Grade Anxiety

RunBabyRN · Jan 30, 2014

Are you seeing a therapist? They might be your best resource.

Visualization and relaxation techniques may help.

Good luck moving forward!!

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Jan 31, 2014

Is nursing really the right career for you? There's no really effective way to avoid stress in a patient care environment - even with stable patients, we have to cope with time constraints, juggling priorities, dealing with multiple role conflicts, etc. It would be awful to struggle all the way through nursing school only to discover that you couldn't practice without harming your own health and wellbeing.

ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP · Jan 31, 2014

Is nursing really the right career for you? There's no really effective way to avoid stress in a patient care environment - even with stable patients, we have to cope with time constraints, juggling priorities, dealing with multiple role conflicts, etc. It would be awful to struggle all the way through nursing school only to discover that you couldn't practice without harming your own health and wellbeing.

I think you posted in the wrong thread. I am talking about grade anxiety. I work as a nurse's aide and am pretty comfortable in multitasking and juggling patients. The grades and high expectations grad school has is what is stressing me out.. Nursing school from what I've been told is different from actual nursing.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Jan 31, 2014

In some ways yes, in some ways no. There are different pressures and stresses. Your responsibilities and burdens will be different as an RN from your current CNA focus on multiTASKing and time management. It's not an unreasonable question for HouTX to ask.

Grad school is a long way away. Take care of the present and don't borrow trouble, as my old grandmother used to say.

Pink Magnolia, BSN, RN · Jan 31, 2014

Stay positive! You can't be so hard on yourself. I understand that you want to do well, but realize that many students are struggling just to pass. Many fail and drop out! The more you worry the more your grades will suffer because you're putting all your time and energy in the"thought" of failing and bringing down your GPA. Put that energy towards setting priorities, organizing your planner, reading the material, and learning to be a good nurse. Trust me...the less your worry the better you do in class. I completely get the whole GPA thing though, but give yourself a break and a pat on the back for what you accomplish.

ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP · Jan 31, 2014

In some ways yes, in some ways no. There are different pressures and stresses. Your responsibilities and burdens will be different as an RN from your current CNA focus on multiTASKing and time management. It's not an unreasonable question for HouTX to ask.

Grad school is a long way away. Take care of the present and don't borrow trouble, as my old grandmother used to say.

Hey Grntea,

Thanks for your response. You are correct when you say that RNs have a different kind of stress and tasks from CNAs. However, my stress stems from not being able to get into grad school and pursuing my dreeeammm ( ) job. Nowadays, it seems as though the only way to advance one's education in nursing is to have a perfect GPA. While it may seem as though grad school is a long ways away, I only have two semesters left after this one before I am done with my BSN. The only way grad school is going to overlook a mediocre gpa is if I have years upon years of experience. Once I start working and having kids, I highly doubt I will be able to go back to school. I guess that is why I feel pressured to do well in my classes.

ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP · Jan 31, 2014

Stay positive! You can't be so hard on yourself. I understand that you want to do well, but realize that many students are struggling just to pass. Many fail and drop out! The more you worry the more your grades will suffer because you're putting all your time and energy in the"thought" of failing and bringing down your GPA. Put that energy towards setting priorities, organizing your planner, reading the material, and learning to be a good nurse. Trust me...the less your worry the better you do in class. I completely get the whole GPA thing though, but give yourself a break and a pat on the back for what you accomplish.

Thank you so much for your words. It is just so much easier said than done!

Pink Magnolia, BSN, RN · Jan 31, 2014

Thank you so much for your words. It is just so much easier said than done!

You can do it! I just had a come to Jesus talk with myself a couple of weeks ago. I will always strive for As, but sometimes I have to take the grade I earn. I'm a 4.0 student and just made my first B in nursing school for Pharm. Stand back and try to figure out what went wrong and how you can do better instead of "Oh no! My GPA!" :) We learn from our mistakes. Perfection does not equal success. Hakuna Matata!

PurpleLover · Feb 1, 2014

You are high strung. I know that because I am high strung as well. I push myself to the brink of insanity. My one professor told me to get xanax. Severe anxiety can paralyze you in testing and real life situations.

Good luck

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Feb 2, 2014

Hey Grntea,
Thanks for your response. You are correct when you say that RNs have a different kind of stress and tasks from CNAs. However, my stress stems from not being able to get into grad school and pursuing my dreeeammm ( ) job. Nowadays, it seems as though the only way to advance one's education in nursing is to have a perfect GPA. While it may seem as though grad school is a long ways away, I only have two semesters left after this one before I am done with my BSN. The only way grad school is going to overlook a mediocre gpa is if I have years upon years of experience. Once I start working and having kids, I highly doubt I will be able to go back to school. I guess that is why I feel pressured to do well in my classes.

I have told this story before. I worked a LOT while I was an undergraduate and had a reasonably normal social life, but it as the working three shifts a week, every weekend, and all my vacations that left me with a pretty mediocre GPA, like 2.75, even though I got married at the end of my junior year and my husband was earning more than the both of us had earned in the previous two years combined (he graduated a year ahead of me) and I didn't work my senior year and got a 3.5 then, I think. Seven years later when I wanted to go to grad school so I could get a job teaching I was rebuffed, but I had good references and said, "You can't tell me I can never go to grad school because I screwed around in college when I was 19 and 20." So, they said, do well on the GREs and take a couple of classes at the graduate level as an unmatriculated student, and we'll see how you do.

Got 99th percentile in the GREs and aced the two courses, and got into the grad school of my dreams, a real brick-and-mortar school with a thesis research requirement involving untold hours in a clinical and lab area and a 50-page thesis. And the MN I earned there has led to some wonderful jobs since then.

So I would never advocate coasting through undergraduate work -- I did the best I could under the circumstances, but I was supporting myself and running a household, and had to work, so there it was-- but grad school is not necessarily a never-never event if you don't get a 3.8 as an undergrad.

Everline · Feb 2, 2014

I can actually relate. I really understand where you are coming from because I have a similar outlook. And IMO, grade anxiety, especially regarding getting into grad school, is much different than anxiety about doing the work of nursing. I wish I could tell you, "hey, just take it easy". But from where I sit, grades do matter. So just hit the books hard and try to make it through the absolute best you can. I know this will sound silly, but I find that if I keep up with my exercise, and go hard at it when the anxiety becomes extreme (like HIIT and things like that), it helps me clear my head and get back to the books.