I hate nursing exams

RNbethy · Apr 15, 2012

Perhaps you need to do something in the science related field that you love so much? The fact is if your program has a 99-100% NCLEX pass rate they are testing correctly. Tough. Suck it up. Adjust or go to a program that you feel is adequate for your vast intelligence. Nursing is the ability to prioritize and critically think. Sometimes it is not a situation that is concrete. You have to assess a complex situation quickly. Not everything is cookie cutter. PRIORITIZING. Your program won't change, but maybe you need to rethink your career choice.

Just because the NCLEX pass rate is high does not mean they are testing us to the level that they should. Has anyone ever questioned WHY all the tests mimic the NCLEX? In other programs, tests don't mimic the GRE, etc.... WHY? Because MC exams are not the best way to test students!

iluvhrts, don't make assumptions about me - Just because I don't like the nursing tests does not mean I don't like nursing - Just because I think the science "tests" were better does not mean I need a career revamp.

RNbethy · Apr 15, 2012

At this stage in your education, you should not need the lure of a good grade to motivate you to study. You need your own knowledge and critical thinking to understand that learning the materials to use in practice is far more important than learning it for a test. If you are only motivated by good tests, then you are going to find yourself in the wrong field once you are out of school.

You don't need to tell me this - I'm not saying that tests are so important that they are far better than what you learn in practice.... that's just ridiculous.

What I am saying is that the testing system in the schools is not as good as it should be. Sure, tests are only one small thing about a nursing education. I am motivated to study in clinical, but that's another topic...

RNbethy · Apr 15, 2012

I can understand where the OP is coming from. I have a BS as well, and I found that nursing exams seemed really, almost, oversimplified. Yes you have to learn critical thinking and prioritization. But toward the end of school, I figured out that to do well on my nursing tests, you seemed to have to learn the one weird fact about, well, everything. How do you position a patient who just had a lobectomy? What do you do in a suspected air embolism? What bizarre side effect does this med have?
Just my two cents. I don't really think studying for NCLEX or taking NCLEX can make or break a person as a nurse.

My thoughts exactly! :)

RNbethy · Apr 15, 2012

[quote

The ambiguity is the real problem though, we were once given this question;

A nurse is obtaining a sexual health history for a 20 year old client which of the following should she do?

A. inform the client that they must be HIV tested (obviously not)

B. ask if the client performs testicular exams (Hmmm, does the client have testicles? Or s/he does them on a friend?)

C. ask for date of LMP (maybe, unless they have testicles)

D. ask the age of all sexual partners (unless there was some reason to suspect this person is abusing someone, uh no)

It turns out the question should have read "a 20 year old FEMALE client" which would have made it stupidly easy given the choices. They wound up giving the entire class credit for it but still didn't spell check the next test :banghead:

I come across at least 1-2 of these on every exam!

RNbethy · Apr 15, 2012

It seems as though you've forgotten the goal, which is to GRADUATE. Yes you took o-chem, and that's an accomplishment. But this isn't o-chem. you're not going to change the system, so you better work within it.

My goal isn't just to graduate - I would like to get an advanced degree in nursing eventually. Yeah, you're right - this isn't o-chem... I can't help but compare tests I've written to these ones....

If I suck it up like everyone is saying, you're right - I certainly won't change the system. But why on earth would I just sit back and suck it up when I see a huge potential area to improve in nursing education?

grpman · Apr 15, 2012

The ambiguity is the real problem though, we were once given this question;
A nurse is obtaining a sexual health history for a 20 year old client which of the following should she do?
A. inform the client that they must be HIV tested (obviously not)
B. ask if the client performs testicular exams (Hmmm, does the client have testicles? Or s/he does them on a friend?)
C. ask for date of LMP (maybe, unless they have testicles)
D. ask the age of all sexual partners (unless there was some reason to suspect this person is abusing someone, uh no)

Most students who use NCLEX study guides will not need to know the sex of the patient but will readily understand the answer becuase of the word "history" in the stem. Perfect example of why NCLEX study is a good idea.

To the OP: You may study too much because you are so focused on pathos which comprises most of the books. You are studying to pass the NCLEX so remember that nursing implications are where your time should be spent. Another 40 hours of the same kind of study won't help.

Also, you are speaking of these MC tests as though clinicals don't exist. They do and repetition is a great teacher. I could understand your complaints more if MC tests and the NCLEX were present and no real world practice existed.

