It is not as if I "want" an A and if I get a B that's ok. I MUST GET AN A! I don't discuss my grades with fellow classmates unless asked and even then will usually only say "I did ok" unless the person asking is a friend... I do not boast. Most of my instructors post grades on the board or at least tell you the breakdown of A's, B's etc.. if there are two 100's and I'm not one of them I freak out!
I graduated high school with a very high GPA and went to college right after but quit to get married, have kids and raise my baby sister. I am a returning to school adult student with 3 children, husband, blah, blah, blah. After an exam I will look up answers and I won't sleep at night because I am rethinking all the questions. Once the exams are returned I will pour over it and if I get a grade less than mid 90's I will totally beat myself up. (the whole you can do better thing) My mother did punish me as a child for having less than A's (go in your room and don't come out until the grade is up) but I am 30 years old so you think I'd be over that by now....
How do the grade obsessed people out there deal? Do you try to modify that behavior or do you just accept yourself as an obsessor and get over it? Boy some days I feel like a mental case...
Like most of you, I was never grade obsessed until Nursing School. There is always that nagging voice telling you that you have to go the extra mile in studying - because this is a "make it or break it" type of Program... I took one of my courses over the Summer and found that I'm actually better at self-study than in a study-group. There are some in my class that have that really "bookish" look to them - they come to class with 500 flash cards, walk through the halls reading them, in study groups, etc. I had assumed they were all at the top of the class - but yesterday I heard the "flash-card" set discussing their grades and some are barely passing, which really surprised me.
I do our workbook assignments at night during the week after lectures (each chapter takes a few hours) - This gives me a very good feel for the material. I also try to get as much housework, laundry, etc. done during weeknights so I can spend the entire weekend before a test - literally holed up in my room away from the kids, noise, etc. and just read, read, read and really soak up the information. Sunday evening I go on the books website where there are a variety of practice tests and student resources and also use the books CD (also practice tests). This is just the way that works best for me and I've been happy with the grades I'm getting - but of course the constant feel of stress never leaves...
Joining the grade obsessed :) I am like so many of you and it's driving my DH insane. Last week, I got an English paper back with a B(87) and was very upset about it. That 4.0 just means so much to me and I don't know why. *sigh*
Well if one thing has come out of this thread... it is this.. we are not alone and that is a good feeling.
Maybe we should form GOA.. Grade Obssessors Anonymous...
hi, my name's carrie, and i'm an obsessor.
hahahaha
well, to be frank, i am about ready to throw up because my clinical instructor keeps sending back my weekly self assessment with big red marks and "suggestions" of how i can NOT SUCK!
apparently she means well. whatever. i've gotten straight a's so far in everything and i am pretty sure i got the highest grade on our last nursing exam out of our whole class of 100-something. hell, i could have the highest grade in my class right now....and DANG does it feeeeel good!
what DOESN"T FEEL GOOD is that i feel incompetent because i *gasp* left a pt's bed in the high position when i left bedside on friday and now i could crawl in a hole and die. and my self-assessment is late because i'm at a loss for what to write that won't come back looking like it has bled to death... :(
oh, the woes of being slightly obsessive compulsive.
oh, the woes of being slightly obsessive compulsive.
sorry i gotta go clean EVERYTHING I OWN!
hahahhahaaha
till next time GOA"s!
You know I always feel better after I scrub the toilets... lol. I wish I could tell you to relax but frankly I wouldn't know how either. Just do your best... I bet all of us GOA's out there will be great nurses! Serious attention to detail!
well, to be frank, i am about ready to throw up because my clinical instructor keeps sending back my weekly self assessment with big red marks and "suggestions" of how i can NOT SUCK!
apparently she means well. whatever. i've gotten straight a's so far in everything and i am pretty sure i got the highest grade on our last nursing exam out of our whole class of 100-something. hell, i could have the highest grade in my class right now....and DANG does it feeeeel good!
what DOESN"T FEEL GOOD is that i feel incompetent because i *gasp* left a pt's bed in the high position when i left bedside on friday and now i could crawl in a hole and die. and my self-assessment is late because i'm at a loss for what to write that won't come back looking like it has bled to death... :(
oh, the woes of being slightly obsessive compulsive.
sorry i gotta go clean EVERYTHING I OWN!
hahahhahaaha
till next time GOA"s!
Clinicals are very humbling. My very first clinical my instructor massacred me. Here I was making A's and "marginal" on my first clinical. Quite humbling. :)
So far through nursing school, I have developed a "healthy" form of grade obsession. I have so far managed to do fairly well (although there's always room for improvement!!!!!!! ) but there's a little thing called "Pre-Nursing GPA from 2 other schools when I was 18 y/o and couldn't care less" holding me back from my ultimate end goal...a cord around my neck at graduation signifying high honors. AAAGGGHHH!!!! Tell me that's not fair! Why should that matter?!? Why do they still count that? So, I figured out that in order for me to make high honors, I have to get straight A's for the next 3 straight semesters in a row! (Yeah, but no pressure, right? :stone ) It's not just the cord I'm after, but the high GPA for graduate school, who of course want a 3.5 - 3.8 GPA. Go figure. Well, I should probably go study....
