Welcome to Week #6 - Let's start putting it all together!
Hopefully, this feels familiar to the members of this group. Successfully passing the exam is experience, preparation, and test-taking strategies. Our online study group is moving ahead to Chapter 6 in the Selekman/Cogan School Nursing Certification Review book. This chapter focuses on Special Health Issues and is approximately 14% of the possible NCSN exam questions. These weeks have flown by! We have one more week to go.
Chapter 6 – Special Health Issues
- Chronic Conditions
- Legal Considerations: Laws Relating to Special Education
- Educational/Health Management
- Sensory Deficits
- Psychiatric/Mental Health Needs and Conditions
- Reproductive Issues
The corresponding chapters in Selekman, Shannon, and Yonkaitis School Nursing: A Comprehensive Text 3rd Edition are Chapters 7, 8 – 10, 21 – 30, 31 – 35.
If you are just joining this group, follow the week-by-week progression of the suggested review, including posted links to multiple-choice questions. There are three test windows for the NCSN exam, so pace yourself accordingly. Please feel free to share your questions, comments, and suggestions in this forum. Best of luck to those who are sitting for the exam during this Summer testing window!
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Test-Taking Strategies continued.....Nurselabs 11 Test-taking strategies
- Be Alert to Relevant Information From Earlier Questions
Occasionally, remembering information from one question may provide you with a clue for answering a later question. For example:
A client has an intestinal tube inserted for the treatment of intestinal obstruction. Intestinal suction can result in excessive loss of:
- Protein enzymes
2. Energy carbohydrates
3. Water and electrolytes
4. Vitamins and minerals
You determined that the correct answer to this question was option 3, it may help you to answer a later question. For example:
Critical assessment of a client with intestinal suction should include observation for:
- Edema
2. Nausea
3. Belching
4. Dehydration
The correct answer is option 4. If you knew that excessive loss of water and electrolytes may lead to dehydration, you could have used the clue provided in the earlier question to assist you in answering the latter question.
- Make Educated Guesses
When you are unsure about the correct answer to a question, it is better to make an educated guess than not to answer the question. You generally can eliminate one or more of the distractors by using partial knowledge and the methods just listed. The elimination process increases your chances of selecting the correct option from those remaining. Elimination of two distractors on a four-option multiple-choice item increases your probability of selecting the correct answer from 25% to 50%.
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Here are 10 clear multiple-choice test-taking strategies including a link to the full document to download if you would like to read further:
A basic 10-step test-taking strategy
1. Know the rules and follow instructions.
2. Read each question carefully and thoroughly. Don't rush and assume you "get it" before you read the whole thing; you could miss a keyword or important detail.
3. For particularly long questions first read the last sentence of the stem (i.e., the actual question) so you know where the question is going and can more effectively evaluate the information provided.
4. Try to predict the correct answer before looking at the options.
5. Match your predicted answer to the options provided.
6. If your response is there, read each of the other options before making your final selection to make sure there isn't a better response, then mark your answer and move to the next question.
7. If your response is not there, re-read the question and proceed to ruling-out incorrect options (distractors).
8. If you're stuck, re-read the question; don't just keep reading the options. The correct answer follows from the information in the question stem, so always go back to the question.
9. If you're still stuck, take your best guess, mark the question, and move on.
10. Double-check your answer selections.
Click the link below for A Guide to Testing Smart on Computer-Based Multiple Choice Exams:
Michigan State University Guide for Academic Success
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Have a great week! Thank you for the great engagement and for sharing your experiences
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Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN, FNASN, FAAN
New Jersey NASN Director
School Nurse Camden City School District
Faculty Rutgers-Camden School of Nursing
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