7 Practical Tips for CNOR® Exam Prep

7 Practical Tips for CNOR^® Exam Prep

 
November 19, 2021

You’ve decided to be known as an expert in your field by becoming CNOR^® certified. The thought of an exam review may seem overwhelming, but you’re in good company. Over 40,000 perioperative nurses have obtained their CNOR certification and for various reasons, including furthering their career, possible increase in pay, and improving their potential for professional opportunities – especially in Magnet or Pathway to Excellence facilities.

Test-Taking Tips

To set yourself up for success, you should work on reviewing and expanding your knowledge of perioperative nursing practice and understanding how to respond to the questions based on how the test is designed.

1. Start with reading the complete question thoroughly. One of the common, yet easily avoidable, mistakes is misreading the questions. Read the question and all the answers completely before selecting. This will help to eliminate extraneous information that have no relevance to the correct answer. Another approach is to read the question fully and try to come up with the answer before reading any of the answer choices. This will help to narrow the answers down to the best option. As you are contemplating your answer, avoid thinking in absolutes like “never” or “always” because, just as in real life, there often are exceptions to a rule.
2. Do not add your own assumptions. Remember that all relevant information is already included within each question. Do not try to add more information that has not already been provided.
3. Use the process of elimination. Even a guess has a 25% chance of being right. Increase your odds by eliminating the obvious wrong answers first. Do not leave any of the questions unanswered, as there is no penalty for wrong answers.
4. Keep an eye out for partially wrong answers. If one part of an answer is correct but another part is not, consider the entire answer as incorrect.
5. Watch for similar answers. If two answers are saying the same thing but in different ways, you can eliminate both answers. There can only be one correct answer.
6. Focus on nursing related answers. If multiple answers to a question seem like the correct answer, choose the one that is completely within the nurse’s area of responsibilities. If an answer requires an external action, like obtaining a physician order, it is not the correct answer. Read the question and answers from the charge nurse’s perspective. If an answer requires you to call a charge nurse, do not choose that answer.
7. Monitor your time. There is limited time, so it is important to be aware of the clock throughout the exam. You have four hours to complete 200-questions. Manage your time by answering approximately 50 questions each hour. Breaking it down further, this gives you about 1.2 minutes for each question. If there is extra time when you reach the end of the exam, you will be able to go back and answer any that you left blank.

Reference:

Lamonte, M. K. (2007). Test-taking strategies for CNOR certification. AORN Journal, 85(2), 315–332.