LPN Student, Cried and cried...

Just relax. The tricks are things like they slip in the word "not" and completely throw you off.

Like the others said, do not over think those. It's so easy to do that, and I know a lot failed our first one too. Now that you know what you did wrong, you should be ok.
Do you have a workbook or study guide? Use it and practice those NCLEX style questions.

One thing I saw in LPN school was that a great many people have trouble thinking critically. It's absolutely key in nursing, and in nursing tests. You need to learn critical thinking just as much as you need to learn Pharm and Med Surg, because it's critical thinking that allows you to properly evaluate situations and make judgment calls.

Does your school use ATI or MedsPub? There are good tutorials on critical thinking in there, and on how to understand and answer the NCLEX-type questions.

I wouldn't put too much into that exam. This is something new to you and you haven't taught how to tackle a question yet using critical thinking skills. You have to prioritize. Think ABC's 1. Airway 2. Breathing 3. Circulation/Cardio and if none of those are the answer, then look at safety. What's going to keep the patient safe. Think Maslows. Keep practicing those critical thinking questions, you will get it. Good Luck

I think it's important to get with your instructor early and figure out what you are doing wrong. Do not wait until it's too late. I did fine in FON, but OB I failed an exam with a 65 and cried and cried! I went to my instructors office and she went over each question with me... and I could see where I went wrong.
I'm not sure how your school tests, but in every subject, for every test/quiz ours are NCLEX style. When you are not used to those, they really take you by surprise.

Good luck! I'm sure you'll do fine!!!

I also believe that this is because it was your first nursing exam, which is far different from the others. Nursing disguises their questions in ways to make you critically think. It is not always easy to look at the question and take a quick stab at the answer. What you can try doing is purchase an NCLEX-PN Comprehensive Study Guide. What they do is sort of teach you WHY answers are right and wrong, giving you a hint of how to answer test questions. Sure, you can bounce back...why not? And, also, as suggested, speak to your instructors for hints.

I too am new to nursing school and taking FON right now. At orientation they pretty much told us that yes while most of us are used to getting A's, we are on a new playing field. Until we learn to think critically we are not going to get As, period, they also told us flat out it's almost impossible to get an A on an exam, and that we WILL fail a test at some point in time, and it's usually the first one. They have also told us that until that little light flips on and we start thinking like nurses thos NCLEX style questions will be hard for us. Well, my little light hasn't really flipped on yet, but I have faith that it will. I also failed my first exam, I got a 67 and the class avg was 70, in our classes we have to have a passing grade of 74, so pretty much the whole class failed, both FON classes did actually. I was really upset until I realized that I was right there with the class avg, so then I didn't feel quite as bad since I could see I wasn't the only one. I would say to just stick it out whatever you do, don't fall behind, keep up with the reading, and just hang in there, our instructors are awesome and they are constantly telling us to calm down because we'll get there, eventually it will all just click~ is what they keep reassuring us, so good luck, I'm right there with you. You can do it, shrug off this first test, don't fall behind and do alot of practice NCLEX type things to prepare yourself.