Sure it's been asked before, but how do you answer when you have NO clue?

[kgh31386, BSN, MSN, RN]

I searched but couldn't find much...I know it's been a wide known fact that most people get a lot of drugs they have never heard of...everyone who graduated from my school in December said they had never heard of any of the drugs..just like everyone else. What are you supposed to do when the drug is completely foreign to you(can't tell the root or anything), and the question doesn't say what it's for. Example: a patient is prescribed "eojtoejaoitje". What is a priority whatever to educate them about side effects, when to take it, what to report...etc?? I mean when you have no clue what it's for, what it is..how do you pick an answer? I keep hearing "I just guessed randomly". I don't want to just "guess", but what would you do?

[Freedom42]

If you haven't heard of the drug, chances are nobody else has, either. It may be a fake made up for the purposes of the test. So look at the rest of the stem of the question: What is it really asking? The drug may have nothing to do with the question. It may have to do with precautions for a particularly illness or condition. Focus on what you do know about that condition, then eliminate optional answers from there until you have only one remaining. Mark your answer, move on -- and sigh with relief when you get the next question because baby, as you get that next question, you're still in the game!

Remember, 90 percent -- give a point or two -- pass the NCLEX on the first try. It's a test of the minimal knowledge that a newbie has to have to practice safely. As one of my instructors used to say, that test is to make sure you won't kill anyone. Focus on safety, and you can't go wrong.

Remember, too, that drug questions -- essentially, memorization questions -- are "low level" questions. Don't spend your time memorizing every drug out there. If you are asked about drugs on NCLEX, they tend to be either a) obvious drugs that you should know or b) fakes. If you focus your studies on concepts and understanding patho, you'll be able to deduce your answers -- and that's the key to getting out of the "low level" questions to the higher levels.

Good luck! You can and will do it.

[CT Pixie, BSN, RN]

If you honestly cannot gather any info from the questionand have no idea what the answer could be, you HAVE to just take an educated guess. If one of the answers has airway in it..go with that..follow Maslow's..and your good old ABC's airway breathing circulation. You cannot skip questions and the test is timed, so its best just to go with your gut and move on to the next question. If you sit there and sit there trying to figure it out you are wasting precious time that you could be asnwering other questions with.

And honestly, I came upon some meds I really couldn't figure out what it was but you could tell from the questions some other info. I don't recall any med questions being as vague as Med akdjhfkjadk how should you educate the patient.

Best of luck to you in your testing.

[caliotter3]

Try to eliminate any answer, then guess from the rest.

[+one]

eliminate, maslows, suffix or prefixes, usually works,

if not associate the choice with the question choose the best one.

[NoviceRN10]

I had meds that had no clue in the question, or the possible answers for that matter. I just stopped fretting and picked one, because none of them really related to Maslows or anything else. I had several drugs I didn't know. I expected to maybe get answer choices that I could prioritize, but that wasn't the case. I just blindly guessed and that must have worked because I passed with 75 questions this past week :).

[kgh31386, BSN, MSN, RN]

I keep hearing a lot of "blindly guessing"..and that doesn't seem too "fair" I guess. Because if a lot of people guess their way to passing the test, and some people who truly know information failed...then how is that a successful test of who is or isn't safe, or who does or doesn't know information?

[NoviceRN10]

I keep hearing a lot of "blindly guessing"..and that doesn't seem too "fair" I guess. Because if a lot of people guess their way to passing the test, and some people who truly know information failed...then how is that a successful test of who is or isn't safe, or who does or doesn't know information?

Well, some of the questions were things I just didn't know (like particular meds or a manifestation of a disease). So I guessed. That isn't to say I should have actually known the answers. I'm sure they were within the texts I read, or lectures. It's just not that easy to remember every darn thing you learned over a two + year period. Other questions are prioritizing, delegation, etc. So those questions where you have to really be able to look at each pt and decide who's the most critical to see seem more important anyway (I'm assuming those were the high level questions that you really did need to get correct). As far as meds go, if anyone can actually tell me all the meds out there and what therapeutic response or side effect they have, (besides a pharmacist) I'd be very impressed.