So Upset Took such a hard exam :(

[lizzyberry]

Im so upset. I know teachers are to suppose to give us hard tests but do they really need to be so tricky. It almost feels like my instructor was trying to fool us in a lot of our test questions. I studied so hard for this communication test in my fundamentals nur. class and the question had two very right answers and it seemed like the right answer could really have been both. Heres an example of a question sort of like one on the test:The patient states "Im having a problem with this" I dont want to do this diabetes shot thing" then the nurse asks "What kind of problem is it" What is the nurse doing:

a)elaboration

b)seeking clarification

c)wrong answer

d)wrong answer

Will I get used to these questions?

[missninaRN]

I don't like it how they make two very right answers and you have to pick the "best" one.

You will find this to be true of all the tests in nursing school. Gone are the days of exams that tested our memorization abilities. Now we have to apply what we have learned/memorized to a hypothetical situation to select the correct course of action. This is what we will do as nurses every day. Narrowing the answers down to two is fairly easy; knowing which of the remaining two is correct requires critical thinking.

I suggest looking over the information Daytonite posted. Get an NCLEX review book and do practice questions every day. Some people naturally have critical thinking skills, but they can be learned.

Best of luck!

[LMRN10]

From the question you wrote, I suppose the way I would look at it is

1) Elaborate is something the patient would do. Going into more detail regarding his/her problem.

2) Seeking Clarification is something the Nurse would do. Asking the patient for more information.

[CT Pixie, BSN, RN]

I just took a Psych test on Therapeutic communication. The answer would be "B". The nurse is seeking clarification on what the problem is. In a sense making sure she is hearing the information correctly and in turn asking the patient to clarify for her exactly what about the "Im having a problem with this" I dont want to do this diabetes shot thing" he's talking about. Is he having a problem with having diabetes, is he having a problem with this (meaning insulin shot) particularlly or is he having a problem with having diabetes AND he doesn't want to inject himself. If its the injection clarifiy w/him exactly WHAT he doesn't want to do and why. Maybe he's not feeling confident or informed enough to give himself a shot.

Once the nurse has her clarification, she can have the patient elaborate on the whats and whys.

Most nursing tests will have 2 really out there answers, which you know are wrong and two that could be correct, its your job to pick the most correct one for the question.

[MB37]

In my NCLEX strategies course today, we went over some strategies (Maslow, assess before implement, and safety); and did several practice questions as usual. My professor chose the wrong answer for one of the sample questions - she didn't write them, they're from Kaplan. Just goes to show, we can all get stuck once we narrow a question down to two correct-seeming answers. We went back and figured out where she (and most of the class) had gone wrong, and it was applyying the strategies in the wrong order. Both answers made sense, depending on how you looked at the question. Unfortunately, with NCLEX and many nursing tests, one answer tends to be "righter" than the other. With your question though, I immediately picked "clarification." We're covering therapeutic communication right now, and elaboration wasn't a technique we learned about either.

[lizzyberry]

Thanks guys. Yes Im am so stressed right now. I feel like I did really bad on this exam Well see next Wed how I do. But half the class failed the first test in our Fundmnts class. So its so scary and frustrating. Gotta keep fighting though!

[CT Pixie, BSN, RN]

Thanks guys. Yes Im am so stressed right now. I feel like I did really bad on this exam Well see next Wed how I do. But half the class failed the first test in our Fundmnts class. So its so scary and frustrating. Gotta keep fighting though!

You and your class are very much like my classmates. The first Fundementals test is always the toughest. You don' know what to expect and when you are faced w/the test it looks foreign, seems that 2 answers are both right, how do you choose etc. Once my class learned how to figure these questions out (they did by the 2nd or 3rd test..their scores were much better than the 1st test but they really didn't "get the hang of if" until maybe the 3rd.) They are old pros at Critical thinking like tests. (I was lucky, I learned quite a while ago when I had first started nursing school)

[smk1, LPN]

Thanks,but I took the test today so Im starting to read on Medication Administration. Our instructor had many tricky questions and the whole class was saying how horrible the test was. Well see what happens when I get my grade. Their really beating the critical thinking into us I guess. I don't like it how they make two very right answers and you have to pick the "best" one. I think Im stressed. Well gotta get back to studying. Thats my life right now!

You will get used to this type of question. You really will. I would say Clarification is the answer because I don't remember them using elaboration as a term in the text (even though it is a synonym). Pretty soon all of the answers will start to seem "right" instead of just 2, or you have to pick all that apply etc... This is getting you ready for the harder things to follow and you WILL get there. I suggest going in and reviewing your missed answers with the teacher so that you can see their reasoning on why one answer is correct over another one. It will help you to understand where you went wrong.