I freak out on the exam

Nursing Students Student Assist

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I am sooo frustrated. I love nursing, the books are not hard to understand. But when it comes to the exam I freak out, running out of time, misread questions, don't see the options and very often chose the wrong answer. I know at least as much as my friends, and often I do much worse than my friends. when I review th e exam questions, I can't understand how come I didn't chose the right option.

Please LMK if you if you have any suggestions.

Thank you,

worriedfreak

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Hello,

My suggestion is for you to have A learning disability testing completed asap. If you are LD than that will provide you with soe answers and give you a chance to adapt to your learning disability.

Have a great evening,

Buttons

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thank you button

at least you make me laugh :chuckle

it's a good one

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I am serious....if you are having trouble....go and get tested. Then the program will adapt to your needs. Do not take it as a joke. You never know until you take the test. Then you will know that you learn differently from the rest of the class.

I cannot believe you are laughing .....

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I didn't want to seem not serious about the issue. I don't freak on any other exam but one. I get 92, 98 in other ones. But this one particular... I have a difficult time.

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I am curious about being tested for a learning disability. What kind of doctor would do this kind of testing? your family dr?

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Hello, MChanrice

You would see a neuropsychologist, a psychologist, and a learning disability facilities. Lastly, you can call the ADA and they can give you someone in your area.

I saw a neuropsychologist for my testing.

Buttons

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Specializes in M/S, Onc, PCU, ER, ICU, Nsg Sup., Neuro.

When i was in school(in a distant galaxy long ago and far away.....:) ) the biggest problem people seemed to have was is in trying to read too much into the question, this did trip me up on occasion at first. When I test I read the question(if multiple choice-look at the offerings) and think about the first answer that comes to mind, if i get stuck then I make a little mark to the left of the question and move on. Doing this I have found(sometimes) help to the answer in another question(especially in a case study type of questions where they all tie in to one thing). If not go through the test answering what you do know then when done go back to the others you have marked and try to to answer them, sometimes there is more clarity then. If not try and narrow it to what it definitely is not versus what it could be(the answer). I did fine throughout school, not a Rhodes scholar but well enough. I can pass any test with enough time to shove the material into my brain, cramming works well in a pinch. Back when i took state boards it was a 2 day process and on day 1 there no peds stuff, pored over my peds that night and the morning of the test-guess what the answers I needed were things I looked over prior to the test. See what happens on your next test, can't answer-move and come back to it. If you're passing other teats then i don't i don't think you have LD problems or it would be the same with every test. We sometimes just tend to freak and read too much into the questions, just answer the question, don't dissect it..... :) flaerman:rotfl:

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

Student of many years here. First, and foremost is that you have discovered why you are answering some of your test questions wrong--you misread them. If you know you are doing that then you need to compensate for it. What I mean is you will want to definitely review questions after you've completed the test but before handing it in. Sometimes 15 or 20 minutes later, your unconscious brain has cogitated on a question and can come up with a better answer. What I do is use my pencil to underline what I have found are important words in a question just to highlight them for my eye. Watch for key words in questions like "what is the BEST response", "never", "always", "sometimes", or "only". When I'm looking at the answer choices, I have those underlined words to look back at. Look for red herrings (things put into a question that are deliberately designed to steer you in another direction). If the question is long make sure you read the very last sentence very carefully as that is usually what they are asking you to answer. Any questions that I am not sure I answered right, I put some kind of mark, again with my pencil, next to them so I know which questions to go back to. If I find myself using up time "spinning my wheels" over choosing an answer on one particular question, I mark the question to look at later and move on through the rest of the test. Better to have missed one question because you couldn't answer it than 5 questions because you ran out of time and never got to them. If you're not supposed to write on the test itself--take a big eraser with you to erase the pencil marks you put on it. If your school has a counseling or remedial studies department you might want to look into what they have to offer with regard to test preparation and taking tests. They may have some very practical test-taking information and advice that will help you in future tests. Also I strongly suggest that if you have your old tests you should spend some time to take a good look at how the test questions are worded and what kind of information they were asking for as a basis for the correct answer. (In other words, debrief yourself and analyze how you went wrong.) Watch for things like "nursing care" as opposed to "medical care". See if you can see any kind of a pattern in how the instuctors are putting these questions together. Nursing questions are generally structured many times so that they boil down to two possible answers. How do you know which one is clearly the right one since both seem to be correct? It usually comes down to some particular principal or priority in the patient's care. Therefore, as you study for tests you not only need to know what the nursing care for particular things is, but which ones take priority. Nursing test questions are generally what are called application questions which means you not only have to know the nursing information, but how to apply it. These are questions designed to see if you are thinking correctly as well as knowing the material.

Just want to let you know that test question writing is a little art within itself. When I belonged to a specialty nursing practice and had a national certification we were permitted to help write questions for the certification exam. At our national convention, the company that helped to design the test offered seminars in test question writing. I attended one and it was quite eye-opening.

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Dear Daytonite,

Thank you so much for such a great response. I read you suggestions several times. I will use this technique on my next exam and will let you know how I did. I need to learn good skills taking exam. I got a cd with nursing questions and take a test every day now.

One thing I realized that I am paying attention the things I am interested, I miss very often what the nurse need to know and do. We have a very interesting semester, all GI pathology. I found so much information that I always wanted to know and it doesn't do me a favor. I guess, I need to focus on nursing interventions more that I do.

It must be interesting to write questions for the certification exam. I am so curious. Can you share more of your experience? You sound very knowledgeable. I feel like you can tell a lot of interesting things.

With respect and appreciation,

worriedfreak

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Dear Flaerman,

You are right about reading too much into the question. I made several mistake because I didn't expect for such a simple answer and was looking for more sophisticated option. I hope that now I know what professor expects us to do and will do better on the next exam. I am also trying to learn good exam taking skills and I am sure it will help.

I appreciate you are sharing your experience. Support helps.

Thanks a lot again,

wf

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Hey there! Sounds like you have a bad case of test anxiety. Lots and lots of people have that including myself. I think I am an intelligent enough, but I too freak out on exams. The last exam I got a lower grade on because I left a few answers blank, meaning to come back to them, and I gave some obviously wrong answers to some questions. I know the material too! I had an anxiety attack about 5 minutes into the exam. Ticks me off!

There are nursing instructors that teach test taking skills especially for nursing students here at my school. They may have something like that at your school too. I am signing up!

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