How to Answer Nursing Questions When You Dont Know Answer

How to Dissect an NCLEX® Question 🕵️

How to Dissect an NCLEX® ...

• Jon Haws, BS, BSN, RN, Alumnus CCRN

A question I get from students pretty often is:

I am struggling with knowing how to break down the questions. I feel similar I report and study, but I tin can't get expert grades on my exams and quizzes. I but started nursing schoolhouse and I am in nursing basics and nursing cess.

📝 What Unlike Types of NCLEX Questions Are There?

One of the best ways to defeat the NCLEX® is to know going into it what types of questions are going to be asked.

The NCLEX® is based on a ready method for writing questions known as " Blossom's Taxonomy for the Cerebral Domain ".

In fact in the NCLEX®-RN exam plan the NCSBN states:

"Bloom's taxonomy . . . is used as a basis for writing and coding items for the examination"

So, what exactly is Bloom's taxonomy?

Hither is a preview video from our Nursing Test Taking Grade

Essentially it is nada more than a method for classifying learning objectives and organizing them into levels of intellectual behavior and cognitive power.

Originally it was developed to provide a congruent framework for teachers to write test questions and to serve as background in developing learning goals for students.

Information technology is important to sympathize that each succeeding level in Blossom'southward Taxonomy builds upon the previous (ie it is impossible to create if y'all practice not sympathise).  In other words from remembering to create, the learner is required to call upon a college level of cognitive ability.

This classification was originally adult in 1956 but was revised in 2001 to include the post-obit categories from simple to complex (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001).

• Call up
• Understand
• Utilize
• Clarify
• Evaluate
• Create

The NCSBN further states that:

"Since the practice of nursing requires awarding of noesis, skills and abilities, the majority of items are written at the application or college levels of cognitive ability, which requires more than complex thought processing."

Information technology'southward for this reason the rumor goes around that if you lot have a lot of SATA (select all that employ) questions on your test then you must be doing well equally these are considered to be at the evaluate level.

And this is why nursing educators repeat the take hold of phrase "disquisitional thinking" . . . over, and over, and over . . . . and over.

Nursing schools Empathize that it is of import for students to critically think in gild to exercise well on nursing exams,  but they ofttimes fail in educating students past the Remember level of Flower's taxonomy . . . (see what I did there?).

Hence the 2-hour lectures with 4,746 slides that the teacher only glazes over. Or the "read pages ii-876 tonight and your test will be tomorrow"

Unfortunately, in that location are a couple things wrong with nursing education that limit the students ability to progress toward the ANALYSIS level:

• In that location is Style too much to larn in nursing school in just a couple short years
• Professors know how to say Critical Thinking, only they are non instructed on how to teach it
• Students aren't taught or encouraged on HOW to ask the right questions

Without getting into the changes that need to occur in nursing pedagogy too much, I volition only say that as a nursing student it is your job to exercise a couple of things:

• Learn how to enquire GOOD questions (your professors says Steroids crusade osteoporosis . . . WHY???)
• Learn to cut the ataxia (look at each affiliate . . . what is the essential information to know?)

You now accept a secret weapon. . .

You know exactly what TYPES of questions the NCLEX® is going to contain.

Begin at present to train yourself to call up at the analysis level. Take harder questions.  This is the reason we accept created analysis level questions right into our massive depository financial institution of NCLEX® Questions!.

View NURSING.com Exam Taking Form

Parts of an NCLEX® Question

Now that you know what type of questions to wait on test 24-hour interval, allow'due south motility on to the actual questions themselves.

The NCLEX® is equanimous entirely of multiple pick questions.  Your ability to work as a nurse comes down to a single examination with multiple choice answer options.

Remember it's important to understand a bit more than well-nigh these questions?

Basically you have two options:

1. Complain nearly the tests, the questions, and the answers.
2. Learn everything you can about the questions and how to dissect them and demolish them.

Since merely ane of these options is going to go you closer to RN, permit's focus on learning how to dissect the questions.

