Interview Written Test Portion

I think it depends on which area of nursing you are interviewing for. When I was interviewed for a position in critical care there was a written test. It was a few pages and had questions about anatomy/physiology (heart, mainly -- like showing the flow of blood through the heart on a diagram), drug questions (including a few calculations), that kind of thing. It seemed to measure understanding of rationales and assessing if you knew the science behind the actual things you do! (like there was one question about low molecular weight heparin -- not specific, more like "which of these drugs is a low-molecular weight heparin?" with the next question asking about how it works -- i.e. does it break up existing blood clots, prevent blood clots, stop new ones from forming, etc). All were multiple choice -- except the heart diagram.

That being said, it was for a sponsorship position in critical care and there were a lot of applicants so they needed to thoroughly assess each applicant for their current level of understanding to see if they could handle taking the program and working in the unit. Other units might not be nearly as rigorous as this!!!

I have had two interviews with a written test component. One was a mix of MCQs, fill in the gaps and a few drug calculation questions. At the other interview, I had to do more writing as their questions were more like; List Six types of ....... , Explain the rationale for......... , What are the major...... , . As to what to expect, I think it depends on your specialty. I work LTC so had questions pertinent to the population we work with; Dementia, Diabetes, Falls and prevention, Drugs and side effects, Diseases like CHF and COPD, Supervision of Health Care Aides, Abuse of seniors in the workplace, Dealing with difficult residents and family members.

Best of luck at the interview