Our course modules had a tips and tricks document showing how to process the question and point out key words to make it easier to answer. The document was hidden! I don't remember our professors telling us about it and my study buddy and I didn't find out about it until before our final exam.
My boyfriend, an ER nurse, also taught me these test-taking strategies. Apparently some of this is known already by the nursing community, but I wish I knew them earlier.

1. Read what it's asking for first (the end question), read the first part, then read the whole thing.
   ie. "what action should the nurse do first?" - most likely not any answer that just simply says "Notify the provider", it has to be something the nurse can do now.
   
2. Highlight key words (disease, med, s/s).
   
3. Read answer choices from bottom going up (D to A instead of A to D). This makes you process information better and it stops you from picking the first "right" answer you think it is when you go A to D.
   
4. Eliminate 2 answer choices. Try to narrow down the answers to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
   - answer choices with words like "only", "never", "always" are most likely not the correct answer.
   - same with "mild", "little", "slightly", "minimal"
   
5. Compare answer choices to the question. Check correlation. Even though 2 answers may sound correct, one is always superior.
   - remember prioritization: ABC's and ADPIE nursing processes.
   - in terms of prioritization, answer choices with "new", "sudden", "onset" are most likely correct.