Any other ADN schools having retention problems?

[RNnTrainin']

Hi all, just wondering if any of you were having the same problems we are in our program. We are 2nd semester, and have already lost 14. Not all were failing, but most were on the verge and didn't want to ruin their GPA. At this particular point, 21 out of the 26 are at or below a 79, and only 5 are 80+. Out of those 5, the highest average is a 83. Is this normal? Out of the 21 more than half are under the 77 cut off. We are no dummies here, we all had A's and B's on pre req's, and this is a competition based entrance. Does anyone else feel like they are teaching themselves? We actually met with the director and voiced our concerns, but I have no idea where that left us. Last semester I did great, as most did. And in all honesty, I don't feel the questions are hard, but as you know, you have to KNOW what the question is asking to be able to answer. I am not failing, but I do not like being close. Do your instructors actually "teach", and then test on what they teach, or is it all up to you? How many chapters do you usually have on your tests? We usually have a test every 2 weeks, some may be 3 weeks, and we have had no less than 24 chapters, and the most I can remember is 44. Do they really expect us to "know it all" as we are told? Thanks for the input~we are all stressing out......... No one expects nursing to be easy, we knew it was gonna be hard and time consuming, and that's fine. We aren't complaining about that, but when you study and study and study, and you get your test back with a fat red 72, 74, 76, etc, it's disheartening!

[Nursey103, ADN, RN]

We haven't lost that many students yet....I'm also in 2nd semester. We have exams every 2-4 weeks. We have 4 exams, 1 midterm, & 1 final in our med surg class (also ADN program). I don't know about chapters but our first test we covered asthma, copd, bronchitis, emphysema, abg's, lung cancer, head/neck cancer, & chest tubes/trach's. Our second test we covered diabetes, chronic renal failure, dialysis, renal transplant, bladder/kidney/prostate cancer, & urolithiasis. It definitely is a lot!!!!!!

Just try to hang in there!!!

[jjjoy, LPN]

In my experience, it did often feel like teaching oneself. How could the instructor seriously cover five hundred pages of content in 6 hours of lecture? No time for questions or context in lecture, just rushed, cursory overviews of the text. And then we were tested on tons of content with just 60 questions many of which many weren't asking what they appear to be asking. So no matter how much you studied, it was only with *luck* that you ccould score perfectly because even if you KNEW the material, you could misinterpret a question or two, lose a few points, and drop a whole letter grade (because 78% is a C).

So, yes, it's normal. That doesn't mean I like it or think it's effective. But it's normal.

[chevyv, BSN, RN]

Yes, this is pretty common, in my opinion. When enough fail, big changes begin to take place. State will come in and begin to ask questions as to why so many failed. They may need to make some changes in their program (not that it will help the students right now though). Many schools will then do the opposite and everyone seems to pass. Sounds great until they fail the state boards and here comes state again. The school will once again make changes so they don't lose their credentialing (sp?).

My school went through that. For my last theory class they made it more difficult to pass. You had to get at least an 80% on everything (not averaged) to pass. The reason for the change? We had like a 55% pass rate for NCLEX. Now the graduating class that took those boards were in a class just behind one where 90% failed. School made changes where everyone passed, but then failed boards. Bizarre hey!