So permit'southward suspension down the anatomy of an NCLEX question, there are basically five parts of a question – which I outline below:

• Item: the unabridged question and reply
• Stalk: the bodily question, what is being asked
• Options: possible responses
• Right respond: umm, the correct answer
• Distractors: incorrect answers

Stem:

There are 4 different ways a stem volition exist written on the NCLEX exam:

• Complete sentence
• Incomplete sentence – becomes consummate with the correct answer
• Positive – asks a question regarding what is true
• Negative – asks a question regarding what is simulated.  Be very conscientious with these questions.  These tend to be missed more often simply because students fail to read the entire question. ALWAYS read the unabridged stem advisedly and completely.

To help y'all place a negative stem, look for these words as you read the stalk:

• Except
• Not
• Never
• Further
• Least
• Avoid
• Contraindicated

Sometimes these items will be identified with bold or italic lettering but ultimately it is your job as the student to read the question and identify what is actually existence asked . . . so read advisedly.

Pass the NCLEX® HERE

The Nursing Process

The nursing process is the foundation of everything nosotros practise for our patients.  Like it or not, understanding the nursing process is central to your success in nursing schoolhouse and on the NCLEX.  And when it comes down to it, the nursing process is essentially what a nurse does for 12 hours during each shift.  In fact, it seems that for new nurses, a shift happens about 6 months into working equally a nurse and things just "click" – they finally experience like a "real nurse" . . . this is usually when the nursing procedure has become 2nd nature.

So what is the nursing procedure anyhow?

ADPIE . . . audio familiar?

It should . . . if those 5 messages mean nothing to you, then it is time to crack open your fundamentals book and review the nursing process.

What is the Nursing Process:

• A- assessment
• D- diagnosis
• P- programme
• I- implement
• E- evaluate

Because problem-solving and disquisitional thinking requires a framework to conduct appropriately, nursing (as a profession) has adult the ADPIE framework to aid in conclusion making with regards to patient care . . . it's really no different from the scientific method.

For the purpose of the NCLEX, information technology is of import to treat ADPIE as a rigid set of steps . . . meaning that you lot don't implement a plan until you have assessed the patient.  You don't make a plan until you have a working diagnosis.

When reading a question it is important to identify which component of the nursing process the question is actually referring to and to select an respond that is in line with that component.

It is also essential that you piece of work through the nursing process step by footstep equally discussed above.

              RELATED ARTICLE:How to Answer Whatsoever SATA Question (the SATA Success Pyramid)

🤔 NCLEX Practice Questions

Now that you know HOW to break downward NCLEX questions, information technology'southward fourth dimension to start practicing.  To aid you with this nosotros have opened up our entire bank of nursing exercise questions.

Endeavor NURSING.com

This resource is called Nursing Practise Questions and provides y'all with feedback, detailed rationales, global ranking and and so much more to help you know exactly how you are doing.

Putting it together

These iii elements are not the stop all exist all to answering questions, just when used together, these iii strategies volition help you to place what is actually beingness asked, and help you eliminate incorrect answers.

References:

Anderson, 50.West. & Krathwohl, D.R. (Eds). (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching and assessing. A revision of Blossom's taxonomy of educational objectives. New York: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc.

What are you struggling with in nursing school?

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Jon Haws, BS, BSN, RN, Alumnus CCRN

Jon Haws RN began his nursing career at a Level I Trauma ICU in DFW working as a code team nurse, charge nurse, and preceptor. Frustrated with the nursing didactics process, Jon started NURSING.com in 2014 with a desire to provide tools and confidence to nursing students effectually the globe. When he's non busting out content for NURSING.com, Jon enjoys spending time with his two kids and wife.

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Welcome to the "NRSNG.com Podcast," the podcast created by nurses, for nurses. Are you ready to accept your learning to the next level? Sit back, and crank upwardly the book. Hither's your host, Jon Haws.

This is Jon with the NRSNG.com Podcast. Today, we're going to answer some other question for a student. We actually have a couple of questions that are very similar, so I'm going to accost both of them apace, and hopefully exist able to aid a couple of students at the same time. I know a lot of people struggle with what we're going to talk virtually today. I, myself did, equally well, during nursing school, until I found a couple tricks that helped. Information technology's not an end all, be all, but these 3 tricks are going to help you, okay?

