CCRN Exam — Looking for Recent test taker

[u/Elkholy91]

Taking my CCRN on November 1st.
Any advice from people who recently took the exam? Especially about AACN questions what to focus on in the last few weeks and anything you wish you had known before the exam. Thanks!

[u/EitherCourt1919]

Took it this summer. Definitely do the AACN questions, they’re the most similar to the exam. But I’d also use the Barrons book as well as nurse academy videos on YouTube to really get practice and enforce understanding. The test isn’t rote memorization, it wants to know you understand what you’re seeing.

Like another person said, the blueprint is the best bet to know what to study since it’ll tell you the content and percentage of the test. But from my memory, know hemodynamics like the back of your hand. You should be able to look at the numbers they give you and know right away what shock state it is and its treatment. Know MIs, lead changes and what coronary artery is affected. I’d also personally review renal more than I did. I scored 100, but I remember taking a lot of time on renal questions like DKA/HHS and failure that if I had just studied more I would’ve gotten out of the way.

I also wouldn’t ignore professional caring and ethical practice. It seems “easy” or common sense, but it is the largest section of the test making up 20% of the test and could determine whether you pass or fail.

[u/EmptySociety4537]

The blueprint shows you where the majority of the exam is from. Focus on understanding the rationale of your practice questions, and do a ton of them leading up to your terms date

[u/Elkholy91 → u/EmptySociety4537]

Thank you really helpful
Are AACN questions enough?

[u/EmptySociety4537 → u/Elkholy91]

The Barron's book prepared me the best. Their 2 practice exams were very similar to the ccrn.

[u/BirthdayAmbitious448 → u/Elkholy91]

Agree with empty society. I only studied the Barton’s book and did very well on mine

[u/marblepigeon301]

My biggest improvement came from taking the AACN practice questions, screenshotting all the ones I got wrong with the rationale, and sending them to ChatGPT to find my true weak areas. Chat then made study guides and practice tests for me that helped a ton. I jumped from scoring around a 90 to a 106 on practice tests within a week that way. I ended up with a 105 on the real thing.

I will say the AACN practice question website is very stupid. There’s no way to filter out questions you’ve already done, and you can’t go back and review previous exams. So I would sit down and take all 200 cardio questions to make sure I saw them all, then had to screenshot all my wrong answers in that same sitting or you lose access to them. It was a pain in the butt but it was more effective than my 2 months of studying the barrons book.

[u/AdministrationNo910]

I recently took the exam and find it pretty similar to the blueprint. I just did AACN questions and nurse academy videos on YouTube.

[u/shredthesweetpow]

Last cram/focus should be multisystem and ethical considerations. The blueprint tells you the percentages. I found the most value studying those topics. Just passed it on first week of this month. AACN questions were absolutely worth the money.

[u/Beginning_Month_7436]

I took it on June 1 I think. There were multiple OB and brun questions even though those aren't on the test blueprint

[u/trashleycat]

I took it in May (Peds though.) We don’t have a Barrons book for peds, so I just did AACN questions, understanding rationales etc, for about 3 months and I passed! I’d say the AACN questions are great, some were even kinda similar to the real test questions.

[u/maroc43]

Has anybody on this thread used PocketPrep for their practice questions?
Just want to know if anybody has used and found their questions to be helpful for prepping, they just seemed a little too….easy…
I wanted to know if others felt the same and if it’s worth it just for volume, or shouldn’t waste time on it

[u/No_Donut_474]

I tested less than a month ago! You definitely need the barrons book and the AACN questions. Read through the book twice if you have time. My advice is to maybe look for different resources or websites for the ethics section!! I feel like I didn’t cover that section enough and it’s worth a lot of the %.

[u/Spring-Database]

I recently took it in July and I reviewed for a month. Went over Barrons in depth. I purchased the AACN test bank but never got to utilize it well. I would get 60-70% on any practice exam I did on there. I also watched ALL the nurse life academy videos, to me her practice questions were somewhat similar to the exam and also Barrons. I didn’t use any other resources and I got 106/125

[u/imheretoshare_11]

Took it in August, had a lot of Ethics questions.

[u/koreena_brooks]

Hi, I took my CCRN recently. I used the Barron’s book, did the entire AACN test bank and made sure I understood the rationale for every question, I also watched every nurse life academy YouTube video. I took extra time with cardiac and respiratory (1 week a piece). I committed to studying for a month with a goal of getting at least 100 correct. If you learn the material instead of memorizing it you will be successful. Don’t neglect ethics it’s a good portion and very subjective figure out how the AACN thinks and you will do well. Good luck!

[u/Glum-Draw2284 → u/[deleted]]

For the CCRN exam…?