Am I a failure?

[Redstudent]

In my current situation, I am a nursing student who failed "common concepts" last semester. I am currently taking "common concepts" but I am currently failing. My class is only pass/fail based on test grades only. I got 78, 66, and 54 respectively for each exam. I just got a 54 on my exam. I currently feeling angry, frustrated, suicidal and depressed.

I feel like I wasted time and money here. I thought I could learn to be a good nurse but this is how my class works. We take a 50 question exam over the material. We get graded at the end. If you attend testing remediation on what you got wrong, then you review it but you cannot write anything like subject or the missed question. I do not understand how we can learn if we cannot write what we missed. My professor's response was that they are trying to teach you critical thinking and they are tired of making new questions. Is this what nurses do for learning? They reuse the same questions. There is no bonus or extra credit. We do not even get to see pass/fail statistics of our class or concurrent class.

My second excuse is that my class is 3 hours for 2 days. In other words, I am in a flex program where the class is 8 weeks. Sometimes we go over the time limit and stay in class for an extra 30 minutes. A red flag signals to me that this class was not meant to be 8 weeks. It should be 16 weeks. I also cannot stand hearing lecture for more than 1.5 hours. I cannot see how one student can pay attention for more than that.

My third excuse is when I asked how some other students study for the exam. They pay someone who was a former teacher and basically goes over a "blue print" of the final exam. That is how they are passing and I am not. I did not want to bring it up because I did not want my friends to fail. It ends up being a ethical issue to me. Would you rather cheat and succeed or fail with honor?

My last issue is having the same exam as the other teachers. We have 6 professors. 2 in the morning, afternoon and evening. They all teach differently but we all get the same test. How does that work and evaluate on our performance? I remember one class got 4 bonus points while the other 2 classes did not for exam 2.

Yes, I am venting my frustrations. All this bad politics and grades can change a person's attitude of life. I have a chance to pass but I need an 82 on the final. My passion for nursing is down on the floor. I spent my weekend studying for exam 3 only to see a 54 as a result. My final exam is in one week. I apparently do not have a thought process of a nurse.

My question now is am I a failure as a student and a human being? Should I take the final exam for a chance to pass or is that wasting hope on the hopeless? Where do failures go after this? Am I going to find out the hard way after this?

[Redstudent]

I know it sounds unprofessional of me to do this online. I had no academic adviser to get a hold of. I know many students want to avoid negative talk like it was bad karma. I was narrow minded when I earned a 54 on the exam. I wanted to see what it was like outside my school. Like I said before, this forum was way more helpful than I could have imagine.

I initially thought the "blue print" for exams was cheating because the professor I am taking thinks it is cheating. That is the only thing I did not do. It is a resource that needs to be used. I figured it out pretty late.

Well that is past news to me now. I am being assisted by 2 career counselors to find a job and make up for the setback. They are also looking into other majors I can go into and start anew.

[JBudd, MSN]

Good luck and warm wishes for what ever path you choose!

Takes a lot of guts to step back, reevaluate and choose to change.

[BolBol]

"I spent my weekend studying for exam 3 only to see a 54 as a result."

You only spent a weekend studying for exam 3??? You should be studying the material before lecture so that during lecture it is reinforced in your head. You should be studying as you go so that before the exam you only have to review. You should NOT be studying everything 2-3 days before the exam. Bad strategy.

[dbella24]

Nursing school is hard. It's hard for a reason and some people won't make it, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Instead of listing excuses about why it's difficult start thinking of new ways to study the material and implement those methods. Yes a three hour lecture class is long but as a nursing student you should have more than enough practice at studying for at least three hours at a time to train your brain how to stay focused & retain the information.

You are planning to enter a profession where people's lives are literally in your hands daily. It should be expected to work your tail off have the knowledge to be able to do this. We've all been there to know how difficult it is & all the frustrations of testing, time, etc. Try working a full time job & raising babies during nursing school like myself and so any others have done.

Rise to the occasion - prove to yourself that you are able & willing to do this. Nursing school doesn't last forever but when graduation comes you will feel so much better about yourself and your accomplishments knowing how hard you have had to work for it and it will make you a much better nurse in the long run.

I believe you can do it if you shift your thinking, but if its not working out for you - there's no shame in admitting that you tried something about didn't workout as long as you can say you gave it your best shot. There are many other careers out there and a ton of people who ended up in jobs they hadn't initially set out for.

[Skips, MSN, RN]

I couldn't believe it either!

Me neither.

[Labrynth]

Nursing school is not unlike hostile brainwashing. It takes a ton of work for the teachers to break your spirit and make you feel defeated for them to start building you back up. It is necessary to break the chain of basic memorization/teaching for tests learned in precollege education. You need to figure it out. You may know the material but possible overthinking/overcomplicating the tests. You work with the information given in the questions and nothing more. Cover the answers and try to come up with an answer on your own (don't waste to much time if your truly have no idea). Ask yourself what makes an answer wrong when you dont know what is right. for example if it asks which lab value is outside normal range and you only know 2 of the 4 you have at least given yourself a 50/50 chance. Find different study partners. It takes a gentle blend of egos to make a group work and each person must be able to contribute to the group with either knowledge, leadership or style. Keep study groups to 4 or less people and build in breaks. Common concepts could be anything in nursing. If you could be more specific I could offer some guidance for study tips.