C's in nursing school

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im in an ADN program and this is my second semester. 1st semester, i think i did great with A and B's. second semester is almost over in a few weeks and with getting a C in the previous med/surg course and now with a 75/C average in my current med/surg course is scaring me. i know that C=RN but im afraid of my C's. i keep thinking "will i be able to be a competent nurse after all this with getting C's in nursing school?" its kinda scaring me. your input/advice is appreciated. thankss.

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You will learn much of your day to day nursing on the job. Don't be so concerned with getting As, they don't mean you will be a great nurse any more than Cs mean you will be mediocre. The thing I would be concerned about is getting a high enough GPA so that you will be eligible for grad school, should you want that in the future. So, do your best.

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Specializes in ICU, Telemetry.

Take a deep breath...in...out...

Unless you're going for the next step up the academic ladder, when you get to the floor, nobody cares if you were a straight A or straight C student. I'm an LPN on a ICU stepdown/tele unit, I do this crap for a living, and I sometimes get As, and I sometimes get Bs....it really has little to do with how good you're going to do the job in the real world. As long as you understand the core critical stuff -- lab values, why a high APTT is bad, why a low troponin is good, the A and P behind the CHF/COPD/ESRF or whatever -- you'll learn the rest on the floor.

A big gripe I have is how little school actually does prepare you for the "real world." I mean, I know you can't just toss a newbie 10 patients and say "go with God." but there's got to be a better way to do this. I'd rather have had a 3 week "preceptorship" with a real nurse on the floor, like I did when I was hired -- I learned more during my preceptorship than I did in school.

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Just be glad that you only have to get a C to pass. In my program, we have to maintain a B average in all nursing courses. And, they don't round up--so if you have a 79.99%, you still fail the class and have to retake it!!! I am going into my final on Tuesday with a 79.10% average, and I am just hoping and praying I can pull it up!!

I do not think it matters if you are an A student or a C student--a nurse is a nurse! Good luck to you.

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Specializes in Case management, occupational health.

I wouldn't be as worried about the C, I really don't think patients are going to ask you what grades you got.

What I would be worried about is why you are getting 75% (in my program a 76.9 and below is an F) are you losing focus, are you slacking off, are you overwhelmed, are you just having trouble with the style of testing, what is going on, are you really learning the material enough to pass NCLEX?

Even if you have wonderful skills, you will never get to put them into practice if you cannot pass NCLEX.

There are C students in my class that I think will make incrediable nurses, and there are lots of C students in my class that terrify me that they may make it through.

The fact that you are concerned about it, and are not the type of student that is fine with scrapping by tells me you are probably the first type

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thanks for all your input and advice, i really appreciated it :)

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do you have test reviews? those help me a lot. one question on the cardio test i picked the wrong answer because the instructor had gone on and on about removing the salt shaker. of course it was assess the patients knowledge about hypertension. i also study with nclex books to get used to the types of questions.

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