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Test Taking Strategies for Nursing Students

November 16, 2021 By Kati Kleber, MSN RN 1 Comment

Test Taking Strategies for Nursing Students

Test-taking can be a stressful time for anyone. However, when you are preparing to take a nursing school exam, the stress is even worse. Feeling overwhelmed about testing and wanting your best score can leave you feeling nervous. You may even feel as if there is nothing that you can do to help yourself prepare for these types of tests. If this describes how you are feeling, you may be able to benefit from learning more about some test-taking strategies for nursing students that will enable you to have a stronger focus on taking your exams to receive better scores than before. In addition, the procedures and recommendations outlined below may be of use if you take the time to review them so that you can see which ones may apply to you.

Suppose you have taken any other standardized test before. In that case, the possibility is good that some parts of your examining experience will be similar to what is found on most nursing school exams. Usually, these tests include questions with multiple choice answers, matching elements, and fill-in-the-blank varieties.

Being familiar with this format will help when it comes time for you to complete your exam if it has similar challenges or genres. In addition, using the strategies described below can assist in fostering an appreciation for how to tackle all different kinds of questions successfully so that less stress and anxiety can occur during a testing period.

Test Taking Strategies for Nursing Students
Table Of Contents
  1. Understanding Your Time Frame
  2. Setting Up Your Study Schedule
  3. Setting Up Incentive Rewards
  4. Using Testing Strategies Consistently
  5. Talk To Test Takers Friend
  6. Ask The Teacher To Tell You What Will Be On The Exam
  7. Test Taking Strategies for Nursing Students
  8. Working Through Sample Questions And Practice Tests
  9. Knowledge Is Power
  10. Practice Important Questions
  11. Set Realistic Goals And Have Plans For Exams In Advance
  12. Stop Procrastinating And Study
  13. More Resources for Test Taking Strategies for Nursing Students:

Understanding Your Time Frame

It is essential to be aware of your time frame when it comes time for your exam. Knowing the amount of time that you will have can help with planning an approach so that spaced practice can take place each day to give yourself some practice time while not feeling overwhelmed or rushed due to a limited timeframe in which to practice.

Setting Up Your Study Schedule

You may want to make use of a schedule planner if you need help in separating activities and knowing what needs doing on certain days and how long things should take overall. You will also want to think about going back over notes, reading textbooks, and answering mock exams first before applying any other practice test-taking strategies described below to be sure that your knowledge will be fresh.

Setting Up Incentive Rewards

Consistently working towards practice tests is made more accessible when you have a goal in mind to feel motivated to stick with the practice schedule you have established for yourself. In addition, ensuring that practice tests are not taken lightly by constantly reminding yourself of how important practice is can help instill the importance of your practice test-taking and help make it more enjoyable once begun.

Using Testing Strategies Consistently

No matter what test-taking strategies are applied, practicing them consistently over time can mean the difference between success and failure on an exam day. They establish knowledge and awareness for how patterns work or where specific answers may be found within longer passages. 

The practice tests and practice questions available only can help in more ways than just one because they can be used to establish confidence when it comes time for you to take the actual exam.

Talk To Test Takers Friend

There are always some students in the class who are intelligent and willing to share what worked for them, mainly when it came time for them to take their test. All you have to do is ask them the right questions to get more detailed information on how they were able to manage their studying tasks effectively, thus raising your chances of being prepared.

These students may be more than happy to answer all questions because they want to help you succeed as much as possible since there will be a lot riding on it if your grade is based upon passing!

Ask The Teacher To Tell You What Will Be On The Exam

If possible, ask the teacher or professor who will be overseeing your exam what topics will be covered, how long it will take, and what kinds of things will be on the exam. This information will help you gauge how much time you need to spend reviewing and practicing so that there is a better chance of performing well on exam day.

Test Taking Strategies for Nursing Students

It is essential to practice specific test-taking strategies to prepare yourself as best for a given challenge or situation. Test-taking techniques can be divided into two different categories, basic and advanced. However, not everyone has an equal opportunity to utilize them from their beginning stages, especially if they have little or no experience. 

Therefore, be sure to use various methods when it comes time for you to complete your tests so that there are multiple options available and all bases covered just in case one area ends up being vulnerable (which is not a good thing).

