5 Insanely Easy NCLEX Test Taking Tips for Nursing Students (you can start using TODAY)

Summary

In this video, John Haase, founder of NRSNG Academy, shares five effective test-taking strategies to help nursing students improve their lowest grade by over 10%. The strategies include understanding nursing priorities using the ABCs de F mnemonic, tackling 'select all that apply' questions with the SATA success pyramid, avoiding absolute words in answers, adhering to the nursing process, and recognizing question traps. The video also offers a cheat sheet with 11 test-taking tips and practical examples from the book 'Test Success' by Patricia Nugent.

Takeaways

• 📈 **Improve Grades**: The video promises to show how to increase the lowest nursing school grade by over 10% using proven test-taking strategies.
• 🎓 **SMG Academy Success**: SMG Academy's test-taking course has reportedly helped 50% of students improve their lowest grade by a full letter and 25% by two letter grades.
• 📉 **NCLEX Failures**: In 2018, over 87,000 nursing school graduates failed the NCLEX, highlighting the importance of effective test preparation.
• 🌟 **SMG's Pass Rate**: SMG boasts a 99.42% NCLEX pass rate, attributing their success to their unique process and strategies.
• 🧠 **Priority Nursing**: The video introduces the 'ABCs de F' mnemonic for nursing priorities, which stands for Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Safety, Discomfort, Education, and Feelings.
• 🔍 **SATA Success Pyramid**: A three-step process is provided for tackling 'Select All That Apply' (SATA) questions, emphasizing individual evaluation of answer options.
• 🚫 **Avoid Absolute Words**: The video advises against choosing answer options with absolute words like 'always', 'never', 'none', 'all', and 'every', due to the variability in patient care.
• 🔄 **Nursing Process Adherence**: The importance of following the nursing process (Assess, Diagnose, Plan, Implement, Evaluate) is stressed, with a caution against skipping steps.
• ⚠️ **In-Clicks Question Traps**: The video outlines common traps in nursing exams designed to test knowledge of the nursing process, such as incomplete assessments and misinterpreting 'first' actions.
• 📚 **Resource Recommendation**: The video recommends the book 'Test Success' by Patricia Nugent for additional practice and insights into test-taking strategies.

Q & A

What is the main goal of the video presented by John Haase?

The main goal of the video is to demonstrate how to increase the lowest nursing school grade by over 10 percent using five proven test-taking tips.

What is the name of the course mentioned in the video where John Haase teaches these strategies?

The course mentioned in the video is called the SMG Academy test-taking course.

What is the NCLEX pass rate for students at NRS NG according to the video?

The NCLEX pass rate for students at NRS NG is 99.42 percent.

How many nursing school graduates failed the NCLEX in 2018 according to the video?

In 2018, 87,371 nursing school graduates failed the NCLEX.

What is the acronym ABCs de F used for in nursing priorities and what does it stand for?

The acronym ABCs de F stands for Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Safety, Discomfort, Education, and Feelings, which is a mnemonic to help remember the proper order for nursing priorities.

What is the SATA success pyramid and how does it help with 'select all that apply' questions?

The SATA success pyramid is a three-step process to answer 'select all that apply' questions effectively. It involves covering all answer options, evaluating each option individually, and turning each into a true/false statement.

What does Bloom's taxonomy represent and how does it relate to SATA questions?

Bloom's taxonomy is a set of categories used to classify educational learning objectives. It relates to SATA questions as these questions generally require higher levels of thinking, which corresponds to higher levels in Bloom's taxonomy.

What are 'absolute words' in nursing tests and why should they be avoided?

Absolute words are words like 'always', 'never', 'none', 'all', and 'every'. They should be avoided because they imply a one-size-fits-all approach to nursing care, which is not always applicable due to the unique needs of each patient.

Why is it important to stay true to the nursing process according to the video?

Staying true to the nursing process is important because it provides structure and ensures that all steps are followed to provide safe and effective patient care.

What are 'in clicks question traps' and how can they be avoided?