Here's the question. "I am struggling with knowing how to breakdown the NCLEX questions. I feel like I study, and written report, only I tin't go proficient grades on my exams and quizzes. I merely started nursing school and I'chiliad in Nursing Basics, and Nursing Assessment. The basics class is my biggest issue. I like to learn through audio/visual and tactile. Whatever assist I can get would be great, because a lot of noesis isn't going to get me anywhere if I tin't pass the tests. Schoolhouse has tutors, but they're all taken. Trying to figure out how to written report is another issue because there is so much information, it's overwhelming."

I want to focus on how to breakdown NCLEX questions. This is a struggle for a lot of students, considering normally, on a lot of exams, prior to nursing schoolhouse, nosotros're used to questions that are just bones noesis questions, questions that ask if you lot understand or know textile. What happens with nursing questions, yet, is that they're a very different type of question, and understanding what they are and how to interruption them down, and what's being asked, is a very complicated task. I'k not going to lie. What we're going to talk near today is I'm going to give you 3 tips to help you with your nursing questions. The offset is the types of questions. I'm going to talk nearly what types of questions at that place are, and why they're being asked, so we're going to talk really quickly about the parts of multiple choice NCLEX style question, and and then we're also going to talk most the nursing process very briefly.

These 3 things combined are going to help you greatly with your exams. The first thing that I desire to talk most is knowing what is going to be asked on the NCLEX. In guild to know what's going to exist asked on the NCLEX, you demand to understand that the NCLEX is based on a ready method for writing questions known as Flower's Taxonomy, for the cognitive domain. In fact, the NCLEX-RN test site from NCSBN actually states, "Bloom'south Taxonomy is used equally a basis for writing and coding items for the test." If the Bloom's Taxonomy is and then essential to the NCLEX, it's important to know what Bloom'due south Taxonomy is. What exactly is information technology?

Substantially, it's nothing more than a method for classifying learning objectives, and organizing them into levels of intellectual beliefs and cognitive ability. Originally, it was developed back in the 1950's or so to provide a congruent framework for teachers to write test questions and to serve a groundwork in developing learning goals for students. Really, information technology was just a way for teachers in different areas, they were teaching in the same subjects, to be able to organize questions, but it'south too important to sympathise that each succeeding level of taxonomy builds upon the previous level. For instance, it's incommunicable to reach the analysis or the create level if you don't have the basic understanding, if you can't retrieve facts and things like that.

In other words, from the remember to create, the learner has to acquire higher levels of cognitive power. Let's go over what the levels are of Flower's Taxonomy. First is "remember," next is "understand," 3rd is "apply," fourth is "clarify," fifth is "evaluate," and sixth is "create." Now, the NCLEX likes to test at the assay level or to a higher place, so they're not going to exam a lot of questions about what yous remember, or what yous understand. What they're going to want to do is evaluate what you can analyze. Hither's another quote from NCSBN. It says, "Since the practise of nursing requires application of noesis, skills, and abilities, the bulk of items are written at the application of higher levels of cognitive ability, which requires more than complex idea process."

I really believe that, especially with math, a lot of our math classes growing upward, or our English exam, things like that, they're much more based on what we remember and what we understand. Exercise you think how to add? Do you retrieve how to divide? Do yous … Fifty-fifty in anatomy classes, how many basic are in the trunk? What's their name? That's all remembering and agreement, where once we enter nursing school, we're being tested at an analysis level. We don't intendance how many bones are in the trunk, we want y'all to be able to evaluate and empathise when something is wrong, and what needs to be done. That'due south what the Bloom's Taxonomy is, and that'south how it applies.

It's for this reason that the rumor goes effectually that if you lot're getting a lot more [inaudible 00:05:29] "use" blazon questions on the NCLEX that you must exist doing well on the test, considering those questions are considered to be at the evaluate type level. I hope this is making sense. Information technology'south this exact reason that nursing instructors repeat the catchphrase "critical thinking" over and over and over and over once again, because schools understand that information technology'southward of import for students to learn how to critically think in social club to practice well on nursing exams, but they ofttimes fail in educating students passed the "remember" level of Bloom's Taxonomy. Schools become it, nursing instructors get information technology, that it'due south important, only the problem is they don't know how to teach critical thinking, and this is why there'due south 2 hour lectures with 4746 slides, that the instructor just glazes over, and "Read pages 2 to 876 tonight, and your test volition be tomorrow."