You want a test that is written but not much would change except that the right answer wouldn't be staring you in the face.

shortnorthstudent · Apr 15, 2012

I hate the way our nursing exams are written. The faculty does not spell or grammar check them and the wording is poor. My ATI predictor tests are usually "Level 3" indicating a passing level on the NCLEX and I do well with the questions from our textbook publisher and the Saunders NCLEX book/CD but when I take a nursing process exam I do well to make a B (I don't suffer from test anxiety either). I feel that the instructors should draw their questions from professionally written sources such as ATI or do what they do for powerpoint slides- copy and paste from the textbook publishers website. I have several times picked the second best answer and been marked wrong because the correct one was misspelled and I thought it was a trick. If enough student argue about a given question the reply is "We will look at it" then they give everybody credit for it.
The ambiguity is the real problem though, we were once given this question;
A nurse is obtaining a sexual health history for a 20 year old client which of the following should she do?
A. inform the client that they must be HIV tested (obviously not)
B. ask if the client performs testicular exams (Hmmm, does the client have testicles? Or s/he does them on a friend?)
C. ask for date of LMP (maybe, unless they have testicles)
D. ask the age of all sexual partners (unless there was some reason to suspect this person is abusing someone, uh no)
It turns out the question should have read "a 20 year old FEMALE client" which would have made it stupidly easy given the choices. They wound up giving the entire class credit for it but still didn't spell check the next test

Yup, adding in female does make the question ridiculously easy. However, only one of the answers is an appropriate question to ask while obtaining a sexual health history.

a - obviously telling the client they need an HIV test does not further the goal of obtaining a sexual health history

b - asking if they perform testicular exams is a great question. It could lead to teaching that could ultimately save a life. However, testicular self exams are a screening for testicular cancer. While it is a cancer on a reproductive organ, it is not a sexually transmitted disease or otherwise related to your sexual history.

d - ages of sexual partners isn't a generally necessary question.

c - this is the only possible answer, regardless of whether or not the gender of the patient is indicated in the question -- date of LMP does in fact relate to sexual health history. LMP can screen for pregnancy.

We all come across questions on our exams that we think are worded poorly or are unfair. While some instructors will throw out those questions from time to time, they are usually answerable if you have the knowledge to understand what the question is asking. In order to do so, you need to study the material well enough to know your role and what the question wants to know.

RNbethy · Apr 15, 2012

you are speaking of these MC tests as though clinicals don't exist. They do and repetition is a great teacher. I could understand your complaints more if MC tests and the NCLEX were present and no real world practice existed.

I'm fully aware that tests are only ONE part of the equation.

A great clinical experience is appreciated and is probably the most important aspect of nursing education, but that does not mean that we do not need to consider how tests are developed...

Now isn't that a scary thought? You mean I would actually have to come up with the right answer on my own?

Feistn · Apr 15, 2012

Yes, your goal is to graduate. You can't go on to advanced practice without it. So you have a choice.... Moral victory and risking your ability to complete your RN/BSN, thus risking any MN or DNP work, or keeping your head down and meeting the goal in front of you. I'm an older student and have long since learned the value of picking my battles.

RNbethy · Apr 15, 2012

We all come across questions on our exams that we think are worded poorly or are unfair. While some instructors will throw out those questions from time to time, they are usually answerable if you have the knowledge to understand what the question is asking. In order to do so, you need to study the material well enough to know your role and what the question wants to know.

Thanks for the thorough explanation shortnorthstudent... Paying attention to the question stems is great advice and a great reason to practice NCLEX questions.

However, I still think MC is overused on regular nursing exams. Is there any research that shows that MC is superior to other types of exam based questions? Being able to pick the right answer from a list is different than being able to come up with the right answer independently.

shortnorthstudent · Apr 15, 2012

I'm fully aware that tests are only ONE part of the equation.
A great clinical experience is appreciated and is probably the most important aspect of nursing education, but that does not mean that we do not need to consider how tests are developed...
Now isn't that a scary thought? You mean I would actually have to come up with the right answer on my own?

It would be a scary test to grade in a nursing course. Take the question from earlier in this thread. The question was designed to test the student's understanding of what a sexual health history is. In order to choose the correct answer, the student doesn't really need to know the gender of the patient, just what a sexual health history is comprised of and what, as a nurse, you would ask a patient. If you instead turned around and asked a fill in the blank question, there would be potentially dozens of answers that people could put down as appropriate questions to ask in a sexual health history. If you did it essay style, would you take off if they failed to mention 1 of the potential questions? How many would you expect them to know? And how long would you give them to answer that question.

By asking it as a multiple choice question, the student needs to understand the purpose of the history as well as a basic understanding of what information is pertinent to that history. It would be easy to pick TSE because testicular cancer is probably a much worse condition than pregnancy. But, it wouldn't be the right answer.

Ultimately, that multiple choice question is a decent assessment of basic knowledge a new nurse should possess, where the essay question might be appropriate for a CNM and the fill in the blank question leaves students simply memorizing one oar two pieces of information on each topic.

Fill in the blank questions are great for courses like anatomy where there is only one potential right answer. A radial artery is a radial artery. It is a fact. Either you know it or not on the cadaver or on a picture. Essay questions are excellent for explaining processes such as the crebs cycle.

RNbethy · Apr 15, 2012

Yes, your goal is to graduate. You can't go on to advanced practice without it. So you have a choice.... Moral victory and risking your ability to complete your RN/BSN, thus risking any MN or DNP work, or keeping your head down and meeting the goal in front of you. I'm an older student and have long since learned the value of picking my battles.

How am I "risking my ability to complete my RN?" I'm just thinking critically about the current testing system within our nursing education... Nursing education is not perfect, and there is research in this field... Perhaps some attention needs to be given to the types of tests administered during nursing school!