Have you been practicing for your CNA exam? If not, or maybe not as much, you need to read this. You see, practicing allows you to prepare for the main event. Think about it this way. Why does a runner hit the track every day to train?
Why do boxers and wrestlers take the practice pummeling before they hit the ring? Well, you don’t even have to think about the answer, right? The simple reason is so that they can be ready. It isn’t that they don’t know their craft. Rather, practicing helps them stay on top of it.
As a certified nursing assistant, you will be entering a critical sector. Indeed you will be an integral part of healthcare and must be on top of your game. That is why you must prepare well for the exam. It is not only about passing the CNA exam. Rather, it includes having the right knowledge to do your duties well.
Our article looks at the impact of practicing for your CNA exam on your performance.
Practicing Makes You Battle Ready
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Think about the upcoming CNA exam as a battle and you are a soldier on the frontline. The analogy may sound a little dramatic. Blame it on an active imagination. But it makes sense. It is a battle you must win to cross the line into active employment.
So how do you prepare for this ‘battle?’ Well, The steps are like what you have been doing for all the other exams in your life. So:-
Prepare a Study Schedule
Please ensure you allocate sufficient time to cover the relevant material. And remember to slot in some breaks. You know what all work and no play did to Jack, right?
Use the Free CNA Practice Tests
I am sure you must have heard this being said a thousand times – practice makes perfect. This holds good for your CNA preparation as well. Free CNA practice tests give you the much needed exposure to questions from previous years’ papers. This would give you a pretty good idea of what to expect on the actual day.
The multiple-choice format of the CNA written practice test is easy to use and you get instant results. That way, you can work on the areas that you feel are challenging to you.
Join Study Groups
No soldier prepares for battle alone, and neither should you. Studying with others gives you a sounding board, knowledge repository, and more.
Practice Removes Stress
How confident would you be walking into the CNA exam room without having practiced for your test? Unless you have some retention powers that are out of this world, the answer would be not very. And you can be sure of high-stress levels because you know the outcome will not be positive.
Practice Plugs Knowledge Gaps
One thing will become apparent when you take the free CNA practice exam. There are some areas you will find that you are struggling with. That will show that you must study more to fill the knowledge gaps. It also shows you which areas would benefit from a little more concentration.
You Will Know What to Expect
Before sitting for the exam, you cannot know what to expect. That can induce some anxiety or fear. You can demystify the whole process by taking the CNA practice test.
As we shared, it uses actual sample questions from the main exam. It will give you more confidence in your ability to handle the exam within the set time.
Also, if you have never answered multiple-choice questions, it gives you a chance to practice. The truth is multiple-choice questions can be difficult to answer with more than one choice appearing to be the correct answer. The only way to solve this quandry is to practice, practice, and practice more till even the slight deviation in words makes sense in the right way to you.
Sometimes, the answers seem so similar that you must know which to pick. Others have minor mistakes that the examiners deliberately put in. It is an effective way of checking your attention to detail. It helps to learn the right tips and tricks to master multiple-choice questions.
Practice Allows You to Pace Yourself
Your CNA exam gives you two hours to answer 60 multiple-choice questions. You may think that is a lot of time, until you start doing the exam. Only then do you realize how little the exam time is. You may find yourself concentrating too much on a few questions. That leaves little time for the others, forcing you to rush through the rest to complete the exam.
Practicing for the CNA exam will allow you to pace yourself. It gives you a good idea of how much time to spend on each question. The more you practice, the more confident you become about your time management. And that is the main advantage of using the CNA practice test before you sit for the main exam.
Practice Lets You Track Your Progress
Tracking your progress covers more than just the exam material. Although indeed, this is a critical area. You must know how well you understand the topics before the exam.
With practice and progress tracking, you also find out what study methods work well. That way, you can optimize the ones that give you the best results. The CNA practice test can give you a baseline to know the areas you need to work on.
Tracking progress also goes back to the point about managing time. You will notice a significant improvement in how fast you can handle the questions after taking multiple practice tests.
Retain and Cement Knowledge
The more you practice, the more your brain retains the knowledge. Using visual cues and flashcards will help important information stick in your mind. On the day of the exam, it becomes easy to recall such information.
Allow us to take you back to a point we made about creating a study schedule. Doing so ensures you have sufficient time to practice for the exam. Leaving everything to the last minute will force you to cram the study material. That will be counterproductive because you are doing it under pressure.
Also, trying to cram too much information will only clutter the brain. Pace your study time, ensure plenty of rest, eat well and hydrate. You will see the benefits the day you take your final CNA exam.
Final Thoughts
As we have shared above, there are many benefits to practicing for your CNA exam. It is vital that you walk into that room with confidence in your abilities to ace the exam. Everything will be much easier if you use the free CNA exam to practice.
Good luck with your CNA exam.
