I don't know what I am doing wrong - not doing so well on tests. - page 2

There is one book that I recommend to all students, and that's the NANDA-I 2012-2014, free 2-day shipping from Amazon. Mostly it's because it's THE reference for nursing plans of care, and you'll need it for that anyway. But in your case, with your background, I think it will be invaluable in your quest to learn to think like a nurse.

Nurses planning nursing care must be able to think like nurses, not like auxiliary physicians. NANDA-I will give you insight into that and really jumpstart your thinking like a nurse process. I'll be interested to hear what you think.

What are auxiliary physicians?

Some people call nurse practitioners "physician extenders." Personally, I find that insulting and I argue with a physician friend about this every time I see him. That might be what it means to some folks. I meant that we are not subordinate to physicians or appendages for them.

another vote for Saunders. It was my bible during nursing school!

I lived with my saunders book through nursing school, it was my BIBLE. Just concentrate on the questions related to what you are doing in class. Also use the cd that comes with it, it gives you the rationals and lets you know how your progressing. Good Luck!! It's not easy but sooo worth it in the end!!

I second what some others have said... I recommend getting NANDA-I 2012-2014 (I purchased it after reading GrnTea's advice to another poster and it has made a tremendous difference in my comprehension of nursing diagnoses), Saunder's NCLEX, and Prioritization, Delegation, and Assignment by LaCharity. I also have found The Anatomy Coloring Book and the Memory Notebook of Nursing series helpful. Best of luck!

Which Saunders do you all recommend? Is the the Comprehensive Review or the Q&A?

Comprehensive

Check out books like this one: Amazon.com: Fundamentals Success: A Q&A Review Applying Critical Thinking to Test Taking (Davis's Q&a Success) (9780803627796): Dr Patricia Nugent, Barbara Vitale: Books

and/or this one: Test Success: Test-Taking Techniques for Beginning Nursing Students: Dr Patricia Nugent, Barbara Vitale: 9780803628182: Amazon.com: Books .

Nursing-school exams are unlike any other area of study, IME. You need to figure out how they want you to answer the questions before you can give the correct answers on exams. These books help you figure that out.

I am also in an accelerated program and struggled on the tests. My recommendation is to practice NCLEX style questions as often as possible. I have 3 books and get together with a group to do nclex questions every week. It is time consuming but has increased my scores from the 70's to the 90's.