Cumulative testing in nursing program

Nursing Students General Students

Published

Just curious about other programs......How many of you have cumulative testing within your nursing program? Does every test you take include questions from any previous tests you have taken throughout the semester?

Thanks in advance!

in my adn program we have a cumulative final each semester, but we're not lucky enough to get questions repeated from previous exams (unless it's a happy accident). tests other than the final are "unit based" in that they will only cover the subjects covered during that time period/unit--usually about 3 weeks. for the final, though, all the subject matter from day 1 of the semester is fair game. :eek:

Specializes in NICU.

Yep, same here. I don't mind, as I usually remember questions from previous exams, so there is a little less pressure on me for the final. It's not so great when they create new questions for the final :p

Completed BS in Nursing.

Yes, cumulative exams take place. It varies according to Professor. Also, it takes place through what my school distributed as ATI exams- a national program that offered cumulative, online testing towards the end of each semester per course! For example, Med Surg 1, 2, Pharmacology, Pediatrics, etc.

Best

Specializes in Med Surg/MICU/Pediatrics/PCICU.

I haven't had any of my nursing classes have cumulative tests yet. Now my pre-reqs did but up until now haven't had it, who knows maybe as I go further along I will.

Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.

Our finals will have new material and cumulative from that semester. Never same questions, never even heard of that happening. Than at the end of our program there's a cumulative that covers the entire nursing program.

Testing was theoretically cumulative in my program, but courses generally stuck to their core subject area, at least in regard to the presenting scenario. Info covered in other courses though might still come up indirectly. The test question scenario may specifically be mentioning a laboring mother or a middle-aged newly diagnosed diabetic, but the key to choosing the best answer would be about putting patient safety first or differentiating between an example of patient education versus an example of telling a patient a medical diagnosis (maybe the right diagnosis, but usually the wrong answer on a nursing test.) In those cases, though I found that many test questions didn't require very detailed recall. Then there were usually at least a few "out of left field" questions such that no one could ever ensure that they'd covered all they needed to, making it next to impossible to get 100% on tests.

+ Add a Comment