14.2 Last-Week Review Map

14.2 Last-Week Review Map

The final week is for consolidation, not new learning. Use the Ohio skills list, your error log, and your timed-practice scores to decide what to review. Do not pick up a new textbook or a fifth practice app — that scatters attention right when it should be narrowing.

Review the core domains

The 79 written questions come from 12 subject areas with 5 to 9 questions each (D&S handbook p. 33). Start with these areas, then work through your error log.

Numbers and sequences to lock in

Missing a normal range costs easy points. Commit these adult values to memory: temperature ~97.0–99.0°F oral, pulse 60–100 bpm, respirations 12–20 per minute, blood pressure roughly 90/60 to 120/80. Report anything outside the range to the nurse — the aide never adjusts treatment.

For sequences, drill the wrapper most Ohio task sheets share: perform hand hygiene, explain the procedure, provide privacy, raise the bed where the task calls for it, perform care, lower the bed, open the curtain, place the call light within reach, perform hand hygiene, and record where the task asks. Knocking and greeting by name are good habits but are not listed skill steps.

A 7-day countdown

Mixing domains and rehearsing skills

The real written test does not label questions by domain, so practice switching between infection control, safety, communication, and basic-care items without warning. A common late-week mistake is reviewing one topic at a time until each feels easy, then freezing on the exam when topics interleave. Take at least two full-length 79-item mixed sets in days 4–3 to build that switching stamina.

Five skill areas to make flawless

From the 21-task Ohio skill pool, these appear repeatedly and should be flawless by day 2 (you will be assigned only 3 or 4 on test day):

1. Hand washing (embedded in your mandatory first task) — wet hands and wrists, apply soap, rub with friction for at least 20 seconds with fingers pointing downward, rinse fingers down, dry with a clean paper towel, and turn off the faucet with a clean, dry paper towel (a wet towel counts as re-contamination, which fails the task).
2. Pulse and respirations — count each for a full 60 seconds (or 30 seconds times two, telling the observer which), then record both on the signed recording form; your counts must be within 6 beats and 4 breaths of the observer's.
3. Transfers and ambulation — gait belt snug at the waist over clothing, lock the wheelchair and bed brakes (bolded key steps), non-skid footwear on, stand on the count.
4. Bed bath / perineal care — fill the basin with warm water, wash from clean to dirty, perineal care front to back with a clean portion of the washcloth for each stroke, keep the resident covered for privacy.
5. Positioning and ROM — support the joint above and below, move slowly to the point of resistance, never force.

What to stop doing in the final week

Stop adding resources, stop memorizing rare conditions, and stop late-night cramming. Sleep affects both reaction time on the timed written test and the steady hands you need for the skills station. If a topic still feels shaky on day 1, review only the one error-log rule that fixes the most misses for it — then close the book.

Tie clinical numbers to actions, not trivia

The written test rarely asks a number for its own sake; it asks what you would do with it. Practice converting each value into the aide response. If an adult pulse is 48, you do not slow the resident's medication — you are not allowed to — you report it to the nurse and continue to observe. If a blood pressure reads 168/96, you recheck after a few minutes, document, and report. If respirations are 8 and shallow, that is an emergency cue: stay with the resident, call for the nurse, and do not leave. Drilling the value-to-action link in the last week is far more useful than re-reading the ranges a tenth time.

Rehearse documentation and reporting language

Many missed items in the final review are really reporting questions in disguise. The aide observes, records, and reports but never interprets or diagnoses. So an item that offers "tell the resident they probably have an infection" is wrong even if the signs fit — the correct action is to report the observations to the nurse. Spend a few minutes each day of the final week rehearsing this distinction, because the exam tests it across infection control, vital signs, skin changes, and behavior changes alike. When you can reliably separate observe and report from assess and treat, a whole cluster of scenario questions becomes easy points.

Practicing the exact phrasing you would use — "I noticed the resident's left heel is reddened and does not blanch; I reported it to the nurse and repositioned per the care plan" — also primes you for the written items that test whether you would report an abnormal finding rather than ignore it.