In clicks question traps are questions designed to test whether a nurse is willing to slow down and make the right decision. They can be avoided by understanding the nursing process, not skipping steps, and considering the outcome for the patient before selecting an answer.

What resource does John Haase recommend for additional practice questions and rationales?

John Haase recommends visiting inrg.com for additional practice questions and detailed rationales.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Nursing Test-Taking Strategies

The speaker, Tormund Guy, introduces a video aimed at helping nursing students improve their lowest grade by over 10 percent using five proven test-taking tips. These strategies are part of the SMG Academy's test-taking course, which boasts a 99.42% NCLEX pass rate. The video promises to provide a cheat sheet with 11 test-taking tips and practical demonstrations of the strategies through example questions. The speaker emphasizes the importance of these strategies by highlighting the high failure rate of the NCLEX in 2018 and how the SMG process makes a significant difference.

05:00

🔑 Tip #1: Understanding Nursing Priorities

The first tip focuses on understanding nursing priorities, which is crucial for answering priority nursing questions. The speaker advises against using Maslow's hierarchy of needs and instead introduces the ABCs de F staircase (Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Safety, Discomfort, Education, and Feelings) as a mnemonic for nursing priorities. The speaker also discusses the importance of not calling the provider until all possible nursing actions have been considered within the scope of practice.

10:02

🗼 The SATA Success Pyramid for Multiple Choice Questions

The second tip addresses how to handle 'Select All That Apply' (SATA) questions, which can be challenging for many nursing students. The SATA success pyramid is a three-step process: covering all answer options, evaluating each option individually, and turning each option into a true/false statement. This method is designed to improve the success rate for SATA questions by focusing on individual options rather than trying to force them to work together.

15:03

⚠️ Caution: Avoiding Absolute Words in Answers

The third tip warns against choosing answer options that contain absolute words such as 'always,' 'never,' 'none,' 'all,' and 'every.' These words are red flags because nursing care is patient-specific and does not follow a one-size-fits-all approach. However, the speaker provides two exceptions: when it's a safety issue applicable to many patient populations, such as never lifting a Foley bag above the bladder level to prevent UTI.

🔄 Adhering to the Nursing Process

Tip number four emphasizes the importance of staying true to the nursing process (Assess, Diagnose, Plan, Implement, and Evaluate). The speaker stresses that this process should never be broken or skipped, as it provides structure and ensures safe nursing care. The nursing process is compared to the scientific method and is integral to both nursing education and practice.

⚠️ Beware of INK Question Traps

The final tip discusses how to avoid落入陷阱, especially those set by the NCSBN in the NCLEX to ensure that nurses are safe and do not harm patients. The speaker lists five traps to avoid: no assessment, incomplete assessment, mistaking the first action for assessment, confusing action with implementation, and not determining the outcome of each answer. The speaker provides examples for each trap and advises nursing students to always consider the outcome for the patient's safety.

📝 Practical Application of Test-Taking Tips

The speaker concludes the video by demonstrating how to apply the discussed strategies to practical nursing exam questions. The examples are taken from the book 'Test Success by Patricia Nugent,' which the speaker recommends for further practice. The questions cover various scenarios, and the speaker shows how to use the ABCs de F, the nursing process, and the avoidance of absolute words to select the correct answers.

💪 Final Encouragement and Resource Sharing

In the concluding part, the speaker encourages nursing students to utilize the provided strategies to pass nursing exams and the NCLEX. The speaker promotes the SNG Academy's resources, including a list of eleven test-taking tips and a test-taking course. The speaker also demonstrates additional example questions and provides guidance on how to approach them correctly, reinforcing the importance of the strategies shared throughout the video.

Keywords

💡Nursing Priorities

Nursing priorities refer to the order in which a nurse should address a patient's needs based on urgency and importance. In the video, the ABCs de F mnemonic is introduced to help nursing students prioritize tasks effectively. This stands for Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Safety, Discomfort, Education, and Feelings. The video emphasizes that understanding nursing priorities is crucial for patient care, as it ensures that the most critical needs are addressed first, such as ensuring a patient's airway is clear before focusing on other tasks.

