Is it even possible to get all A's in nursing school?

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Oct 2, 2012

your goal is to complete nursing school so you will be eligible to test for your license. Anything over that is overkill. Do not make yourself crazy over grades. HOWEVER, if you want to continue your education your grades may dictate whether or not you get to grad school. Do your best but do not strive for perfection. Learn to breathe

missk88 · Oct 2, 2012

OP, I used to be a straight A student before nursing school, even in my prerequisites for nursing school I got A's. The reason why people tend to go from A's to B's is because the test in nursing school are most likely unlike any test you've taken before. It's a whole new style of learning. You're not only learning new material, but a whole new way of thinking and mindset. To be honest, what is most important is that you learn the material and know how to apply it to your clinical setting. Whether you get an A or B really isn't that important. If you do well at your clinical, get in good with the charge nurses and nurse managers, you know, "networking" as they say, that will land you a job. Trust me, I've been told by many a nurse that the hospital wants a nurse with either experience or one who has a good track record of working well with people at their clinical. I feel like someone could get all A's, but that doesn't mean they're going to be the best nurse. You could definitely get straight A's in nursing school OP, but I recommend focusing on what is most important; your patients and your well being. If after taking care of yourself you only have enough time to study and get a B, that is much more worth it than studying, not taking care of yourself, getting burned out and then not being able to take the best care you could of your patients. Honestly, it's not worth it to break your back to get an A. The nurses I know tell me that hospitals rarely consider GPA. Maybe if you literally almost failed out they would be concerned, but a B or an A is not really going to make any sort of difference. Experienced nurses get the job, after that new nurses with the best recommendations and networking get the job. They want a person who works well with people, not one who only looks good on paper. Ya dig? :cat:

Skips, MSN, RN · Oct 3, 2012

Thank you for your wonderful responses! I will take the advice and run with it.

SarahBean87 · Oct 3, 2012

you are not alone i am feeling the exact same way right now, great advice up there

Katie71275 · Oct 3, 2012

No straight A's for me except in my current class. I'm a B student(high B's). I study hard and work hard. I am in OB now and have made all A's in this class so far...but I think it's because it's something I am super familiar with(field I want to be in plus I have 4 kids so I have that experience).

Jasminelfue · Oct 3, 2012

Well not to be negative, but my professor told me no student gets straight A's in nursing school. It is too much content. When I was in school all I thought to myself " are we here to be doctors"? It's do much content!

chorkle · Oct 3, 2012

OP, it may be helpful to think of it this way: Be a perfectionist for yourself, not (necessarily) for externally imposed criteria. These criteria are important, but aren't everything.

As PP have said, there are other aspects of NS equally or more important as/than the letter grade in a specific course.

nurse_jer · Oct 3, 2012

I feel like I'm a pretty good student. But I get mostly B's. I wish getting an A wasn't above a 93%! I guess I'm just frustrated...and I'm a perfectionist.
We have to know a ton of stuff, so it's really hard to keep everything really balanced in your brain.
This is only my 2nd semester in a BSN program. I'm technically in the 2nd year since I did most of my pre-req's at a community college before transferring. I'm not a seasoned nursing student yet.
Anyway. If you have straight A's, how do you do it? (:

1st and foremost, organization. Organization and time management are so important. A teacher once told us he knew some people who really weren't smart get phd's not from brains, but organization and time management. I took this to heart and it hasn't failed me yet. one B in my last 30 credits.

Next, practice questions. Get a Saunders nclex review book. Get the "success" book for whatever class you currently have (phsychiatric success, med-surg success, etc) and do LOTS AND LOTS OF PRACTICE QUESTIONS!!! I might do 300 practice questions for an exam.

I also buy tons of other helper books. The made incredibly easy guides are exceptional. The demystified ones aren't too bad either.

Listen to the lecture. Teachers give out lots of LITTLE tidbits in passing that you may not notice if your not very attentive.

Get a good group of friends to study with. It's even better if some of them are in different sections as you can compare notes between instructors. You can have a large network of study friends, but keep your study groups small (2-3 people). Rotate in between groups in you need to, but keep it small.

Hope this helps