Test Questions

hi, bmf0826, and welcome to allnurses! :welcome:

you are running into application (critical thinking questions). the strategies for answering these kinds of questions are in the beginning of most nclex review books. but, basically, this is what it is. . .

you must:

• know normal anatomy and physiology
  
• know abnormal anatomy for the disease in question
  
• know the resulting signs and symptoms when the disease occurs and how they proceed from mild to fatal - each sign and symptom can be related back to the pathophysiology of the disease
  
• know how the doctor diagnoses and treats the disease in question
  
• know nursing interventions for the signs and symptoms you are being asked about
  
• know the steps of the nursing process and what goes on in each of the steps
  
• know the principles behind the actions being done - there are many kinds of principles: principles of nursing, principles of biology, principles of chemistry, principles of physics, etc.
  
• read the stem of the question carefully and answer that because the test makers try to trip you up by distracting you with conflicting information they give you in the answer choices that sounds good but has no relationship to what the question is asking for
  
• ask yourself "why" a patient is experiencing some sign or symptoms to get at the underlying problem. nursing like other disciplines treats the problem/signs and symptoms.

you should review the links in this thread as well:

• https://allnurses.com/forums/f50/looking-test-taking-stratagies-224581.html - looking for test taking strategies (on the nursing student discussion forum)