I'm not going to lie, I failed my first attempt back in February by just 3 points. I scored a 68% and needed a 71% to pass, so I was devastated. I'd been working in GI nursing for about 4 years at that point and figured my clinical experience would carry me through, but the infection control and equipment reprocessing sections absolutely wrecked me.
Second time around I gave myself 8 weeks and completely changed my approach. I focused heavily on the SGNA core curriculum, specifically the chapters on patient assessment and procedure-specific care. Those two content areas make up a huge chunk of the exam - I'd estimate 35-40% of the questions I saw were related to patient safety and procedure prep. I also drilled flashcards on medication dosages and sedation monitoring.
On exam day I had 100 questions and about 2.5 hours to complete it. I finished in around 90 minutes but went back and changed 4 answers - ended up getting 3 of those wrong, so lesson learned there. Final score was 78%, which felt amazing after the first attempt.
If you're retaking or prepping for the first time, don't underestimate the documentation and legal standards section. That one surprised me with how detailed the questions were around reporting requirements and patient rights.
The sedation monitoring content caught me off guard too. I reviewed capnography basics before my second attempt and saw at least 5-6 questions in that area - definitely worth dedicating a study session to it.
That infection control section is brutal, I completely agree. I passed on my first try last October with a 74% but it was close. The reprocessing questions felt really specific about endoscope handling timelines.
Congrats on pushing through and retaking - a lot of people just don't bother after a first fail.
I passed in 2023 and from what I remember it was probably 60% application and 40% pure recall. The scenario questions aren't super long but they require you to know the rationale behind the answer, not just the fact itself.
Do you remember if the exam was mostly knowledge-based or more scenario and application questions? I sit in 3 weeks and I'm not sure where to focus my last stretch of studying.
I've been using the SGNA practice questions but some of them feel outdated compared to current guidelines.
Honestly, fitting in study time was the hardest part for me. I work full-time on a GI unit and have two kids, so I couldn't just block out hours every night. What I ended up doing was carrying my notes on my phone and sneaking in 15-20 minutes during lunch or while waiting for procedures to start. It's not glamorous, but it adds up faster than you'd think. I focused hard on the infection control stuff because that's what burned me the first time, and I didn't touch equipment processing until I actually understood the why behind each step, not just the memorized answers.
The second attempt felt so different because I wasn't relying on my clinical experience to fill in the gaps. If anything, working in GI for years gave me bad habits, like assuming I already knew things I hadn't actually studied. The exam tests specific standards, not what your unit does day-to-day, and once I accepted that it got easier to study the right way. Don't let your experience make you overconfident. Treat it like you're learning it fresh and you'll be in a much better spot.
Honestly I almost quit after my first fail too. Three points is brutal, and I convinced myself I just wasn't cut out for it. What turned it around for me was stopping the textbook cramming and actually drilling specific question types instead. I found some free sgna general patient care questions online and just kept hammering those until the patterns clicked. It's not glamorous but repetition really does work.
Don't give up if you're in that hole right now. I passed on my second attempt with a 76% and honestly felt more prepared than most of my coworkers who passed first try. The infection control stuff is where I lost most of my points the first time, so I'd focus there if you're struggling in that section. You've got this.
Congrats on passing! I know exactly how crushing that near-miss feels. The thing that made the biggest difference for me was actually slowing down on the infection control questions instead of relying on what I do at work every day. Clinical habits and what SGNA wants you to say on the test aren't always the same thing, and I had to basically unlearn some of my automatic responses.
Honestly the equipment reprocessing stuff tripped me up too on my first try. I spent a week just drilling those questions until I could recite the steps in my sleep. It's tedious but it works. If you're retaking, don't skip that section thinking you know it because you do it every shift -- that's exactly what got me the first time.
Congrats on passing! I went through almost the exact same thing. What finally clicked for me was stopping trying to memorize procedures and actually understanding the why behind infection control. Like, once I understood the reasoning for specific reprocessing steps it stopped feeling like a random list I had to cram.
The equipment and safety questions tripped me up too on my first attempt. I'd been doing the job for years but the exam wants you to think about it in a very specific way. Drilling those sections with practice questions honestly changed everything for me. You'll get there.