Doomed to fail

You need to stop comparing your level of intellectual competency with others; that is your first problem. If you have passed the first semester, that is a GREAT start because a lot of students do not so feel accomplished about that if you have passed. If you keep comparing yourself to others, you are only setting higher expectations out of yourself and that in turn can probably hurt you more than help. Good luck and keep at it.

I hope you reconsider your perception. Please don’t quite nursing school because you feel you are not as smart as other students. Your grades are not based upon a comparison of how others are doing. Your grades are based upon your own performance. If you passed, you have met the requirements to move on. Regardless if you receive an A or B, you passed the same. Something else to consider is that perhaps some of the other students know what to study and minimize their study time. Perhaps they are already accustomed to taking NCLEX style questions. That is great for them. That should not suggest that those who don’t have those same qualities are a lesser student. That is simply not true.

Have you had clinical yet? If not, at least give it another semester so that you can experience a clinical. During your clinical experience, you will begin putting the pieces together. Let me just say this…there are some people from my Patho class who earned A’s. I earned a B in the class. In my Med/Surg course when we went over electrolytes and acid/base balance, those who made A’s were lost. They memorized the information for the exam and did not retain anything. The point is grades, in my opinion, are not a good indicator that you mastered those skills. You know whether or not you understand and retained the information. If that means you earned a B, but understood the material after the exam, then that is what it means. It doesn’t make you any less of a student.

I had fundamentals last semester and passed with a B and A minus in phy assessment. I have tried to find jobs in healthcare but no one in St. Louis, MO will hire me. I am thinking I was not meant for healthcare although I get along well with others, etc.

I think nursing is not right for me. I have hundreds of dollars of books, software which I won't get much money back for, but that's life.

Why do you say that? My grades aren't great either and I struggle at clinical...You do know that there is more to nursing than just what you're learning now/hospital/clinics, right?

I did fine at clinical. I think time management is a big problem and the way I study. Everone I go to school with works and has families and still do better..I think they have something I don't.

the people with jobs and families probably put in waay more effort than you think

i felt the same way my first semester, I made low 80,s and their were people who worked full time and had a 90 average.Thats how the cookie crumbles as long as your passing the class thats all that matters.

Just because you pass with a minimum grade, or with a B or whatever not A grade you got, doesn't mean that you will be a bad nurse. A does not = Good Nurse. Keep going! It sounds like you are doing fine.

Once you pass NCLEX you get a license not an A, B, C. Some of the smartest people in my class who always get A's in all there classes are struggling to maintain a B. We started our program with 42 people in our class and because of grades and a few that figured nursing wasn't for them we are now down to 19 people and we are only in our 2nd semester of a 4 semester program. I am would love to get A's all the time but I am happy with just passing the class (which passing is a 77%) then moving on to the next semester. Once you get your license it doesn't matter what grades you get. Some people are just not good test takers either. Hang in there and stop comparing yourself to others or you will set yourself up to fail.

What do you call the person who finished last in their class in nursing school and passed the NCLEX? RN

What do they call the guy who finished last in his class at medical school? Doctor

As someone else said, it's how the cookie crumbles- someone is going to be first and someone is going to be last- as long as you are within passing standards, you're fine. I think that nursing school has become so competitive that people who have been accustomed to breezing through school and being at the top of the class are suddenly confronted with a group of highly competitive, bright people, and find that it's not as easy to be at the top any more (and there's nothing wrong with that).

I think I am going to quit. I can't get this drug calculations stuff.

I think I am going to quit. I can't get this drug calculations stuff.

If that's what you want to do, then quit. To be honest, and I don't mean this mean or snarky in any way so I hope it is not misunderstood that way, BUT, it seems like you have the wrong attitude about things here. Nursing school isn't supposed to be easy. I am awful at math, and my school requires a dose calc test every semester with 100% to pass, you only get 3 tries before you fail completely. I practice at home, I go to a tutor, I have a class mate help me... I've ALWAYS struggled with math, so I have to put in a more considerable amount of effort with it than the rest of my class. However, I want to be a nurse bad enough that I will go the extra mile to learn the dosage calc stuff.

So maybe just ask yourself; how bad do you want this?