Working Through Sample Questions And Practice Tests

Taking lots of practice tests in the beginning stages may seem like a chore because you have to learn information and apply it simultaneously. However, utilizing these kinds of test-taking strategies will help save time and increase your accuracy when it comes time to take the actual exam.

Practicing is essential for anyone who has an upcoming exam due to the date approaches. 

They do not have to work under pressure if there was not enough time to review material or practice test questions and answers. In addition, practice exams are beneficial for those who need more opportunities to get used to sitting down at a table with pencils, papers, and books spread out around them so that they can focus their attention without interruption on the test itself.

Taking an exam right before or after a big project is due causes the mind to go into panic mode, allowing little room for meaningful study material to be processed and little energy left over for taking any stress-reducing break. 

You should have enough time to get all scores back from previous tests and have them available for viewing whenever you need to practice to use each one as something constructive instead of simply reviewing old answers and then moving on to the next one. 

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Practicing test questions never hurt anyone, even if it feels like your grade will be lowered since there is no way of knowing what kinds of questions will end up being tested.

The best advice is to take a lot of practice exams in the beginning stages to get a good idea of how long each question should take to answer and what kind of material will be on the exam. This helps break down into smaller pieces the amount of material that you have to review to eliminate potential time crunch situations later on when it comes time for you to buckle down and study!

Knowledge Is Power

When it comes down to test-taking, knowledge is a power that means that if you know more about your subject than anyone else, it will help you perform better than everyone else. After all, no one can say anything if they do not know as much as you, and even then, they might be jealous because you understand things so well.

Practice Important Questions

When you are sitting down to take a practice exam, you need to pay attention to how much time it takes as well as how many questions you have answered correctly and incorrectly to be able to compare the results visually with future progress which could then help in your preparation for the big day. 

These types of test-taking strategies can be used by anyone who needs more room for improvement when it comes time to take an upcoming exam.

Set Realistic Goals And Have Plans For Exams In Advance

Establishing realistic goals is very important when it comes time for you to sit down and study because they will keep you on track without giving up becoming overwhelmed with the amount of material you are trying to absorb. 

In addition, having lots of time to review may make it easier for you to get used to testing conditions and internalize the information to be accessed easily on exam day.

You do not want to fail or perform poorly on your upcoming exam. Therefore you must give yourself a head start by using these types of test-taking strategies before they come up with an actual plan of attack, which includes realistic goals, planning out what study sessions will consist of as well as what should be expected during an exam in terms of length and topics covered. 

In addition, preparing early on takes into account available time and physical energy levels that could lower due to stress over having a lot to study for and not having enough time to review all the material.

Stop Procrastinating And Study

It is easy to put off studying until the last minute. However, you must stop procrastinating on your upcoming exam because this will allow you more time to ask questions if any topics are unclear, so make sure that you do not wait too long before studying.

Suppose you have a lot of extra energy in the beginning. In that case, it might be wise to spend some of this time doing some research online about different types of study techniques and different methods used by others when it comes time for them to sit down and get ready for testing day.

Summary of the above

After reading through all of these test strategies, we hope that you are better prepared when it comes time for testing day. The most important tip we can give is to study early in advance and not get discouraged if you do not get perfect scores, especially in the beginning stages. 

These types of test-taking strategies for nursing students will help you perform better during exams than you have ever performed before. If so, then your score on the test would be a 10 out of 10. This is great for job seekers looking for employees who need an excellent score to land their dream job. 

If you are concerned about passing an upcoming exam, these test-taking strategies could assist with this process, which means that everything should work out well. Regardless of what kind of class it may be if you apply yourself and these tips, we guarantee that your grades will no longer be a problem.

These are great test-taking strategies for students because they help you identify what information still needs more repetition and allow you to put yourself into the actual testing environment while feeling prepared for it.

More Resources for Test Taking Strategies for Nursing Students:

  • Math Exam Tips For Nursing School – Tips from a Nurse!
  • Pharmacology Tips for Nursing Students – From a Nurse!
  • Nursing School Pharmacology Doesn’t Have to Suck!

Filed Under: Nursing School and NCLEX® Tagged With: education, nurse, nurses, nursing school tips, test taking

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Comments

  1. Pooja Patel says

    November 16, 2021 at 7:22 pm

    Such good advice! Wish I had this when I was in nursing school 6 years ago haha! But happy you are sharing all of this great info to the current nursing students!

    Reply

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