I've been an ED nurse for 6 years and finally decided to sit for the TCRN. Scheduled my exam for 10 weeks out and I'm trying to figure out how to structure my study time. Currently doing about 90 minutes a day on weekdays and 3 hours on weekends. Is that enough or am I underestimating this thing?
My biggest weak spots are pediatric trauma assessment and abdominal injuries. I scored 61% on my first practice set, which is obviously not where I need to be. Aiming for at least 75% consistently before I feel confident. Has anyone found certain resources more useful than others for the clinical judgment questions?
I found a solid domain breakdown on the tcrn page that showed exactly where I was bleeding points. The neurotrauma weighting was way higher than I expected — I had been spending most of my time on thoracic injuries.
If you passed on your first attempt, what was your rough timeline and how many practice questions did you do total? I've seen people say anywhere from 500 to 2,000 questions and I'm not sure where that range comes from.
I did 1,400 practice questions over 9 weeks and felt genuinely ready. Your 90 min/day schedule sounds sustainable but bump it up in the last 2 weeks. The test is 175 questions with a 4-hour limit and fatigue is real by the end.
61% on your first practice set is actually pretty normal at this stage. I started at 58% and finished at 79% by exam day. The trauma nursing core course content overlaps a lot with TCRN so if you have that cert, lean into it heavily.
Neurotrauma and abdominal injuries together make up something like 35% of the exam. I spent a full 2 weeks on just those two domains and it paid off. Also make sure you're practicing the prioritization questions — they trip a lot of people up.
I passed on my first attempt with about 8 weeks of focused study, averaging 2 hours a day. The key for me was drilling pediatric GCS scoring and trauma assessment sequences until they were automatic. Don't skip the burn and spinal injury sections even if they feel less common in your unit.