Pharmacology

roser13, ASN, RN · Aug 6, 2017

Nursing programs are hard. Initial exams are intended to weed out those who have little chances of passing the course.

Study harder. Don't look for "outs." Accept the fact that class parameters are there to stay. Try to be a survivor.

KSjo88, BSN · Aug 6, 2017

I have studied harder. The average grade is failing? I am above average on the HESI, which is suppose to be predictive of passing the NCLEX. Actually I'm in the 90th percentile. The highest grade is 78%....a 77% is required to pass. I am already a hospital float nurse.....what exactly are they weeding out when nobody is passing? Do I need to go to the program director or hope she curves the grade. I am in a BSN Bridge program.

lhflanurseNP, APRN · Aug 6, 2017

If, as you say, "So difficult in fact that half the class is failing", then your class should ask to speak to an academic adviser or the assistant dean. During one of my classes, I remember we were not getting feedback on our papers, tests, post...nothing...for 3 weeks. We contacted our academic adviser and then met with the dean of the nursing college. We had a new instructor within a week.

KSjo88, BSN · Aug 6, 2017

I am going to call Monday and ask to speak to the program director. How should I approach the conversation? I think her biggest problem is she attempts to write her own questions which are poorly worded or have errors and they become difficult to follow or just plain understand. This is about 50-60% of her exam questions and about 15% on information not even covered. For example, we will cover the information the next week and I'll be like "wow that would have been nice to know for last weeks exam!" I am at the very end of the BSN program and this has me extremely overwhelmed. I had a 3.8 in my associate program and a 3.76 in my BSN program thus far.

kakamegamama · Aug 6, 2017

Have you met individually with the instructor? Meet with her first, follow the chain of command if there is no improvement. Don't speculate about the reason for failure, but talking to her will help clarify.

KSjo88, BSN · Aug 6, 2017

Yes, her answers are vague. This is an online program. When she is approached her response emails are "Follow the syllabus" "Please see syllabus" "That was a tough one" the last one where the average grade was 50% her response was "Looks like the class is having difficulty applying the concepts"....she cant be for real! We are all nurses already. She tests on 20-25 chapters every other week. She tells us to "just breath, it will all be ok". Like really I am paying cash for school. I have a lot to lose and I know we all are taking the class seriously. I have asked if she would provide extra credit or the ability to revise any homework assignments for a better grade and the answer is no.

bgxyrnf, MSN, RN · Aug 6, 2017

Whenever I see that "half the class is failing," I always wonder what the other half has figured out that so many others are missing.

Is this a brand new instructor or one that's been teaching in the program for awhile. If it's the former, you may have a solid argument; with the latter, though, you may have to simply accept it for what it is.

KSjo88, BSN · Aug 6, 2017

When I say the other half are passing it is because they have a 77 or 78%......there is 20 of us in the class....about 5 of us are passing with a 77-78%. Given that passing is a 77%. I have a 78% I would hardly claim that as successful. She wont even drop an exam the entire class failed. When I looked her up on the school directory it looks like she is or was the director of the program. That is what leads me to believe she is just filling in to teach a summer class. Not to mention her 9 pages of questions that require written answers per week for 10 points towards a 1000 point class. My mom is a pharmacist for 25 years I had her look over my stuff and inquired her opinion. Her response was her questions are poorly written and vague. Almost as if you are suppose to be reading her mind.

applewhitern, BSN, RN · Aug 6, 2017

You would have already failed if you had been in my class. We had to make 84 or above on every test, except any math test, which we had to make 90 or above on. Anything less and you were automatically failed out of the class. 66 of us started together in my class, but only 22 of us made it to graduation! This was an ADN program, so it was fast-paced and extremely strict. When I went to a BSN program, I was shocked at how easy it was, a 70 was passing there! A typical nursing test question will have 2 possible answers; you have to pick which right answer is "the most right" for that situation. In one post, you said something about prediction of passing NCLEX, then in another you said "we are all nurses already." Are you an RN in a BSN program? I guess I am confused.

Simplistic · Aug 6, 2017

Sounds like you just have a really crappy teacher :/ Im sorry.

popopopo · Aug 6, 2017

Turn the important stuff in her powerpoints to flashcards and start from there. Don't rely on too many outside sources like it sounds like you're doing. Find the book she's pulling this stuff from and read the summary or do the questions if you have to.