Update in 2021
Hi,
Dear A,
What you have asked for is a simple question, but what I have found in teaching IENs from around the world and living across Canada over the past 10+ years (since 2009) is that there are many things slowing Internationally Educated Nurses down, standing in their way, or stopping them from obtaining the required score on the English proficiency exams (whether IELTS or the CELBAN).
That is why there is more than one answer for you.
Throughout the years I have developed many CELBAN online courses, CELBAN online classes, CELBAN material and CELBAN reviewers specifically to help people prepare for both Task 1 and Task 2 of the writing portion of the CELBAN.
The 3 Stages of Preparation for CELBAN Writing
It is important to understand that it takes time to develope the skills, so that you can demonstrate them on the exam, in a moderately demanding situation. For that reason, alone, for CELBAN writing I have a 3 stage process:
- Focus on Test Taking Strategies and Task 1 with CELBANPrep Writing Level One
- Focus on Medical Collocations, Grammar, Punctuation and Sentence Structure with CELBAN or IELTS: Grammar Essentials
- Focus on Writing in a Nursing Context for Task 2 with CELBANPrep Writing Level Two.
These three courses work together and are especially successful in preparing IENs with the skills to PASS the writing portion of the exam: allowing them to save both time and money.
Check-out the tag: I passed the CELBAN!!
For this reason CELBANPrep Writing Level One is required as a prerequisite before the other. All three courses are part of CELBANPrep Writing Suite, which is available internationally on Amazon.
Please note, that CELBAN or IELTS: Grammar Essentials and CELBANPrep Writing Level One teaches you transferable skills not only for CELBAN Writing, but also:
- the Fill-in-the-Blank task for Reading, and
- all of the Speaking tasks.
Actually, it will make a difference in all aspects of your life! So it is for the entire CELBAN or IELTS Series.
I hope this helps!
Kim
Save both time and money! Explore CELBANPrep University.
Dear Kim 
Dear Kim,
I have a question about the writing part of the CELBAN:
Is it okay to use abbreviations in writing a nursing report for example, using Pt instead of patient?
Thanks
Dear Sofia,
Thank you for your original question. When I was teaching IENs to write their medical assessments and patient histories I did encourage them to use abbreviations. Of course it makes sense to write BP instead of Blood Pressure and T instead of Temperature. But it is important not to use dashed or else -37’C looks like the person’s body temperature was below freezing!
All the best!
Kim