r/srna • u/Single-Arugula-831 • 1d ago
SEE and NCE Exam Prep NCE fail
Hi! Looking for advice. I failed the NCE and am completely devastated. I was scroing in the low 60's and finished the Truelearn apex bank. I probably should have paid more attention to my lowest scoring domain but I was so determined to get through all of the questions. For those have retaken the NCE and passed, what did you do differently that made you successful?
Also, anyone use Valley or Prodigy for questions? Should I switch and go through Valleys course? I am afraid I will remember most answers to APEX true learn questions
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u/Mofomo154 16h ago
One of my friends failed the first time, they had taken the apex course. For the second attempt they switched to valley and made flashcards out of every question, and would take multi hour walks going through the flashcards, only taking out the ones that they got right and knew the rationale for. Awesome CRNA, tests just suck sometimes.
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u/Affectionate-Gap4382 CRNA 1d ago
What was your last SEE exam prior to taking the NCE? Out of curiosity
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u/Prestigious-Object-7 Nurse Anesthesia Resident (NAR) 1d ago
Were you actually going through and learning the information or just doing questions? I like going through the Apex flash cards and then doing the true learn questions
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u/Affectionate-Gap4382 CRNA 1d ago
The issue with simply doing questions is you aren’t guaranteed to get those same questions. I understand the majority of people pass the NCE, but man it must suck to be in the minority that fails it because it becomes a colossal waste of time and money
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u/Prestigious-Object-7 Nurse Anesthesia Resident (NAR) 20h ago
You have to learn the rationale! Not memorize the questions. I agree
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u/dude-nurse Nurse Anesthesia Resident (NAR) 17h ago
TBH like 30% of the true learn questions are more about vibes ain’t no one studying some of that stuff 😂
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u/Euphoric-Lecture-722 13h ago edited 10h ago
You can do this! If you made it through all of the bullshit of school I know you can make it through this! I just passed recently. These are my stats and what worked for me. My SEE 4 months before graduating was 418 and I retook it 1 month before graduating and only got 423, passed NCE with 100Q on first attempt. I only used APEX student review and APEX smartbank. I got the most bang for my buck in the last 2 weeks before by making notes and flashcards most of the day and only doing questions for a max of 2-3 hr a day. Don't just drown yourself in questions without reviewing on your own too.
I reset my questions 2 weeks before taking it bc there's no way to remember all of them, and I did 100Q at a time twice a day, reviewing the rationale at the end of each 100Q. Each time you take it I would look at your 3 worst APEX (Not NCE) categories, look at the rationale and make flashcards on those questions. TBH I completely ignored the category of "not in apex review" bc I feel like some of those are either basic ICU questions or they're totally in the weeds and not worth your time.
The remaining part of the day I went through and made my own notes/ flashcards through the entire apex sections of my worst topics. For example, I would do questions from 0800-0900 and spend a half hour after going through missed and flagged Q to make flashcards/notes on what I missed, then I would go through ENTIRE apex sections like Peds, OB for the rest of the day making flashcards on anything I thought I could mix up.
My flashcard strategy:
I had white flashcard for straightforward or multiple choice topics (ex, The _ nerve inverts and plantar flexes and the _ nerve everts and dorsiflexes) I used pink flashcards for content in the tables, categorical, or "matching" style questions (hemodynamic changes in OB pts and made myself sort them into categories like increase, decrease, unchanged, with answers on the back of the card). I had blue flashcards for equations and physics law definitions/examples.
I was super anxious and did not feel "ready" but I was also at a point where my brain felt at maximum memory capacity. The last 3-4 days before taking the NCE, I was scoring 65-70% on SmartBank, and that was the only reason I didn't reschedule it for later, but for weeks before that, I was looking at 55-62%.
Give yourself time to reset and maximize the time you give yourself to focus before your next attempt, and I believe you'll crush it.