National Certification Exam Candidates

I passed, not sure how, only by the grace of God!

I went into it with confidence and left feeling defeated. I bought the study book and took all the "review" questions did online questions from Chat, and used an older version review book as well. I was not prepared for the questions I got. Lots of nursing process questions and I felt like I was taking my NCLEX again (not cool). I took my CNOR test in 2008 and all my questions focused on my specialty and I felt that the NCSN test was all over the place.  I had lots of vaccine (what vaccine causes issues with the TB test?) and vision questions (all the different issues) and, know the steps of evidence based practice. I also feel like the questions could be written better. There seems to be a lot of ambiguity with some questions and I felt like I needed more information to answer correctly. I used the "elimination method" of crossing off 2 of the worst answers and selecting between the 2 better answers.

Anyway, maybe I'm just a "Karen"...I passed and I can check this off my list. TBH, I only did this for the 12% increase in pay that I will receive. I am relieved and my school district will be proud to say that they have both of their nurses as NCSNs. 

Good luck and I'll be praying for all of you. 

Andrea Sergent, M.Ed, BSN, RN, CNOR, RNFA, CERT-M, NCSN

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Andrea Sergent MEd., BSN, RN, RNFA, CNOR, CERT-M, NCSN

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First and foremost, Congrats!   I am glad that you passed.  Thank you for sharing your valuable feedback of your experience with us.  I am glad that you were able to work through the questions and achieve a passing score.  That's a huge accomplishment.  

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Alana Parker MSN-Ed, BSN, RN, NCSN
Mesa, AZ United States
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Hi Andrea,

Congratulations on passing the NCSN exam! We always appreciate the feedback. School nursing is a broad specialty, and school nurses are required to have knowledge of many topic areas. 

Our exams are written by Subject Matter Experts (SME's) in school nursing and vetted extensively by our testing partner, PSI and their psychometricians to be sure they meet testing standards. Having said that, we are always looking to improve our exam, and would welcome you to join our team of item writers. We need school nurses at all levels of school nursing practice to participate in exam development. Please consider this volunteer opportunity; we would welcome your input. You can learn more and apply here

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Sandi Delack MEd, BSN, RN, NCSN-E, FNASN
Executive Director, NBCSN
sdelack@nbcsn.org
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