Test questions taken directly from random NCLEX book. Unfair?

ckh23, BSN, RN · Apr 13, 2012

Life is unfair. I don't see the difference between the instructor getting the questions from another book or making them up. What wouldn't make sense is taking test questions directly from the book you were given to study from. Then what would you be learning?

Kboylan1 · Apr 13, 2012

Life is unfair? Nice. I'm an adult, by the way, not a 10 year old.

The difference is, that some people have been studying from this other random book so knew the answers, while the rest of us just had to guess.

Why would an instructor NOT write her own questions based on what she taught and the information from our textbook? Instead she chose to use questions from some random review book that didn't line up with the things she taught.

I don't expect instructors to take questions directly from our textbook, because there are no questions in our textbook. It's a textbook. What would seem fair to me would be to make her own questions with information from what we were told to learn (the text chapters).

MN-Nurse, ASN, RN · Apr 13, 2012

My problem is: We had a test today (which went bad for the majority of students). I found out that about 15 questions (out of 50) came straight out of the Lipincott NCLEX review book. I really think this is unfair...

People who study NCLEX books do better on Nursing School tests.

Wow, you mean people who studied NCLEX review materials did better on a nursing school exam?? You don't say!!

Look, even if the questions were not lifted directly from the book, you need to be able to answer those types of questions to do well on the test.

MN-Nurse, ASN, RN · Apr 13, 2012

Life is unfair? Nice. I'm an adult, by the way, not a 10 year old.
The difference is, that some people have been studying from this other random book so knew the answers, while the rest of us just had to guess.

You asked if you need to "suck it up" and the answer is a resounding "Yes."

The questions in Lipincott are not super secret unanswerable riddles that cannot be answered without seeing them first, you need to be able to answer those types of questions whether you have seen them before or not.

Kboylan1 · Apr 13, 2012

OMG wow. None of this has been helpful. Did I mention I'm about to graduate? Of course I do practice NCLEX questions, and I know they are helpful, I just happen to use other books that are not Lippincott.

Anyway, hopefully someone else can respond who doesn't feel the need to be condescending.

My question is not "should I suck it up?" It is actually "is this common practice?" because, like I said, I've always gotten the impression that my instructors make up their own questions.

Wave Watcher · Apr 13, 2012

Yes, it was common practice within our ASN program. We would have questions that were not covered during lecture/notes/books.....BUT we were suppose to be able to critically think our way through it. Of course memorizing would not do you any good for probably 80% of the questions....you had to understand the "entire picture" of disease processes, meds, and so on.

Most of my classmates studied several different NCLEX books just so they would get a variety of questions and practice.

ckh23, BSN, RN · Apr 13, 2012

Life is unfair? Nice. I'm an adult, by the way, not a 10 year old.
The difference is, that some people have been studying from this other random book so knew the answers, while the rest of us just had to guess.
Why would an instructor NOT write her own questions based on what she taught and the information from our textbook? Instead she chose to use questions from some random review book that didn't line up with the things she taught.
I don't expect instructors to take questions directly from our textbook, because there are no questions in our textbook. It's a textbook. What would seem fair to me would be to make her own questions with information from what we were told to learn (the text chapters).

Yes, life is unfair. Your whole post is based around how unfair it was that the teacher took questions from another test book that other students just happened to be studying. Do you know how many instructors actually write their own test questions? I think you would be surprised by the answer.

I don't see where anyone is be condescending, just no one is sugar coating their response.

grpman · Apr 13, 2012

I've heard that questions at my school sometimes come from NCLEX review books. I don't have the one in particular and I'm not going to go study 3000 questions to hope they put a few on a test. I do study other NCLEX review books and I've learned the process to get to the answer is often more critical than the answer itself. So that is applicable no matter which book you study from.

I also have this opinion: what helps others doesn't harm you. You were not penalized in the slightest. If the school has a max amount of students that it can pass a year then I might be worried, but that isn't the case. You aren't competing against anyone other than yourself.

If everyone keeps their mouth shut and doesn't bring it up to the instructor, you can study from the same book for the next test. But in nursing school that usually doesn't happen. Someone will feel slighted and have a conversation which will result in new tests being made which are normally harder at first until the instructors verify the test by giving it to a few classes (I learned this from a few instructors, but this is not to say that every school does it this way).

I've noticed that when instructors started making up questions themselves, they tend to be harder than those pulled from a book or a bank. I would go buy the book if you think it will help you and stay quiet.

nrsmela · Apr 13, 2012

It should not matter where the questions came from as long as they are on the subject material. You mentioned you are about to graduate, this is the time where you should be seeing the 'big picture'. You mentioned the people who had the book got those questions right, that may have only got it right because they recognized the Q&A and not because they learned anything different. Or it could be because they have been using a variety of resources to study from and actually did learn something and are now seeing the 'big picture'.

Profs can pull questions from anywhere, as long as it is related to the material you should be able to answer them. You said the rational for the right answer is different, this is where your critical thinking skills come in.

If you have studied all of the material, text, lectures, and supplementary texts recommended and attended all classes you should be able to answer the questions. You may be upset that you did not do so well on this test, but really the prof can pull from anywhere.

In my 4th year we had a prof pull from NCLEX books, I want to mention that I attended school in Canada, our licensure exam doesnt involve the NCLEX, so none of us had NCLEX books (well a few did because we were planning to write the NCLEX after graduation). My point is we attended class, studied all the material and most of us did well on the exams.

anonymousstudent · Apr 13, 2012

Honestly, you should be glad. I wish my instructors would take NCLEX style test questions out of the massive number of resources available to them instead of trying to write their own and telling us they are "NCLEX style" when they aren't even close and sometimes don't even make sense.

I know that it sounds unfair, but I have long since ditched my book questions in exchange for a stack of NCLEX review books where I study by topic area from each. I'm working through ATI practice exams and when I take their proctored exams I routinely hit a level 3, so I guess it was worth it! Dig into those NCLEX books whether they're using them for testing or not. They are super helpful.

Blue Cat · Apr 13, 2012

I think that it is unreasonable to expect the test questions to be taken directly from the NCLEX book you are all studying. What will you do when you take your NCLEX and there are no questions on it that were taken from your book? I recently took my PN-NCLEX, and there wasn't a single question on it that I had seen in any of my classes. I'm in an ADN program and they did not recommend any specific NCLEX book, so we have all gone out and purchased one that we wanted. In my case, I've purchased more than one. Once we know the material, we should be able to choose the correct answer no matter where the question came from. Congrats on being so close to graduation.

Blue