Charmed Life by Gretheline Bolandrina

"But the person who scored well on an SAT will not necessarily be the best doctor or the best lawyer or the best businessman. These tests do not measure character, leadership, creativity, perseverance". William J. Wilson

The same goes for nurses, for whoever scores well in the nursing board exam will not necessarily be the best nurse. I write this in jest as I am in the midst of preparing materials for a Nursing Review I am doing for my first cousins this December in Manila. Twelve cousins will be gathered in a room all for the purpose of being assessed by me, to figure out test taking skills. Outside of being blood related, we all share another common denominator. We all completed four years of rigorous college education (in the Philippines) and we all earned our Bachelor of Science degree major in Nursing.

A few hurdles remain for some of my sweet cousins, that of passing the exam. Allow me to share bits of what I know directly to them. Here goes, from your loving Ate

To be a registered nurse, nursing graduates must meet the specific requirements of the Board of nursing. In the US, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCLEX) specifically, measures a graduate's competency in order to perform safely and effectively as a nurse.

Roughly 70% of new graduates pass the RN exam the first time, figures say. Are you anxious about taking the exam? Hopefully, reading this would allay your fears. If you know how the exam works, then you can tackle it better. One message I want to impart is that reading is a must. Study if you will, early and often. Small, frequent nuggets of information work better than cramming big chunks weeks before you sit for the exam.

Now, relax and take comfort in knowing that a lot of effort was put into making the test meaningful and fair. Test items are written by a cross section of nurses geographically and ethically, nurses from different backgrounds. Each question is multidimensional, well researched and validated. The object is not for you to proof read the items. Remember that your competency is being measured. The NCLEX is a computerized adaptive test. Each test is as unique as the test taker. The test is assembled interactively as you click on answers. Very efficient which is why some takers pass with as few as 75 questions answered.

The computer calculates your ability based on your responses to items, and then it searches for an item that matches it to show next. This process is repeated until a pass or fail decision can be made. Much like the book, Choose Your Own Adventure! Item difficulty changes depending on your answers. Think this way, everyone starts with an easy question, if you answer correctly then you get a moderate one and so on. If you don't answer correctly, you're given another easy one. Sort of a progressive game, fun! Questions go easy, moderate and then hard, till it becomes clear that you are going to pass or not. The exam stops.

Now, it isn't true that if the test stops at 75 questions you passed, because it can go either way. With this, also keep in mind that the exam results are based not on the number or percentage of items answered correctly, but the difficulty of the items you can answer correctly 50% of the time. To pass, answer 50% of the more difficult items correctly. In turn, those who had failed answered 50% of easier items correctly.

Become familiar with the verbiage and lay out of the exam. Three words, practice, practice, practice. This would teach you the critical thinking process. Get into the habit of identifying the kind of thinking an RN license requires. I, for one, love the process of elimination but I will get into that when we meet face to face. Let's get back to reading, do so carefully. Take plenty of time on the test. Did I mention to read? Read so that you understand the question, even if you have to do so two or three times. Hurrying won't work, it'll just add to making mistakes. Haste makes waste. You can't go back to review answers.

I'm waiting for one of my sweet cousins to retort back and say, "Easy for you to say, your exam wasn't computerized". It truly wasn't but it didn't (back in 1987 local and 1989 NCLEX Boston) make it any less difficult, just less fun. So there, let's agree to make a thorough preparation. Open mind is all I ask. We'll work on making sure that you pass, for when you pass, you are truly ready to step into the nursing profession. Become a prudent nurse. Become the best nurse you can be.

Feel free to e-mail me reactions, comments and or suggestions for ideas to ponder. Contact me at Gretheline@aol.com or through Carousel Productions.