Tips for Preparing
Effective Study Plans
The Academic Enrichment
Center
Create an effective study environment.
Tips
for Success
in
Taking
Nursing
Tests
Organize all of your study materials
in one area. (Use open areas that
allow free movement).
Plan your activities in advance and be realistic.
Plan in blocks of 1.5 hours at most,
with a 10-minute break every 45
minutes.
Plan achievable goals.
Leave your study table prepared
for your next study session.
Variety is essential.
Do not keep at any one activity—even your practice exams—for longer than 45
minutes.
Keep focused on the
goal.
Visualize you in your profession. Remember why
you are in class.
Be good to yourself.
Plan time to relax.
The Academic Enrichment Center
The University of Toledo
Health Science Campus
506/507 Mulford Library
Phone: 419.383.6118
419.383.4274
Fax: 419.383.3150
Director: Joni Trempe
Coordinator: Jessica Faber
Email: [email protected]
Some of the material in this pamphlet were found in :
L. Dunphy & K. Champion. (1999) Test taking skills and designing your
study plan. In J. Winland-Brown & L Dunphy, Adult and Family Nurse
Practitioner Certification Examination: Review Questions and Strategies (pp.11-21). Boca Raton: Florida Atlantic U.
NURSING TEST
TAKING STRATEGIES
Understanding test questions:
Separate what the question tells you from what it
asks you.
Multiple choice test questions have 3 parts:
1.
The Introductory statement sets up the clinical
setting, a disease process, or a nursing response.
2.
The stem (the question) can be either a question
or incomplete statement asking you to: 1) answer a question 2) solve a problem, or 3) to select a response.
3.
Therapeutic Communication:
Because the role of the nurse is always therapeutic, the
“initial response to questions on communications is always
therapeutic—the acknowledgement and validation of the
client’s feelings” (Dunphy & Champion, p. 16).

Positive response stems ask for an
answer that is true. Key word example:
“best.”
Negative response stems ask for an
answer that is incorrect. Key word example: “except.”
HINT:
Many nursing test questions may be:
1. Recall (memory-based)
You need to recall information usually
from rote memorization.
1. Comprehension (application-based)
You need to understand the situation
and be able to analyze information in
terms of proper and safe application of
nursing protocol.

Misreading question

Overlooking key words

Reading too much into the question (only
use the information provided)
Techniques that facilitate therapeutic communication:

Offering self

Showing empathy
Strategies to help:

Silence

Read the question out loud.

Giving information


Restatement
Eliminate the incorrect choices right
away.

Clarification

Seek the “most global” response.

Reflection

Be wary of answers that say “never,”
“always,” “all,” or “none.”
Prioritizing Hints:

Answer all questions as if the situations
were ideal.
Comprehension (application-based) questions need decision
making skills based on student’s ability to prioritize.

Check your answer by
turning the question
into a statement using
your answer choice.

Double check your answer is filled in the right
Options (Your answer choices) To select the right
option, you need to determine the type of stem.

Avoid:
Remember the following priority:
1.
Assessment
2.
Diagnosis
3.
Treatment
Follow “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”
1.
Physiological
1st. Airway
2nd.Breathing
3rd. Circulation
2.
Safety
3.
Psychosocial
When asked therapeutic communication questions,
acknowledge patient’s feelings first.
Tips to reduce
test anxiety:

Start hydrating yourself the day before.

Make sure you have 8 hours of sleep the
night before.

Do not talk to fellow students before the
exam, it will only increase your anxiety

Remember to breathe, particularly when
you feel nervous, take a few deep
breaths until you feel yourself relaxing.

Go to the restroom before the exam.