I currently attend a private college in the northeastern portion of the United States. I am one term away from graduating with my ADN, BUT myself and entire class have run into a major roadblock. We are one week away from this term ending, and the entire class has failed all three exams and are subsequently failing the class. Not by a little, but severely failing. Our grades range from 56% to 74% in the class and we all know a 78% is key to success.
Our teacher and other educators such as the DON, ADON, etc. continue to tell us WE are the problem, WE do not know how to study, and these tests are so easy a LPN student can pass them! Our college seems to care less that literally not one student will be in the next term due to entire class failure... I find it hard to believe that we have no one who is trying to "fix" this problem.
Our teacher will not curve the grades whatsoever, we are told we do not know how to take tests. It's quite funny when the majority of us are working LPNs but we are not "real nurses" and do not know how to read a test. I have spent countless hours studying like any "prudent nurse" would do... I am not looking to be handed my RN, BUT I also feel that there needs to be a fair shot, not be told after almost a year into this program passing all classes that I have "poor test taking skills"... shouldn't I have run into that issue awhile ago?
ANYWAYS... Has anyone run into this problem during nursing school? How was it resolved? If we all fail, who can we take our issues to? The dean of the RN program also says we are the problem too, so it is pointless to address this with her. I can speak for my class when we say we are past the point of feeling defeated... we are losing the love of nursing due to this college.
Any advice and/or comments are welcome... but please no negativity. I am not sure how much more my mind can handle!
Concept Based Nursing is ridiculous. Yes I understand the concept of "perfusion" but that does not mean I automatically know every disease process that is involved in perfusion aka all of them
But you ought to be able to integrate what you know about blood flow (perfusion) and its effects (tissue oxygenation, nutrient delivery, cellular byproducts of metabolism) and normal physiology from your prereqs to generalize what the effects of decreased perfusion are on every body system. Yes, you should.
At my CC we are split into groups of 10 per clinical group (about 60 students in the total program after LVNs are added to 3rd semester). 4 students have been dropped. Of the 6 remaining, 4 are LVNs and 2 are repeating students. At this point only 3 of the original 10 are passing... That has got to say something about the program or teacher or something... We all complain all the time. And the director keeps "pushing" ATI on us. We are expected to pass all the exams and whatever else is not covered in lecture. It's basically a self-study program because we are not being taught anything in class!
I have just finished a lpn to rn program and can relate, I failed my next to last quarter by 1 point. But, 75% of students fail this course. When I made that statement outloud in front of an instructor I was corrected, that actually they have improved the pass rate in this course and now only 68% of the students fail! It is a private college, and I truly believe that 1) the course is too difficult to only be 12 weeks and 2) it is a for profit college and this is more money made. They also raised the exit exam score needed to pass, even though there are students who struggled to get the previous score.
I have looked into any type of action that might could change this and have come up with nothing. I had hoped if they are receiving federal student loan money then there would be some kind of requirements that must be met regarding pass rates of classes but cannot find one if such a thing exists. It is discouraging and am relieved to have finally completed this program. The only thing I can do is tell anyone who asks me if it was a good program not to go.
I have experienced the instructors who don't use their textbook test banks, and grab questions off the internet or use previous tests from previous instructors that are loosely based on the material. This is lazy and should be unacceptable. This is a tough one to fight unless the students get together. A good program would recognize error on the program behalf and adjust. It's only fair that the tests should be based on the material presented and readings assigned. If you can justify your answer was supported in the lecture or text, they should be giving you the point. I just don't think it's fair for a student to have to justify correct answers.
Just wanted to update you as well as several others who posted comments & advice. We had our final exams this past week and unfortunately only 3 out of the 12 of us passed the entire course and it appears to be the final verdict. My countless hours shoved into a Med Surg & Concept book, 3 cups of coffee, and 4 hour nights of sleep paid off because I squeaked by with a 79%!
I am sad for the other classmates who did not pass, they are appealing like crazy for get extra points but I do not think it's going to do any good. Their idea to help us last minute was have a random Professor review our final with us but I must have studied enough to know the material and pass the final.
I will admit, if this is how this term is going to be I am absolutely petrified for this next term!!!!!!! No changes were made in the overall problem sadly. I pray myself and the other couple students who passed are able
to make it out of this program alive and with some sanity left
Please keep us updated. Anxious to hear how this resolves.
Hi there!
Just wanted to update you as well as several others who posted comments & advice. We had our final exams this past week and unfortunately only 3 out of the 12 of us passed the entire course and it appears to be the final verdict. My countless hours shoved into a Med Surg & Concept book, 3 cups of coffee, and 4 hour nights of sleep paid off because I squeaked by with a 79%!
I am sad for the other classmates who did not pass, they are appealing like crazy for get extra points but I do not think it's going to do any good. Their idea to help us last minute was have a random Professor review our final with us but I must have studied enough to know the material and pass the final.
I will admit, if this is how this term is going to be I am absolutely petrified for this next term!!!!!!! No changes were made in the overall problem sadly. I pray myself and the other couple students who passed are able
to make it out of this program alive and with some sanity left
Congratulations on passing:bookworm:, your next big hurdle will be the NCLEX. Hopefully, the last class has not totally defeated your confidence. Take a break then establish a study schedule and you will succeed.
I wish people would stop bashing for-profit schools. They get a bad rap for being expensive and deceitful but in reality they often prepare students better than public universities would. I currently attend a for-profit school and I absolutely have had the best experience. I also teach at one in a different field and my school has a high percentage rate of students passing their national boards. Every school can have bad teachers and bad students; not just for-profits.
I wish people would stop bashing for-profit schools. They get a bad rap for being expensive and deceitful but in reality they often prepare students better than public universities would.
My point was not that the for-profit school was to be "bashed", more so that I am upset with this curriculum change and what entails and what has happened to myself and my classmates. I attended the same school for my LPN and guess what? I absolutely loved the program! I felt that I learned so much for being "just a LPN". But that was a knowledge-based curriculum. I am sure concept based nursing is working somewhere where the staff and management actually know how to teach the material, not take away material from us in hopes that we just "get it".
I am happy for you that you attend a for-profit college that you enjoy the experience, it must be wonderful! But my OP was regarding the curriculum and the class, not just primarily the college as the issue, but the college itself does fall under that category. I'm sure other colleges have bad teachers and bad students, but no one else on this feed has really faced this issue and that was the purpose of this post. Not just because "for-profit schools suck".
Best of luck to you and please, no negativity on this feed anymore. Thank you.
AliNajaCat
1,035 Posts
But you ought to be able to integrate what you know about blood flow (perfusion) and its effects (tissue oxygenation, nutrient delivery, cellular byproducts of metabolism) and normal physiology from your prereqs to generalize what the effects of decreased perfusion are on every body system. Yes, you should.
Or am I missing something?