Learn your vocabulary. The numerous specific and technical terms used in medicine can make questions incomprehensible if you don't know your medical language. Being able to understand the question is the first and an important step to answering correctly.
Read questions thoroughly and understand them before answering. It's easy to be excited to demonstrate your knowledge and in your haste answer incorrectly. For example, if a question asks how to prevent a condition and you give the correct answer on how to treat the condition -- it's still a wrong answer.
Practice answering questions on applied knowledge. Because NCLEX, the nurse licensure exam, focuses on situational questions requiring critical thinking responses, nursing schools have begun following suit with their exams. Review as many questions as possible on how to handle nursing situations that involve your recently acquired knowledge.
Use deductive logic to eliminate bad answers from multiple choice questions. Most nursing exam questions -- including those on the NCLEX -- have two answers that are clearly incorrect and two that are possible or at least most likely. Identifying the bad answers can help you focus on finding the right one.
Remember your big picture prioritizing. The answers to many questions aren't as based on the medical specifics of the question as they are the overarching reasoning and judgment. Determine which patient is least stable and treat that person first. Give the LPN the most stable patient. Prioritize according to the "ABCs of Nursing": Airway, Breathing and Circulation. Consider the general rule, "Keep them breathing, keep them safe."