1 Small Mistake Nursing Students Make Taking The NCLEX – Don’t Let It Happen To YOU!

One of the most common mistakes I see people making daily is reading questions too fast and assuming that they know what is being asked…when in reality, they don’t. It is very important to read each question slowly and thoroughly. The presence or absence of this skill can make or break you on your actual NCLEX test. There are a few app questions in particular that are missed on a daily basis by users and it is always due to reading the question incorrectly. It is very important to carefully take notice of words and phrases such as avoided, ineffective, needs further, andis notto name a few. These are not difficult questions, but they are consistently missed. Here are some examples: 1. “A patient is admitted to the hospital with an INR of 3.9, history of a GI bleed, and osteomyelitis. The patient is complaining of bone pain, so the nurse prepares to administer morphine. Which route should be avoided?” A. PO B. IV C. IM D. SQ
  • With an elevated INR of 3.9, the patient is at risk for bleeding. Muscles are highly vascular and should be avoided due to the bleeding risk
2. “The patient is to undergo insertion of a chest tube. Which statement shows that the patient needs further teaching?” A. “The procedure will remove excess fluid around my lungs” B. “Local anesthetic will be given to decrease the pain during the procedure” C. “I need to limit my movement to avoid dislodging the tube” D. “This will help improve my breathing”
  • The patient should be encouraged to reposition and move to help facilitate drainage and re-expansion. The patient should be cautious not to pull at the tubing.
Now these are just a couple examples, but many more questions come in daily that are marked incorrect simply because the question was read too fast. Don’t let this simple mistake get in the way of passing your NCLEX exam! Just breathe, read the question slowly and be alert for words and phrases that might change up the meaning of the question!!! Image credit heart: Shawn Rossi https://www.flickr.com/photos/shawnzlea/866110617 Feature image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Programmer_writing_code_with_Unit_Tests.jpg