Shortly after embarking on the Excelsior nursing adventure I realized that the volume of information to digest was overwhelming. Required reading, Study Guide 101, practice exams, youtube videos, etc. The amount of resources available to independent learners is at times staggering and at other times disappointing and frustrating. I was finding myself having to hunt down lectures as well because I am much more of a classroom learner.
On this blog I am including my own personal notes from the required reading along with any useful youtube videos I find. Feel free to use any of this information as an adjunct to your own studying. The best method I have found to prepare is to complete the required reading then pick apart the practice questions on both practice exams.
Example of how I break down the practice exam:
(the following question is taken directly from Saunders NCLEX Prep, 6th ed., pg 398)
345. The nurse in a newborn nursery is monitoring a preterm newborn for respiratory distress syndrome. Which assessment findings would alert the nurse to the possibility of this syndrome?
- tachypnea and retractions
- acrocyanosis and grunting
- hypotension and bradycardia
- presence of a barrel chest and acrocyanosis
The first step I take is to define respiratory distress syndrome in newborns and look up everything I can about it in the required reading. After that do the same thing with all the terms in the answers (tachypnea, retractions, acrocyanosis, grunting, hypotension, bradycardia, barrel chest). Now I am prepared for that question in any form.
In the right column you will find a list of the courses. In each courses 'page' you will find all related notes and videos I use for that specific course.
So far I have completed A&P and Transitions. I will be adding my notes from Transitions soon.
So far I have completed A&P and Transitions. I will be adding my notes from Transitions soon.
9 comments:
I take the transitions exam on Friday and would love to get some insight or tips!
Nicole,
I would be happy to chat with you about Transitions. I will get a page up for Transitions tonight. Have you taken the practice exams?
Jamie
Great! No, I haven't taken a practice exam. I assume you're talking about the one you purchase?
Yes, the practice exam is an excellent guide. I actually use it as a study guide more than the content guide. I do the required reading, buy the exam, I take the exam but I don't take it too seriously, I'm mostly just trying to identify all the terms they use in questions and answers. I write down all of those terms, then I make sure I know what they are.
I did the test at the back of the content guide and got them all right. I am hoping this is a good indicater of how i will do. It's so nerve racking! Thanks for your input. I truly appreciate it!
They are good indicators of what to expect. I think of those questions as a glimpse into what to expect whereas the practice exam is a bigger broader picture, but I agree with you that if you are doing well on that you should do pretty well on the exam. This is a straight forward exam with some memory work and use of basic common sense. There is little to no critical thinking. It's really not that difficult and if you did well on those you'll probably be just fine. I had a bad experience with A&P at first, but ended up with an A, so I was cautious and went ahead and bought the practice exams.
Nicole- how did your exam go???!!!
I passed! :-)
Oh! I didn't realize you were just trying to pass :) Easy peasy then!
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