Nursing Student Coach
Join Lauren Chapnick, RN, as she takes you through the journey of becoming a nurse! On Nursing Student Coach, Lauren, who is a new nursing professional, along with her knowledgeable guests will give you the tools to succeed in your nursing career. They will discuss ways to reduce anxiety and stress, share tips on studying and preparing for your NCLEX, and so much more - you won't be alone in this adventure! New episodes air every Thursday.
Nursing Student Coach
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.
is the nursing student coach giving you the strategies you need the most. Hey everybody, it's Nurse Lauren here. Little different today. I'm literally sitting in my car. I was driving around running some errands, listening to the episode that I had recorded for today. I had recorded it at home in my studio and as I was driving around, I thought you know what I want to change some things. So instead of going home and recording it all again, I am coming to you live from my Toyota Highlander. So here it is. This is what's been going on.
Speaker 1:You guys, I took a break. I have not put out a podcast or a post on my social media in a couple of weeks. I really needed to take some time to think about the direction that I want the podcast and nursing student coach in general to go in. And here is the thing what I can do to help you the most. The most value that I can bring to you is to help you nail those nursing exams. I want to help you break down questions, boost your confidence and raise your exam scores, whether you're taking the NCLEX, whether you are taking your very first nursing exam. I have always been a strong test taker. That's my strength, and I want to be able to share what I have learned with you so that you can become the best nurse that you can possibly be. So that is where we're going to go. I want to help you break down questions, give you mindset, strategies, hacks, tactics. I want you to be a master test taker, because that's what it takes to get your nursing license. There's really no other measurement greater than your exam scores. Like I've said, nursing school, from beginning to end, from the minute you start nursing school until you pass your NCLEX, it's a series of multiple choice questions and it's can you get as many as you can correct.
Speaker 1:When I hear from you guys, when I work with you one on one, the thing that keeps coming up what people want, what nursing students and future nurses want, is to do well on exams, to do better on exams, and I want to help those who are struggling and those who you may not be struggling. You may be passing, but you feel like you could be doing better, that you're missing questions that you knew. Because here's the thing you can know the material and still get the information wrong, still get the question wrong, and you can also not know the material and still get the question right. You have to be a detective and you have to learn how to interpret and how to read these questions in a way that you can arrive at the correct answer by using common sense and critical thinking. Of course you want to be as prepared as possible. Of course you want to know all the material, but there's going to be questions where you either forget or you, straight up, just don't know. You may have a farm test and you just have no clue what this drug is, or you're confusing the side effects. I don't want you to panic. I want you to prepare the best that you can. But part of nursing school and a big part that people forget is learning how to master this language of test taking. That's what it is. It's learning a new language and it's not about memorizing and spitting out facts. It's about thinking through each question. It's really just as simple as that.
Speaker 1:Now, I have done thousands and thousands of practice questions and I want to share all of my expertise with you. So this is what we're going to do Each podcast episode. I'm just going to give you tip just one piece of advice. Each of these episodes is going to be short and sweet. It's still going to be grab and go and I'm also going to start offering webinars, group coaching sessions, whatever you want to call them. So stay tuned for information on that, because those will be about an hour long where you can log in to an a virtual like a zoom type of thing, where I am going to go over some strategies and then we're going to pick apart questions and together we're going to boost our confidence so that that next exam that you're going to take, your score is going to go up and not only that, your confidence is going to go up. So please be on the lookout for that. The best way to get updates is either Instagram it's at nursing student coach or just join my email list. If you go to nursing student coach, calm, sign up for the email list. You won't miss a single announcement about those upcoming group coaching sessions. Here is today's tip.
Speaker 1:Okay, it's very simple. When you are reading a nursing exam question, the most important thing you can ask yourself is what is this question asking? Stop read the question at least twice before you even look at any of the answers. You want to just ask yourself what 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 adverse effect? Are you looking for the priority assessment? Are you looking for the true statement? The false statement Are you looking for I don't know signs and symptoms of a certain condition? You have to know what it's asking you, because one single word can change the entire meaning of a question. So you want to be sure that you can close your eyes and say, okay, what I am looking for is the adverse effects of propanelol or whatever the question is. So do not panic.
Speaker 1: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 is this question asking me and then look at the answer choices, use your common sense, use your process of elimination to arrive at the correct answer. For example, if what you're looking for is an adverse effect, then that is something that is very likely a worst case scenario condition. For example, if you're looking at a list of side effects and it says what is something that the nurse would monitor for as an adverse effect, even if you don't know what the drug is, nursing exams are testing safety. Are you a safe nurse? So you're probably looking for one of the most dangerous things that could happen. So you want to look for something that's going to obstruct your airway, like anaphylactic reaction or maybe hypertensive crisis, something like that. You want to look for worst case. You want to use your common sense and think is this really dangerous? Is this an expected finding? And, of course, the more you know about whatever it's asking about like if you already know that drug inside and out, for example then you would know the answer. But first you have to stop and ask yourself what is this question asking me? That is the most important thing to know before you can move on and even start to look at the answer choices.
Speaker 1:Guys, it is my personal mission to help put more great nurses into the world. That's why I started this podcast. That's why I started this whole shindig of nursing student coach. I did well in nursing school. I figured out how to do it. I cracked the code of nursing exams and I feel like it is my mission to share that knowledge with you, because I know that there are people out there that could be amazing nurses and are being tripped up by these exam questions, and you don't have to be Nursing. Exam questions can actually be fun. They can be completely doable and they're going to lead you down a path of fulfilling your destiny of becoming the person you were always meant to be. So I thank you for listening. I really look forward to sharing all of these tips and strategies with you, and I hope you have an amazing day. Bye, bye. Thanks for tuning in to the Nursing Student Coach podcast.
