5 test taking strategies

In nursing school, it can be tough taking tests. Especially questions that are in NCLEX format. These strategies can help you  get through the test and also the anxiety.

1. Read each question carefully and identify and qualifiers. A qualifier is a word that will change the answer to the question. A big qualifier is “except”. For example: All of the following are signs and symptoms of COPD, except? That will change your answer. A lot of people overlook that word and get the question wrong, when it might be an easy question of read correctly. Other qualifiers: all, none, always, never, except, including, priority, etc.

2. Don’t read too much into the question. Sometimes we over think the question and then we confuse ourselves and talk ourselves into an answer that could be right only if…Ask yourself “What is this question asking?” Don’t go deeper than that. If you need more information to mark the answer you are thinking, chances are, it is the wrong answer.

3. Don’t second guess yourself, go with your gut. Studies show that most students, when changing their initial, change it from the right answer to the wrong answer. If you marked an answer to a question, do not change it. Chances are it is correct. You spent all this time studying, and some of it you have buried deep down in your brain. Your instincts on an answer is really your knowledge coming through discreetly. Trust your instincts and don’t change that answer.

4. Visualization. When getting ready for lab check-offs or clinical skills check-offs it is important to see yourself doing the task at hand. There are a lot of steps in these skills and missing one key step could cause a failing grade, so visualizing the steps and process of a clinical skill can be helpful. First, write out the order in which you are to do the skill. Then, read through it a few times, then close your eyes and see yourself performing the skill. This will transfer the skill into your memory, so when check-off time comes, you will have it memorized.

5.Give yourself a break. Studying too much right before a test can defeat the pupose you are trying to accomplish. By the time the test comes around, you are so sick of the information you have been going over and reading, that you really cold care less about that subject and therefore, do not care about your answers. Of course this happens subconsciously, but it happens none the less. Take the night off the night before the test. Do something relaxing and fun. Stay away from activities that might interfere with concentration the next day, such as alcohol, or staying up too late. Your brain needs a break every so often and the constant studying and worrying will fatigue your brain making it less astute for the big test.

All these tips should help you on your quest to become a nurse, and that includes the BIG test…the NCLEX. I hope they make your test taking less stressful and more successful!