What am I doing wrong?

Nursing Students General Students

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I'm in my second semester of nursing (med surg) and I'm not getting that great of grades. I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong so I can fix it before its too late. Our first exam was on diabetes, men's health, IV therapy and fluid and electroyles. Now I studied really hard for this test and I felt that I knew the material well. I take good notes and I always read the chapter in the med surg book AT LEAST 2 times. So I got my test back and I got a 74 percent. The lowest C is a 77. However, we have an opportunity for bonus points and I got 3. So I ended up with a 77.. i passed by the skin of my teeth. I was really mad at myself for doing so bad. So I just had another exam today on Oncology, hypertension, CHF, and pneumonia. I got a 76 and 2 bonus points which gave me a 78. I just passed again... barely! I studied extra hard for this exam because I wanted to get a good grade and I wanted a sort of cushion before the 3rd and final exam. I even resorted to study groups this time. Yesterday afternoon me and 3 other people all got together and studied for about 7 hours. We went over all the material, and even practice nclex questions. I felt I knew the material pretty well. It turns out that I got the highest grade out of all the people in my study group and they all failed the exam. They also failed the first one too. When we were studying we were all really confident that we would do well and thought there was no way we'd fail this test. Should I be trying to study with people that are smarter than me? Its just so hard to pick out the smart people in our class because no oneseems sure of themselves. I'm just wondernig what I'm doing wrong. I have "med surg made incredibly easy", and"med surg review and rationales" that I use for a lot of my studying. Last semester I used this book that teaches you how to take nursing tests. I know the material inside and out but when I get to the test I can level down the asnwers to 2 possible answers, one of which is correct and the other is wrong. Sometimes I pick the right answer and sometime the wrong one. Did anyone else have this problem in nursing school? Am I just not thinking "critically?" All of our exams are application problems, and our quizzes are knowledge based questions. On the quizzes I get fairly decent grades, I either miss 3 or 4 which gives me an 85 or an 80. I don't like this whole barely passing thing that I have going on here. I really want to pass this semester because this is the hardest one and if I pass this one I should be okay for the last year of nursing school.

One thing I do know is that our class is overfilled with 64 people. The instructors at our school that more people were going to pass last semester but only 2 or 3 ended up failing. Then they let 10 new people into our class which made it overfilled. It seems to me that they are trying to make the tests hard and tricky so they can filter out the students that are barely passing so they don't have an overcrowded class next semester. I just don't want to be one of the people who fail by .5% percent becaus it happened to 2 people in the med surg semester last year, that are now in my class and taking it over the 2nd time. I just don't know what to do

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When you get to where you are between two answers do you ever get a gut feel of what the answer is? I have learned to trust myself and never change answers. Also, a good nights sleep is essential in test preparation. You need to be well rested to think through those questions.

I know you want to do really well, but C=continue and as long as you are there then you are good to go.

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Specializes in Hospice, Internal Medicine.

When I get down to 2 right answers and I can't figure out which one is right I'll write out the rationale for each one. Usually I'll come across something that will make one a better choice over the other. I write all over my tests. If that still doesn't work, I go with my gut.

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Specializes in Surgical/Telemetry.

Maybe keep hitting the practice questions regularly as you study? I know that my ability to choose correctly in "best answer" questions has improved since I started adding those in every week. Some books, like Saunders, have chapters that correspond pretty well to areas covered on tests.

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I have the same problem and just from listening to you, it sounds like we study the same, but maybe we are studying too much.

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Check the school for tutoring. My school hired a nursing instructor just to help students with all areas in nursing including test taking skills.

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I was thinking maybe I study too much but I don't think thats really possible. I"m not burnt out or anything and I make sure I have time to do something relaxing a few days before an exam. I've been practicing the nclex questions but we haven't really learned a lot so its kind of hard to practice cardiovascular questions when the only thing you know about is chf and hyptertension. I know my school doesn't have any kind of tutoring program. I wish it did because I would definitely sign up.

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When you get to where you are between two answers do you ever get a gut feel of what the answer is? I have learned to trust myself and never change answers. Also, a good nights sleep is essential in test preparation. You need to be well rested to think through those questions.

I know you want to do really well, but C=continue and as long as you are there then you are good to go.

I've learned how to use the whole gut feeling thing and its definitely worked to my advantage! But sometimes my gut leads me to the wrong answer. Whenever we go over our tests I can always tell what the right answer is if I picked the wrong one. I usually don't throw out the right answer as being impossible. Its one of the ones I consider and then I either pick that one or something causes me to pick the wrong one.

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Specializes in CCRN.

It sounds as if you are studying the information but just are not applying the information. The only way you can get better at answering these questions is to pracitce, practice, practice. Utilize an NCLEX review book, cd's and questions that come with your text, and don't underestimate those in the class that missed it by .5% the first time they took it. They should be the people you align and study with, not classmates that had a lower score than you. Ask students that are ahead of you in the program what to expect from an instructor or if they are available once a week to meet with you and help you out. If possible, review your exams with the instructor and ask "Why is this the best answer?" We learn the most from what we get incorrect the first time it's asked of us.

Good luck!

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Specializes in Med Surg/Tele/ER.

Something else that might help is....do not read into the question...answer what it is asking you. I always cover up the answers, read the question, and think what do I know about this? Reread to be sure I read it right...then pick the answer that matches what I am thinking. I also use the Saunders to study with.....It has all areas broken down to neat little sections. Then I do the Q's & use the CD too. This has really helped me. Good Luck

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Welllll I Just found out today that there were some questions on the exam that the teachers were going over because they were poorly worded and were decievinng as to which answer was the right one. I was excited because I had missed both of these questions. Then I found out later on that they did change them and we all got our new and revised scores... Turns out I got an 84!!! That is a B!!!! Im sooo happy!!!! I'm no longer "barely passing." Thank god! So there really is HOPE for me!!!! yayy

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