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Studying nursing: Study Skills and Test-taking Tips

Studying nursing: Study Skills and Test-taking Tips. PowerPoint by: Sabina Monosova. Information Credited To: Margot R. De Sevo , PhD, RNC Associate Professor. Nursing Courses v. Other Academic Courses. Most academic courses content-based only

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Studying nursing: Study Skills and Test-taking Tips

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  1. Studying nursing:Study Skills and Test-taking Tips PowerPoint by: Sabina Monosova Information Credited To: Margot R. De Sevo, PhD, RNC Associate Professor

  2. Nursing Courses v. Other Academic Courses • Most academic courses • content-based only • E.g. A & P of cardiac system – learn structures of the system and their functions • Nursing • Profession – applied science • Must learn content AND use the information • E.g. Care of the child with a cardiac defect – learn about the defect, learn about children AND be able to determine the nursing care based on the child’s age as well as his/her clinical status

  3. Techniques for Studying Nursing • CRITICALLY read the material – BEFORE CLASS!!! • identify key facts • Pay attention to the headers cited by the authors. They often highlight key concepts • ALWAYS focus on items in tables, boxes, figures, etc. • Key facts or concepts may be included in tables, boxes, figures, etc. • OR clarification of concepts may be included in the tables, boxes, figures, etc.

  4. Techniques for Studying Nursing, cont. • WHY READ BEFORE CLASS • When faculty lecture, students are passive. • Content is not learned – easily forgotten. • If the content is read before class, faculty are able to clarify information. • Questions can be asked by students. • Case studies can be analyzed. • Discussions can take place. • Classes are more interesting and stimulating.

  5. Where do Class Notes come in? • After class, compare notes with the text • Are they consistent? – If NOT: • Ask a fellow student – maybe notes were taken incorrectly • Ask the faculty member • – maybe he/she misspoke in class • -- maybe new evidence has emerged – books are 2-3 years out of date by the time they are published • -- maybe there are differences in opinion – there are often honest discrepancies between and among books

  6. What about other sources of information? • Clinical – watch and critique! • Are you seeing nursing practice that is based on theory? • If practice is inconsistent with what was in learned in the classroom – or from another resource – discuss the inconsistency with faculty!!

  7. EXAMS • Consider classroom exams mini-clinical days • Since most questions are based on the nursing process, each question is asking the test taker to make a clinical decision. • Test takers must consider each scenario a clinical situation • Studying MUST take place over time. • Retention of material is impossible when studying occurs only days before an exam. • SLEEP • Research has shown that sleep is essential to learning. • Students actually do LESS well when they stay up late and cram before exams. • Plus, no nurse should enter a client’s room having had too little sleep – since an exam is a mini-clinical, NO student should enter an examination tired. • Exhaustion can result in clinical errors.

  8. How to answer exam questions • READ! READ! READ! • Stem – • The stem MUST be read carefully – BEFORE reading the answers • Cover up the answers • The question being asked MUST be well understood • After determining what is being asked, THINK OF POSSIBLE ANSWERS • NOW – • Read ALL of the answers – 1 by 1 • If you KNOW the answer is wrong – eliminate it immediately. • If the answer you thought of is there – PICK IT – DON’T second guess yourself • If you are uncertain – retain only possible answers. • ALWAYS GUESS – and don’t waste time! • Reviewing the exam • NCLEX-RN – Can’t change answers • On classroom exams – • ONLY CHANGE ANSWERS IF YOU KNOW THAT YOU MISREAD THE QUESTION THE FIRST TIME • First impressions are almost always correct!!!

  9. Practice the Skill • Test taking is a skill – and ALL skills need to be practiced. • Do as many questions as possible to practice the skill • ATI practice exams – www.ATItesting.com • NCLEX-RN review books • ALWAYS read why the correct answer was correct and why the incorrect answers were incorrect • Understanding the rationale for answers is no different than understanding the rationales one’s nursing care • Time yourselves when doing practice questions • Allow 1 ½ minutes per question • NCLEX-RN – max number of questions -- 265 in 6 hours. • Helps to simulate the time constraints in the classroom as well as the pressures of taking a test

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