Conquering Nursing Exams: What Is This Question Asking?

Ever felt like you knew the study material inside out but still struggled to ace the test? Nurse Lauren gets it, and she's coming to you live from her Toyota Highlander to share her secret sauce for conquering nursing exams. This episode is a game-changer for nursing students who are ready to shift from memorization mode to mastering the critical thinking skills that'll help you decipher complex questions and confidently choose the right answers. Lauren's personal test-taking prowess is now your study buddy, as she divulges strategies, mindset hacks, and tactics to help you thrive from your first nursing exam to the NCLEX.

Imagine transforming into a test-taking ninja, where every question seems less daunting, and your scores reflect the hard work you've put in. Lauren's bite-sized podcast episodes are your quick-fix to leveling up your exam game, with each session promising one solid tip to tackle the test with finesse. But hey, if you're hungering for more in-depth training, get excited for the upcoming webinars and group coaching sessions – it's like a test-prep workout for your brain, minus the sweat. Stay connected through @nursingstudentcoach on Instagram or hop onto Lauren's email list. Let's break down those questions, boost your exam confidence, and march confidently into your nursing career with Nurse Lauren as your guide.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
is the nursing student coach giving you the
strategies you need the most.
Hey everybody, it's NurseLauren here.
Little different today.
I'm literally sitting in my car.
I was driving around runningsome errands, listening to the

(00:21):
episode that I had recorded fortoday.
I had recorded it at home in mystudio and as I was driving
around, I thought you know whatI want to change some things.
So instead of going home andrecording it all again, I am
coming to you live from myToyota Highlander.
So here it is.
This is what's been going on.

(00:42):
You guys, I took a break.
I have not put out a podcast ora post on my social media in a
couple of weeks.
I really needed to take sometime to think about the
direction that I want thepodcast and nursing student
coach in general to go in.
And here is the thing what Ican do to help you the most.

(01:08):
The most value that I can bringto you is to help you nail
those nursing exams.
I want to help you break downquestions, boost your confidence
and raise your exam scores,whether you're taking the NCLEX,
whether you are taking yourvery first nursing exam.

(01:30):
I have always been a strongtest taker.
That's my strength, and I wantto be able to share what I have
learned with you so that you canbecome the best nurse that you
can possibly be.
So that is where we're going togo.
I want to help you break downquestions, give you mindset,

(01:57):
strategies, hacks, tactics.
I want you to be a master testtaker, because that's what it
takes to get your nursinglicense.
There's really no othermeasurement greater than your
exam scores.
Like I've said, nursing school,from beginning to end, from the

(02:20):
minute you start nursing schooluntil you pass your NCLEX, it's
a series of multiple choicequestions and it's can you get
as many as you can correct.
When I hear from you guys, whenI work with you one on one, the
thing that keeps coming up whatpeople want, what nursing

(02:41):
students and future nurses want,is to do well on exams, to do
better on exams, and I want tohelp those who are struggling
and those who you may not bestruggling.
You may be passing, but youfeel like you could be doing
better, that you're missingquestions that you knew.
Because here's the thing youcan know the material and still

(03:04):
get the information wrong, stillget the question wrong, and you
can also not know the materialand still get the question right
.
You have to be a detective andyou have to learn how to
interpret and how to read thesequestions in a way that you can
arrive at the correct answer byusing common sense and critical

(03:28):
thinking.
Of course you want to be asprepared as possible.
Of course you want to know allthe material, but there's going
to be questions where you eitherforget or you, straight up,
just don't know.
You may have a farm test andyou just have no clue what this
drug is, or you're confusing theside effects.
I don't want you to panic.

(03:50):
I want you to prepare the bestthat you can.
But part of nursing school anda big part that people forget is
learning how to master thislanguage of test taking.
That's what it is.
It's learning a new languageand it's not about memorizing
and spitting out facts.

(04:10):
It's about thinking througheach question.
It's really just as simple asthat.
Now, I have done thousands andthousands of practice questions
and I want to share all of myexpertise with you.
So this is what we're going todo Each podcast episode.

(04:32):
I'm just going to give you tipjust one piece of advice.
Each of these episodes is goingto be short and sweet.
It's still going to be grab andgo and I'm also going to start
offering webinars, groupcoaching sessions, whatever you
want to call them.
So stay tuned for informationon that, because those will be

(04:54):
about an hour long where you canlog in to an a virtual like a
zoom type of thing, where I amgoing to go over some strategies
and then we're going to pickapart questions and together
we're going to boost ourconfidence so that that next
exam that you're going to take,your score is going to go up and

(05:16):
not only that, your confidenceis going to go up.
So please be on the lookout forthat.
The best way to get updates iseither Instagram it's at nursing
student coach or just join myemail list.
If you go to nursing studentcoach, calm, sign up for the
email list.
You won't miss a singleannouncement about those
upcoming group coaching sessions.

(05:39):
Here is today's tip.
Okay, it's very simple.
When you are reading a nursingexam question, the most
important thing you can askyourself is what is this
question asking?
Stop read the question at leasttwice before you even look at

(06:04):
any of the answers.
You want to just ask yourselfwhat is this question asking me?
Because, when you know that,when you are armed with that
information.
What is this question asking me?
Are you looking for an adverseeffect?
Are you looking for thepriority assessment?
Are you looking for the truestatement?

(06:25):
The false statement Are youlooking for I don't know signs
and symptoms of a certaincondition?
You have to know what it'sasking you, because one single
word can change the entiremeaning of a question.
So you want to be sure that youcan close your eyes and say,
okay, what I am looking for isthe adverse effects of

(06:49):
propanelol or whatever thequestion is.
So do not panic.
If you don't know a drug name,if you don't know a certain body
system because you forgot,simply look at the question,
read it again and say what isthis question asking me and then
look at the answer choices, useyour common sense, use your

(07:13):
process of elimination to arriveat the correct answer.
For example, if what you'relooking for is an adverse effect
, then that is something that isvery likely a worst case
scenario condition.
For example, if you're lookingat a list of side effects and it

(07:34):
says what is something that thenurse would monitor for as an
adverse effect, even if youdon't know what the drug is,
nursing exams are testing safety.
Are you a safe nurse?
So you're probably looking forone of the most dangerous things
that could happen.
So you want to look forsomething that's going to

(07:56):
obstruct your airway, likeanaphylactic reaction or maybe
hypertensive crisis, somethinglike that.
You want to look for worst case.
You want to use your commonsense and think is this really
dangerous?
Is this an expected finding?
And, of course, the more youknow about whatever it's asking

(08:17):
about like if you already knowthat drug inside and out, for
example then you would know theanswer.
But first you have to stop andask yourself what is this
question asking me?
That is the most importantthing to know before you can
move on and even start to lookat the answer choices.

(08:38):
Guys, it is my personal missionto help put more great nurses
into the world.
That's why I started thispodcast.
That's why I started this wholeshindig of nursing student
coach.
I did well in nursing school.
I figured out how to do it.
I cracked the code of nursingexams and I feel like it is my

(09:00):
mission to share that knowledgewith you, because I know that
there are people out there thatcould be amazing nurses and are
being tripped up by these examquestions, and you don't have to
be Nursing.
Exam questions can actually befun.
They can be completely doableand they're going to lead you

(09:23):
down a path of fulfilling yourdestiny of becoming the person
you were always meant to be.
So I thank you for listening.
I really look forward tosharing all of these tips and
strategies with you, and I hopeyou have an amazing day.
Bye, bye.
Thanks for tuning in to theNursing Student Coach podcast.