who passed their NCLEX-RN tests on the first try. They wanted to learn why the change & what some schools were doing that others weren't doing. One of the questions on the survey pertained to using ERI or another one of the tests to see if their students were prepared. All the schools who had high passing rates used them religiously. After the survey was studied, the recommendation, among others, was to use one of the testing programs to prepare students.

ERI is not the only one out there. As a matter of fact, my school is considering going to another one that give answers & rationals so you actually learn from them.

Dixie

Becca608 · Nov 24, 2007

Thanks everyone. That does put things in better perspective. Its just so darn frustrating because I never, ever seem to be able to catch up. I feel like I'm just always running behind where I should be.

labrador4122, RN · Nov 25, 2007

I graduated in May and was in the second class to use ERI exams. First of all, I remember when I took the final ERI test (the one that's supposed to help predict if you'll do well on NCLEX), I noticed that some of the questions were actual study questions. So do the practice questions!
Keep in mind that the more practice questions you do, the better prepared you'll be. I did not find that the ERI questions were harder than NCLEX. Many of my NCLEX questions were prioritization that required you know and understand a particular process. If a person gets mostly straight-forward questions, it may mean they're on the road to failure. I know of one grad who kept getting content questions and she failed with 75 questions. I left NCLEX feeling I did okay but not sure (75 questions). I have several friends who left the test site crying, knowing they'd failed because the exam was so difficult, but they passed.
I don't think it's right for a school to make you pay so much extra money to take the tests. We paid only $60 for the exams, access to study questions and an NCLEX review after graduation. I also don't like the idea of making it part of your grade, but I guess if they didn't, students wouldn't take them. At my school, ERI helped collect the data that showed that students who made certain grades typically passed and those who were borderline had a difficult time passing.
The key to passing NCLEX is understanding the material and knowing the nursing process. I used Saunders and NCLEX Made Easy for review.
Good luck!

wow, our ERI test did not count, so most of us would just click and go... to get the stupid test over with.

To prepare for my nclex, I used Kaplan, and if you understand their strategies you should be fine. I used their strategies on every question and I passed with 75questions.

Then finally the school got that we did not care about the ERI so they cut it off their budget, so after the second semester we did not do them anymore.