Tips for answering quiz/exam
questions
H. Schaefer, MN
Read & understand the whole question
 Don’t react until you have read the whole question
 Understand the terminology within the question, eg. t1/2
 Underline (in your mind) the root of the question, what is it asking?
 The questions are not designed to trick you, they are utilizing terminology from lectures
 Questions which include a situation aim to test your critical thinking skills, they rely on your
knowledge of factual information to discern the correct answer. Use the factual
knowledge to help choose an answer.
Recall of information
 Answer the question prior to looking at the choices, if you can
 If the question asks you to choose a correct statement, read each statement carefully –
does it all make sense, is it all correct, does the entire statement answer the root of the
question
 Stay calm, and think back to what you learned about that topic
 If you are sure you understood the question, and the answers, do not go back to change
your answer (this is a common mistake according to exam research)
 If you cannot recall this information, try to think back to where you likely saw this
information, e.g. your notes, videos, highlighting it in text, seeing a diagram
Drug names
 The Generic name & the most common brand name (if applicable) will be given
 Generic names often have commonalities, e.g. same prefix, same suffix
 Generic names are on the NCLEX (your licensing) exam, therefore good to start remembering
 The generic & brand name listed will not be mismatched to test you, it is as stated
Answers
 Read the entire answer
 understand the terminology of the answer
 does it answer the root of the question?
 is it all true? (some answers will have incorrect information mixed with correct information –
making it untrue, therefore incorrect)
 There is no ‘best answer’, there is only 1 answer per question