💡NCLEX

The NCLEX (National Council Licensure Examination) is a standardized test for nursing students in the United States. It is a requirement for licensure and is mentioned in the video to highlight the importance of test-taking strategies for nursing students. The video discusses the high stakes of the exam, noting that a significant number of nursing school graduates fail the NCLEX each year, which underscores the necessity of effective preparation and test-taking techniques.

💡SMG Academy

SMG Academy is mentioned as an educational resource for nursing students, offering a test-taking course that has reportedly helped many students improve their grades. The video's presenter, John Haase, is identified as the founder of SMG Academy, and the success rate of students within the academy is used to emphasize the effectiveness of the strategies being taught.

💡Test-Taking Strategies

Test-taking strategies are methods and techniques used to improve performance on exams. The video provides five specific strategies for nursing students to increase their test scores. These strategies include understanding nursing priorities, using the SATA success pyramid for multiple-choice questions, avoiding absolute words in answer choices, adhering to the nursing process, and recognizing question traps. The video aims to equip nursing students with these strategies to enhance their critical thinking and decision-making skills during exams.

💡SATA Success Pyramid

The SATA Success Pyramid is a three-step process introduced in the video to tackle 'Select All That Apply' (SATA) questions effectively. The steps involve covering all answer options, evaluating each option individually, and turning each option into a true/false statement. This method is designed to help nursing students answer SATA questions more accurately by focusing on each option separately and avoiding the confusion that can arise from trying to force options to work together.

💡Absolute Words

Absolute words are terms like 'always,' 'never,' 'none,' 'all,' and 'every' that are used in the video to caution nursing students about overgeneralization in their answer choices. The video advises students to be wary of these words in test questions, as they often indicate an incorrect answer due to the variability in patient care. An exception is made for safety issues that apply broadly across patient populations.

💡Nursing Process

The nursing process is a systematic method of thinking and acting through which nurses provide care. It includes assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation. The video stresses the importance of following the nursing process in both test-taking and real-life patient care. Adhering to this process ensures that nurses provide comprehensive and appropriate care based on a thorough understanding of the patient's condition.

💡Inclicks Question Traps

Inclicks question traps refer to the tricks or pitfalls that exam creators use to test a student's understanding of the nursing process and their ability to make safe decisions. The video lists five common traps: no assessment, incomplete assessment, first doesn't always mean assessment, action doesn't always mean implementation, and determining the outcome of each answer. These traps are designed to ensure that nurses are thorough and cautious in their approach to patient care.

💡Bloom's Taxonomy

Bloom's Taxonomy is a classification of the different levels of cognitive complexity that educational goals can represent. It is briefly mentioned in the video in relation to SATA questions, which are said to generally require more analysis-level thinking, corresponding to higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy. The video encourages nursing students to think critically when approaching SATA questions, which often demand a deeper level of understanding and application of knowledge.

💡Cheat Sheet

A cheat sheet in the context of the video is a quick reference guide containing 11 test-taking tips for nursing students. It is offered as a resource at the end of the video to help students quickly review and apply the strategies discussed. The cheat sheet serves as a condensed version of the video's content, making it easier for students to memorize and utilize the key points during their studies and exams.

Highlights

Increase your lowest nursing school grade by over 10 percent with five proven test-taking tips.

50% of SMG Academy students saw their lowest grade improve by an entire letter grade.

25% of students saw their lowest grade improve by two letter grades.

In 2018, 87,371 nursing school graduates failed the NCLEX.

SMG Academy boasts a 99.42% NCLEX pass rate.

Tip 1: Understanding nursing priorities with the ABCs de F mnemonic.

Tip 2: The SATA success pyramid for tackling 'select all that apply' questions.

Tip 3: Avoiding absolute words like 'always', 'never', 'none', 'all', and 'every' in answer choices.

Tip 4: Staying true to the nursing process: assess, diagnose, plan, implement, and evaluate.

Tip 5: Avoiding in-clicks question traps set by the NCLEX to ensure patient safety.

