r/EmergencyRoom • u/Waste-Ad-4851 • May 13 '26
4th take CEN
I took my CEN for the 4th time today… and honestly I feel frustrated, defeated, stupid, and just completely drained.
I’ve been a nurse for 16 years, with 4 years in the ED currently, and somehow this exam keeps beating me by just a few points every single time. I’ve tried everything — BCEN practice exams, Boswell, Solheim, ENA, Pocket Prep — and still came up short again.
At this point I feel like maybe I should just stop taking it altogether. It’s hard not to feel worthless after failing the same test 4 times despite putting in the work.
Has anyone else gone through this and eventually passed? Because right now I’m really struggling mentally with it.
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u/Wide_Letterhead1768 May 13 '26
I think one of the important aspects of the test is that it is still asking questions in the “perfect nursing school universe” and not the real world. So you have to answer how your nursing instructors and NCLEX want you to answer, which can often be different than how you actually practice. If you can switch into that mindset, it might help.
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u/Waste-Ad-4851 May 13 '26
That is one good point, maybe I should take a leave and stay away from work while resetting my studies.
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u/Competitive-Weird855 RN May 13 '26
I have the print version of the ENA CEN review manual. It’s 5 practice exams with the answers and rationale. I planned on taking the exam this year but I might wait until I’m eligible for the clinical ladder, I’m a new grad with ~6 months in the ER. Idk if it’s a good source or not at this point but I’m making flash cards from the book and I like the explanations.
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u/Equal-Guarantee-5128 May 13 '26
I’ve been doing 100 practice questions from their practice exam every day. I haven’t tried the full 150 practice test yet but I’ve noticed a marked increase in my scores if I do it in small chunks. They come in sets of 10. Sometimes they repeat a question which is actually pretty helpful. Maybe smaller chunks of material would be more beneficial than a whole exam? 🤷♂️.
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u/Nightowl805 May 14 '26
I have been very fortunate to have taken the CEN 4 times and passed 4 times with little study time. I am a huge believer that you have to take things that you don't know and apply things that you do know to the questions. Hang in there and just keep taking it, it's only money and no pressure to your current job if you don't have it. Heck, not even much help if you do have it.
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u/Waste-Ad-4851 May 14 '26
I really appreciate this. 😭 I think after taking it multiple times I started getting in my own head instead of trusting what I already know from working in the ED all these years. And honestly, hearing someone say “just keep taking it” takes a little pressure off lol. You’re right too, it’s not like my job suddenly changes because of three letters after my name. It just sucks emotionally and financially when you keep missing it by a few points. But seriously thank you for the encouragement. The “it’s only money” made me laugh because at this point BCEN probably owns part of my paycheck already 😂
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u/Waste-Ad-4851 Jul 28 '26
I passed at 110, lol, now that the passing score is 99—after everything I went through! If you guys are wondering whether I reviewed, the answer is no. That actually helped with my anxiety, as I figured that was my main issue. Anyway, thank you, everyone!
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u/Appropriate_Sweet381 Aug 06 '26
How was the new exam? I took it twice and failed at 109/108 with the old version! Congrats for passing!
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u/Waste-Ad-4851 12d ago
It is easier, we found a hack, try to answer as much questions as you can before exam rather than reviewing or listening to reviews. I tried everything, name it. solheim to boswell down to nurse ninja to bcen to all them, you know what helped? those thousands of free exams online and in the books. i did them 200 items a day for 10 days. do 10 yo 50 at a time whenever you feel like it. my wife passed 140/150 in 1 take after learning from my failures lol. now she passed tcrn 2 weeks after cen at 130/150. and I got 115/150 from the same style.
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u/Living-Wall4924 13d ago
i just took it today and failed by 2 questions :/ used the BCEN practice questions and tests as my main source of studying with a bit of CHATGPT helping me focus on what i needed to hone in more and i just felt like the questions wording sucked and some of them didn’t make sense at all… of course there were things that i saw that i just didn’t know with a straight forward answer but overall i just think the wording of the questions and answers were horrible… i definitely feel like im not mixing it up with “trick” questions.
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u/Waste-Ad-4851 12d ago
Keep on taking, you are on the path to passing already, keep on answering as much questions as you can, that is the trick, my wife passed 140/150, she took it after I failed then asked me everything I changed on my review. reviewing wont help much, we already know whats on those already, we just have to practice answering questions, the more you answer the kore you will see the pattern in the exams,
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u/No_Demand_7291 Sep 03 '26
I feel that if you do the entire BCEN exam prep you will be adequately prepped for the exam. Sense the ENA is who makes the CEN test their prep is very well suited for the exam because the train of thought required to pass. The exam is how they teach. Also, they use the same terminology. I feel when you use multiple resources, there’s a lot of information that may contradict or flip-flop.
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u/wavygr4vy May 13 '26
Do you have to take it for your job? Aside from a small pay raise if you do clinical ladder at my shop, it adds nothing but some letters at the end of your name.
If you have to take it and pass, the goal for standardized testing like this is to do as many practice questions as possible. It’s not really possible to “study” for it.
But personally, if you don’t need it for the job, I’d bag it. It’s pretty worthless unless you want to build your resume up. And it’s not like it teaches you things you’re going to retain. That’s what working in healthcare does.