failing nursing school

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hey, im in my third semester of nursing school, in the peds/psch rotation. i finished my first two semesters of nursing school with B's. i am now barely passing halfway through the third semester. i have met with my instructors and done everything they have asked and am still hanging on by a string. it is so hard not to just hang in the towel and give up before i actually do fail. Everyone says it just keeps getting harder from here on out and im barely making it now. My instructors say i have a hard time with application questions. is there anybody out there who had a hard time in nursing school and still made it? i need some hope that im gonna make it, even though im doing the best i can. thank you

I recently graduated and felt the same way you have all last semester. I got nclex rn review cards did the chapter reviews used the cd's in the back of the books and tried to find common problems in my clinical pts as what we were going over in class. it really helped I graduated with a 3.0 on sept. 1. just try not to over complicate it.

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Specializes in Med Surg/Tele/ER.

No....I did not think it got harder. You learn as you go & then start putting the parts together. I used Saunders Nclex review from day 1.....This helped me learn how to answer questions, and it has nice sections on each subject you will be studying. What ever subject we were on at the time....I would read up on it, & do all the practice q's I could....this helped me so much. You have to understand it not memorize. Read all the rationales as to why an answer might be right or wrong.You can do it! just have faith in yourself. Do not listen to what others say (upper classmen).... for some reason they like to make classes sound hard & scare the crap out of people. Try to relax you cannot learn if you are stressed to the max, & constantly fear failing. Now stop thinking about giving up, & start thinking I can do this! Let us know WHEN you graduate! We are all behind you!

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Specializes in OB.

I think you need to identify what is causing the slip in grades this semester compared to the first 2 with B's.. is the content not settling in with you.. different instructors.. do you have something else going on in your life right now that is causing you stress? Obviously you understand application of theory for the tests, or your first two semesters you would have had lower grades. Do you have an advisor you could talk to to help pinpoint what is different this semester that has thrown you for a loop?

Good luck!

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I have had problems in nuring school here in NM. I felt that I didn't get all of the knowledge that should of been presented to our class the first semester. The instructor was horrible, forgetful, and not really open to questions. Everyone in the class of semester 1 fundamentals made an A for a grade. One day she singled me out for talking when she was talking and it actually was the person behind me. She made the class step out and asked me to leave for the day. I was not in a real good mood and I was sick, however "attendance is mandatory". I was really upset and left school crying. This teacher would lecture and when students would ask questions she would say I don't know or look it up. One day she gave the wrong exam for the notes that she presented the week before!! She was late to class a number of times. We were susposed to be taught pharmacology and never opened the book. Second semester was hard,the tests were torture. There was to much information to remeber every week and alot of it I just could not grasp. It was like information overload. I was given bad advice and told to stay in the class that I could pass. I stayed and really tried. The final was horrible. I failed. I repeated it the next semester and passed with a B. However, the final again was awful, and I got a 74 (75 was passing then). This teacher quit because of undue stress. Students were complaining to the program director that the tests were too hard and was asking this certain teacher to change the exams or give an extra assignment to make up these grades. This teacher did for one of them. I didn't really think this was right, because in reality this would be hurtful in the long run when taking the boards. Faculty went into this teachers office without her knowledge and consent to go through her things and she quit on the spot. I was upset I had great respect for this person as a mentor, teacher, and nurse. I had her for two semesters and never complained. After she left the nursing department called all of the students of my semester to re-take the final for a better grade. I could not attend for two reasons 1) I thought it was unethical, I worked hard for my grade and really didn't think that it was going to make that much difference. 2) my parents were out of town, my daycare contract was over and I am a single mom therefore I had no one to watch my children during this time which was christmas break. The final was 50 questions long and open book. The instructions were to answer all questions and give rational why and why not you as a nurse would do interventions. (multiple choice) The students were there for (I can't remeber exactly) maybe 2 to 4 hours. Most got to #22 on the exam and given the rest of the answers by the instructor!!! So most of the people who went to the re-take moved up a letter grade. I just couldn't believe it. Third semester was good lots of workbook assignments, reading, tests, and clinicals. A few people were struggling and made some low grades on tests and the faculty wanted them out of the semester. Rumors were going around about how imcompetant our class was as a whole in the hospitals, which was horrible because we only have 2 hospitals in this town and everyone knows everyone. Those students fought to stay in. It was a nightmare! One person in the faculty wanted them out because they didn't want them to go to the clinical sites to work under the instructors license because they felt if the students didn't have the knowledge base, the patient's weren't safe. A person higher in the staff decided that they could stay in although these students were made to miss 2 weeks of class and clinical. Our fourth semester teacher quit due to these problems. We also lost a clinical instructor of psych. The director quit (who was an awsome person, I miss her greatly). Then the dean of the nursing program left. So there was no staff over the summer, no classes to take. Now it's time for fourth semester and I really want to graduate in December, however I am really frustrated, scared, full of anxiety, having a hard time studying and foucusing. This semester there have been alot of changes. My whole class is full of anxiety. The student handbook changed from one eighth thick to on inch thick. All tests in clinical, lab, and class lecture must be passed with a 79%, if not we are to miss two clinicals. There has been multiple assignments put on us as far as single and group projects. We had to pass a dosage calculation test that was crazy and could only miss one. 25 questions and 3 chances to take it. Class lecture is on CCU nursing and the book is horrible. Lab is EKG and that book is hard to read and understand. As far as grades our assignments do not average with our test grades. (yet are expected to be done) I studied really hard for this exam today and I changed alot of answers. I don't think I passed I didn't have a good feeling about it at all. It is a struggle everyday for me just to go to class not because of the workload or information but because of the way I feel inside. I feel like I don't have the knowledge base that I should. I feel cheated as far as my education. I feel like us as a class are being punished. Iam so afraid that I am not going to make it to preceptor ship. We are only aloud to miss two clinicals. If I bombed this test, I will have to miss 2 clinicals. Therefore if I mess up again, I am out of the program and all of this hard work was for nothing. The other colleges around here only have to pass exams with 75% to 76%. The nursing board was also here lately and the class before us didn't have a good N-clex pass rate. I am so discouraged! Anyone have any advice???

