Poorly Written Exams-Is there any recourse?

Atheos · Oct 11, 2008

I would talk to her in a round about way.

Tell her that you were having a lot of trouble with the test and maybe give her examples where you got confused. Also find out exactly how and what she expects you to study.

I wouldn't tell her outright the test was written poorly because a) it could offend here or b) it could be written fine and the students and your assessment was wrong.

Document the conversation and if the same thing happens again, after the test write examples of questions while they are fresh in your mind and see the Dean or your counselor if you have one.

Whatever you do, try to avoid saying outright that she is a bad test giver. :)

TessaMae · Oct 11, 2008

my advice (for what it is worth) would be to first find out the exam stats. there are 200 people, what was the class average, how many a's, b's, c's, etc. the questions that were answered incorrectly, what percentage of the class got them wrong? sometimes you might not be able to find out all this information but most schools at least make available the class average.

i find that to be most successful in challenging anything in nursing school or life you need to first start with organizing the facts, developing a plan for stating your case - which involves careful selection of words. avoid accusations, assumptions, and getting emotional. every question you pose, consider possible responses and be ready to explain your reasoning. you can't just say (which i am sure that you know) this exam was not fair everyone did bad and the questions were worded poorly. you need to prepare examples, such as questions from the exam, that provide proof that the wording can be misinterpretted. in the medical field right now there is alot of talk about proper terminology and eliminating confusion/errors in the healthcare.

ex. patients chart states:

yes x no__ do not resuscitate

while i know that this particular record means yes, do not resuscitate this patient, because i have seen the signed form. someone quickly looking in an emergency situation could view it differently because there is no time to flip through the entire file and think if no was checked it meant no, do not resuscitate or yes resuscitate. medical language should always be clear and leave no room for error.

my point here is that if you can back up your claims about the exam either by getting the statistics from your class or by offering evidence to back up the claim that the questions leave room for confusion or are able to do both both and you organize your thoughts(on paper even) approach the appropriate person and ask for an appointment, most prof do not like to be bombarded or to discuss matters in front of other students, explain your reasoning in a mature, and non confrontational way you might have a chance.

nursing is big on evidenced-based practice and if you have evidence, how can you go wrong. :idea:

you need to go into this feeling confident that you have prepared a good case and not just discuss it on a whim in the heat of the moment.

i like to give people the benefit of the doubt so maybe the professor will not agree and brush you off but if you don't try you'll never know and if you do try and fail it wont go against you if you handled it maturely and respectfully. good luck and post how it goes! thats my... :twocents: hope it helps!

~MIA~, ASN, RN · Oct 11, 2008

:banghead: Nursing school is a lot different than people think. I thought the same thing on my first exam. I studied my BUTT off and didn't do as well as I thought I would. Once I figured out their test questions I was fine. They are trying to get you used to 1: thinking critically and 2: NCLEX.

I would get an nclex review book and using it to study also...it really helps!

From my experience, most instructors use a test bank, and don't make up the questions they use.

Best of Luck and Hang In There! :up:

justme1972 · Oct 11, 2008

One thing you'll learn in nursing school is that the instructors will rarely, if ever, admit they made a mistake.

They may do something for the students to help make-up points, they may not. Some schools care about how many don't do well...most don't.

I am in the same boat...I have done very, very well in my program, I'm in second year of a two year, and I have bombed both of our tests this time, but I also have quite a bit of company among my classmates.

Our 4.0 students are failing...the lectures, the exams, our instructors didn't even show up for class on Thursday and sent the student assistant instead.

I talked to our Dean this week, and I was just venting, not really complaining, but it was very obvious that she just flat out didn't care.

I'm with you...never had instructors like these before but there doesn't seem to be a way to change anything.

sunnysideup09 · Oct 11, 2008

Most instructors do not write their exams, but use a test bank. Now a test bank could have poorly written questions, which need to be tweaked. Students tend to have difficulty with comprehension and application questions. When students study for the exams, they are memorizing the knowledge and then must apply that knowledge to the question. There is always 2 answers that are correct, but one is MORE correct than the other.

Remember what you learn in clinical is based on the hospital policy usually and that may conflict with the textbook information. I would make an appointment with your instructor during office hours. If everyone else has a concern, they need to approach the instructor separately. They may have very different reasons on why they did poorly.

