Simple Nursing course turning out to be a complete nightmare.......help!

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Hi everyone,

I am currently in my first semester of nursing school. Some of my prereqs were taken over the summer. Right now I am taking the following courses:

  • Anatomy & Physiology II
  • Organic & Biological Chemistry
  • Nutrition
  • Nursing 129 (Professional Socialization: Education for professional Nursing Practice.)

So far I have an A in A&PII, Chem, and Nutrition.

As for Nursing129, I think I failed the first exam and I don't see how on earth I can pass future exams in this class because of the professor....

This is the first nursing course of the program. It is on the history of nursing, social issues, etc. Sounds easy right? Well the professor is making this class a COMPLETE NIGHTMARE. It is unbelievable how ridiculous this professors teaching methods are. During the first 3 classes, this professor literally spoke about herself and her accomplishments in nursing- nothing, absolutely NOTHING relating to the course material or chapters in the book.

The first test was on 4 chapters of the textbook. Come the class before exam 1, all the students were asking what material would be on exam one and what we should focus on because there was an immense amount of material. The professor gave NO INSIGHT as to what we should focus on. She just said we just have to read all 4 chapters and be prepared. Come the test- there were only 15 multiple choice questions ALL ON ONLY 1 OF THE 4 CHAPTERS IN THE BOOK.

How am I supposed to focus on every minute detail of 1 chapter while she said the first exam was on 4 chapters (VERY LONG AND DETAILED CHAPTERS!!!!!)

To make matters worse, Exam 2 is on 12 chapters...... and yes that is TWELVE chapters. Everyone thought she was joking when she said that but she wasn't. Each chapter takes literally an hour to read. I don't see how I am going to pass this woman's class, especially with having to focus on my other 3 classes. The entire class met outside after the test and everyone was furious about the situation so I'm glad it's not just me.

I contacted this professor to make an appointment to meet with her to see how on EARTH I can get through this class with a C+ or above.

It just really angers me because I KNOW THE MATERIAL!!!! And I feel like this professor is:

A) screwing up my GPA, and

B)Wasting thousands of my dollars if this class is not passed with a C+ just because her teaching methods are absolutely terrible.

I KNOW the material, but she REFUSED to give the class ANY insight on what to focus on. It was like she didn't want us to do well......

I thought this class would be the easiest of the 3..... Boy was I wrong. If I don't pass this class with a C+ or above, I will:

  • Not be allowed to take any summer courses in 2013.
  • Not be able to take the classes I need to next semester since this is a prereq.
  • Have to take this class again which will be a total waste of my time and money that I DO NOT HAVE.

Any advice???? I already have my bachelors in another field, and in my past 4 years of college I have NEVER EXPERIENCED such a horrible professor. Is this common in nursing professors????? I hope this is just ONE bad apple out of many.... because if my future nursing professors are like this I may as well drop out of the program now and save thousands and thousands of dollars.

Thanks for any advice.

What the samadams said.

In addition to this, you need to review your material and determine what is highly pertinent and what is not. It's of no use to just blindly memorize everything - that's a waste of time. Review your materials and ask yourself - does this particular term or concept seem like something I ought to know really well?

Everyone learns differently, but what I personally do is focus on the bigger picture/concept. I make sure I understand that, and then the rest falls into place. I also run through material I have covered in my head - while I'm driving, walking, whatever. I ponder and examine it in my head, and it usually sticks that way.

Specializes in ICU.

Be prepared for many chapters. Know the *important* stuff, not all of it.

This will continue for your entire nursing school career - I have never had a test with less than 10 chapters covered.

It's unfortunate that your professor doesn't want to give you direction, but surely you have power points or some form of outline/notes from lecture. Use those tools as your study guide. Read over the chapters looking for the things that match your notes/slides.

Only one of my professors gives us study guides, and he writes a disclaimer that there will be material on the test not covered by the guide. The rest of my professors expect us to know what information is most important.