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thanks again, im feeling much more confident now. like i said before i just needed a pep talk. ive realized that my anxiety and stress are affecting my grades and that i just need to study harder and keep a stiff upper lip. ha! thanks again to everyone. this website has made me feel a lot better about my situation and i really apreciate it.

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Specializes in cardiac.

Hello,

When I was in nursing school, I really struggled the first year. Didn't have a clue about anything. Then one of the second year students gave me a bunch of CD-ROMS with all types of nursing questions and answers on them. I started to use them at home in my spare time. It really helped me a lot. There are a series of books called, "Pediatrics Made Easy," " Med Surg Mad Easy," etc. I forget who wrote them but you can get online through amazon.com and look these books up. You can also find used books for just about any type of nursing problems. A lot of these books come with the CD-ROM that you can utilize at home in your spare time.Also, Mosbey's NCLEX review was very helpful. It gives questions and explains why certain answers are correct. That was also very helpful to me. Good Luck! And I hope this will help you.

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Specializes in SICU, EMS, Home Health, School Nursing.

I was in your shoes just last year. Psych was one of the hardest classes for me and I just barely passed it. The hardest thing for me was when we switched from recall questions to application questions. I struggled with those for a little while before I finally got the hang of them. I will admit the content of classes do get harder, but once you get the hang of how to answer the questions it makes it so much easier. I recommend you getting a NCLEX prep book that has tons of questions for you to practice, because the more you practice the questions, the easier they will become for you. Plus that way you will be ready for boards when it comes time :) Just like the person above me, I recommend the Mosby's NCLEX review. Thats the one I used and it helped me a lot!!

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DON'T GIVE UP! I had trouble with tests and then got Saunders Q&A Review for NCLEX-RN. If you use the CD-Rom to study it really helps. Best of luck to you!

:nurse:

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thanks again, guys, im looking in to all the book suggestions right now. im glad to hear im not alone in feeling this way. :nurse:

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Watch the movie "Touching the Void" - true story that will inspire yu. I am very fond of the method the person used to get himself to safety - breaking up the impossible into 20 minute periods and not thinking beyond that 20 min. section. This will make sense when you watch it....

We so often get overwhelmed looking at the big picture and feeling it can't be done...

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