Types of questions in nursing school.

[Zooey72]

I have heard/read that the questions asked during nursing school are based off of what is the best answer although more than one answer can be correct. I have no issue with that, you should know the material. My question is are the questions phrased to prove you have learned something, or to be 'trick' (can't think of a better way of putting it). IMO, this is an example of a question that could be used to see if you have learned something.

A patient has high blood pressure, and a family history of it from both his mother and father. While his BMI is high, his body fat is at 18 percent. The patient both does resistance training, and also cardio to help offset his high blood pressure. What type of medication would be the best to give him?

A Beta Blocker

B ACE Inhibitor

C ARB

Answer would be ARB since the other 2 would/could interfere with his beneficial lifestyle of doing cardio which he uses to control his high BP. That seems like a fair question to me. (if anyone has an issue with my answer, you can take it up with my doctor because the above example is me lol).

What I am afraid of is some kind of question akin to "Railroad crossing look out for the cars, can you spell THAT without any Rs". That silly child's word play is all I can come up with to illustrate my point. I am hoping the questions are used to test knowledge and not some attempt to fool you. Attention to detail is important, and I don't have an issue with that. But I really hope that the questions are put forward to test whether you learned something, and not get it wrong because even though I answered it correctly the question was not preceded with "Simon Says".

[excited1]

Hello! I am in my 4th semester and while most questions are "best answer" or SATA, if you read the question properly and apply critical thinking, you should be fine. Nursing school and NCLEX exam are not straight forward like pre-reqs and gen ed. It is doable, but you just have to apply critical thinking. Once you learn more about pathophysiology and the "why" behind stuff, you will surprise yourself! Great luck to you!

[AZBlueBell]

The types of questions are definitely different in nursing school. It was something that really worried me but it has been fine for me so far. The biggest thing is reading the question and really understanding WHAT it's asking for. Don't add in your own scenario or "what ifs" to the question. Break it down by what it is looking for. Then, try and think of the correct answer before reading your choices. This helps me a lot because if I see that answer there then I'm fairly certain that's the correct choice. Usually there's 2 answers that can be eliminated. Then I look at the remaining 2 and pick the one the best suits the question.

SATA questions are my downfall but I still do ok with them. It helps to think of the answers as true/false for SATA. So once I breakdown the question, I look at each answer individually and think "is this answer true or false for the question?" If it's true, I select it. If it's false, I leave it.

It's a learning curve but take your time to dissect the question and go with your gut. Good luck!

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

The types of questions that will be in your Med/surg tests will require pulling multiple sources of information from your class. For example:

The healthcare provider is performing an assessment on a patient who is taking propranolol. Which assessment finding is an indication the patient is experiencing an adverse effect of this drug?

A) Dry mouth

B) Bradycardia

C) Urinary retention

D) Paresthesia

You will need to know what propanolol is used for and also what the common adverse reactions are for the drug.

It is a Beta-blocker (ends in -olol) which can cause slow heart rate.

Correct answer is B.