Nursing, Nursing Advanced Practice, Exam Prep
Maximize Your Score on the NCC Exam
Dec 2, 2019
What can you do during the NCC exam to land your best score? We’ve got you covered with 10 tips to ace the NCC exam on exam day!
1. Design and memorize your “scratch paper” a few weeks before you take the exam. Choose what you want on it wisely, and remember to keep it brief.
2. Need scratch paper suggestions? Consider lab results (hemoglobin, hematocrit, MCV, platelets, WBC count, neutrophil percentage, potassium, urinalysis, etc.). Other popular choices are the murmurs, mnemonics, and cranial nerves.
3. Use the time left from the “free” computer tutorial time to write down the facts that you memorized for your scratch paper. If you run out of time, skip this step.
4. Use the “mark” command as you go through the exam for any questions you want to return to later. This is an important one, so we’ll reiterate this throughout these tips!
5. The first few questions are usually harder to solve; this is a common test design. Do not let it shake your confidence! Take a guess on the answer and “mark” the question so you can return to it later.
6. If you’re making a guess on an answer, avoid choosing exotic diseases as answers. Remember, these are tests for primary care conditions.
7. If you spend more than 60 seconds on a question, you are wasting time. Answer it at random and then, you guessed it, “mark” it so that you can return to it after you finish the entire test.
8. The countdown clock on the computer does not stop for breaks. Do not use more than 5 minutes for your quick bathroom break.
9. If you get too mentally fatigued and have enough time, consider a quick break. Solving 200 questions is pretty intense. Go to the bathroom, get a drink of water, and splash cold water on your face. This can take less than 5 minutes. You can bring bottled water, but you have to leave it outside the testing area.
10. Do not leave any of the questions unanswered because there is no penalty for guessing! Questions that are left blank are marked as errors (0 points). If you have only 30 minutes left and you are not done, quickly answer the remaining questions at random.
Want more preparation strategies for the NCC exam? Don’t miss our Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Certification Intensive Review book, packed with tips and clinical pearls to help you make the grade!
1. Design and memorize your “scratch paper” a few weeks before you take the exam. Choose what you want on it wisely, and remember to keep it brief.
2. Need scratch paper suggestions? Consider lab results (hemoglobin, hematocrit, MCV, platelets, WBC count, neutrophil percentage, potassium, urinalysis, etc.). Other popular choices are the murmurs, mnemonics, and cranial nerves.
3. Use the time left from the “free” computer tutorial time to write down the facts that you memorized for your scratch paper. If you run out of time, skip this step.
4. Use the “mark” command as you go through the exam for any questions you want to return to later. This is an important one, so we’ll reiterate this throughout these tips!
5. The first few questions are usually harder to solve; this is a common test design. Do not let it shake your confidence! Take a guess on the answer and “mark” the question so you can return to it later.
6. If you’re making a guess on an answer, avoid choosing exotic diseases as answers. Remember, these are tests for primary care conditions.
7. If you spend more than 60 seconds on a question, you are wasting time. Answer it at random and then, you guessed it, “mark” it so that you can return to it after you finish the entire test.
8. The countdown clock on the computer does not stop for breaks. Do not use more than 5 minutes for your quick bathroom break.
9. If you get too mentally fatigued and have enough time, consider a quick break. Solving 200 questions is pretty intense. Go to the bathroom, get a drink of water, and splash cold water on your face. This can take less than 5 minutes. You can bring bottled water, but you have to leave it outside the testing area.
10. Do not leave any of the questions unanswered because there is no penalty for guessing! Questions that are left blank are marked as errors (0 points). If you have only 30 minutes left and you are not done, quickly answer the remaining questions at random.
Want more preparation strategies for the NCC exam? Don’t miss our Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Certification Intensive Review book, packed with tips and clinical pearls to help you make the grade!