We have no study guides or power points. We get 4 lectures at 2 hours each to get everything covered. We make whatever notes we can, the lecture is very fast. Our last exam was over 26 chapters, the next one is 22. It is indeed stressful to try and figure out what and how to study. I am happy just to make the 78% needed to pass. Some days I want to just give up, but as long as I am passing I will keep on trying to do my best.

Hang in there, and good luck!

Specializes in Cardiology and ER Nursing.

Welcome to college. The quality of lecture will vary from professor to professor. You just have to learn to go with the flow and adapt to various teaching or well not teaching styles. Ultimately your success or failure depends on you.

I'm not sure how similar nursing programs are but your description of your program striked me as extremely similar to my own. Especially when you mention your 129 course. I don't know how many other programs have the same course numbers for their classes but I feel as though we might be in the same school.

Do you by any chance attend a small-ish private college in Long Island NY?

Thanks again for all the responses!

I realize that I could have summed up the thread in about 1 paragraph so sorry again for making it so long. I guess I was just on a rant because while I don't expect to be spoon fed what will be on every test, it just really aggravates me when I pay THOUSANDS of dollars in tuition to LEARN, only to have a nursing professor teaches absolutely NOTHING while spending the entirety of every class talking about her own personal accomplishments and her frequent trips to Paris.....

I ended up getting an 80 on the test. I thought I failed miserably but I guess I was just worrying a lot cause it was the first test and the questions weren't remotely familiar to the text. I know I will do better on the next one though.

In response to EP10, you are right! Specifically in Rockville Centre.

In response to nurse2be13, I never said I wanted the instructor to tell me verbatim what would be on the exam, a little help on what to FOCUS on out of 60+ pages of useless information from the textbook might seem reasonable. Sorry it was too long, no one told you to read it.

Looks like we are in the same nursing program :)

I took Nur 129 last semester.

Maybe we had or have some of the same professors?

Specializes in Labor and Delivery.
Thanks again for all the responses!

I realize that I could have summed up the thread in about 1 paragraph so sorry again for making it so long. I guess I was just on a rant because while I don't expect to be spoon fed what will be on every test, it just really aggravates me when I pay THOUSANDS of dollars in tuition to LEARN, only to have a nursing professor teaches absolutely NOTHING while spending the entirety of every class talking about her own personal accomplishments and her frequent trips to Paris.....

I ended up getting an 80 on the test. I thought I failed miserably but I guess I was just worrying a lot cause it was the first test and the questions weren't remotely familiar to the text. I know I will do better on the next one though.

In response to EP10, you are right! Specifically in Rockville Centre.

I think it is wrong I think a lot of students that have been in the program for awhile just get used to this. I graduate next semester and I remember my shock and irritance my first semester of nursing school. It just doesnt change and you get used to it. We never ge study guides or even told what to focus on. You just kinda figure it out and it get better. Just hang in there :)

Thanks iluvpatho. I gotta get used to this since this is only my first semester!

EP10: Cool!:) We might have the same professor....So you're taking clinicals now? I have to wait until the summer to take them since I still haven't taken microbio yet (taking in the spring.)

Hopefully I will be able to get into the summer NUR209, 229 & 239 classes (they only have one class for each -209,229,239- unfortunately.) This nursing program is set up so you can only take a certain/small amount of nursing classes at once. Ugh!!!!!

Feel free to pm me on here if you want!

Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Remember that you aren't just learning stuff because it might be on the test. You are learning this stuff because you need to know it. Stuff that will not be on the test still needs to be learned.

Specializes in Case Management, Public Health, Psych, Medsurg.

This is my first semester too. We have 6 tests in 2 months and they cover about 20+ chapters each and then a cumulative final in December (we break for clinicals, thank God)...we don't get a study guide or anything either. It's also one class that's 9 credit hours long so if you make a C in it, it brings your GPA down a lot. I guess they are trying to weed out the weaker ones but I'm hoping it gets better....or at least more adaptable.

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