They're trying to requite you all this information, simply what they're doing is they're just giving you this information, and they're not showing y'all how to analyze, how to call up at a higher level. What they're actually doing is they're feeding you facts to call back, and facts to cram into your head at a very low level of Bloom'due south Taxonomy, and at the same time, they're saying, "You've got to critically call up." Well, I recall that's a failure in nursing didactics, and a failure in nursing school. They demand to be giving you the facts that y'all need to know, and the framework that you need, in guild to critically think. That can be done with changing the manner that students think. You have to be educational activity students how to enquire "why." I really believe that this is something that's incorrect with nursing education.

There'due south way too much to learn in nursing schoolhouse, in just a couple of short years. Professor know how to say "critically thinking," but they are not instructed on how to teach it, and students aren't taught or encouraged on how to ask the right questions. What happens a lot in nursing school is nosotros're asking, "What's on the test? What'south on the exam? What'southward on the exam? What'southward on the examination? What chapter should I read? What should I larn?" The trouble is, what we need to be doing instead is larn how to ask good questions that dig in deeper into the why. As a nursing student, if you lot're professors aren't going to back up this, and a lot of them will, a lot of them desire y'all to larn and desire y'all to develop this skill, just if your professors don't, y'all need to learn how to do this on your own.

Learn how to ask good questions. If your professor says, "Steroids causes osteoporosis," don't write that down. What you demand to do is say, "Why? Why do steroids cause osteoporosis? Why do steroids heighten blood sugars?" Information technology does yous know existent good to memorize that fact if you don't empathize the process behind it. That'southward our whole goal at NRSNG.com. Nosotros desire y'all to empathise the processes. Once you empathize the process, you don't need mnemonics. You don't need copious notes, you don't need to read iv million chapters, because you understand what'southward going on. Yous are able to analyze. The second y'all accept a patient who's getting steroids, you know not only that it'south going to raise the blood sugars, just why, and how, and you can dig in deeper, and put the whole puzzle together, because equally nurses, we don't have a patient who has one complication. We accept a patient who has multiple complications, so we accept to understand at a deeper level.

You need to learn how to cut the clutter from your reading. Look at each chapter, and clarify what is essential for yous to know. You can't read 400 pages a night, that's impossible to do, particularly if yous're going to endeavour to learn the information, so you demand to learn how to cut the ataxia, cut through that. You now have this undercover weapon. Yous know what's going to be asked, yous know exactly the types of question the NCLEX is going to ask. Brainstorm now to train yourself to think at this "analysis" level, take harder questions. This is the reason that on our app, "RN Crush," if y'all become to RNCrush.com, you can meet it and learn more virtually it. We are creating near of our questions at the assay level. It's of import to do, and that's why information technology's important to take as many questions as you tin can.

Permit'south motion on. The next affair I desire to talk about are the parts of a multiple selection question. The NCLEX is based entirely on multiple choice questions for the almost part. You're going to be given a question, you're going to be given a couple of options, and you're expected to get the right respond. It'south important that y'all understand the multiple selection question. Your ability to work equally a nurse, your power to get the "RN" after your name, your power to graduate nursing school comes downward to multiple choice questions. There's 75 to 265 questions is going to be what you lot're graded on, and your power to become a nurse. You accept 2 options with this. Number ane, you can complain about the test, the questions, and the answers, or number 2, you can larn everything you lot can near the questions and how to dissect them and demolish them.

Nosotros're going to become for choice number two. We're going to acquire about these questions, and we're going to acquire how to demolish them because that's the merely option that's going to get you closer to RN, so let's focus on that. Let's pause the questions down. Questions are broken downward into a few parts. The entire question and the answer included is called "The Item." The stalk is the actual question part, options are the possible responses, then y'all take a right respond, which is patently the correct answer, so you have distractors. Every reply that's not the correct answer is just a distractor. Understanding those parts volition help you exist able to know what'southward going on. The stem will have a few characteristics that you must consider. In that location's a couple different types of stems. There's a consummate sentence.

