Having to teach yourself?

[JJL618]

So, I'm curious if other programs are like this. The program I'm in it seems like we have to teach ourselves the majority of the material. They will put stuff on the exams they never went over in class. It's not in the PowerPoints or class notes. Never gets mentioned. In Fundamentals, we were never shown how to work dosage calculations, so I spent an entire day teaching myself by watching YouTube videos. I was fine in first semester doing this because the material I didn't find difficult. Now that I'm in second semester, I feel it's going to be a bigger problem. I failed my first nursing school exam today, and I'm upset but determined to do better next time.

Just seeing if this is happening a lot out there or if I picked a doozy of a program. It gets frustrating to say the least.

[NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN]

I'm not sure how your school is but most are testing to what is needed to know for NCLEX.

Here's some hints that I figured out and another school's clinical instructor told her students that I was giving them VERY useful tips for their exam, so it was at least true for my school and theirs.

1) You're going to have to read your text book. I know, I know, it takes forever but it's going to be your friend here. Now, where to focus. Your text will have boxes in it. "NCLEX Tips", Nursing process boxes, and italics and bold print, or yellow highlighted text. This was 90% of our tests. This is probably the BIGGEST tip I can give you. My lowest score was on my first test (80 something) and it's because I didnt read the text and went by what I knew...but a lot had changed over the years and the prior protocol was one of the choices for these questions-they nailed me! So, I then divided my time between pharm and med/surg one because I had to.

2) If you have discussion board questions where the teacher is posting and interacting...here's where some more of your test is coming from (almost the other 10% and a repeat of some of the reading). This was the format for my online class. Our PowerPoint presentations were almost 100% useless and at one point I just clicked through them to see if there was an area that the book focused on that I needed clarification with (such as ABG interpretation).

3) If you have lecture, if the instructor says it twice, it's a test question.

4) YouTube can be your best friend but can also be a backstabber so use it with caution. Anyone can post a YouTube video. Our lab instructors used YouTube for some instruction BUT clarified the inconsistencies and errors. They also showed us some HORRIBLE examples of some instruction videos, one specifically for central line care...dressing change was SO NOT how to do it. It was like a "what not to do" video but if you weren't a nurse already, how would you know?

I hope this helps. Nursing school is like information overload. Once you start clinicals the information starts to make a bit more sense because you can relate it to something you see happening. Before that it can be a bit abstract, especially if your a hands on learner.