Do you just love it when professors test you on information you haven't learned??

[hershdawg]

My professor for Cell Bio has to be a spawn of Satan. No one in the class has a grade higher than a low B,and when we take tests, she always puts stuff on their that we did not cover at all. Literally, I have memorized chapters in the book we have covered, along with notes taken in class as well as her power points and only about half her tests are based on that information, the rest is from out of nowhere. Any study ideas? It's sort of out of my control as to what my grade is... (which is a middle C, which ironically places me in the top 15% for that class)

[WordWrangler]

I'll throw you a bone. When you defended yourself firstly by stating you were an Eagle Scout, I laughed right out loud but then I believed every word you'd said. So there's that. :)

I will say our teachers seem to do the same during our skills check offs. I memorize from the book and watch the demonstration videos (which are never, ever, ever detailed enough!!!! GAH!) and then yesterday at check offs I was asked questions I had no earthly idea of the answers for. Not that they were irrelevant or useless questions. No, it was all stuff I feel fair for me to know. But if they don't teach us that information or if that information they are going to hold us accountable for isn't in the materials we are expected to cover in review, how in the world can we be expected to know it? I mean, you can't know what you don't know you're supposed to know. Right?

I hear you. Hang in there. I am triple knotting the end of my own rope. :)

[loriangel14, RN]

"But if they don't teach us that information or if that information they are going to hold us accountable for isn't in the materials we are expected to cover in review, how in the world can we be expected to know it?"

You are expected to figure it out based on what you DO know.They can't teach the answer to every single thing that you will encounter when you are a nurse.Through learning you are being equipped with tools to figure it out.

[charli_appleRN]

Do you get to review exams?

[RunnerRN2015, ASN, RN]

If she is teaching it then you have learned it haven't you?

I think he means they are being tested on it BEFORE she teaches it.

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

It appears you need to study the information that you haven't learned yet. My advice would be to take a weekend, sit down with your text book and your syllabus and skim the chapters until you've covered the next 4-6 weeks of material. Focus on the major concepts and key points in each chapter. If your book includes chapter reviews and practice questions, start with those. Having a general understanding of the information that might show up on a test will help you.

I also wholeheartedly agree with the poster who initially stated you need to raise this concern with the professor directly and ask why you're being tested on concepts that you haven't covered.

[Anoetos, BSN, RN]

We were always told that we could not possibly cover everything in lecture and that we were responsible for knowing everything in the book and that it was all fair game on test day.

In fact, they started putting it in the syllabi.

[Anoetos, BSN, RN]

I think a good part of the problem with less than optimal instructors in nursing school is that most (all?) SBONs require them to be nurses, but not necessarily teachers and, often, even the ones with MSN-Ed degrees are just RNs who think they can teach but really can't.

Teaching is a calling, we all know that from those teachers we have had in life who not really got information into us, but got us excited about it. Not everyone can do it, and just getting a graduate degree doesn't mean you have been magically transformed into Mr. (or Ms.) Chips.

[virgo,student nurse, CNA]

I did not read through all the posts, so please forgive if I have repeated what someone has already said. I have seen on tests stuff we never go over in class, but I have learned to read the entire chapter/chapters that we are going to be tested on. I know it sounds tiring, but it has worked for me. I also do study guides realted to the chapters, and I look up all the vocab so I know what the words mean. Reading comes very naturally to me, so maybe that is why it has worked for me. We were also were able to record the lectures. I listened to them on the way to school, home, gym, any time I was in the car. I have noticed that I may miss a few things during lecture, and this helps to re focus me on that part of the lecture. Hope things get better for you.