Harder Than I Thought

BinkieRN, BSN, RN · Sep 2, 2008

:yeah: Hang in there, it will all come together. It's just the beginning and you're overwhelmed with the newness of it all. You'll do fine!

KIMYNURSE2B · Sep 2, 2008

I willnever forget the first test that was like that

We started with 38 in March we are now 19. We lost 1/2 the class

Good Luck

duranurse · Sep 3, 2008

i feel your pain!! i have been studying for a quiz all weekend that i have tommorrow. i am so nervous. also have a med term vocab quiz. pn school is much harder than i thought! :cry:

amjowens · Sep 3, 2008

I didn't pass my first quiz first semester. It was a pretty rude awakening, as I usually get good grades (I work hard for them too, so yeah, I'd studied for that first quiz!).

I adjusted how I study really quick until I got a system that worked for me. I'm in my third semester, and so far I've earned As in every class (yay!). I'll never forget that feeling, though, of that first quiz. It humbled me. I was scared I'd not make it through, and it motivated me to study really long and hard! Actually, I still am!

litebrightgirl · Sep 3, 2008

I agree. It's much harder than I thought too. We have tests everyday on 2-3 chapters at a time! I feel like they're cramming everything down our throats! I think it will get better. Good luck! Just focus on your graduation day! :nurse:

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Sep 3, 2008

see the information on https://allnurses.com/forums/f50/looking-test-taking-stratagies-224581.html - looking for test taking strategies (on the nursing student discussion forum)

22angie, LPN · Sep 3, 2008

Its been a rougher than rough 8 days. I thought that it was "just school work" and I would enjoy the difficulty (because I generally LOVE school and the tougher the better) but HOLY COW!!! I took my first quiz last Thursday (quizzes are on things you have not gone over yet in class but were expected to study for homework) and then my first exam this morning. I spent 5 days studying, almost every waking moment, to the point that I felt I had "overstudied" almost, and then went and took the exam and almost NONE of what I studied was on the exam. I was so heartbroken. I am exhausted and very....humbled by my first week in nursing school.
I had heard that half the class would fail this first 9 weeks (we do 9 wk blocks for our nursing classes) and had no idea why until I took the test.
I'm making adjustments in hopes of bringing up my grades next quiz (got a 92 on the quiz and an 84 on the exam) but... ugh. Basically we read the text with our teacher in class, but the exam was all implementation (which was not the focus of the text or our lectures, which as I mentioned were basically us reading out of the book together), mostly with multiple "right" answers, and only one "best" answer (of which I could not figure out why...and just guessed) Kind of like NCLEX but more confusing.
I am not complaining though. If it was easy, everyone would do it, and if I can somehow manage to get an A, then it will be that much more well deserved. I just thought I'd share my experience.
I am also taking A&P1 and that is quite a load of information as well, but what we need to know is very black and white, so I'm way more comfortable with it, in comparison.
I could not do this forever without going insane...but for one year... I will somehow make it through. I can only hope and pray that my LPN to RN transition program is a bit more straightfoward. I am still kicking myself for the time I wasted this weekend, studying things that I did not need. Sleeping would have been a better use of my time. :)

Hi, I feel you because I was having the same problem but I had a nurse tell me too always think of it if something can harm a patient donot do it. Remember your abc and you have to start thinking like a nurse even if you don't know I started nursing school in May and I'm getting ready to start my second term in two days so I made through this term it was hard and I had to change my study habits. You just have to figure out whats going to work for you. Good luck and my prayers are with everyone thats on this journey.:loveya:

cowboysgirl2007 · Sep 3, 2008

It's good to know I'm not the only one feeling like this. I am normally a strait "A" student and study my butt off. I got a 90 on my first exam, which is a "B" in Nsg school, and a "80" on the second exam, which is a "C" in the Nsg world. The last time I earned a "C" was in high school. It really woke my butt up, and I'm almost ashamed to say that it did bring me to tears.

I knew nursing would be hard, and I thought I had prepared well. I just had no idea what it would truly be like. I'm just hanging onto the the hope that it will get better because at this point that's all I have!

WhoNeedsaShot? · Sep 4, 2008

Like Litebritegirl, I also have test everyday sometimes 3 of them, on several chapters each. We are in our 3rd week, and I must admit, I didn't do as well on them as I wanted to. But, it is getting better. No 100% yet except on my quizes, but I have made a several 98% the past few days. So I am feeling much better..

I dont think it is "hard", I think that it is just "tough" Its tons of info thrown at us at a very high rate of speed. But it will all come together soon enough. I'm seeing it already in just 3 weeks.

My best advise is to hang in there, it won't take long to find your groove, and know the instructors and what they are thinking.

We have soooooooo much reading, and I have found that reading the Chapter outlines at the end of the chapter and taking notes from that, before the lecture, gives me a great heads up, during the lecture, then I just add the critical things that the instructor covered to the notes that I already have made. Saves alot of time, and allows me to focus on the next subject. It takes alot of time, but I try to stay a chapter or 2 ahead at all times.

Good luck and hang in there..... It will get easier

stelon · Sep 5, 2008

We had our first quiz last Friday (we'd started class Monday) on vocab for seven chapters. Our instructor told us it'd be fifteen words to define on the test, but it's okay there's only 60 words in those chapters.

...There were actually around 140 vocab words for those 7 chapters. Still, I did better than I thought I did and raked in 100% on that quiz. Didn't do as good today on the content quiz and only got an 86, but I figure as long as I stay at 80 or above I'm happy. Next vocab quiz is tomorrow and I'm nervous.

The beginning of each week for us has focused on skills. So far I've been passing all the skills testing, though yesterday they were failing people left and right for sterile technique/wound care. I'm SO relieved I went early in the day and passed. :)

Next week: inserting foley catheters and another 10 or so chapters.

missjennmb · Sep 5, 2008

It IS a lot of information, but I expected that. It was just the way that the tests were so different from the book and our class discussions that really threw me. I tried to memorize the notes from class and the bold print/important information from all 7 chapters verbatum, and I realize now that I should not have worried about memorizing. I could have finished your sentence exactly as it was written if you started one that was in either of those places. Instead I should have focused more on thoroughly understanding the WHOLE picture and less on specific memorization. Where I found my errors was in the little italic notes applying information to specific conditions, in tables that we did not go over in class, and in reference to obscure seldom mentioned details. Like...where we discussed Florence Nightingale's accomplishments and I knew all of the things she was responsible for, the test question was not on WHAT she did, but in the HOW of one of her accomplishments, something we did not go over in class. I took our notes as what would be on the test, but they weren't, they were just a jump off point (or perhaps more of a general outline of the chapter as they encompassed the entire chapter).

This weekend I am trying a new tactic. I am reserving my notecards for A&P, which is much more black and white (i.e. he says "you need to know the names of each body system and the organs contained") and I'm going to try instead to do summaries of the individual headings within the chapter for nursing. Hopefully that will help. Cross your fingers for me. :)

And good luck to everyone else. Its a beast but we can do this!