Upper level questions..

RetrieverGirl, BSN, RN · Mar 4, 2014

I didn't get many delegation questions, but I got a lot of SATA and priority questions.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Mar 4, 2014

Are priority and delegation questions considered upper level questions?

Just curious: What difference does it make whether they are or not? Is there some assumption about that?

JustBeachyNurse, LPN · Mar 4, 2014

Just curious: What difference does it make whether they are or not? Is there some assumption about that?

The assumption is that "higher level" questions is indicative of doing well on the exam. However not all alternate format questions are "higher level" even though it is assumed that SATA is always higher level. All question types have higher level thought process and lower level though it is not always obvious.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Mar 4, 2014

Ah, you know that and I know that, and now, perhaps, some students know that too. :)

I'm thinking of changing my siggy line to, "It's all SATA." Because, well, in clinical practice, it is.

JustBeachyNurse, LPN · Mar 4, 2014

Ah, you know that and I know that, and now, perhaps, some students know that too. :)

I'm thinking of changing my siggy line to, "It's all SATA." Because, well, in clinical practice, it is.

It's very clear in the FAQ section of the NCSBN website for those who care to do their research rather than spread urban legend.

I like "don't sweat the SATA. It's all SATA in the real world of clinical nursing".

christinabartonRN · Mar 6, 2014

Well, actually I never mentioned select all that apply, nor any other alternative format questions, in my original post. It was in reference to priority and delgation questions. But to answer your question of curiosity it matters to me, as I am studying directly from a priority and delegation focused book. Therefore, I was seeking some outside input as to whether my practice scores are indicative if how I will preform on 'upper level' questions when I sit for my exam.

Thanks ;-)

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Mar 6, 2014

Again, though, what do you think an "upper level question" is? Just priority and delegation? Who made that definition? Sounds like the guys that wrote the marketing copy for your review book.

christinabartonRN · Mar 6, 2014

I am not claiming to know; thus why I asked the question initially. I can't help but get the impression you are just being argumentative and should that be the case I would rather you just not reply to my thread.

JustBeachyNurse, LPN · Mar 6, 2014

There is no simple answer other than according to NCSBN ALL areas tested (pharmacology, priority/delegation, basic care/fundamentals, etc) and exam question types (multi choice, SATA, alternate format) have questions that are considered higher cognitive and lower cognitive based upon statistics, p value and Blooms Taxonomy. What I consider a higher cognitive question will differ from the person sitting next to me considers higher cognitive as our background and education differ.

It's erroneous to assume all prioritization, complex med calculation , and SATA are higher level questions. Though some people perceive these as more complex and thus higher difficulty.

RetrieverGirl, BSN, RN · Mar 7, 2014

Personally I think some of the prioritization questions are at a higher level of difficulty. If you've got 4 patients and you need to figure out which one is the airway answer sometimes it's not so blatantly obvious.

JustBeachyNurse, LPN · Mar 7, 2014

Personally I think some of the prioritization questions are at a higher level of difficulty. If you've got 4 patients and you need to figure out which one is the airway answer sometimes it's not so blatantly obvious.

That's what I said. Some prioritization questions are higher level, others are not. It's just not always blatantly obvious as to what is objectively classified as a cognitively higher level question and what is a cognitively lower level question.