Test Frustration

purplemania, BSN, RN · Mar 2, 2004

There is a lot of material to learn. I suggest you visit http://www.iss.stthomas.edu/studyguides/selfassessment.htm.

This site will help you zone in on your particular learning style (take 2-3 tests to get better idea of your own style). Best of all, read their helps on how to maximize your own ability. Find out what will work for you. I recommend Felder's Index of Learning Styles. He has his own website too if you want more info.

Stay in there. Nursing school is an endurance test as much as anything.

wrmbreeze · Mar 3, 2004

Is your instructor willing to spend time going over the test to help you decide what happened? Our instructors all were willing to go over the test during their office hours, and it really has helped me.

She says she is willing, but is hardly in her office. When you do go you cant bring anything in with you and you can't copy anything. We tried to get her to let us spend time reviewing it also before final and she just makes excuses. Everyone thinks she gives bad tests. Her tests always have at least 3 mistakes whether it be leaving words out, switching the letters around on the answers or not having any right answer listed. I could probably bring it up if we had other stuff besides tests but all we have is clinical, labs and tests and none have anything to do with the other. Thank everyone for the tips and if you have anymore let me know.

Jennerizer, ASN, RN · Mar 3, 2004

Yep....it's happened to me. The lowest test grades I have seem to be when I make the effort to read all of the material they tell us to read. When I don't read......I do much better. That's just me though.

foreverhope · Mar 3, 2004

I appreciate all the good advice!!

I'll just keep going for the goal and doing my best!!

I do have to say that I have great instructors for the most part. My advisor is willing to meet with me and do what she can to help me. In clinicals our instructors are very supportive and they dont reprimand you in front of anyone. So I really have it good. Way to go MCC!!!

Sheri257 · Mar 3, 2004

Remember, all you have to do is pass. C=RN
Once you have your license in your hand, no one will care what your GPA was.

I'm sorry, but I am so tired of this comment, which we hear over and over on this board. :rolleyes:

At my school, the hospitals specifically ask for higher GPA students and offer them contracts first, so they can lock up these students before they graduate.

And the woman with the highest grades in the last graduating class was promoted to management within two weeks of working at the hospital she chose. The C students in the same class, who also work at that hospital, were not.

Please stop saying that grades don't matter. If grades didn't matter, they would just give us pass or fail, but they don't.

Grades actually do matter. And they are important for advanced practice nursing, like CRNA.

chris_at_lucas_RN, RN · Mar 3, 2004

These are quoted from lizz's post, immediately before this one (or it was, when I started my post!)....

which we hear over and over on this board

If we hear it over and over again, don't you think that suggests that this is the norm, and your experience, for what it's worth, is probably not? This is basic logic.

At my school, the hospitals specifically ask for higher GPA students and offer them contracts first, so they can lock up these students before they graduate. (emphasis mine.)

Good for you! I hope you get high grades and then you can get contracts too!

And the woman with the highest grades in the last graduating class was promoted to management within two weeks of working at the hospital she chose. The C students in the same class, who also work at that hospital, were not.

Now this is wonderful! Merit based promotion. Most of us in the rest of the world do not experience this. We wish for it, but we do not get it, even though we work hard and are very, very good at what we do.

Please stop saying that grades don't matter. If grades didn't matter, they would just give us pass or fail, but they don't.

Please stop telling me (and others, probably) to stop saying this or that. This is not your business, your responsibility or your right. We will express ourselves as we see fit within the guidelines of this BB, and you may do the same.

Your logic here is faulty, in re P/F versus grades. That's like saying if God had wanted us to fly, He'd've given us wings. Nice thoughts, but no basis in fact or experience (except yours, maybe). The grades may be a requirement of the NLN for accreditation, of the school based on its funding sources, or any number of other

Grades actually do matter. And they are important for advanced practice nursing, like CRNA.

Grades DO matter in the academic world--this would be like when you are applying for advance practice nursing courses, graduate school, and the like. I am not some hick who just fell off the turnip truck. I have a bachelor's and a master's degree. I have TAUGHT in universities (three of them, actually). So don't tell me about grades mattering. Of course they do, in some circumstances. In others, probably MOST others, good grades and 50 cents (or, in Starbucks, $1.75) will get you a cup of coffee.

The point of this thread was, someone is having a crisis. They are afraid. They need to know that the world does not turn on whether they get an A or a C. There are plenty of people out there who scraped through nursing school, and other schools, and were thus eligible to take their licensing exams, and they are out there practicing their professions.

You know what they called the guy who got the lowest grades in medical school, honey? DOCTOR. And you know what they call people who have to be right, no matter whose feelings they trample on? (Hint: the feelings you trampled on were those of the people who started this thread--the ones who needed support, not you telling them that grades matter, etc., etc.)

Yeah, grades matter, but we were putting them in the proper perspective. You are welcome to join in. Otherwise, I'm sure there are other threads where your posts might be more appropriate.

Sorry if you have been offended. Good luck with your grades!

Sheri257 · Mar 3, 2004

Chris:

I'm not offended, despite the hostile tone of some of your remarks. You have made some excellent points. But there are also two sides to the issue.

What about the people who work their butt off for good grades, and are constantly told that it doesn't matter? Is that not demoralizing as well?

I'm probably expressing some frustration because I was hearing this, once again, just last night. You hear this so often you start to wonder if all of this work for better grades really does matter. It almost seems like there is peer pressure not to get good grades.