TessaMae · Oct 11, 2008

FYI, I as well as lots of others have posted test taking strategies for nursing school. You can find the full version of mine if you search my previous threads. But mainly you need to figure out how your instrctor fomats the exam - do they base it off mostly lecture material or power points or is it mostly from the text. Then gear your studies toward that information. For my school our professors have the exams already made up so you can pick up on subtle cues during lecture regarding info that is important, one prof repeats things a second time, another cahnges her tone of voice and pauses, one asks if anyone needs more explaination, and another just says "I am telling you to know this" I make a note to myself when I pick up on these things to read the text in depth on these areas and seek help if I do not understand - as soon as possible. I set goals for myself regarding how much time I am going to spend on school work everyday, and the weekends are off limits. I do not memorize anything, if you understand something there is no reason to memorize it. understand the types of questions: communication question - they focus on feelings concerns, anxiety or fears of the client. Answers to these types of questions include a positve therapeutic technique and culture if mentioned in the question should also be considered. Then there is knowledge based - you'll need to remember specifics like drug effects, what a med is for, etc. Comprehension/Application - did you really learn the information and understand it, if so then you will be able to apply what you have learned and use it in different scenarios. Spend the most time carefully reading every question - what is the question asking? I underline the keywords to focus on this ex The nurse identifies the greatest risk for wound infection exists for a patient with...?

A. Surgical creation of a colostomy

B. First-degree burn on the back

C. Puncture of the foot by a nail

D. paper cut on the finger

I go through each part and rationalize why it is /isn't correct

A. well, this could get infected but it might not be the best answer so I should read through the other options

B. First degree burns are the least severe, so this could be a risk but there might be a better answer

C. this answer sound like it could pose a risk, it is a foreign object that has punctured the skin and could introduce pathogens into the body, this sounds better than option a and B so i can now cross those out and read D

D. A paper cut, now that certainly does not sound as severe as a nail so I can safely say I feel good about picking C

I know this one was a little easy but going through all options and rationalizing them really helps me. Say you have no idea what a surgical creation of a colostomy is you can rationalize that a surgical proceedure uses sterile tools/room and is going to have better infection control than a dirty nail.

I also use the ABC's to prioritize answers (Airway, Breathing, Circulation) and find the best answer as well as Maslow (physiologic needs come before safety and security, etc)

Also if a choice is more medical than nursing it is probably wrong or if it contains words like always or never. Plus some choices might sound right but when you go back to what the question is asking it does not answer it.

EX

Thirty minutes after administering morphine, the patient states she is feeling dizzy and disoriented and she askes for assistance using the bedpan. What is the most important nursing intervention?

A. Adjusting the morphine order to a lower dose

B. Positioning the rouded rim of the bedpan toward the front of the patient.

C. Ensuring the bedrails are raised once the patient is on the bedpan

D. Dusting powder on the rim under the rim before placing the bedpan under the patient.

A.A nurse can not adjust the medication order, the nurse can educate the patient about using the call bell and not trying to get out of bed alone, etc.

B. Positioning the rim is important, but it is not correct to place it toward the front but rather under the patients buttocks.

C. This involves patient safety, the second priority of Maslow's so if there is not a pysiologic intervention this might be the best response.

D. Powder sounds nice, but can be a respiratory irritant and should be avioded. Even if you did not know the proper position of the bedpan you could still reason that bedpan positioning is not as important as patient safety.

Hope this helps and good Luck!

The answer is C, patient safety is the highest priority in this situation. The med order might need to be changed but not by you and not before the patient is able to relieve themself since it is not an immediate concern.

kimima01 · Oct 11, 2008

Welcome to nursing school! I can remember finishing my first exam in nursing school and feeling completely defeated. I put in long hours of study and felt pretty confident about my knowledge of the material. It took me my entire first semester of nursing to get the gist of the NCLEX style of questioning. I would strongly recommend that you get your hands on some NCLEX review books to practice critical thinking skills and NCLEX style questions. Best of luck to you! Don't get too down on yourself. Consider this a learning experience. At least you now know what to expect and how to study for a nursing exam.

vashtee, RN · Oct 12, 2008

Ask her to review the exam in class. When she discusses the questions and answers, you should be able to determine if the problem is the way she worded it, or if you are just unused to RN style testing. In the first semester, the tests are usually knowledge-based, so they shouldn't be too difficult yet. (Later on, you will get 4 correct answers from which you will have to choose *the best* answer.)

jpeters84 · Oct 12, 2008

Thank you everyone for your advice. I do think the reason I did poorly was a combination of not being use to NCLEX style questioning and the poorly written, hard to understand test questions. I do need to review my NCLEX books more and get use to the questioning. It's so hard to find the time to do NCLEX reading as well, with so many hundreds of pages of reading and work in other classes to do, but as many of you said, welcome to nursing school. I think I will go to my professors office and go over with her what i got wrong and how to better prepare next time. There's probably no use in talking to her about my disappointment in how the test was written. I don't think she wrote the exam, but she did select it for us to take. I would never tell my professor that I felt the exam was poorly written. I know that I would be shooting myself in the foot, insulting her, and I have more tact than that. I just know that I can say it here, that I can get it out in this forum, because I won't be able to say it anywhere else. In a perfect world I would like to be able to tell her that I wish we could take an exam that was NCLEX style, tested our critical thinking skills, AND was written clearly, a girl can always dream.

