The NCLEX is looming closer and closer ever day it seems and there is still so much practice to be done. With this in mind I made sure to take this pharmacology exam as much like the NCLEX as I could. I went into a quiet place, no phone, no water, or food, and tried to create the best test like environment I could. I also went in with the plan to try and schedule breaks to prevent that mental fatigue that tends to accompany not only test taking but more so computerized tests. My plan was to take a break every 10 questions, but as the test went on, I started to forgo this method and just take short breaks when I felt the need rather than when they were scheduled. I found that when taking one every 10 questions I would either just being trying to rush threw to that time off or I would get on a roll and not want to lose that momentum by taking a break. I think that these learning curves and different test taking strategy are great to experiment with now because when it comes time for the NCLEX, I will have hopefully finetuned a stagey that works best for me.
This adaptive pharmacology test was more challenging than I initially expected. I had done pretty well in pharmacology and thought that I had a good grasp of a lot of different medications. Early on in this exam, I realized just how wrong my assumption had been. I would even go as far as saying that a majority of the medications were ones that I had not even heard of. Despite this, I was able to come to the correct answer to many questions by using my knowledge of the conditions. This allowed me to eliminate answers and get an idea of what the medication’s purpose was in relation to the client’s needs. This test was helpful in teaching that even if you may not understand every part of a question, you can use the pieces that you do understand as well as the options to make a well-informed selection. By the time I got to question 75, I was really hoping that my exam would shut off but unfortunately, it did not. Fortunately, my exam did shut off at 123 questions and not 265. Of those 123 questions, I got 84 correct and 39 wrong, all of which I remediated and was able to learn more about so I will hopefully not get them wrong in the future. The main lesson I would take away from this experience of not shutting off at 75 questions, is the fact that I should not bank on this happening. Once I reached question 76 my focus decreased, and I became frustrated with every subsequent question. If I had continued to take it one question at a time and given it my full attention and focus, I think I would have done better. Overall, I clearly need to study my pharmacologic information more going into my NCLEX and become more comfortable with adverse effects and contraindications of medications.
Great reflection and insight!