Struggling in LVN School

[san diego CNA]

Hello. Is anyone out there in, or have been in, nursing school? I'm having one hell of a time in nursing school! I'm in my second semester (and probably my LAST!) of LVN school, and I'm having a hard time with the exams (which they call "quizzes". I personally don't consider a 30 question test a quiz!). In the lectures, powerpoints, and textbooks, they all provide factual information. But when we take our unit exam, all of the questions are situational about patients in certain situations, and I'm having a very difficult time trying to apply my factual knowledge learned in lecture/textbook/powerpoints to the clinical situational case-study type of questions that are on our exams. I've questioned the instructors several times and they all said the same thing; that they are trying to prepare us to take the NCLEX-PN exam because that's the way the questions are on the board exam. How can I prepare for the unit exams based on the factual knowledge that's presented to me in lecture and get "A's" and "B's" instead of "D's" on my exams? Because at this point, I'm just about ready to drop out and remain a "CNA until my dying day"! Thank you.

[NurseCubanitaRN2b, BSN, RN]

Don't count yourself out. From reading your post it sounds to me that your exams are based on nursing interventions, what would you do first type of deal. That's NCLEX for you, that's the type of questions you will get. Always remember your ABC's, Airway, Breathing, and Circulation (Cardio). If you find airway as one of the answers, that's going to be your final answer 98% of the time I've come across it, the right answer was airway. There was one time when it wasn't the answer. Once you establish your ABC's and none of the answers has to do with ABC's, then your next best is to use Maslow, safety. That's your best bet, ABC's and then safety. If you don't have a NCLEX book already, then I would get the NCLEX-PN Comprehensive Review by Saunders and then use that book in conjunction with your studies. I wouldn't recommend Saunders for NCLEX review, but I would highly recommend it to use with your studies because it's easy to follow and easy to read. It also gives detailed explanations and it sounds like that's what you need. So say for example this week you're doing Respiratory in med surg, then I would read up on the chapter with Respiratory and do the questions at the back of the book and read the rationales. Also do the questions on the disc. That should help you understand the material more and by doing the practice questions it teaches you how to read the question and apply what you've learned to pick your answer. REMEMBER YOUR ABC's I hope this helps, and DON'T GIVE UP!!!!

[matchsticktgt, LPN]

Welcome to the world of nursing exams! All of our exams/quizzes are "nclex" style...they don't want to you to memorize the information you have taken notes on and read...they expect you to learn the why and how and apply it to the questions....most of the time you have 4 answers to choose from...and several of them may be a correct! answer, but they are looking for the one that is the most correct in that particular situation. Another important thing to remember is the question is what it is - don't read anything else into it and take it at face value. If you can't decide which answer is the most correct, work on eliminating the wrong answers. It's an entirely different mind set and style of test taking (and I hate not getting my tests back to study from!)...the nclex review question books are very helpful - especially since they explain the rationales behind each "most correct" answer.