How does it feel to fail a nursing course?

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Hi all,

I just needed to share this with you guys because right now i feel so discouraged. Maybe hearing from people that have been through the same situation might help me feel a little less miserable.

I have been doing well up until now. PEDS surprised me. I was expecting it to be so easy, and it is not that bad actually but its totally different from med-surg, where you can apply the same concept for everything...anyway, i studied every single day, took notes, did practice questions, read each chapter 100 times and guess what? I am failing. My average is so low that it is almost impossible to pass at this point, unless i get a 88 on the next exam and a 84 on the final, and its too late to the drop the course. My gpa is good so i could repeat the class next year in jan but i've never failed before and it feels horrible, especially because i tried my best. I have just 1 semester left after i finish this one but if i have to repeat this class, they break for summer, so i will be graduating in december of 2011 instead of may, basicaly another year. I just wish it was over already, Im about to turn 22, it is taking FOREVER!!!

I feel like Iam the only one. If you have ever failed a nursing course, please share your experience with me

Thanks

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Specializes in CNA.
unless i get a 88 on the next exam and a 84 on the final

So do that - or try your best anyway.

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"How does it feel to fail a nursing course?"

One word: awful.

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Hi all,

I just needed to share this with you guys because right now i feel so discouraged. Maybe hearing from people that have been through the same situation might help me feel a little less miserable.

I have been doing well up until now. PEDS surprised me. I was expecting it to be so easy, and it is not that bad actually but its totally different from med-surg, where you can apply the same concept for everything...anyway, i studied every single day, took notes, did practice questions, read each chapter 100 times and guess what? I am failing. My average is so low that it is almost impossible to pass at this point, unless i get a 88 on the next exam and a 84 on the final, and its too late to the drop the course. My gpa is good so i could repeat the class next year in jan but i've never failed before and it feels horrible, especially because i tried my best. I have just 1 semester left after i finish this one but if i have to repeat this class, they break for summer, so i will be graduating in december of 2011 instead of may, basicaly another year. I just wish it was over already, Im about to turn 22, it is taking FOREVER!!!

I feel like Iam the only one. If you have ever failed a nursing course, please share your experience with me

Thanks

I have been close in a couple of classes. I noticed that the more effort I put the higher my grades became.

If I were in your shoes I would 1. Talk to the professor and see what questions you are missing. 2. Get with the class mate who is doing really well and ask them how do they study, what makes them retain the information and what thinking process that they have to achieve good scores. 3. Decide whether you want to stay in the program. if you do then you know to put all your mental efforts into passing and not worrying that you may fail. this is important! 4. Get in a study group.

I have a hard time with med-surge. i despised it actually but ended up with a B.

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You have to realize it is not the end of the world, (although it may feel like it). I was in the the Spring semester last year and did not pass the whole semester. It was not from lack of work, so i did not understand. However, now I realize I was not ready to go on. So I ended up taking a year off and I will jump back in in the Spring. I am not giving up, just taking a little longer. You failed a class, but you are not a failure@!!!!:redbeathe:redbeathe:redbeathe:redbeathe

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As tbert said "awful"

esp when one has helped several classmates over bumps in the road, don't ask me how I know.

Those classmates are approaching the last semester.

I have over a year to go.

IF I pass the class this time.

Me thinks a better word is "demoralizing"

Don't ask me how I know.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

I'm sorry that you are struggling with Peds. I am a peds nurse, and I can tell you, as much as I love it, it is NOT easy. I really haven't figured out why many students struggle with it (again, I am biased). I have seen students' career dreams shattered as a result of Peds. Sadly it is a necessary evil of nursing school.

I just wish it was over already, Im about to turn 22, it is taking FOREVER!!!

Now, I'm gonna shoot from the hip... Are you kidding me??? 22 and you're complaining!! Have you looked around your classroom (or on this forum)? Unless you win the lottery 9or find some other source of independent wealth), you'll be working for 40 years! Six months more will make absolutely no difference in the grand scheme of things.

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Specializes in Oncology.

I was on the line last semester with med-surg. It was a very hard, very demoralizing semester for me. I cried literally every day. The first exam of the semester, I received a 72%. It was like being hit in the face with feelings of inadequacy.

I got my butt in gear for the last two exams of the semester, and that included talking to my instructors and figuring out how I learned best and what I could do to make it better. Never, ever give up on yourself. Please. If you throw in the towel, that's it, and it's over.

You are more than capable of getting that 88 and that 84 on your exams. I would recommend, in addition to discussions with your lecturer and peers, to review actual test-taking strategies, i.e. making sure you're using Maslow, skipping questions that you don't get a good feeling about until you've finished the rest of the exam, underlining key phrases in the stem of the question, rephrasing the question in your own words (for example, on those questions which say things like "Which response by the patient shows that the nurse needs to reinforce teaching?" I write FALSE really big underneath because you're looking for the wrong answer in the situation)

I slipped by last semester with a C. When I got my final grade and realized that I had passed, I think I sat there in shock for a few minutes, and then cried my heart out for 30 minutes from just the overwhelming emotion it. It was so hard, and it felt so good to get over the hump. I also had a very good friend, who is extremely smart and had studied with me, fail the semester, so the entire situation was tumultuous for me.

I don't think that failing a course is necessarily a sign that you're not going to be a good nurse. Plenty of students have left or joined my nursing class due to failing nursing courses, and I'm happy to say that a lot of them go on to succeed the next semester.

Take a deep breath. You CAN do this. And I wholeheartedly agree with nurse educate. 22 is young! I'm 22, and I won't graduate until December 2011, by which time I'll be 24! In the grand scheme of things, you'll look back on nursing school years from now and it will be only a step in your career.

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Thank you all so very much!! you guys made me feel a lot better.. I will try my best!

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"Get with the class mate who is doing really well and ask them how do they study, what makes them retain the information and what thinking process that they have to achieve good scores."

bingo.find the smartest one, compliment them on how much you admire their intelligence, and basically make yourself a barnacle on their brain. i've done it and it works.smart people love nothing more than to have disciples. get it done.

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Specializes in -.

Hi,

I recently (well, a few months ago) failed a med math course, and here is my thread if you would like to take a look at my feelings. I know what you are going through....but now also know there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Feel like such a failure.. - Nursing for Nurses

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Specializes in Oncology.
"Get with the class mate who is doing really well and ask them how do they study, what makes them retain the information and what thinking process that they have to achieve good scores."

bingo.find the smartest one, compliment them on how much you admire their intelligence, and basically make yourself a barnacle on their brain. i've done it and it works.smart people love nothing more than to have disciples. get it done.

I would add to this that not every person's strategy for studying and learning material is the same. The "smartest" student in my class frequently skips lecture, takes the minimal amount of notes, doesn't record lecture ever, and only looks at her lecture notes the week before the exam. She also finishes her exams in record times, like 15 minutes for a 50 question exam. When asked about it, she told me that she sometimes doesn't even finish reading all of the answers before choosing the best one. I would not think that this is the person to emulate, even though she makes A's on every exam. She is blessed with a brain that nursing comes easy to, and she is able to knock out the distractors on standardized exams quickly, but would I say that she is the person to look to for guidance if you're struggling? No, not really, because her strategies aren't going to help the majority of people.

But maybe that's because I think the "smartest" person in the class doesn't always make the best nurse in the real world, nor do their strategies. Sometimes, not always, and definitely I'm not the type of person to follow someone around and take everything they say at face value. It's more important to figure out what works for YOU.

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