Example practice question 1: Prioritizing actions before administering an enema.

Example practice question 2: Planning patient care considering patient's condition and safety.

Example practice question 3: Improving circulation during a patient bath.

The importance of not skipping steps in the nursing process.

How to use the provided tips to improve nursing exam scores and prepare for the NCLEX.

Encouragement and motivation for nursing students to excel in their studies and future careers.

Transcripts

today I'm going to show you how to

increase your lowest grade at nursing

school by over 10 percent with our five

proven test taking tips for nursing

students in fact these are the same

strategies I teach to over 250,000

nursing students inside our inner SMG

Academy test taking course where 50% of

in our SMG students saw their lowest

grade improved by an entire letter grade

and 25% saw it improved by two letter

grades i'm tormund guys at the end of

this and that's John Haase are in

founder of interest in G and in this

video I'm going to give you my top 5

test taking hacks for nursing students

step by step so keep watching did you

know that in 2018 eighty seven thousand

three hundred and seventy one nursing

school graduates failed the NCLEX are in

that's more potential nurses then there

are hospital beds in Alabama Alaska

Arizona Colorado Connecticut Hawaii

Idaho Iowa Kansas and Kentucky combined

at NRS ng

we have a ninety nine point four two

percent NCLEX pass rate the difference

it's our process and today I'm going to

share with you five of our best test

taking strategies now at the end of this

video I'm also going to give you a cheat

sheet with 11 test taking tips and I'm

going to jump on the computer and do

some practice questions for each of

these tips so hang on till the end

all right let's kick these five tips off

with tip number one which is

understanding nursing priorities

priority nursing questions can be

terrifying as a nursing student but

think about it this way when you show up

for your first shift as a nurse you're

gonna have a task list that's three

miles long of things to do and they all

need to be done now so let me show you

how to answer nursing priority questions

and think about priorities in your real

life as a nurse the most common tool

taught to nursing students to address

priorities is Maslow's hierarchy of

needs now well this is sue

are thrilling to learn I want you to

forget about it when it comes to nursing

priorities

don't tell your professor instead we're

going to use what we call the ABCs de F

staircase which stands for airway

breathing circulation safety discomfort

education and feelings this simple

mnemonic will help you remember the

proper order for your nursing priorities

if a patient just fell out of bed but

they aren't breathing do I worry about

getting them back in bed or educating

them on proper call I use no I worry

about their airway and their breathing

now with that it can be tricky to

remember the difference between airway

and breathing think of it this way

airway means getting air into the lungs

breathing means gas exchange of that air

one area you might get tripped up with

nursing priority questions is when to

call the provider these answer options

can be tempting because sometimes we'll

think well I don't know what to do let

me just call a provider and let them

worry about it but there's a better way

to approach these options anytime you

see call the provider as an answer

option think if I leave my patients room

right now to go call the provider what

happens to the patient is there

something I can do within my nursing

scope of practice and if I don't do that

and leave what happens to them don't

call a provider until you've done

everything you can within your scope of

practice to make sure the patient is

okay now it's time for the second tip of

this list the Satta success pyramid

Satta stands for select all that apply

you know the ones that say select all

that apply

and then have 3000 options listed for

many nursing students these are the bane

of their existence but have no fear SATA

questions can be answered very easily

using the SATA success pyramid and it's

a super simple 3-step process when you

realize you're answering a Saeta

question the first thing that you do is

you cover all the answer options whether

with your hand a piece of paper whatever

then you evaluate each answer option

individually physically moving

your hand down or your paper or whatever

it is lastly as you evaluate them you

turn each question into a true/false

statement where most nursing students

fail as Satta questions is they read

answer option a and think well that's

really similar to B but it's also kind

of like C e2 so they begin trying to

force answer options to work together

when you isolate each option and make it

a simple true/false statement your

success rate for static questions will

skyrocket now are all select all that

apply higher-level questions on the end

clicks well yes and no while it isn't

required that SATA questions be higher

level of difficulty

generally speaking SATA questions are

going to require more analysis level

thinking which is the higher level of