It's ok to tell C students that A's don't matter, because we don't want to hurt the C students' feelings. Yet, no one seems to care if those same statements also have the effect, intended or not, of putting down A students who worked their butt off to get there. Do the feelings of A students somehow deserve less consideration?

I may have expressed too much frustration here. But when you are working this hard for grades, it can be incredibly frustrating to hear, over and over again, that your efforts don't really matter.

I hope you can understand where I am coming from on this.

mona b RN, BSN, RN · Mar 3, 2004

I am in my second semester and just took my second test. I was prepared, or so I thought, and felt very confident answering the questions. I studied for about 25 hours over the past week using several different methods and with all that I still only made a 77!! That is the lowest grade for me since the start of the program. Has that ever happened to anyone else? The test you study the most for you get the lowest grade on?? I guess I am just venting. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated!!!

I know it's tough. The nursing exams seem to be set up differently somehow. It's almost like they try to slip you up. I seem to perform worse when I apply additional critical thinking to a question. I end up "over" thinking the question and get it wrong; It's very frustrating.

Just hang in there and DO YOUR BEST! That is what is most important.

mona

chris_at_lucas_RN, RN · Mar 3, 2004

lizz, I'm sorry you sense a "hostile tone." Where do you get that?

Please dear, look up "projection."

You still miss the point. It's OK, you'll get it someday, or you won't. You and I and the BB and this thread will all be just fine, no matter what! :)

I did take the opportunity to look at your previous posts and threads. Less than a month ago, you posted a lot that sure did sound like grades didn't matter. Did you change your mind?

I also note that you are an "A" student. Congratulations! Good for you!

Do you supposed you might be more emotionally involved in this because if it were true that grades don't matter as much as you wish, that you won't get the benefit of having earned good ones?

I also have gotten several PM's suggesting that you tend to get opinionated and people finally just ignore you or tell you what you seem to want to hear. (They called it "yes, ma'am-ing you.") Do you see how many of your posts attack the people who write them? BTW, thanks for editing out the word "ridiculous" your first post critical of mine in this thread. Which reminds me, while you are looking up "projection," look up "ad hominem argument" as well.

Meanwhile, you are now going on my "ignore" list. I have better things to do than to tilt at windmills.

Good luck to you in your studies and your career--

llg, PhD, RN · Mar 3, 2004

I've been around the block more than a few times, both as a student and as a teacher. The important thing is to figure out WHY you are making bad grades and then choose your intervention based on that understanding.

For example, do you have trouble applying information to situations? Some students are great at memorizing facts, but go totally blank when they are asked to use those facts to solve a problem. If that is the case, working harder (or longer) in an attempt to memorize more facts will not help you: you would need to study problem-solving strategies in order to improve your grades.

Do you have trouble deciding which aspect of the course material is the most important? Do you waste time studying a lot of things that aren't on the test and find things on the test that you didn't study? If that is the case, you need to improve your communication with the instructor early in the class to get a better sense of the course objects and the priorities of the instructor.

Do you have trouble understanding the meaning of some of the course material? That's another possible problem. If that is the case, you might benefit by forming a discussion/study group that would meet regularly to review the content, clarify anything that is not clear, discuss it's significance, and discuss how it fits in with the rest of the program content.

etc. etc. etc. You need a good diagnosis of your problem before you can solve it.

Do grades matter? Yes and No. Most people (even very successful ones) get a few bad grades. Those who ultimately succeed in life learn from those "mistakes," and move on. So, don't let a couple of poor grades get you too upset. However, you do need to learn from those mistakes and work on improving your performance. People who are content with always getting low grades are not aiming high enough. Eventually, those "low aspirations" can catch up to them. Some employers view the PATTERN of academic performance as being indicative of a person's abililty to learn and willingness to work hard to perform at a high level of achievement. Being content with mediocre is not a good reputation to develop. But it is usually the repeated pattern of behavior that counts, not one or two bad grades.

Good luck,

llg

johnnrachel · Mar 3, 2004

:) Hi everyone, I just want to respond to the thread from KSRNStudent (Page 2) She suggested a book called Successful problem solving and test taking (Meds Publishing) I think that was a great suggestion, its a first step in understanding the content of these questions. Im sure we will all agree they are not like any other tests we have all taken. Anyway I found the book on half.com for $25. It lists on Med Publishing web site for $39. Thanks KS for a great suggestion. :rotfl: Im sure we will all agree again we are all here to help each other.

Thanks and good luck to all :rolleyes:

foreverhope · Mar 3, 2004

I know it's tough. The nursing exams seem to be set up differently somehow. It's almost like they try to slip you up. I seem to perform worse when I apply additional critical thinking to a question. I end up "over" thinking the question and get it wrong; It's very frustrating.
Just hang in there and DO YOUR BEST! That is what is most important.
mona

Thanks for your reply!!

I really do put forth my best. I also believe grades matter. My GPA was 3.92 before Fall 2003, now it is a 3.8 I think. Since I want my options to remain open for possible NP later on, I want to keep my grades as high as I can. I think I was so upset due to the fact that I studied so hard and scored so low. But I am sure I did my best. It was just a very tricky test with some new format questions and quite a few with two choices that could be correct. I just chose wrong. After going over things in class today, I feel I will be much more careful next time to consider ABC's first and Assessment also. I got all the math questions right so that is a plus for me!!

Thanks again for everyones advice. Keep it coming too!!!