I am having alot of trouble with adjusting to nursing exam questions

YouSmellLikeCDiff · Oct 11, 2012

Relax! I was in the same exact position as you my first semester. I eventually got the hang of it and I am now a RN! :nurse: The normal college exam questions that you're used to are written at the knowledge level (material studied/memorized). Nursing exam questions test your ability to solve problems by thinking critically. Critical thinking requires an understanding of the nursing content as a whole. This basically means that you will not be able to choose an answer based on facts you memorized while studying. You must comprehend the whys of nursing care in order to answer the questions correctly.

To answer the question correctly, you must first interpret what it is really asking. Thoroughly read the entire question.

Try to visualize the scenario in your head. Reword the question stem into your own words.

Identify the type of question that is being asked. For example, words like initial, first, best, primary, or most important require establishing priorities. Look for answers that involve your ABC's. These are the basic needs of survival and should take highest priority.

Once you're aware of what it is really asking, it is time to eliminate the wrong answer choices. Don't try to guess or assume the correct answer before you have considered each option. Carefully consider each answer. Imagine yourself performing each suggestion. If the first choice does not answer correctly to your reworded question, discard it and move to the next option. If you think it may be the correct answer or if you aren't sure, keep it for later consideration. In the end, your goal is to select the BEST answer to the question.

Don't get discouraged. Critical thinking skills come with practice. Your normal testing routine is ruined once you're in nursing school and trying to learn a new thinking process on top of everything else is frustrating... but trust me when I say that it is all worth it in the end! I wish you the best of luck! Don't forget to update us on your progress!

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Oct 11, 2012

if your texts have questions at the end of the chapter, use them. If your school has a tutor on test taking strategies, or a computer program, do that too. Eventually you do learn,but it is a process to pick out what is the real problem and what you have to do about it. It is a new language. You will learn

truckinusa, BSN, LPN, RN · Oct 12, 2012

My two methods are the website for Kozier's(my textbook) Pearson Education

You could use it anyways to help you out. Just select the chapter for whatever topic and click nclex review. Think you need to register which it will let you do for free without a code or whatever. Your actual text website might be better, but just throwing it out there.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:WYKJNZveXJEJ:204.168.112.91/images/PDFs/ComboRebate2012.pdf+fa+davis+rebate&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShNL_XK8zPf_BmcccCCD_CT51y4rPN_MYY1ugfrGk1cxV4zfoO99mtvLfTYxpmG9Sp-MeGahF7vP0AuPWUTkQhkqQ3IM50glVrXgxfMGRYXN29paS31PQhy70jmU8B31Hykkbpm&sig=AHIEtbQY9BZf6DIRtva8Z4iUaPPreGSiTQ

Check out the link above and buy the Test Success and the Fundamentals Success books from FA Davis. I think they are both helpful and categorized. You can get them cheaper on Amazon and use the rebate form to get $12 back.

saah58 · Jun 5, 2016

Thank you for this explanation. I want to know if there is a data base online that I can practice with critical thinking questions, I am having problems solving these questions as well. I am a technical thinker and even the simplest questions on the exam, I go blank. My foundations class is on the line!!!

Thanks in advance!!

truckinusa, BSN, LPN, RN · Jun 5, 2016

Some might consider this cheating, but I would look up your textbook on quizzle and read every test question related to the topics on your test. I wouldn't stop with just your textbook though. I believe sample tests from other textbooks are just as helpful since people post test banks from a number of texts on there. I don't know what it is, but some nursing questions are just so tricky you have to have seen the question before and then you can answer it every time after you have seen it. I recall one question about giving someone soup versus plain water if they are dehydrated. Never going to get me with that one again.

AliNajaCat · Jun 15, 2016

Worth repeating.

This is advice I give to people about to take NCLEX, the licensure exam. Read it anyway, because it addresses a lot of your concerns about nursing school tests being different from any you have taken before. You're right. They are. That's because in addition to knowing the right answer, you have to apply critical thinking to pick the BEST answer. This is a huge part of nursing education, to get you to think a lot about problems and situations, not just know that A+B=C.

There are a lot of really good books ith sample questions to study. Whatever resource you use, make sure it gives you the rationales for why the wrong choices are wrong as well as the right ones, right. This is where most people fall down-- they pick an answer that is factually true but is not the best answer for the situation as it would be assessed by a good RN. This is how you start to learn that absolutely vital skill for any nurse.

NCLEX items are developed in part from knowing what errors new grads make and how. They tend to be of two kinds: inadequate information, and lack of knowledge (these are not the same thing). The goal of NCLEX is to pass candidates who will be acceptably SAFE in practice as NURSES. So-- they (and your faculty) want to know if you know what the prudent NURSE will do.
1) When confronted with 4 answers, you can usually discard 2 out of hand. Of the remaining two,
-- always choose the answer that (in priority order) makes the patient safer or gets you more information. "Can you tell me more about that?" "What do you know about your medication?" "What was the patient's lab result?"
-- NEVER choose the answer that has you turf the situation to another discipline-- chaplain, dietary, MD, social work, etc. It's often tempting, but they want to know about what the NURSE would do. See "always..." above.
2) "Safer" might mean airway, breathing, circulation; it might mean pull the bed out of the room and away from the fire; it might mean pressure ulcer prevention; or improving nutrition; or teaching about loose scatter rugs ... Keep your mind open. It might also mean "Headed down a better pathway to health." For example, while telling a battered woman who has chosen not to leave her partner that "studies show that he will do it again" is factually true (and that's why this wrong answer is often chosen), the better answer is to acknowledge that you hear her choice to stay and say "now let's think of a plan to keep you safe." This doesn't turn her off from listening to you so she will trust you, it acknowledges her right to choose, and it helps her along a path to better safety. This is NURSING.
3) Read carefully. If they ask you for a nursing intervention answer, they aren't asking for an associated task or action which requires a physician plan of care. So in a scenario involving a medication, the answer would NOT be to hang the IV, regulate it, or chart it; it would not be to observe for complications. It WOULD be to assess pt knowledge of the med/tx plan and derive an appropriate patient teaching plan. Only that last one is nursing-independent and a nursing intervention.
Again, they want NURSING here.
4) The day before the test, do not study. Research shows that your brain does not retain crap you stuff into it at the last minute-- musicians learning a new piece play the first part on Monday, the second part on Tuesday, and the third part on Weds. Then they do something else entirely on Thursday; meanwhile, behind the scenes, the brain is organizing the new info into familiar cubbyholes already stuffed with music, putting it ready for easy access. On Friday, the whole piece works much better.
What this translates for in test-taking land is this: The day before the test, you go to a museum or a concert, go take a hike, read a trashy novel, make a ragout, do something else entirely. Take a small glass of wine, soak in a nice hot bath in a darkened tub with a few candles on the sink, get a nice night's sleep.
5) Read the mayonnaise jar and do what it says: Keep cool, do not freeze.