Time spent studying for Excelsior NC exams?

Sue7573 · Oct 1, 2005

Sorry to impose on your thread I have a (sort of) related situation/qusetion. Our schedule for class is Lecture on Monday Half of us go to clinical on Tuesday Lap on Wednesday and the other half of us go to clinical on thursday then Lecture on Friday. So they are canceling class on Monday and Friday. and then Meet on friday to go over some things. Two reasons they are saying they are doing this is that 1 we may learn it better on our own and 2 we will save on gas to not have to go to class (in my case I have to go anyway on Mon because I have a night class and I have to go on wednesday to get my information on my client for thursday) I am thinking that if we could learn easier on our own we would have done the distance learning or the Excelsior on line in the first place we all had those options we all chose to go to structered (sp) class. Ok there are 55 of us in this class. Since they have started this I have heard one student say they like this idea. All of the rest of us feel like we are just lost completely. What we are covering right now is Physical Assessment. Head to toe. In one book we have 17 chapters and another book 2 chapters and bits an pieces of another 2 chapters. Also there are 2 cd's we are supposed to learn from... I am just at a loss. I don't do distance learning that well. The teacher said on friday that this is just another way to teach independance since so much of being a nurse is independent stuff. HOW. I mean I know on the floor there is a lot of independent stuff going on but I don't know how many of them independently taught themselves any of it. One student said why don't they just give us the books and materials and in two years take the NCLEX. I mean that is a little extreme but this is really stressing some of us. And again this next week we are doing the same thing. This is really a vent but is there anyone else having to deal with any of this stuff?

Sue

BBFRN, BSN, PhD · Oct 1, 2005

Hello:
Wondering what the average length of time and amount of studying that Excelsior students spend preparing for Nursing Concepts exams? And how long it took you to complete the program?
Thanks!

I studied about a month average for each exam. Sometimes it was less, because the material was familiar and related to the type of nursing I was working in, and sometimes more, because the material was a little harder for me to fit in my brain. It's pretty individual, though. Take as long as you need to feel confident that you're storing the material in your long term memory bank, and not your short term.

Nascar nurse, ASN, RN · Oct 1, 2005

It took me approx a month of study for each exam. I work full time, have 2 school age kids and just didn't want to push myself any faster - enough is enough. I have heard about some going much faster - but also wonder how much they really retained? Maybe they just had a better base knowledge than I started with on a broader range of topics too.

Jo Dirt · Oct 2, 2005

A couple of weeks.

luv4nursing · Oct 3, 2005

when you say a month, how many days a week did u study? Also about how many hours at a time?

Im trying to guestimate how long it will take me. I have to take the NC 1-7 (possibly not NC2), and micro. Id like to finish the coursework in 6-8 months and hopefully take the CPNE by the 12th month. Im gonna leave Micro for last since I can apply for the CPNE when Im within 9 hours of finishing pre reqs. That can be done while I wait. It also depends on finances since its all out of pocket!

LPN To RN,

how much time did u put in to finish them in two weeks? I could probably do them in around 2-3 weeks each (if I stayed on track, I tend to procrastinate at times but am a great crammer) but Im not sure if Id have the money that fast.

BBFRN, BSN, PhD · Oct 3, 2005

when you say a month, how many days a week did u study? Also about how many hours at a time?
Im trying to guestimate how long it will take me. I have to take the NC 1-7 (possibly not NC2), and micro. Id like to finish the coursework in 6-8 months and hopefully take the CPNE by the 12th month. Im gonna leave Micro for last since I can apply for the CPNE when Im within 9 hours of finishing pre reqs. That can be done while I wait. It also depends on finances since its all out of pocket!
.

I studied every waking available moment. I had 2 children, and 2 ill parents in the hospital ( I lost 1 due to cancer during all this). Plus, I continued to work at night.

Your plan sounds doable- you'll find your own pace, don't worry.

Jo Dirt · Oct 4, 2005

LPN To RN,
how much time did u put in to finish them in two weeks? I could probably do them in around 2-3 weeks each (if I stayed on track, I tend to procrastinate at times but am a great crammer) but Im not sure if Id have the money that fast.

It takes awhile after you register with EC to get set up with the testing center, so what I would do is go ahead and set up my testing date (usually a couple of weeks) and from that point I would study several hours a day for that two weeks and then go take my test. In a way that might work better for you if you're the type who likes to know you have a deadline to meet.

I was lucky enough to work a private duty nursing job at night. When I was sitting there and all was quiet and my patient was in the bed I would study. I'd say I studied several hours a night to prepare for the tests. I didn't do as good as I could have by spreading it out over a month (made B's on every test except Lifespan-made an A on that) but I was satisfied with the results.

Especially considering I have three small children and a disabled husband.