I guess I'm finding nursing school a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be. I knew it was going to be really hard, but I didn't think that this soon into it I was going to be so physically, emotionally, and mentally drained. I'm already so stressed, so whiney, and so discouraged. Thank you all for listening to me prattle on and for all the advice and encouragement. I really really appreciate it!!!!

TessaMae · Oct 12, 2008

Hey I was just thinking, my text book has a supplemental study guide full of NCLEX style questions based on the chapters of our book. So when I use it to study it is helping me because it is stuff I would be tested on. Maybe you can get one for the textbook you use, I bought mine direct from the publisher on-line and it was $30

Multicollinearity, BSN, RN · Oct 12, 2008

I just took my first Nursing Fundamentals Exam, which also happens to be my first nursing school exam ever, and I did horribly. I am a second degree student who is use to studying extremely hard and getting very good grades as a result. My fundamentals professor is teaching this class for the first time. The exam was so horribly written. With so many of the questions, you would read through the multiple choice answers and go none of these make sense. At times the answers conflicted with what we are learning in clinical. Overall the exam was just very hard to comprehend and poorly worded. There is nothing more demoralizing than studying your heart out for an exam and then doing poorly on it. I really knew the material but I couldn't show that I knew it because half the time I couldn't even figure out what the exam was asking. We went over the exam briefly after we took it, but we get our official grades on Wednesday. The professor let the clinical professors know that we did very poorly on the exam. There are 200 people taking 3 sections of nursing fundamentals. On a 50 question exam apparently students, on average, missed 18 questions.
My question is, since so many students did poorly do you think we could make a case to the professor that maybe the exam wasn't written with as much clarity as we hoped it would be? Should I approach the professor during office hours and talk to her about my inability to answer the questions or should I wait until Wednesday and discuss it with the rest of the class? I genuinely like my professor, I don't know how she could have picked to give us this horribly written exam. I am just sick about this. I worked so incredibly hard to get to nursing school, I am desperately trying to keep my GPA up so that I can go to graduate school. This is my dream and I want to take pride in my academic work and be the best nurse that I can be. I just feel so demoralized and frustrated by this problem...Part of me feels like I should just use it to motivate myself to study even harder for the next exam and to just get over it and part of me feels like after taking that last exam I have no clue how to even study for the next one because I don't think I would have done any better if I had studied more. Any insight, similar experiences???

Welcome to nursing school. It seems the first exam is always rocky and upsetting. It seems almost everyone says that it didn't make sense, after that first exam. We all had this disorienting experience first semester, and we didn't have new instructors or anything turbulent going on at school. I saw classmates with high GPAs and prior degrees fail the first exam. It happens.

You learn after the first exam that you cannot trust and remember the things your clinical instructor tells you because it will conflict with what your lecture instructor tells you. And you cannot rule in or out what your skills instructor tells you because that may conflict too. And the textbook may conflict with them all. And when the staff RNs in clinical that tell you tidbits of info...file that in a separate place in your brain as well because that could screw you up come exam time. :clown:

You learn to hone in on what the lecture instructor says and reconcile it with your textbook. You learn to perform how your clinical instructor wishes while separating what he or she says so it doesn't screw you on the lecture exam.

It's like learning several sets of information for each instructor that conflicts, and then you remember when to pull which bit out of where to 'perform' for each instructor.

Now the exam questions. Ugh. Some of it really is crazy-making. But I've caught on to the rationales. As soon as you start learning those patterns and the rationales, you can get those As. It actually becomes interesting and dare I say, fun, at that point.

Hopefully, you have exam reviews at your nursing school. We do not have that opportunity at my nursing program. If you do, take advantage of every opportunity to learn the rationales.

As far as what you asked about making a case with the professor, or going further with this...a scene from HBO's show 'Big Love' comes to mind. There's a scene where one character tells another, "CAPITULATE NOW."

I believe that is the key. Capitulate now, LOL. Don't make any waves or engage in any protest or conflict about the exam. A significant chunk always fail the first exam in nursing school. It's part of the adjustment. Focus on learning the rationales and modifying your study techniques.

Good luck!