16 Tips to Dissect NCLEX Questions

16 Tips to Dissect NCLEX Questions

Hi there! I have created a list of helpful tips that I discovered while studying for the NCLEX. I learned some of these tips throughout nursing school, and many I developed through my own trial and error process. I found them to be incredibly useful during my studies, and I consider these my "saving grace" during the exam itself. Of course, there are many tips out there, and I'm sure you've meticulously searched for them all in the hopes of easing your nerves before the test date. So, I am here to be your "saving grace" for this exam; I hope you find these useful. Happy studying!

Sincerely, RNExplained

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Priority Questions TIP #1: ABC’s first!! Priority questions are meant to ask you what you would do first or who you would see first. As nurses, we are always taught first to address ABC’s (airway, breathing, circulation). So, let that guide you to the correct answer. If there are two options that you’re stuck between – one that affects ABC’s and one that does not but seems most important – go with the ABC’s!

TIP #2: Typical signs and symptoms for disorders will never be the right answer. These are called expected findings and are meant to distract or alarm you while reading the question. So, know your expected findings for disorders!

TIP #3: Do NOT add to the story. You won’t realize you’re doing this until you pick the wrong answer because you thought you knew what was going on, but, in reality, you created an entire scenario in your head that led you to the wrong answer. So, look at the question “face value” and try not to look for hidden agendas.

TIP #4: Many times, I found myself saying, “What the heck, I would do all of these options in this scenario.” The trick here is to find the most critical and dire task/question/assessment to do at this moment, right here, right now. One of the BEST ways to look at these types of questions is to ask yourself, “If I could do just one of these things and then legitimately leave the room, what would be the most important thing to do?” Chances are, you will need to do an assessment before and intervention, ask a question before contacting the HCP, or evaluate the situation before taking action. Having to choose just one is extremely hard, but just picture yourself doing only one task and leaving the room.

TIP #5: Do not “pass the buck.” We said this phrase many times in nursing school, and it still stands entirely true for NCLEX prep. If there is an opportunity to do something before contacting the HCP or another person, do it! The NCLEX wants to see what YOU will do.

TIP #6: Memorize the methods of delegation. Understanding the scope of practice is essential for delegation, so ensure you know what tasks UAP, LPN/LVN, and RN’s do. If you look at my “Scope of Practice” sheet, I sum up all of the most common tasks you should know for each healthcare worker.

TIP #7: Work backwards for scenarios of a mass disaster. For all priority questions – who to see first or what to do first – we are taught to address the most severe/dire need patient first.However, I have learned to look at disaster triage almost as if we are working backward to manage patients with the highest chance of survival first. That means that in most cases, the severe/life-threatening patient has a poor prognosis even with aggressive treatment and would be the lowest priority. These are tricky and require practice, but the patients with the highest medical priority AND the best chance of survival should be seen first. It is so crucial to remember the disaster triage chart.

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Pharmacology Questions TIP #1: Identify the prefix or suffix for the medication given. Many medications provided on the NCLEX will be unfamiliar to you and might be something you have never heard of before. Don’t freak out! Be detectives. Use the prefix or suffix to guide you to the medication class to get a general sense of what the class does, not the specific medication itself.

TIP #2: Know the side effects of each medication class. Rather than killing yourself to learn every single medication in the world (which is impossible), understand the prefix or suffix. You can then identify the class and immediately know the common side effects of that medication class. I break down each medication class and their most important characteristics in my pharmacology study sheets.

If tip #1 and #2 fail…

TIP #3: Find the similarity, or relationship, between the unfamiliar medication and the medical diagnosis given in the question. The trick to pharmacology questions is to work backward. Use what you are given in the question to become detectives and find out what the medication is being used for. This trick has saved me so many times!

Select All That Apply Questions TIP #1: Identify the topic being asked in the question and do NOT stray from that topic. It can be so easy to get lost in the answer choices here. Instead, ask yourself, "Is this something the nurse should do for this condition?"

TIP #2: Write down or think about what you already know about the identified topic. This list will help organize your thoughts to tackle each answer option.

TIP #3: The Golden Rule: Read each answer option as if it were a true/false statement. Even if you don't know a single thing about the identified topic, turning the answer options into general true/false statements will still help! By doing this, you will find that many statements about the nurse's role will be correct, and many will stand out as incorrect actions by the nurse.

Therapeutic Communication Questions TIP #1: Validate feelings! Focus on the feelings being portrayed in the scenario. So, answers that go off-topic from those feelings or responses that offer a solution to the feeling before exploring the feeling are wrong. Hint: Phrases like “tell me more about…” or “tell me if my understanding is correct…” or “can you tell me more about…” are all correct options to validate and explore feelings.

TIP #2: Choose responses that are honest and direct. Sometimes it may seem like a weird and harsh statement to say to a patient, but in the NCLEX world, this is typically the right thing to say. This tip applies to many psychiatric patients who are hallucinating or delusional, and elderly patients with dementia. Do NOT feed into the delusional behavior.This study source was downloaded by 100000829502758 from CourseHero.com on 08-21-2022 14:29:39 GMT -05:00

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TIP #3: Memorize the nontherapeutic communication techniques. There’s no way around it. If you know these, it will be easy to identify which are correct and incorrect. If this is too hard, two nontherapeutic techniques that I found extremely prevalent during NCLEX studying are:

• Close-ended questions (yes or no questions) will never be the correct answer
• “Why” questions will never be the correct answer

This study source was downloaded by 100000829502758 from CourseHero.com on 08-21-2022 14:29:39 GMT -05:00

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