Bloom's taxonomy now if you're thinking

what is Bloom's taxonomy check out this

short video wherever it appears where we

discuss Bloom's taxonomy now don't get

too caught up worrying about difficulty

level or how many SATA questions you've

seen just apply the SATA success pyramid

on your next exam and watch your scores

climb all right two steps down three to

go

I hope you guys are feeling better I

don't ever want you to hear again well

that is correct it is not the most

correct yeah what does that even mean

all right guys with that let's jump in

to tip number three which is absolute

words when it comes to nursing tests

absolute words are absolute red flag

don't pick these answer options examples

of absolute words are always never none

all and every if you see one of these

words run why is that it's because no

two patients are the exact same it's

near impossible to say that you should

always do the exact same thing for every

patient now with that let me give you

two exceptions to this rule if it's a

safety issue and it can be applied to

many types of patients populations and

let me give you a specific example of

that if an answer option says never lift

a Foley bag above

bladder is this a safety issue yeah

because we don't want to cause a UTI we

don't want that backflow and cause a UTI

and can it be applied to me kinds of

patients do we lift a pulley bag above a

pediatric patient no how about on the

geriatric patient no it's really that

simple

I know you're never gonna forget that

tip all right tip number four stay true

to the nursing process you might hear

the nursing process slightly different

from what I'm going to share with you

but essentially any way you hear it it's

a scented saying the same thing assess

diagnose plan implement and evaluate

never break this process ever never

never ever now I don't want you to

repeat the nursing process this is basic

stuff it's really the scientific method

you learned in elementary school but

we're just applying it to nursing and we

use it in our everyday lives look at an

example I wake up in the morning and

check the weather it's cold so I plan my

outfit I put a sweater on I go outside

it's a bit warm so I start the process

over change my outfit it's really the

same with nursing care you don't skip a

step in the process don't start doing

things on your patient until you've

assessed made a diagnosis of the

situation and made a plan I'm not gonna

beat a dead horse on this tip but just

learn to appreciate the nursing process

and the structure that it provides to

you as a nurse and remember to never

skip a step never ever no matter how

good an answer option might appear

alright lastly tip number five don't

fall for in clicks question traps every

now and then you're going to come across

an infamous in clicks question trap look

the ncsbn who administers the NCLEX

wants to be sure that you're a safe

nurse and that you don't cause any harm

to a patient on your first day as a real

nurse to do this they use a couple

little traps to see if you really know

the nursing process and if you're

willing to slow down and make the right

decision not just any decision to do

something for your patient so here are

five traps that you

avoid on the NCLEX and in nursing exams

I'll list them and they give you some

examples

no assessment incomplete assessment

first doesn't always mean assessment

action doesn't always mean

implementation and determine the outcome

for each answer let me give you some

examples of these no assessments

complete I used to see this a lot when I

worked in the hospital as an rrt nurse

where I would wrap the response team we

would get called a couple hours after

insulin which our blood Sugar's were

checked and insulin let's do a lot of

times we would arrive take the blood

sugar and see if the patient's Sugar's

were below 20 even in the teens

sometimes even below 10 the patient was

unresponsive as we would look at the

maher we would realize that what had

happened is the tech could check the

blood sugars then a couple hours had

passed the nurse came and administered

insulin based on blood sugars from a

couple hours ago

no assessment had been complete and the

patient was put into danger

another one is incomplete assessment an

example of this might be you see a

question that says you're taking care of

a diabetic patient you walk past the

room and the patient's shaking and one

of the answer options might be

administer d50 immediately that can be

tempting because we want to get those

blood sugars up but we haven't even

completed a full assessment the first

thing we need to do is check blood

Sugar's this patient might be an afib or

they might just be cold number three

here is first doesn't always mean

assessment this is really semantics

thing we've got to separate our mind

from the first is always assessment

while it's the first step in the nursing

process if they say what would you do

first realize where you are in the

nursing process and what the next action

should be with that that leads into

action doesn't always mean

implementation with the example I gave

before the first action would be

complete your assessment get a blood

sugar so just separating first and

