80% on 2nd test....BAH BAH!!!

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Specializes in Ortho, Neuro, Detox, Tele.

So, I am a bit TICKED at myself tonight! I went in today after spending the last 3 days studying for my big test on self-concept, family, sensory alterations, and sexuality. Most of the questions on test 1 were from the outline with a bit from the book. Test 2? Competely different. Most answers were from the book(i.e."what population has the most common instances of hearing loss?"). Silly questions that could be between 2 answers, me picking the wrong one today. Last time I picked the right ones! AHRRGGGHHHH! :trout:

Oh, well. I'm going to take a deep breath and say hey I got 40/50 right, not like the ones next to me who got 26/50! ....ohhhmmmmmmm... ::Deep breathing and visualization:: This helps too.... :beer:

So, on the other front, today starts our 3 week online-only portion of our lecture time. But, still have to go to Labs Fri mornings at 8AM! After going to our school web content, printing off all handouts that we'll need to take notes, looking through each section....it's a lot! Our instructor told us to plan on 20 hrs a week for the next 3 weeks....at least it's something we can do at home! (Hopeful, haven't tried it yet on this old comp). Printed about 150 pages, but that includes powerpoint handouts, our clinical database assessment tool, careplanning tips, samples, online activities, etc. It's covering Orem, and all 5 aspects of the Nursing process. At least I'm computer literate enough to get a handle on it, I'm being asked by my study group members to stay after next week and help navigate around the site.....Looks like I know what i'm doing this weekend!

Also, Monday afternoon, myself and another male in the program are doing our physical assessment return demos. The only problem I really foresee having is finding the breath sound sites on the anterior and posterior. We have to ID angle of louis, 2nd space, 4th space and 6th space. :uhoh21: ....ohmmmmm.... again.

I also signed up for about 5 other demos in the next 3 weeks, but the only one I NEED/WANT to pass immediately is the PA, as we have to have that checked off before we go to clinical on 10-13. Running out of time, eh? Partner's going to come over Sat. and we're going to find the sites/practice complete runthroughs so we don't fumble around blindly in front of instructor.

I'm just feeling overwhelmed and knowing that this will pass, but am still wondering what the heck I've gotten myself into. Oh, that's right, now I'm at 23 months to my ADN!! :monkeydance: LOL, WHOO!! 1 down! Thanks for letting me vent.....

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80% isn't too bad... Is there anything else you can do in your class to bring it up? Like quizes or something?

What pissed me off is that I studied a lot more than some people in my class and I got an 86% on my test and some of them got just as good or higher. Of course a lot got lower, but still. The thing was it was an easy test. I tried to read every word of the book for it when I should have just gone over the simple outlines and learned it, then I would have probably got a 100%. That's whas pisses me off. They say the next test will be harder and I don't know if I should do what I did last time or just do the outline thing. It sucks because I want an A in the class.

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Yeah ... nursing school tests just aren't fair. Unfortunately, that's just a fact of life. People who don't study can sometimes do better because it's such a crap shoot.

For me, I eventually got tired of stressing over it and realized that B's are fine ... especially if 80 percent of the class is failing.

:typing

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

I was an obsessive A student until I started the program. B's are just fine with me now and I can get them without killing myself.

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For my school 80 is almost like failing unfortunately.

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Specializes in ICU, Med/Surg, Tele.

I think in nursing school people are just so competitive or atleast it is here. I got an 88 on my first exam and still wasnt happy..However After 2 years of nursing school I have come to realize that most of us will never be happy with our grade, we always feel as though we should have done better. We study for days on end and feel as though we should do GREAT and then we dont do as good as we feel we should..but honestly i think if i had got a 92 I would have been like well why didnt i get like a 95.. lol

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Specializes in Ortho, Neuro, Detox, Tele.

Yep, our school grades are set up so every class has to be passed with an 80% or better, classroom wise. The C's are from 80-85, Bs are 85-90, As are 90+. I was just ticked off because I blew some really easy answers by not going with the one I felt, but the one I talked myself out of. At least when we start clinical, it's a pass/fail basis only. Not graded in terms of ABC. I'm just taking a breath, and concentrating on doing everything for our online portion that I can. I'll feel better after Monday, I'm sure. The PA demo is the only one that I'm freaking about. I actually feel good with everything else.

Josh, we have quizzes whenever instructors feel like giving them, but those are only 5 or 10 points, included as part of final grade, so acing those will pull up average a bit.

I know myself, but I know my overall goal will be shooting for 90% overall, so if I do good on the major aspects, I'll be fine.

On a side note, overwhelmed today with covering all aspects of med administration in 4 hours!!! At least we got to practice injections on injection pads!! Just need to read and study that whole section!!

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Specializes in LDRP.

I got a 76 on my second exam--my lowest grade so far in the entire program--pre-reqs included. I am not sure what happened??? But everyone is telling me to put it behind me and keep trucking.

It pulled my A down to a B though and that pisses me off. :(

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Can I just say that the material on your second test sounded VERY boring and dry? How can anyone do well on those subjects??? It was likely a terrible test to study for. Eck.

You sound large and in charge on the other aspects of your program. Shake this one off and carry on. This was just a crummy test. Go you!

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Specializes in Ortho, Neuro, Detox, Tele.

Simple, it really was. We covered our outlines extensively as a group, and I spent 3 days studying them but they asked us questions over one sentence aspects, questions where the answer was not put in "a and b" but the same reworded concepts as "both sensory deprvation and overload"...

There was some issue with wording and answers, so instructor promised to look those over, maybe we'll get 2-3 questions back, so that wouldn't be so bad! Again, am going with the "at least I haven't got half the test wrong!" Also, the woman I sit next to in lab was looking at me blankly today when I'm tossing out the demos I've done to another student in my study group, and as we were sitting during break, she admitted she hasn't signed up for ANYTHING!! And ALL the times are filled before clinical starts, you can't do a clinical skill you haven't passed in the lab, good luck buddy! So at least I know I'm ahead of the curve on some classmates....

Thanks for the encouragement, I really need it today. Ok, off to bed, to go to school tomorrow(meeting partner to try to run through doable assessment parts before actual demo, setting meetup time on Monday, etc.)

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Loco, my program is very much like yours....I am working on the PA assessment as well. I haven't done much for it practice wise, so I plan on hauling this weekend on any warm body I can get to stay still for an hour. (If my family flees when they see me with the stethoscope, I will grab my daughter's giant Buster Brown Bassett hound stuffed dog and work on him. He doesn't have a pulse, but he sure has big auricles.)

Anyway, I like your attitude.

Our grading scale is a bit tougher...80-84.99 = C, 85 - 91.99 =B, 92-100 = A. Below 80 is failing. Allthingsbright, let that 76 be your ick grade. You've got that buffer to offset it, even though you lost that beautiful A. It's still so early though, and I'll bet you get that right back.

This week was a tough week for me.....I'm grateful to hide under my covers tonight and take a 12 hour break. No studying for me. I'll do it tomorrow. LOOK - we're all trying, we're doing well, we're keeping up. B's are OK. Our sanity's even better. Let's have some positive self-talk this week. I'm sick of beating myself up.

Joshua, about your outline notes....can you go through the material and augment the outline with a few key phrases? That way, you're satisfying that I-have-to-study-volume strategy you have (I have it too!) and using the outline technique your classmates used. Also, do you have practice questions at the end of your nursing text chapters? They help prepare you for those critical thinking questions our teachers like to use on those nursing tests. Good luck.

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