Failed my first pathphysiology exam

missmollie, ADN, BSN, RN · Jan 25, 2014

You accept that you're going to have to work harder, figure out what you could do to improve your study habits, review the test (if allowed) to see where you went wrong, and study to ace that next exam.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Jan 25, 2014

Too much anticipatory terror (being "so scared") is completely unhelpful and will paralyze you rather than help you mobilize for action. A little bit of anxiety is good and can be a really good motivator.

OK, so now you're motivated. Note that your faculty grades the first exam at only 10% of the total. This is because the first hard science exam is a helluva wake-up call for a lot of people, and the faculty knows that a sizable number of them will smell the coffee if they aren't punished tooooo hard. It also gives them a snapshot of the class to help them adjust their teaching if needed. You are now awake. :)

There are several things you can do, and I encourage you to start right away, today, now. Putting it off is like thinking a toothache will get better on its own; no, you have to get up off the couch and do what has to be done (like see the dentist). In your case, I recommend that you go to Amazon and pick this up:

The Physiology Coloring Book (2nd Edition) by Wynn Kapit, Robert I. Macey and Esmail Meisami(Oct 3, 1999)

Not a joke, but a real, helpful study tool. A lot of people have thanked me for that. :)

Second, remember that your faculty really does want to see you succeed; s/he has also seen this happen once or twice before :). Make an appointment to see him/her at office hours, and drop by every week to be sure you're keeping up with the material and ask for feedback on what you need to do next based on what you missed on the exam.

Third, never, ever let a concept go by without really, truly understanding it. Your goal is to get to the point where you can explain it to other people that don't get it, and answer their questions. In physiology, as in the rest of your nursing education and career, you can expect to be held responsible for past learning and to apply it at increasingly higher levels as you go along. Therefore missing something smallish now will bite you big-time later.

You have your marching orders! Go forth! You can do this.

Laurel32 · Jan 26, 2014

I know how you are feeling from experience. I scored 64% on my first exam! (except it was second quarter). It crushed me. I was in tears and it definitely put me into a slump. I ended up passing, and you can too. Its hard, but you need to look forward. Dwelling on this won't bring your grade up. ( I wish I had followed this advice at the time.. )

Meet with your instructor to see what mistakes you made and if there are any areas you could improve on.

Some test taking tips that helped me;

-Wear earplugs to the test. Shuffling papers and people getting up may distract you more than you realize.

-Bring a watch to the test and put it on your desk, physically moving my head to look at the clock made me loose my focus and concentration from the test. You will also be able to tell how well you are pacing yourself.

-When reading a question, use a paper/scantron to cover up the possible answers, look at the question and ask yourself what the question is asking. Then move the paper and read the answers 1 by 1. This will help to not overload yourself with information all at once and misreading something.

You got this far, you can pull this off!!

Best wishes

VAgirl247 · Jan 26, 2014

In A&P I would draw out the concept or pathology if I didn't understand it. I used a white board and markers for it. I made A's :)

gonerunning88 · Jan 27, 2014

Don't beat yourself up, a lot of people have trouble with patho. I can still remember my patho grades. . .don't ask me why! Well, I guess it was b/c that was the one class in nursing school that gave me trouble 8'(.

You can try studying with someone else who did better. I bought a book called, Clinical Pathophysiology Made Ridiculously Simple

this book helped break down concepts in ways that anyone can understand. I highly suggest you rent or buy the book, in fact most of my class bought this book since my of the upperclassmen recommended it.