action from assessment and

implementation then lastly determine the

outcome of each answer when you read an

answer option and you think about

selecting it think if I do this and then

clock out and drive

home what happens to my patient what's

the outcome for that patient is it going

to be good or bad and only select those

things that keep your patients safe

you can pass nursing exams and you will

pass the NCLEX inside in our sng academy

we help you cut the fluff improve your

exam scores and feel better prepared for

life as a nurse click the link in this

video and in the description to get a

full list of eleven test taking tips for

nursing students and to check out our

test taking course now lastly let's go

jump on the computer and I'm going to

show you examples for all five of these

steps these example questions are coming

from a book called test success by

Patricia Nugent I highly recommend you

head over to Amazon grab yourself a copy

it's a really great book and will

greatly help you in nursing school this

first question says what should be the

nurses first action before administering

an enema

verify the physician's order collect the

appropriate equipment arrange for the

bathroom to be empty or inform the

patient about the procedure alright what

tip can we use here well if we look at

first action we realize this is a

priority questions wanting to know

do we understand nursing priorities so

we've learned that we can use the ABCs

de F and we can also use the nursing

process here so verify the physician's

order is this an ABCDE F well yeah sure

this is a safety issue collect the

appropriate equipment that goes into

nursing process that goes into like

implementation arrange for the bathroom

to be empty if we think a B C's d EF

that's a feeling thing we want the

patient to to feel safe and to make sure

that they're okay and then for inform

the patient about the procedure ABCs d

EF that's education so our top one here

was a safety issue then we have feelings

we had education and we had

implementation so if we go back to our

ABCs D F as a safety issue this becomes

the most important one and we should

select number one to verify the

physicians order make sure our patient

is safe before all else

all right example number number two a

patient is receiving

oxygen by nasal cannula after morning

care the patient experiences dis Nia and

complains of feeling tired when planning

for the patient's bath the next day the

nurse should plan to give a complete bed

bath quickly bathed only the body parts

that need bathing arrange for several

rest periods during morning care or

continue with the same plan of care

because we don't care if our patient

dies of this because this me is

unavoidable all right so let's look at

the question here when planning for the

patient's bath the next day the nurse

should plan to so this is really testing

us on our nursing process so we remember

we're talking a dpi ESS diagnosed plan

implementing evaluate which phase of the

nursing process is this testing on us on

what patient is receiving the patient

experiences Justin you feeling tired

when planning for the patient's bath the

next day the nurse should plan to so

we're in the planning phase this wants

to know do we understand everything

that's involved with the planning phase

give a complete bed bath quickly that's

kind of implementation bathe only body

parts that need bathing also

implementation arrange for several rest

periods during morning care arrange that

sounds like planning to me continue with

the same plan well that's not even a

safe thing so we can cross that one off

immediately because their patients not

going to be safe so option three

immediately goes back into plan and

planning and we would select that option

because it is during the planning phase

of the nursing process all right let's

do one more example how can the nurse

best improve circulation when giving a

patient a bath apply soap to the

washcloth keep the patient covered use

only hot water use firm strokes what

immediately stands out to you in this

question the word only should stand out

to you if you remember we talked about

these absolute words always never done

all every only applies there as well we

can cross out option three so

immediately we went from a 25% chance of

getting right to a 33% chance just by

crossing out this absolute word now

apply soap to the washcloth that

obviously doesn't improve circulation

keeping the patient covered and using

firm strokes now we're at a 50/50 chance

of getting this question right now the

correct answer would be using firm

strokes helping with the circulation

helping the blood pump and that's going

to be the best way that we can improve

circulation in our patient all right

guys that is all the practice questions

that I have for you to quickly apply

these strategies and these tips that we

discuss today if you guys want

additional help please head over to in

our sng comm you've got six thousand

practice questions with the most

detailed rationales on the planet

you guys can achieve this you guys can

do this you're gonna become a nurse and

as always like we always say here

daenerys ng go out and be your best

selves today happy nursing