Devastated beyond belief....and I don't even know what to change.

[justme1972]

I just got home from class and we had a test on Psych. I have actually had quite a few psych classes and I am very comfortable with the subject.

We had 15 chapters to read for class. I read all of them.

We had 50 pages of pre-prepared notes from lecture, that they have always told us to know inside and out...and I did.

Our test had 50 questions...40 is passing. I got a 33.

Granted, the rest of the class bombed too....missing 16, 18, 20 and more on this same exam....however, I have learned that they don't really do anything to help us on the next one other than to say, "Do better".

I had missed so many by question 20 that I couldn't keep from crying as we were reviewing our exam. The tears just wouldn't stop and I had no control over them. When I got to my car I just sat there for an hour in a fetal position and I had never cried so hard in my life.

This is the scary part:

EVEN AFTER they explained the rationales...they seemed to be very contradictory from question to question...and if I took this same test tomorrow, or even if I had my notes in front of me during the exam...it would not have helped.

The instructors didn't even give us a direction of study during lecture, such as, "So an example of a test question might be..."

So when I showed up and some of us were chatting before the exam...we collectively assumed that there would be a lot of Erikson, Maslow questions, questions on psych drugs, legal issues dealing with restraints and involuntary commitment. Comfort, trust, rapport, talking down, how to keep everyone safe, etc.

You think things like that were on the exam????

Nope.

They were along the lines of appropriate/inappropriate responses that you would make during group therapy (which we have never seen or discussed other than the purpose of it). This was in sharp contrast to the resources that they had us use to prepare for the exam.

So my biggest concern is I don't know what to do for the next one. We have an entirely different instructor for each unit during this semester..so there is no way to "learn how he/she" gives an exam b/c each time it will be different.

I don't know what to do. I don't know where to start for the next one. I don't have another minute to devote b/c I don't sleep as it is now.

I just don't know what to do.

[Dianacabana]

I am so sorry this happened to you. You must feel terrible. I have spent days crying over exams and I genuinely feel for you.

My school (an ADN program) has a board that reviews the exam before it is given as well as the results afterwards, to be sure of fairness and relevancy.

This is a long term solution but I would think that a good idea would be to meet with your prof. to point out your concerns and see what her response is...especially if the material on the exam doesn't match up with his/her specific assignment.

Best of luck to you!

Diane

[justme1972]

Honestly, if more than 1/4 of the class bomb a test, the instructor should be looking in the mirror and figure out what he/she can do differently. It is an instructor issue.

See, this is what I think...as politically unpopular as it is. Obviously I don't know what everyone got on our exam, but when I started hearing numbers like, "I missed 20" and "I missed 19"...the only comfort I had is that I did do somewhat better than some of my peers and I'm not "down" in points as much--but still down.

Our instructors do perform an item analysis on the exams, but here is their criteria:

1. Every single person in the class has to miss the question (that's hard...when you have a 25% chance of getting it right just by guessing).

2. They also tell us, "Oh, and even if every single person misses a test question doesn't mean it's not a valid test question!".....this is what I have the most problem with, because even the people that put together an NCLEX exam probably wouldn't even agree with that.

And as just about everyone here already knows b/c it really doesn't change from one nursing school to another...on one level it makes me feel better that other students did poorly on the exam and my "number" was right in line with everyone else...but on the flip side, I know that it doesn't matter if everyone else failed or if I was the only one that failed--I can't use that as an argument...I have to find a way to pull my grade up.

Maybe I'm just too sensitive...but I was shocked that more students were not concerned.

We had a similar disaster happen with a single Pharmacology exam during the Spring...and everyone just assumed that "something" would be done to "save" us...well, it wasn't and several students had to take the class over this summer in order to keep from getting dismissed from the program.