i failed my first med surg exam for second semester. now what?

[mashamontago]

i'm on probation already. i have a 55% in theory. i totally studied for this test... every weekend, hour, and a few hours of summer were spent studying on this test. it was a review of preop/postop care, and first semester things.. i recorded the lectures.. i listened to the professor... did readings before i got to class. i read the readings.. well for the most part, i focused on the main points.. now i am confused as hell. i havent tried studying in groups yet.. but i dont know what to do now.

i pulled 7 hrs studying each weekend (which isn't that much i know), with break in between, and i took notes.. not that very detailed, but on the main points of what the professor covered, if i did everything, i wouldnt have the energy to anything........

i have a headache again. i went to my counsellor, she told me to go to my prof to ask for help, read everything, read SLOWLY, take shorter notes, teach yourself, and go to group studies.

how do i raise my grade? what books should i use? i dont know if saunders nclex rn is the optimal one to use.. i feel frustated and now..scared.

please help.

[ohmeowzer RN, RN]

use index cards, get in a study group , don't give up it's only one test... you can do this....

[jeepgirl, LPN, NP]

tape your lectures and listen to the to and from school. that helped a lot of my classmates.

[JHansen]

groups, tutor, professor. You can also go to ratemyprofessor.com to see if your prof isnt very good. Main thing is don't give up

[CiCigirl]

Now you study more, and more and more and more. Right?

There's no giving up and like the OP said, You can do this!

The only thing is that now you realize that it's going to take a lot more than you've been giving it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be unsympathetic. The very last thing I am is unsympathetic. But I'm in nsg school too. Second semester too, just like you. And I know that we chose this field b/c we feel like we can really make a difference and this is what we want to do with our lives. And we'd be cheating ourselves if we gave it up too easily.

So you have to figure out what it is you need to do...here are some things that work for me...

I make notecards for the numbers I need to remember-normal PaO2 & PaCO2 sat, normal electrolyte lab values, etc. (b/c that kind of info is really dry for me) then I take them with me whereever I go. I quiz myself with them whenever I have a chance.

I read the assigned chapters in the book, take notes in the lecture and record it just like you, then when I get home I listen to the lecture again and fill in my lecture notes with anything I failed to write down in class.

I bite the bullet and study, study, study every free second I get (including weekends). Last test I studied 8 hrs on Sat and 12 hrs on Sun. I was brain dead by the end of it, but I felt good about it b/c I knew I had gotten some real good time in, no energy to cook though, just ate something frozen from the fridge and fell into the bed. :-)

I've got some of those NCLEX prep books, and although I don't know all the answers yet, I go through them and answer the questions that are related to what we've been assigned in class. I also check the web for free nsg quiz sites and do the questions on the CD that came with the book. Also, maybe the teacher could recommend some good books and websites.

I don't have all the answers, (heck, I don't even have most of them) but these are some of the things I do that work for me. You find what works for you and refuse to give up.

Keep going, keep going, keep going.

Sorry so long, good luck to you!

[Spritenurse1210, BSN, RN]

I swear by ipod reviews from http://www.vangonotes.com

[ann945n, RN]

Get together with your instructor and bring all of your notes and go over them with your teacher. Your teacher should be able to help you out. Also remember 50 percent of answering a question correctly isnt knowing the answer but knowing how to 'find' the right answer. I truely believe that is an art.

[newtress, LPN]

What I found happening to me and most of the class, was that even with study guides or an outline a lot of the material that showed up on these med surg exams didn't reflect what I spent 7 hours per night and Saturday/Sundays preparing for. Of course some of it did if you had to know exact numbers, ranges and values and procedures, nursing interventions etc. But for the other questions which a lot of them were situational, I started looking at some of the lesser significant information in my book and by golly some of the simplest questions we got wrong were usually brushed over in our reading or lectures. I started paying attention to what I thought wasn't that significant, but ended up being significant questions. At the end of my chapters there was always a long column of "key notes." I payed a lot of attention to those as so much of that key notes information encompassed the highlights of that chapter. It started working for me because I realized (in my case anyway) the med surg finals were easier than all the prior exams for the whole semester. I stopped going into melt down about the finals because I realized no matter how much or how long I studied I did worse than if I focused on the basics, fundamentals and the "safety first" for the patient and the basic "airway,breathing, and circulation. Which to me is a must to remember for NCLEX. I hope this made some sense or was helpful. :loveya:

[RedhairedNurse, BSN, RN]

I hope this makes sense, I'll try to explain the best I can......

Look at the multiple choice answers, one choice may be additional assessment and the other choices may be implementations. Look at your test question again......does it require that more assessment is needed? If so, then choose the multiple choice answer that is worded as additional assessment, if the test question doesn't ask or require more assessment, then it must be implementation, then you choose the best answer. Always try to eliminate as many of the multiple choice answers that you can.

Try this on some practice questions first before you try it on testing. See if you can understand what I'm trying to say. Good luck.

[ste94ie]

Join a study group. I had really good classmates that helped through nursing school. :wink2:

[Kevin RN08]

Are you studying the syllabus, or studying the book?

I learned the hard way, to stick to the syllabus! Trying to cram 400 pages of info into my brain had me wondering which side was up, and at test time I would choke. Not for lack of subject matter knowledge, but from confusion and a tendency to read into the material.

I personally had to cut my study hours down from +/- 40 hours/ week to 10-12 hours/week.

I now pre-skim all of the book content before class, paying special attention to charts and tables. I spend less time writing notes in class and more time LISTENING in class. Then I read only the discussion points from class out of the book. Finally, I go to my Zerwekh Illustrated Guide (I am a visual learner) and finally the Saunders NCLEX review.

Finally, I go over the "test taking strategies" before each test as a reminder for prioritization, not to read into the question(s), etc, and I spend the time before class by myself avoiding others who are doing last minute reviewing for the sake of my own confusion ("I know what I know" at that point).

Generally, I like to use a single study buddy. Someone I trust will stay focused and not turn to chit-chat, and we do more discussing the material than "reviewing". That's what works for me, best of luck to you.

[husker_rn, RN]

Join a study group as the others have mentioned. It will really help. And I made myself tapes to listen to in the car or anywhere else for that matter. I would ask a question, give 10 seconds and then give the answer. Sounds pretty simplistic but I aced tests that others struggled with. Good luck.