LICENSING EXAMS SUCK!

[jessiesgrrl]

Ok, after freaking forever of studying, I just needed to vent. Thank God for my tank or the stress would make my head pop off and fly around the room like a balloon.
:D
Laurie

 

[jessiesgrrl]

::ggrrroooaannnn::

Well, here's the deal. I want to get a Nursing Home Administrator license with my MSB.

To do that, I have to take both a federal and a (seperate) state exam.

Because I am using my BSN as a related field to qualify to take the aforementioned exams, I also have to take the Maine state nursing exam, which I wasn't originally planning to do because I wasn't going to work as a nurse.

So, all told I have to take 3 exams, and complete on the job training for 1040 hours.

I'm a little stressed. The worst part about it is the exam is computer based, so if you start answering certain subject questions wrong, it asks you more questions in that vein. There are no set number of questions. If you answer them all right, it can be as short as 75. Answer stuff wrong, and it can be like 150. *sigh*

It sucks monkey butts, and I wish it was over but it looks to be shaping up like a very scary year.

Carpe Diem!
Laurie

 

[surfn]

from what i've heard, and my very little experience, all standardized tests that have to do with the medical profession pretty much blow.

the questions are worded horribly, and have different styles from exam to exam.

i got a big elephant off my back this year and got my MCATS over with. but i gota take them again in August cuz i pretty much suck at standardized tests.

i had a meeting with an admissions committee officer a couple weeks ago, and they simply stated that if you want to go into the medical profession, get used to taking crappy standardized exams prepared or approved by lawyers for the rest of your life, b/c they are just drooling at the prospect of you messing up so they can make more money...

but with that said, they do serve a legit purpose, i just wish the people who make them could do a little better.

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Yeah, they do blow... Well put...

I wouldn't mind so much if it was one test... but 3...! The stress is pretty bad. I study for a bit, get on the computer for a bit, then study more. I feel like if I am not studying all the time, I could have known one more thing that would have helped me be ok. I do NOT want to take it more than once; and I want to answer as many right as I can to avoid a longer test.

I think if I worked at Pearsonvue I'd be nice and put cots outside the entrance doors so that when people leave they can just keel over safely. LOL

It's ok really, most of the time I am ok with it, just sometimes I feel ALOT of pressure. 8 years of school riding on 3 tests is insane, and to make it worse all my friends and family are watching ::cringe::. :(

Pfffffftttttt!
Laurie

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Hey surfn, that SUCKS you have to sit for it again, but at least this time you already saw the test once. That should be less stress, right? I hope it makes you feel better.

:D
Laurie

 

[surfn]

Hey surfn, that SUCKS you have to sit for it again, but at least this time you already saw the test once. That should be less stress, right? I hope it makes you feel better.

:D
Laurie

yeah, i think that was the BIG thing about sitting for it the first time, i was so nervous about the whole 8hr test thing, and how strict they were going to be etc, that i'm sure most of my mistakes were anxiety related. i didnt sleep a wink the night before. then getting really hungry about 4hrs through, then just dead exhausted by the 7th hour.

this august, will be the first time they are issuing the MCATS on the computerized versions. no more peper and pencil. so that has me kinda nervous this time around as i have never taken an exam on a computer before.

one thing that really bugged me about the MCATS i sat for, is that it is a paper/pencil test on scan tron sheets....yet it takes them 2 freakin months to report the scores back to you. i mean seriously, are they using computers from the 60's that work on punch cards to grade them or what? :lol:


is this for your RN? LPN? NP? or another specialized licensure?

 

[jessiesgrrl]

The first test is for my RN (I have a BSN); the second exam is for a state nursing home admin license; the third is the federal version of the state exam for Nursing Home Admin. You have to take the state AND the federal before you get your license. :( Usually 8 years would make you a NP, but mine is a bit different- 2 year degree in environmental medicine (public health basically), BSN, and a master of science in buisness. Pretty much all of it is tailored for this one job and license. Pressure...

Computerized testing wasn't that bad when I took the GMAT. The only urge I really had to suppress was not to stab at the keys when answering cuz I was in a bad mood. LOL

Laurie

 

[surfn]

any idea what kind of specialty you want to do? just work at a private practice? at a hospital? OR or ER?

personally, i think OR nurses have the best jobs, as long as they dont irritate the docs :sleepy3:

worst nursing jobs i can think of are on recovery floors at a hospital. (i.e. the bed floors where the patients have to recover from surgery for multiple days/nights). seems like there is alot of BS clean up duties involved, constant nagging by patients who think they are helpless.

 

[jessiesgrrl]

I worked in Public Health in the Air Force. Jack of all trades there- communicable disease counseling, medication counseling, sanitation inspection (grading restaurants, daycares, hotel contracts, grocery stores), federal occupational health inspections, supplemented the hospital where ever they needed people bad that day...blah blah blah. I did my rotations in Critical Care.

I got a medical discharge and now am pursuing a desk job as a nursing home administrator. It's like making sure the NH runs like a solvent business. Until I take the exams I have to do the OJT; and I also home tutor teens with terminal disabilities.

Funny thing is, most days I like home tuturing the best.

:lol:
Laurie

 

[jessiesgrrl]

I just can't resist the comment that CNAs, imo,get 4/5 of the BS clean up duties. :( Although, RNs do perform digital disimpaction... ROTFL
Laurie

 

[jorgea]

Licensing Exams Suck

I can understand how challenging it must be to have to take 3 exams in order to be able to what you like. I would just swallow this as best you can and move on. You have to motivate yourself so you can through this.








_________________________________________________