NCLEX Style Critical Thinking Questions

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Hello All,

I'm a first semester nursing student. I just had my second test today in lecture, and got a 76. I got a 86 on my first exam, so I'm okay at this point, but after taking the last test, I realize I need to step my game up when it comes to , "Critical Thinking", and pulling out the information when it comes to nclex style questions.

I've already been using a few third party resources, such as Fundamentals Success by QA Davis, Mosbys nclex review cards, and the QA bank that came with my Fundamentals Davis Second Edition book. I feel like their aren't enough questions, and a lot of 3rd party fundamentals books aren't following the content my course is following. I really studied the content this for this test, but that's not the issue.

For instance if anyone asked me what the fifth vital sign was, I would answer pain right off the bat. But if they ask a question like, "When would you assess pain?" A. On admission B. every four hours for two days after surgery C. Whenever the patient complains about pain D. Whenever taking vital signs. I have a hard time finding out what the "best" answer is. When the rationale is given, I understand why the correct answer is D, because their looking to see that you understand pain as being the fifth vital sign, but I have trouble with such questions.

My last exam was on Meeting Activity Needs, Rest Sleep and Comfort, Meeting Psychosocial needs, Pain, and Death Greif and Dying. My two third party resources where more useful with the first exam, which included things like legal issues, safety, the nursing process, maslows, and the infection control. I feel like I really need to look at new resources related to the matial I'll be covering. Doing nclex style questions really helps with studying the material in a relevant way.

My next exam will be covering Meeting Oxygen & Temp Regulation needs, Meeting Elimination Needs, and Safe Drug Administration. Any tips on any good resources related to these topics? Nclex style questions would be great! Any tips on how to approach these topics as well? I'm curious as to what format nclex style questions would be presented in in relation to these topics!

Thanks!

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I have the NCLEX review 4000 software by Lippincott, Williams, & Wilkins. It does allow you to filter out subject specific material -- the only drawback is that it is not term specific. For example -- you can filter questions that are specific to cardiac but the questions are designed for someone who has completed nursing school.. so even if you are in the 1st semester and haven't taken pharm yet, you would still get some pham questions... I simply just answer "c" to the questions that are not specific to my level of training, but do focus on getting the correct answer to those that I should know.

I have found it very helpful and am confident that I will continue to use it during my entire program.

Best of luck.

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I love the success series, and it goes well with our content, though there are always questions that are not related. I also love Saunders NCLEX comprehensive review. There is a nice review before each chapter.

The best I can say is to take the question apart and look for what the actual question is. If it is asking you for an intervention, yet gives you two answers that are planning and/or evaluating, then these are most likely not your answers. Now you are down to 2. So you have two interventions to choose from. What is the problem in the question? Is it a safety problem? Is it a breathing problem? Contact precautions? Airway? Is one intervention just plain wrong for the problem being presented? Be careful of the extra info that they put into the question just to confuse you. If your patient isn't breathing, and you are being asked for the FIRST thing you do, does it really matter to you that they didn't eat their lunch that day, or if they are in the hospital because of a CVA or heat stroke? What is important is to get them breathing again (ABC's) - as long as they don't have a DNI/DNR :)

Good luck.

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Thanks for the tips!

To the first response; that resource sounds like a great idea! Any free QA banks that are fairly recent would be greatly appreciated!

To the second response; I understand the concept, I guess I just need practice doing it! I've been reading around in some of the topics here, and it appears that people have been classifying questions here based on what format their in. It seems that some questions are based on the content, and other questions are critical thinking. I guess I need to practice the technique you mention in your post! Not all the questions I come across would be good candidates for the kind of practice I need in relation to the technique you mention. I feel like that's my issue, the technique is important, and I'm not finding similar style questions to what I'm seeing on the exams in class. I can study the content all I want, but that's not going to help me when approaching the question.

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Ah, but it will. When you study "content," every page take a pencil and write down something under the category of "Why do we care?" Facts without judgment aren't very useful, and nursing school, NCLEX, and nursing itself is all about judgment.

This is unlike any other education you ever had, because you can't just take the test, finish the semester, sell the book, and move on. You will be held responsible for all the material in your prereqs and your other courses as they build on prior information. You will be held responsible for integrating new material into what you learned before. You will be expected to defend your judgment, in essence, explaining to your faculty (via personal or test interactions) why we care about x,y, and z in a given situation.

Try to look at it in that broader context, and see if that helps you start to develop the critical thinking you'll be using. That's the operative concept: Critical thinking.

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I like that - "why do we care?" I think I will have to incorporate that question into my studies :)

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