As I was completing my last couple of modules the summer of 2013 I recieved a message from Excelsior that my seven year limit for completing the program would be up July 2014. I wrote back and explained that I had enrolled in the school of nursing four years not six years ago. They answered explaining that the two years I had been enrolled in 2002/2003 counted toward my seven years. But they also said I could write a letter of appeal asking for an extension. This I did and that they gave - till the end of 2014 as long as I had my application in for my CPNE by the July 2014 deadline. (CPNE stands for Clinical Performance in Nursing Examination). So I finished up my last module September of 2013, took my two FCCA's by early 2014, and was eligible to apply. Did I mention the end of December of 2013 I moved from NE Indiana to SW Ohio and that during the process of filling out the CPNE application I got married again? The application requires a back ground check, a physical with lots of vaccination titers and repeated vaccinations for any titers that no longer covered me. A copy of my current CPR certification had to be included along with a copy of my current negative TB test. And proof of a flu shot. That sort of thing. None of which are hard but all seemed to take forever to gather up and complete. Therefore it was early May, I think, before I sent off the last item. I waited on them till July and they messaged me my test date of December 12-14. Pass rate for first time testers of the CPNE is like 44%. The over all pass rate is 66%. I had till December 31 to get this thing done therefore I had to pass on the first try or face the fact that I was never going to be a RN in this life time. At age 57 I was not going to start a new nursing program. So there was nothing else to do but prepare all I could prepare and to be successful. Plan B would be to change majors. If my life has taught me nothing else it has taught me to always have a plan B. My original idea was to get my RN to make more money now and to continue on with my education till I had the credentials to teach as I felt a part time teaching job would supplement my retirement. Plan B would scratch the more money now but there was nothing to say I couldn't prepare myself to teach something other than nursing.
So it was July and time to get busy preparing. Right after I knocked out the 24 CEU's the state of Ohio required by August. How did I miss that requirement was coming up? And two waiver things the job required me to read and take little tests online about to get certificates. In the meantime I worked on reading the almost 600 page CPNE study guide and signed up for a one day workshop Excelsior offered which I attended the beginning of August.
Another fly in the ointment I had pop up was that I suddenly found out about two weeks before the online class started that I had not taken a requirement called "Information Literacy". Which was not hard and I knocked it out. It just cost money I didn't expect and if I had not noticed it I would not have made my end of the year deadline. It also took up some time that I could have used studying for the CPNE.
In order to pass the CPNE one had to know something called "critical elements" which were things that had to be completed without missing any during the course of the performance exam. None of the critical elements could be missed or the exam was failed. There are around 24 areas that each have up to about ten critical elements. In order to learn these something called mnemonics have risen up over the years. This exercise in memorization brought to mind the section in one of the modules during the written part of my course work about how the plasticity of one's brain lessons with age. Memory work is not what it was at age 20 at age 57. I worked hard. It was work hard enough to slip in the sweat time. I made audio files on my IPod and gave up listening to audio books from September till December. Every day to and from work I listened to critical elements and mnemonics. I drove down the road saying them aloud along with the audio files. I read the almost 600 page study guide 3.5 times. I was doing the Excelsior offered message center "PCS" exercises and as soon as I was able I started the weekly phone conferences with Excelsior. And as I mentioned earlier I had attended the one day workshop offered by Excelsior early in August. But I was not getting it. I felt like I was walking toward a firing squad. Then I was saved by three things.
The first thing that saved me was on one of the various pages on FB that are students either trying to pass or just done passing the CPNE. Lots of moral support are on those pages and much advice - some good some not so good advice. But on one of those pages was a post from a paramedic in the Cincinnati area looking for a study buddy for the CPNE. That paramedic, whose name was Michelle, was one of the things that saved me. She had purchased all the lab station set up from Excelsior for practice and we met weekly at one of the Cincinnati hospital's classrooms and studied and practiced. I would not have passed the CPNE without Michelle.
The second thing that saved me was Sheri Taylor. She has a workshop in Atlanta, and an online workshop, and she offers mock tests for those that want to sign up. She is a private entity and is not affiliated with Excelsior College. Her speciality is to prepare students to pass the CPNE. I would not have passed the CPNE without Sheri Taylor. I took her online workshop for two months. I went to Atlanta for a one day mock. And Michelle and I went down to Atlanta and took the three day workshop. Excelsior College is adamant that it is not necessary to go to an outside source to pass their CPNE. They say that everything needed to pass is offered by them. And the information is there in the items they provide. What Sheri provides is a system and strategies for a student to hang that information on along with tools for a student to be able to do the work to pass the CPNE. Also she says the same things that excelsior says information wise only in simpler language. There are several workshops available out there to help students pass the CPNE. I have heard good stuff about many of them. Sheri Taylor's program worked for me. I did not use the others so I can't say anything good or bad about them. I would not have passed my CPNE without Sheri.
The third thing that saved me was an Excelsior instructor. Three weeks prior to my test date I was hit with the most paralyzing test anxiety ever. When I had my weekly phone conference with Excelsior staff I asked about any ideas about what to do about it. The Excelsior staff member gave me concrete things to do that had me functioning again in about 48 hours. I was still nervous right up and including during the CPNE but I was no longer immobilized. Her recommendations included to begin taking the Rescue Remedy I had purchased to take the weekend of the test immediately four times a day. It is by Bach Flowers and is a herbal remedy for stressful situations. The second thing she told me to do was to look in the mirror every day and say "I passed my CPNE. I remembered all my critical elements and mnemonics. I read my kardex carefully. I made no silly mistakes. In fact I made no mistakes at all. I was not nervous. I had a good testing experience." A third thing she told me was to find something to keep in my pocket during the test weekend to touch to ground myself when I started feeling nervous. I would not have passed my CPNE without Ellen.
This brings me to my test weekend. That part of the story will be told in Part IV.
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