Test taking help

Nursing Students General Students

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I just took my 3rd test this semester on neuro and head injuries. I felt really confident going into it that I knew my stuff! I didn't do so good (80).

I realized that I need some test taking skills. Most of the questions involved some form of nursing priority, or nursing diagnosis and not so much on the "concrete" information. I feel like I know what I am doing, but I don't show it on the tests.

Does anyone have any test taking tips? I could really use some!!! :bow:

Thanks!

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

nursing priorities follow treating severity of symptoms. symptoms proceed in a logical sequence if you follow the pathophysiology of a disease process. so always break the underlying physiological disease process down into its simplest process from beginning to most gruesome end. we (and the doctors) apply our interventions to the manifestations that occur along the way of each step of those processes. so, nursing priorities tend to become treating the most severe symptoms first in order to avoid death or going to the next worst level. another way to look at prioritizing is to consider maslow's hierarchy of needs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs). within the physiological needs you must know what will kill the patient first. that is usually the abcs (airway-breathing-circulation) although on the maslow scale it is actually oxygenation which is the abcs (and its affects on first brain tissue, then heart tissue, lung tissue, other body tissues), water, food, elimination of wastes, control of body temperature, physical mobility, rest and sleep and comfort. the remaining needs are (in order) safety, love and belonging, self-esteem and finally, self-actualization (growth and learning).

i also recommend knowing the steps of the nursing process and what goes on in each step in order to answer test questions. there is a big difference between initial assessment to determine a patient's nursing problem and assessment to evaluate whether nursing interventions have worked and goals and outcomes have been achieved.

see the information on this sticky thread: https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-student/looking-test-taking-224581.html - looking for test taking strategies

you can also look at the answering strategy for these questions:

good luck with your next test!

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Thank you so much for the information! I also thought it would be beneficial to purchase an NCLEX book for more study tips.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

i have a copy of saunders comprehensive review for the nclex-rn examination. the test taking tips are in chapter 5 or 7 (i forget). i listed the chapter on the website i posted above. the rest of the book is merely nursing information review in a nicely organized outline form. so, if someone you know has the book, ask if you can xerox those few pages. there really isn't all that much theory to critical thinking. it mostly requires a lot of practice at doing the questions. these websites post a practice question each week:

if it's not posted on the looking for test taking strategies thread, this is the critical thinking strategy:

  • consider the medical disease involved, it's normal pathophysiological progression and the signs and symptoms associated with the pathophysiological changes. learn the progression of symptoms as they go from mild to serious to fatal. this helps you determine priorities of care.
  • know the medical tests and treatments that the doctor is going to order. know which tests and treatments fit which each sign and symptom (again this helps determine priority if you get asked which to get done first). some of these tests and treatment will impact the nursing care you will give.
  • know the steps of the nursing process, i cannot stress this enough. there are five of them: assessment, determining problems, planning care, implementation and evaluation. one of the most confusing is assessment because it is step #1 of the nursing process and the word "assess" is also frequently used in nursing interventions which are part of step #3 of the nursing process which is the planning step. assessing as an intervention is not quite the same as the assessment you do when you first encounter the patient in order to plan care; it's more of a monitoring/evaluation/observation thing when it's an intervention. each step of the nursing process is a photograph, a link in a chain; another link later on may be appropriate as well, but ask yourself if that is what the question is asking of you.
  • there are many kinds of principles behind nursing actions (i.e., principles of asepsis, principles of osmosis, infection process, etc) that you need to know and sometimes pull into determining the answer to a question. this is where you sometimes cannot discount the science or math you learned before. something as simple as heat coagulates protein helps you to know that it is the underlying principle of steam sterilization in the killing of bacteria.
  • read the root or stem of a multiple choice question very carefully. i've read some of the instructors manuals on how to write these questions. they deliberately give you answer choices designed to distract you from what was originally asked. a student who isn't thinking will opt for the most easily distractive answer. if you've done your reading and studying you should be putting two and two together. nursing is a process of logical thinking, not guesswork. if you are narrowed down to two possible answers, try to figure out from the stem of the question if pulling in knowledge of the nursing process or the disease process is going to help you make your final decision.
  • bottom line. . .you always have to be thinking "why". why would this be happening to the patient? why would the doctor order this? why would i do this? why? why? why? answer that, and you'll probably answer the question correctly.

at the bottom of all my posts is a document called the critical thinking flow sheet for nursing students. you can open it, copy and download and use it to help you study medical diseases and their nursing care. it was designed to help you think rationally (critically). your ability to think critically will improve when you have patients with these diseases and you are able to see how the symptoms appear, how they are tested for, how the doctors treat for them, and how the nurses develop all the various nursing interventions for some of the symptoms. it helps cement the concepts in place. through all this, it becomes clear how important the nursing process plays a role in all we do. it is the problem solving process we, including the docs, use. it can be adapted to everything from care planning to figuring out why your car won't start.

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