Every exam I have ever taken before nursing school, I had an idea of how well I did. I have learned tricks within each subject on either how to study or how to take the test. The most bizarre feeling after a nursing exam is that I walked out without any idea of how I did. I studied for hours and had no idea if I aced or failed the exam. The questions I’m going to talk about here are the multiple-choice questions. Multiple choice questions are those with four choices and only answer.
Understand the situation
Each question will have a specific situation that will steer the answer and make one MORE right from the others. Read through the questions, initially when you review the solutions, they will all be correct. Read through again This time, identity who the question is about, the demographics of the patient, are they an infant, child, pregnant women or 85-year-old man? What event occurred that will cause them to become a patient, post-op, or current disease process? What has changed, specifics that is making you act, diarrhea, pain, vomiting, etc.? The last chunk is timing, “at this time,” or “first thing”, this will be the particular wording in the question, keywords that will help in determining the answer.
What is the question asking?
After establishing the situation, pay attention to what the question is asking. Many times I had the right idea, I had the correct answer to the wrong question. Is the question asking of a concern of a post-op patient in the recovery room, or post-op patient on day three? The priorities of the same patient in both situations will be different. After understanding the question, go back to the actual problem.
There might be one answer that can be crossed out. Answer these questions with knowledge of the situation. All the answers might be correct; the situation and the issue will guide you to the right solution. Studying the material is one half the battle answering the right question with the correct answer.