The Nursing Entrance Test The Psychological Profile Test

Anyone who takes the Nursing Entrance Test must take the psychological profile assessment upon completion of the math and reading comprehension sections. This assessment includes questions that may seem too personal for some people to comfortably divulge on topics that ask about details of their personalities, finances and emotions. Many of us are not predisposed to giving out details of our lives and about who we really are.

Increasingly, health care professionals are realizing the utility of identifying psychological factors that may influence a patient's response to treatment. Because nurses may spend more "face time" with patients than do other members of the care team, they are often the first to sense the presence of a psychological issue through that age-old tool, "gut feeling." Based on their front-line experiences with patients, some nurses also recognize the fallibility of such gut feelings and advocate for the use of objective psychological assessments to validate subjective impressions.

The first thing that the student is told when taking this assessment is that there are no points added or deducted for answers. Basically, the assessment section, as personal as it may seem, is actually used for statistical analysis. In other words, a study is done by compiling all of the information from everyone who has taken the Nursing Entrance Test and a profile of the typical nursing student emerges. This data is also stored for a period of time to be able to track those behaviors and personalities that are the most successful in the nursing program.

You and I may never be privy to this information or know what characteristics a typical nursing student embodies, except the company that is hired to do the analysis and the nursing schools. Therefore the best advice that can be given to someone who is about to take the Nursing Entrance Test is to be calm and answer the questions as honestly as you feel comfortable. You don't want to spend too much time on answering the questions. Your time should be used judiciously. The subjects that are graded, such as the math and reading comprehension, is where you should devote the most of your time.

The positive aspect in answering psychological questions about yourself is that when you are done you come away from the test knowing a little more about you. Life is a constant teacher. Especially in the nursing field, one learns to understand themselves. It is in this ability to understand ourselves that we can better understand another person. You may not have ever asked yourself the question, "How do I like to study? Do I like to study alone, in a group, with the television or radio blaring, or maybe not at all?" The point being is, what makes you the person you are?

For instance, it may be that the typical nursing student who does well in the program doesn't have to work a forty or more hour work week, but instead only works five to eight hours per week. It is in this context that the person or people who crunch the data from these tests determine the characteristics of the typical nursing student. Whatever the type of nursing student may be, one thing is definite, only you can determine what type of student you are. A good example of the type of assessment that is given on the Nursing Entrance Test are the standardized personality test that the government workers must take, like the civil service tests. So, don't be nervous when you are answering the questions. Nothing is going to be done with your information other than entering it into a very impersonal data base. There are many free personality test sites available on the internet that give the student a good idea of what types of questions will be asked on the Nursing Entrance Test.

Another suggestion is to find out ahead of time what kind of learner you are. The internet offers many free learning style tests. It is actually quite fun. You may be surprised to find out just what type of learner you actually are. Most of us are a combination of audio and visual learners. When we find out how we learn best, it is then possible to adjust our studying methods to maximize our learning potential.