"Which all-time describes a primary goal of nursing management?" Okay, that's a consummate sentence. Then, there'll be an incomplete sentence. The sentence becomes complete one time you select the correct reply. Other types of stems, you lot can have a positive stalk where it asks a question regarding what is truthful. And so yous can besides have a negative stem. Negative stems can be much more difficult for students, and for me, I tend to become in a rush when I accept tests. I get in a mode, and I just start slamming out answers. What can happen with that is that you tin can glance over these negative stems and miss what the questions actually asking.

The best style to defeat these negative questions is to understand how to recognize them and more important than that even is just to irksome down enough and read every question completely because a lot of times, these negative questions, you'll place information technology as a negative question with the last couple of words of the question. Always, e'er, always read the entire stem carefully and completely. Here'southward some words you need to look for to identify a question, a stem, as a negative stalk. Words like "accept," "not," "never," "further," "to the lowest degree," "avoid," and "contraindicated." Those are some of the words you lot demand to look for when identifying a question as negative. "have," "not," "never," "further," "to the lowest degree," "avert," "contraindicated." When that's in there, you're really looking for the one reply that doesn't fit that illness procedure or whatever.

Simply read the questions advisedly, okay? The concluding thing we're going to talk about really quick today is just the nursing process. The nursing process is the foundation to everything we do for our patients. Similar it or not, agreement the nursing process is central to your success in nursing schoolhouse and on the NCLEX, and in reality, as a nurse. What is the nursing process? Well, it's the "ADPIE." ADPIE. A-d-p-i-e. If that doesn't sound familiar, it's fourth dimension to crack open the "Nursing Fundamentals" volume and get read ADPIE again. Go read about the nursing process, and make sure yous empathize it really well. Surely you do, because that'southward what our care plans are based on, and that's actually what we're doing, but for the NCLEX, the nursing process becomes very important. The nursing process is "assess," "diagnose," "plan," "implement," "evaluate."

Problem solving and critical thinking require some sort of framework in gild to do them properly, and nursing uses the ADPIE framework to aide in determination making with regards to our patient care. As you walk into a nursing question, it's important to empathize what component of the nursing procedure the question is actually request. If it'south request an assessment blazon question, you demand to not … Don't select an implementation reply. Never skip a step in the nursing process. A lot of times, the best option is going to exist an assessment type option. If you just walk into a question, and the questions asking y'all a problem with a patient, something's going on with a patient, the first or the best answer is probably going to be an assessment blazon question. You demand to assess to get the information that y'all need to make the best diagnosis and plan for that patient.

Stick to the nursing process. We're taught it for a reason, and the NCSBN and but nursing teaching in general believes that this is a very of import process to taking the best intendance of your patient. When putting this all together, it's just important to sympathize that these 3 elements aren't the end all be all to getting every question right on the NCLEX, merely if you lot understand Bloom's Taxonomy, and you empathise how to enquire the right questions, that'due south going to condense your learning process. If you lot understand what questions are made of, that'southward going to help you dissect the question, and understand better what's being asked, and lastly, if y'all understand the nursing process, y'all're going to be able to select the best options, options that don't spring ahead or do something that doesn't need to be done at the right time.

That'south really it for today. This is just a brief overview to answer your question. Nosotros'll have more data coming soon, merely one affair that I would really suggest would be to go to Amazon and get the book "Test Success: Test-Taking Techniques for Beginning Nursing Students." You tin can get the old version for a penny plus shipping and handling on Amazon. That will really help y'all work through these questions, just I would say spend time understanding the questions, and spend time learning how to understand what'southward been asked on nursing questions, considering that is important. Your RN is completely dependent on yous passing a multiple option test, and then it's of import to understand these tests, understand how to accept them, and spend more time doing that than course grubbing for an extra point on a unmarried exam.

All right, you guys. Yous can practice this. It's possible. Nursing school is very difficult, nursing is hard, as well, but it's a very fulfilling career and it'south possible. Yous guys tin can do this, okay? Head over to NRSNG.com and yous tin can detect out more than well-nigh some of our resource available for you in that location, too our books and apps, and everything that we have for you. All correct, guys. Have a great day.

Want a complimentary twenty page sample of the eBook, "140 Must Know NCLEX Meds?" Visit MedOfTheDay.com to download your free PDF sample today. That's MedOfTheDay.com.

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