I about cried for a classmate today....

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Sep 26, 2007

she needs to find out what is the problem and get it corrected NOW. Not studying enough? Studying the wrong things? Can't interpret the questions? I recommend she talk to an instructor, or all of them if necessary, to get some advice.

CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN · Sep 26, 2007

Perhaps you could suggest to your friend to see the professor and receive some tips, some strategies to bring into the next exam. Having to get 23 out of 25 right on the next exams appears daunting to me as well!

Jo Dirt · Sep 26, 2007

I am so sad. She is beautiful, smart, hardworking, she has no idea of what she is doing wrong.
It just broke my heart today.

Well, I'm ugly and not very smart and hardworking but all that got me referred to was an overcompensator.

Anyway, getting through nursing school doesn't necessarily mean you have to be smart. You do have to know how to study.

I'm not sure how she's studying but the way I did it was one section at a time.

That was the main key to getting through: take it one section at a time.

Divide the material into sections and study one section at a time.

After you take notes, copy those notes and rewrite the notes to be smaller and smaller each time. It will get drilled into your head that way.

It's not easy and it takes time but once a person gets a system going things will roll pretty smoothly.

happydays352 · Sep 26, 2007

I remember when my best friend was kicked out of our program. It killed me and it still does. She's the resident manager of my foster home and she's amazing. I know she would have been a kick*** RN.

Please encourage your friend to talk to everyone she possibly can about this situation. If her instructors can't help go see the nursing counselor. They can give her a list of outside resources to use.

I'm praying for your friend.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Sep 26, 2007

One of my classmates, Phi Beta Kappa student, 3.6 GPA, has to make a minimum of 23 on the REMAINDER of our exams in order to pass the course, and she is pretty certain that it will be an impossibility.

Have you ever heard of self-fulfilling prophecies? There are positive ones, and certainly there are negative ones. Well, your classmate is setting herself up for certain failure by making a negative self-fulfilling prophecy on her performance on an exam that has not even occurred yet!

If you predict that you'll pass, you are more likely to subsonsciously do things that will ensure a passing grade. If one predicts that passing with a specific score is an impossibility, then they will subconsciously do things to sabotage their chances for success on the exam.

Your classmate needs to change her attitude first and foremost, because she'll achieve the score only if she believes she can do it. Also, she'll need to make some other changes (study habits, time management, etc).

Tweety, BSN, RN · Sep 26, 2007

It's tough watching good people not make it, but that's the way it is. I hope she buckles up, figures it out (I"m sure in her heart she knows what she's doing wrong, being that smart and all), and passes.

chenoaspirit, ASN, RN · Sep 26, 2007

Have you ever heard of self-fulfilling prophecies? There are positive ones, and certainly there are negative ones. Well, your classmate is setting herself up for certain failure by making a negative self-fulfilling prophecy on her performance on an exam that has not even occurred yet!
If you predict that you'll pass, you are more likely to subsonsciously do things that will ensure a passing grade. If one predicts that passing with a specific score is an impossibility, then they will subconsciously do things to sabotage their chances for success on the exam.
Your classmate needs to change her attitude first and foremost, because she'll achieve the score only if she believes she can do it. Also, she'll need to make some other changes (study habits, time management, etc).

I agree totally. One of the students in my graduating class had to get a 98 on his final exam to GRADUATE, and he was determined to do it. And he did. Your friend needs to sit back and look at how/what she is missing...why she chose the answers she chose that were wrong. She should go to the instructor and discuss these questions, why she chose them, etc. Hopefully then the instructor can give advice. She needs to study study study study, make flash cards, whatever it takes. I hope she makes it.

Talia1981 · Sep 26, 2007

I can sympathize with her. The same thing happened to me when I got to OB. The first test I had was on the basics about OB. I thought I would ace it considering I worked on a post partum floor as an LPN as I was taking my RN course. I bombed the first test horribly. The instructor made the test impossible to figure out. I basically needed 90's on the remainder of the tests JUST to pass. I found a friend that had the same problem as me, yet she was a perfectionist. She failed the first time through this OB course. I couldn't believe it. She taught me how to pass. The secret was learning how the instructor thought and what the instructor would have wanted you to pick. It was like changing your whole thought process. It worked and I passed but it was very hard to change my mode of thinking from med/surg black and white into a grey area with more psychosocial thinking.

steelcityrn, RN · Sep 26, 2007

I remember a few students who should not have passed because of grades, but were given a curve due to their character. They ended up making it and work as nurses now.

jjjoy, LPN · Sep 27, 2007

It's one thing when someone is failing because they clearly don't know the material or haven't been studying; it's another when it's because exams aren't straight forward and the questions are vague and can be interpretted different ways. I can't say for sure what the problem is in this particular case, but I do know that my in my nursing school experience, how well one did on the examinations wasn't a reflection of the person's knowledge or critical thinking skills. As another here noted, often times it wasn't about knowing the *material* better or being a better test-taker in general, it was about figuring out *that instructor's thinking* and answering questions according to that as opposed to trying to directly apply one's studied knowledge and general critical thinking skills. Not "what's the right answer based on the information" but "what answer would the instructor probably say is right?" Also, there's always a few instructors like that in one's academic career, but in nursing school, that seemed more the norm than the exception.

bethin · Sep 27, 2007

Have you ever heard of self-fulfilling prophecies? There are positive ones, and certainly there are negative ones. Well, your classmate is setting herself up for certain failure by making a negative self-fulfilling prophecy on her performance on an exam that has not even occurred yet!
If you predict that you'll pass, you are more likely to subsonsciously do things that will ensure a passing grade. If one predicts that passing with a specific score is an impossibility, then they will subconsciously do things to sabotage their chances for success on the exam.
Your classmate needs to change her attitude first and foremost, because she'll achieve the score only if she believes she can do it. Also, she'll need to make some other changes (study habits, time management, etc).

Absolutely.

For me, I have to want that A, not to impress my family but to impress me. To prove that I am smart and I can do it. If you tell yourself that you're stupid you'll soon believe it.