Nursing exam questions are terrible (according to science)

Nursing Students NCLEX

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Hi all. This is my first post. I recently graduated from an RN program and will be taking the NCLEX soon. I've been doing practice tests a lot and am getting a little frustrated. In short the questions are stupid and I hate them on a personal level which I have to work at what with them being inanimate and all. Fortunately science says I'm right.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17014932

http://www.nursingcenter.com/lnc/CEArticle?an=01709760-201303000-00002&Journal_ID=54029&Issue_ID=1526614

If you don't feel like reading these studies basically state that many nursing exam questions are poorly constructed. The second study actually finds that bad question writing could result in 10%-15% of students failing a test they should have passed. I have witnessed this in my own education as many very bright people simply couldn't do well on nursing tests. I myself struggled severely in nursing school even though I came through the prerequisite classes with all A's. Before nursing I was a physics major and did fairly well, I've always been good at academia, and so it was very bruising to my ego to struggle so much.

I remember one of my teachers early on talking about how nursing wasn't like engineering or math because you had to think critically. Now, I call bull. In fact, I think that bad questions are actually a symptom of a bigger problem in nursing education as a whole. I think the field lacks a comprehensive and rational approach to its subject and so it takes on a vague and indirect quality. Hell, every nurse I've ever met has stated that nursing school doesn't have much to do with being an actual nurse.

Sorry for the long first post but I'm a little irked and stressed right now. So what do ya'll think? Also, wish me luck on the NCLEX, I think I might need it.

Mully: I studied hard and got A's on most of my nursing school tests, even though some of the questions were tricky and maybe not worded the best. If you know the material, you should be able to critically think about the question and answer it correctly. Sometimes, you have to think from the perspective of the person writing the question: Why are they asking this question? What did they emphasize on class? A lot of times you can think through the sillier questions on "fluff" material by knowing who is asking them and why. If everyone in class had a problem with a question, they gave us a point for it. When you are in class you should always highlight parts that the professor emphasizes, elaborates on and take notes of which material she skims over.

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I think ArtClassRN gave an excellent explication of what qualifies as science and why so much of nursing isn't. My biggest gripe then is that nurse educators keep insisting that nursing is scientific. And iluvgusgus, that part you mentioned about the catheter study, loved it. That is actual evidence based practice, it is precise and measurable and I wish that nursing and nursing tests were just more of that. As far as what qualifies as science I guess the simplest and broadest definition would be Karl Popper's falsifiability. For a theory to be scientific it must be testable and able to be proven wrong. Much of what ArtClassRN pointed out was not falsifiable and accurately not science. I believe it is important to have these definitions and standards, otherwise everyone is a scientist. Now, interestingly Maslow's theory is testable and partially falsifiable. You can test whether or not there is actually a hierarchy and if lower needs have to be satisfied before higher needs. They have even done these experiments and found that no, there is no hierarchy and only two classes likely exist, biological needs and all others (my previous posts link to one such study). Nursing, however, continues to heavily utilize a false theory. Maybe my real issue with nursing is not that it does this psycho-social stuff but that it does it very badly. Many of the "theories" that predominate the field are very outdated and lack the rigor of more modern psychology (which even now is barely a science). Oh well...

In other news, took NCLEX today and got good pop up for PVT.........so moderately optimistic right now but not getting my hopes up.

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Nursing is not medicine, because it is nursing. :)

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Specializes in Hem/Onc/BMT.

For those who have studied physical sciences and now frustrated with certain inane aspects of nursing education, here's what I believe:

If you were intelligent enough to solve Schrodinger equation, you have enough intelligence to figure out NCLEX questions (with all their silliness and whatnot). It just takes mental flexibility and adaptability. You think your instructor is wrong? So what? Do your own research to find correct information, and also importantly, understand where your instructor is coming from (i.e. know his/her perspectives) so that you will do well in his/her class.

Complaining how stupid nursing education/educator is, will not get you anywhere. Why not focus instead on what nursing education has to offer? If you like medical model, which I do actually, no one's stopping you from going to the library and study those medical textbooks. I find them precious resources to strengthen my understanding of pathophysiology and medical management.However, medical model does not help us being nurses! If we left it up to medical model alone, we'd be left with patients developing pressure sores, constipated, falling out of their beds all over the hall!

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Dissatisfaction with the status quo is the catalyst for improving the problems with nursing education. "Sucking it up" might get you by but the underlying issues will persist.

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Specializes in ICU + Infection Prevention.
Dissatisfaction with the status quo is the catalyst for improving the problems with nursing education. "Sucking it up" might get you by but the underlying issues will persist.

One of the favorite refrains of nursing educators when a student runs afoul of academic inanity or institutional incompetence is that the student should not complain, and instead "be 'flexible.' Because good nurses are 'flexible.'" And we wonder why our profession gets walked on?

We train ourselves to be that way from school on up to the top rung.

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