Understanding the statement of a written examination, what is the problem?

There are many variables which affect academic performance. Amongst them, the ability to understand the meaning of questions and problems in written examinations is a crucial aspect. However, little attention has been focused on the skills to analyse problems' components. This article is an account of a research study aimed to explore students' understanding of verbs commonly used in written examinations. In doing so, we used an open-ended questionnaire in a sample of first-year nursing students of a private university, who were all volunteers. The questionnaire design reflected Bloom's taxonomy of cognitive learning, still widely accepted. The main result revealed that the meaning of verbs of the low taxonomy categories was poorly understood. This fact raised the issue of understanding problems as a key factor in low academic performance of students. The results gave rise to the implementation of didactic strategies to support the fulfilment of the learning outcomes.