Failed medsurg Last Semester. What can I do to improve my chances of success?.

[supreme commander]

I have to repeat medsurg since i failed by 1.5 points. I failed the theory portion. Over the past few months I wanted to be proactive about my failure and not just sit and cry at home. I decided to go for my CNA. I did about 250 practice questions online, passed it on my 1st try. With my CNA, I obtained employment in the Hospital as a PCT. There I am learning valuable skills that I haven't been taught in nursing school like drawing blood, taking accuchecks, doing 12-lead ekg's, time management with 10+ patients, etc...I am also reviewing the material and doing nclex type questions. However I heard the chances of succeeding the 2nd time around aren't that great from what i've read on these forums. Even tho i'm putting so much time into it, i feel its not going to be enough. I have the same crappy prof. teaching the class and i'm worried she'll look for a reason to fail me again. I dont like her teaching style and i feel some of her exams are unfair. I only have 1 more shot at this or i'm out of the program. I'm also a 2nd degree student and can't afford to fail since i have loans and no career type job to pay off those loans.

[Lev, MSN, RN, NP]

Don't let anxiety about failing get you down. You've got this. CNA experience can only help you. Study well and keep your chin up.

[enuf_already]

You already have several advantages. You know what kind of questions the professor gives. You know what you need to study. You are working which is likely going to help you apply some questions to real life situations.

Good luck!

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

First, don't blame the instructor. Take responsibility yourself for failing. Not every instructor is going to be your favorite. And saying the tests aren't fair, there are very few cases where that happens. If we happen to think a question is not correct, then we have an appeals process. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I had one on a test yesterday. I had the info to back me up and several other people had put the same answer as me for the same reason. Guess what, I lost. No problem. She's the teacher and gets to make the decisions, I don't. Figure out why you failed the class and change what it is that caused you to fail. If you don't and go in with the mindset that it wasn't your fault but the instructor's you will fail again.

Failure is not always a bad thing. My son is 8 and competes competitively in judo and he takes it hard when he loses. I always ask him if he learned something? He will tell me what he did wrong. I say good, now you know not to do that again. So losing in this instance was good for you. So if you learn something, and fix what you did wrong, then failing wasn't a bad thing. It will help you down the road not to do it again.

[strawberryluv, BSN, RN]

One thing that helped me was to purchase NCLEX-RN review books. My favorite book that I recommend to everyone is this book

Saunders Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN Examination, 5th Edition: 8965132282019: Medicine & Health Science Books @ Amazon.com

Its an amazing condensed book that has every disease/disorder and the interventions a nurse would expect to do in facing

the disease/disorder.

Buy the book and study it along with your topic or body system for the week. Buy the book with the CD and practice, practice, practice by answering NCLEX-RN type questions. The exam your professor is trying to mock is the NCLEX-RN and thats how you should go about studying for your med-surg exams. You will not succeed if you do not practice answering these critical thinking NCLEX questions.

Good luck.