Test Taking Skills

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Hi.

I am a Nursing 111 Student, actually having been through 2 semesters prior and had to start over due to curriculum changes and not passing 1 semester.

Anyway, I am and always have been a HORRIBLE test taker and now throw in the NCLEX format and I am really digging a hole. I know the information and am fairly intelligent, so I think.

I would love any and all suggestions that would help me to prepare better, analyze questions more efficiently, anything to pass these tests. I am at a loss.

Thanks everyone.

Rod

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I would suggest getting an NCLEX review book. It will teach you how to read the questions and pick out the key words that will help direct you to the correct answer. It also gives rationales for why an answer is correct and why the other answers are not correct. I recommend the most recent Saunders book, 5th edition, it has a yellow cover.

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no offense to srobb but don't get nclex book. I have that book and it's mostly endless reading and just little bit of practice questions; that's not enough. in my opinion, i am 100% confident to say that to do good in nursing tests, you must develop this sense of intuition and critical way of thinking. most of times when i look at a test questions, i happen to narrow down to 2 answers or many times i would just get an intuition that makes me pick out the answer from a, b, c, d without having to struggle between 2. get an app that has numerous nclex questions and solve them and read its rationales. that's one sure fire way to develop the nursing intuition for tests.

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no offense to srobb but don't get nclex book. I have that book and it's mostly endless reading and just little bit of practice questions; that's not enough.

Actually, the book comes with a CD that has A LOT of questions for each chapter. The CD is awesome. Best 45 bucks I've spent. I made nothing but 90's in med surg after I started using it.

To the OP, do you get a chance to go over your test with a course advisor? I would suggest that you do that. See if you can figure out where you are going wrong.

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Actually, the book comes with a CD that has A LOT of questions for each chapter. The CD is awesome. Best 45 bucks I've spent. I made nothing but 90's in med surg after I started using it.

To the OP, do you get a chance to go over your test with a course advisor? I would suggest that you do that. See if you can figure out where you are going wrong.

Seriously? I never got anything like that. just the book (Saunder's) came. can you tell me what's the name of the cd so i can buy it on amazon or something? thanks!

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No offense taken, I don't expect everyone to agree with me.

My book came with a CD also. For me, the reading material in the sections helped to narrow down the important points about the subject and made studying more effective.

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If you bought the book new, it should have come with the CD. Mine came with the book. The 5th Edition. I don't know if the other editions came with a CD. Like S.Robb, I also like that it narrows down what is really important. I'm taking Peds now and I still use it. We had a test today and 2 of the questions that people were arguing about in test review, I got right - courtesy of Saunders pyramid points - I think its a great study tool. But we are all different so not everyone will like the same thing.

It also gives points on how to take the tests. Like my instructors have said, its not that some people don't know the information, its that they don't know what the question is asking or how to decipher the question so they can arrive at the right answer. If that is the OP's problem, it can help there too.

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