Getting a C in Nursing

[Annachu512]

I have seen it in a lot of posts so I just had to vent a little. Please stop making earning a C for your nursing class the end of world! It's not! Nursing classes are hard and while some may simply excel through them with As (by either brains or hard work...either way, awesome job! ) but there is no shame in simply passing. That will not make you less of a person or less of a nurse. Just realize what you did wrong and move on.

Always remember, there's always that person who failed who would love to be in your shoes. Just press on! We're all in this together!

**End of rant, thank you :thankya:

[nekozuki, LPN]

That's how people do big things. By not settling for "just enough."

That is a powerful statement, and I have never agreed with anything more.

Some people are fine with passing. Some people demand excellence from themselves, and accept all the white-knuckled, hair-yanking, jaw-clenching stress that goes with it. In a highly competitive world where standards are climbing and the quality of the applicants is rising, complacency is a roadblock to your professional dreams.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

SOME straight-A students get great academic grades because their perfectionist tendencies have never allowed them the possibility of doing otherwise. SOME of them will freeze in a clinical setting because that's where clinical judgment (which no student has in abundance yet) is needed, and they have no bomb-proof way of knowing it all due to having only student-level experience, so they really do not know what to do. Yet.

I can tell you that once they obtain their student-level and new-grad clinical experience by the end of their first post-grad year, as pretty much everyone does, the A students will be better nurses because they do know more. Students often have trouble taking the long view even if they mean well and try to, because they just do not have the experience to have a good long view. But we old people can tell you-- pretty much everybody gets to be at least adequate at tubes, dressings, meds, general assessments, and the like; only real learners get to be really excellent.

[THELIVINGWORST, ASN, RN]

^^^Master, show me how I can too have the force be with me!

[suzw]

I agree with illsince83. gpa is important. And for somebody else who had asked, the grading scale (for the nursing courses only) at my University is tougher. A 96-100 is an A. A 90 to 95 is an A-. I have always been an A student throughout my pre-req's. I just finished my first semester of nursing courses and I'm now an A- student.

I want to keep my gpa higher because I am going to grad school immediately after I graduate with my BSN and in that case it is important.

It's a different scenerio for everybody.

90 is not even an A- in our program, that would be a B. 80 is the absolute lowest score you can get, and that is a C. 79.9 is a C-. and failing.

[lilredrunner]

SOME straight-A students get great academic grades because their perfectionist tendencies have never allowed them the possibility of doing otherwise. SOME of them will freeze in a clinical setting because that's where clinical judgment (which no student has in abundance yet) is needed, and they have no bomb-proof way of knowing it all due to having only student-level experience, so they really do not know what to do. Yet.

I can tell you that once they obtain their student-level and new-grad clinical experience by the end of their first post-grad year, as pretty much everyone does, the A students will be better nurses because they do know more. Students often have trouble taking the long view even if they mean well and try to, because they just do not have the experience to have a good long view. But we old people can tell you-- pretty much everybody gets to be at least adequate at tubes, dressings, meds, general assessments, and the like; only real learners get to be really excellent.

Love this.

Everyone evens out clinically after a certain period, and C students can be good nurses But the academics, and the commitment to learning excellence.. That continues to push ahead past the clinical aspects, and makes good nurses really great.

[erifica]

I'm not sure how it will work out in the long run for myself. I just wanted to add that some C+ to B students have test anxiety. If the pressure is off, I perform much better in a testing situation. I'm in a difficult program. My original clinical group went from 8 to 3 by the end of our third semester. But I digress, I always score high on the end of semester HESI; usually above 90%. My last score was 968. I'm lucky to make 80s on our semester tests. I'd like to go to grad school. We'll see what happens. My point is, that each person is an individual. We all have our own struggles. My personal life got crazy right before I started nursing school in 2012. I just keep plugging along doing my best. I try not to compare myself to other people in the program. A letter grade does not necessarily demonstrate knowledge. I think, as women (since the profession tends to be dominated by us), we tend to compare ourselves in absolutely everything. Best not to compare; do your best and not worry about what someone else is doing. Everything, including bad test grades, happen for a reason. Can't get into the grad school of choice? Do what someone else wrote and make it happen or choose something else.