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Elsevier Adaptive Quizzing (EAQ)™ really reflects what nursing questions are like. Most of my peers find EAQs challenging, and in fact they are. I believe the harder the questions, the better the student will become. I have seen a great improvement in my own course grades because I spent so much time practicing questions and reading the rationales.
Custom quizzes are the greatest invention ever and honestly a great tool for all nursing students. You can specify EAQ target areas to focus on or simply the areas that will be tested during the course exam. The quiz is customizable to even the number of questions you want to do, so you can answer as few as five or as many as thirty questions while using study mode or exam mode. I prefer and would recommend using study mode because it gives you the answers with the rational after each question.
Practicing these quizzes changed my approach to studying for course exams. Normally, I would re-read slides, re-read chapters, and re-watch lectures, but now I practice questions. My exam score went from a 68% to an 82%, and I completed the semester with an 82% average. I credit these successes to practicing specific questions using EAQ.
I used to be someone who would answer a question, get it wrong or right, then move on. I never read the question rationale until one day I happened to glance at it and notice that they offer motivational advice, excerpts from specific textbooks, graphs, diagrams, processes, etc. From then on, even if I get a question correct, I would read the rationale provided. Sometimes it helped me realize that my rationale for picking the correct answer was not completely correct, and ultimately, it came down to me guessing.
I also use the answer rationale to guide my reading. It informs me of what information I need to focus on from the chapter, what assessment data I missed, if I listed the appropriate medications, and what common side effects I may have omitted. This is what the rationale does, it guides you.
Don’t give up just because you couldn’t answer the questions. Yes, the EAQs are hard, but it is for a reason. Practice the same concept at least five times. You’ll start to notice a pattern on how questions are asked for particular concepts. Do 30 questions at a time and repeat the process. Take notes while you go through.
I love this tool. I don’t need a planner because the EAQ already has a calendar available with all my due dates for assigned work. Use this to mark off study days before and after a concept is taught. This is a time gauge and requires dedication. After all, your grades depend on it. Use your calendar option to plan ahead. For example, if a coping EAQ is due 3 weeks from today, start gathering your coping materials and start customizing practice questions focused on coping. There is a trend in how questions are asked. Practice a lot so you can recognize different question formats and focus your studying on how to answer these questions.
I appreciate that EAQ times how long you spend on a question. This is very important since most nursing school exams (or at least mine) are 75-90 minutes long ranging from 50-60 questions per exam. Because practice questions with EAQs are timed, you get to see how long it took you to answer a specific question.
I am not encouraging anyone to speed through an exam, but I have mentored and seen far too many students not completing an exam because time ran out. Create a journal and log how much time it took you to answer 30 questions in EAQ. Aim to reduce your time. One piece of advice is to use the Forest app, something I used myself. I plant a tree for 1 hour and document how many questions I can answer within that hour before the tree is fully grown. This puts some fun into your studies as well.
Success from using EAQ is not a one-time deal. You must be consistent in practicing questions, which means you have to log in daily. Remember that calendar view I mentioned? Well, if you don't check your calendar daily you might miss an assignment. That has happened to me countless times and now I make it a priority to log in and check my EAQ daily.
Most programs will require that you master a specific concept, which means you can spend anywhere from 10 minutes to hours mastering a concept, which is dependent on you doing practice questions.
What I’ve noticed is that whenever you practice questions on EAQ, let's say Maternity, those practice questions count towards you mastering the concept. EAQ has three levels, level three being mastery. If you never looked at your EAQ, or even practiced a few questions, this is where this mastery exam can take hours because now you have to go through all the levels (1, 2, 3).
This is where the analytics come in. Use this as a guide to identify what concept/content area needs leveling up. Your EAQ will often have a quick suggestion of some content on the top of the banner the moment you log in. Practice a few of these questions. It will save you some time on the mastery exam. See the image below for an example. Notice that in leadership I am currently at Level 1 mastery; I will need to practice more leadership questions to full master this content area. Log in and check it out.
Lastly, you got this. Stay the course and practice with EAQs, and trust me, you will see a difference. P.S. -- do not expect instant results, this takes time and a great understanding of oneself and one’s strengths and weaknesses.
