Pre-nursing: How to answer NCLEX q's before RN school (or mastering them)

[Beldar_the_Cenobite]

Hello, all!

I am a semester away from applying for nursing school, and I am concerned as to how I am going to be able to answer NCLEX style questions which I'm sure are on exams, yes or no?

Does anyone have advice as to what a prereq/pre-nursing student should do to prepare for these or where they can go to learn about NCLEX style questions? Like a crash course? Somewhere you can go to learn about the first things nursing students learn in nursing school and how to prepare for NCLEX style questions. For example, I don't know what the ABCs are and how to apply them to the questions.

I have read an NCLEX style question. For example, an active shooter is in a hospital, a baby was shot in the head (Glasgow coma III), two people were shot in the legs, and then the shooter was shot in the abdomen by police, and then out of those shot at, who was the first to be seen by the nurse? Ans: Shooter. I thought about that question, and it made me think "Start in the center of the body and work your way out in levels of importance, the center being the most important." I don't know if that's a good way to look at it, but it seems the sky is the number of questions possible. Is there a way to narrow every NCLEX question you're thrown at or should I have to worry about NCLEX questions in nursing school and do they teach you NCLEX questions and how to answer them? Is there practice?

So many questions!!!! Good, educational answers can help remove the plaque of anxiety caked into my cortex!!!!!! :)

Ps. I didn't even know what a Glasgow coma III was...but I thought it was the baby being most important, until the nursing students that were helping the other student answer the question said Glasgow coma III means the baby is brain dead or literally dead and it's pointless to try and save it. The shooter was shot in the organs which is more vital than the legs (where the other two were shot at).

Also, another scenario that I always complained about how to answer NCLEX was I would ask my fellow friends who were/knew nurses things like "How do I know what is most important to answer if I'm giving a question where a patient has a sprained ankle, bruising, and problems breathing, which would be more important?" And they said breathing would be more important. Also, I think someone on here was once told "You can live with pain, not without oxygen".

But this information that I'm starting to get isn't nearly enough for nursing school, is it?

I am also taking a class for the BSN program called nutritional development across the lifespan and it's online, teacher doesn't teach, power points have voice overs from a previous instructor that use to work there so they're unchanged, and there is no tutoring for it. Exams are somewhat NCLEX style. All you can do is read from the book and power points. There's a file we were given on the first day of class that had advice from students in the past that took the class on how to succeed. They mentioned using Quizlet, but the wording wasn't "use it for the exams". I use quizlet for flash cards, but when I take the test, I see the questions from there so I think why don't I just use quizlet for the exam questions? I don't want to but the book is very vague with typos and it's very dificult to comprehend. Plus, I'm not even in nursing school yet, this is just required for the program.

I hate the habit of using google for answers on an online test, but I still read my book and power points out of integrity of trying to be a good student and learn the material. 2 nursing students who graduated the same program I"m trying to get into and took this class and advised Quizlet but for the exams, unlike the sheet of advice that didn't specify to use them for the exam.

These questions on the exam are NCLEX style, but maybe I'm not reading enough or studying enough, but I don't want bad habits not know a better choice.

Trying to retain the information from the books is difficult. There's practice questions, over 250 of them, and I don't know if they're helpful. Fellow students say they don't help the exam. All I have left is A&P II, so is worrying about NCLEX style questions a big deal now or is pre-reqs more important? Do nursing schools give you a lot of resources on how to answer NCLEX questions? Or is it pretty much "Here's your wings, now go fly"?

[TriChick]

Based on your posts, I'm getting the feeling that you have trouble reading people sometimes.

[xxstarrynitesxx]

I'm more worried about asking her for help on material I don't understand. I did once back when the class first started and she kind of had this "just read the material or google what you don't understand" type attitude as if the material was easy and I was in her office with the blue book that I mentioned was difficult to comprehend. It was as if asking for help bothered her. I was really interested in the material and I was asking questions about things I've never heard before like "People born before 1940 experienced the greatest changes in how health is defined, as medicine and health promotion was non-existent. Because infectious diseases claimed the lives of many children and young adults at that time, health was viewed as the absence of disease". I was very confused by the word "absence of disease" because the idea or meaning of it didn't exactly click, so I went to her along with a few other questions and she just had a short fuse. 40+ years in nursing I guess does that to you. She was a research based nurse.

I had took a professor who would give a similar type of response to many students whether it was for her online classes or classes in person. Reading her ratemyprofessors review made her seem like a horrible person. While I can see where she could come off as not helpful to some, I never had an experience like that and she actually invited me to her office to give some advice on a major I was interested in and career possibilities. If I did have a question, I always made sure to present the specific thing I had an issue with and my reasoning/thoughts behind what I was thinking. She did not hand answers out to people who did not try to think about or solve questions on their own, but would point people in the right direction. She was a tough cookie and very no nonsense. A lot of people were used to being spoon fed things from other professors and I found it a tad amusing listening to their rants about "Being dropped from the class for missing an exam" or "Having to drop because the professor was unwilling to work with me about not having done the homework when it was due." These things are clearly in the syllabus mind you.

You are definitely not alone in your struggles. I take classes as a challenge and am not afraid to do outside research as needed. I treat going to professors as an absolute last resort for help. I've told more than one that because I will go just to say hi, pick up some extra worksheets, or whatever.

Keep working hard and stay strong! You will get through this class and nursing school. I can't promise that every professor you will get will be what you want, but I always prepare for the worst and hope for the best. I made a promise to myself when I started school to be the best that I can be and I remind myself about that promise as needed.

P.S. I hate to assume this was even directed at me, but that Finding Nemo comment made my day! Thank you :)

[nalie2, ADN, BSN, MSN, RN, NP]

Worry about your prereqs first and foremost, because without that there won't even be any nursing school for you. If you're reading the required textbook for the nutrition class and it isn't helping then try looking up YouTube videos or Googling the topic you don't understand or retain. Your situation reminds me of a math class and an anatomy class I had before nursing school although they were in person classes. I felt the teachers style of teaching was horrible, I didn't learn from their lectures, they just read off PowerPoints, I failed the first exams/quizzes and I kept complaining about how horrible those two teachers were. Some classmates complained too, but you gotta deal with what you have. I looked up YouTube videos, I went to tutoring, I looked at other books. YouTube has TONS of videos of people teaching content and if you don't like that certain style then go onto the next video. I love it! I know it is different because you are taking an online class, but you gotta work for it. If you really want this then you will find a way.

I wouldn't worry about NCLEX questions. Nursing school will teach you about the style and of course the content. You've got enough on your plate for now. Good luck to you.

[Destined4Nursing 2019]

You Rock 🙌