I am so relieved to read these posts!! I really didn't know I was grade obsessed until I went back to school at the age of 32 and I am now 43 and finally finished with all my prereqs and coreqs and starting the program in Jan. I have interrupted school multiple times with the goings on of my kids but somehow over all this time I have managed to get a 4.0 and it is now a curse! I have to get an A or I feel like a failure. I know that this is irrational but I am having such a hard time convincing myself of that. I wish I had gotten a few B's early on then it would not be an issue. I hear repeatedly that nursing school is a whole new ballgame and to try and work, have a family/husband, and maintain a 4.0 will be insanity but I am sure I will still try. Like most of you, the push initially was to get a good GPA to get in sooner but now that I'm in I am not only a member of the GOA but a GOLD MEMBER!!
Oh we aren't only GOA members...we are CHARTER members! I have the same early college GPA issues. I entered the University California Davis at age 17 with a 4.0 and left with a 1.8 GPA due to the fact that I just basically didn't even go to school and I missed 2 finals completely. That is probably why I am that much more determined now.
When that first B finally does happen it will probably be a relief (after the total letdown of course)....
Here's to the obessessed future nurses of America!
My thing is if I study well...I get an A. If I don't study then I don't. I don't study with an A in mind...they just happen. What can I say, I'm blessed. :chuckle
But, ya'll have to remember...if your grade scale is 90-100 for an A. It doesn't matter if it's a 90 or a 100...it's still an A. :)
I did horrible in high school. I just didn't care. It was the same way...I study, I get an A. But, with friends and navy guys calling (I lived on a Navy Base), school wasn't a high priority. Now, I wish I wouldv'e made it that priority. I could have gotten a scholarship to go just about anywhere I wanted and I let it pass me by. Not with my kids. I push them to do better. My oldest is in school and usually makes A's. If he makes a B, that's ok...I tell him that as long as he's tried his best that is ok. But, if he is consistently making B's...then I try to work with him to pull that grade up. However, I NEVER make him feel bad for making less than an A. I just don't want him to regret not doing as well as he can, like I do.
I forgot to add what an instructor told us in LPN school. He said, "It doesn't matter if you make A's here...as long as you make C's. You shouldn't stress to make A's." He was always harping on that.
C's are fine if all you want to accomplish is PN, ADN, or BSN. But, for an MSN/NP/CRNA...usually you have to have a high GPA. That is the reason I keep mine high. Higher education is very competitive and they only take the cream of the crop. Why would I want to screw that up?
Besides, one day I want to go to veterinarian school. THAT is even more competitive than medical school.
haven't read the thread so hope this is not repetitive but i have found acceptance to be very powerful medicine. when i think about it, most of the people i know are obsessive about something, and sometimes i really cannot fathom why, so i just figure i have the right to be obsessive about something too. you know? people are strange and different... including me. i used to make tapes of microbiology quesitons, then a pause and then the answer, and i would wear it jogging. obsessive? or just caring? who is to say? ... one thing that helps me to sleep well before a quiz is to make a tape ;of the material i have to know and listen to it while i sleep. or re-read the chapter. what i think is really, really unusual and remarkable is the woman i met who claimed to get 12 hours of quality sleep a night all through nursing school. now that seems unusual!
:( 
) but there's a little thing called "Pre-Nursing GPA from 2 other schools when I was 18 y/o and couldn't care less" holding me back from my ultimate end goal...a cord around my neck at graduation signifying high honors. AAAGGGHHH!!!! Tell me that's not fair! Why should that matter?!? Why do they still count that? So, I figured out that in order for me to make high honors, I have to get straight A's for the next 3 straight semesters in a row! (Yeah, but no pressure, right? :stone ) It's not just the cord I'm after, but the high GPA for graduate school, who of course want a 3.5 - 3.8 GPA. Go figure. Well, I should probably go study.... 
RNSuzq1, RN
449 Posts
Like most of you, I was never grade obsessed until Nursing School. There is always that nagging voice telling you that you have to go the extra mile in studying - because this is a "make it or break it" type of Program... I took one of my courses over the Summer and found that I'm actually better at self-study than in a study-group. There are some in my class that have that really "bookish" look to them - they come to class with 500 flash cards, walk through the halls reading them, in study groups, etc. I had assumed they were all at the top of the class - but yesterday I heard the "flash-card" set discussing their grades and some are barely passing, which really surprised me.
I do our workbook assignments at night during the week after lectures (each chapter takes a few hours) - This gives me a very good feel for the material. I also try to get as much housework, laundry, etc. done during weeknights so I can spend the entire weekend before a test - literally holed up in my room away from the kids, noise, etc. and just read, read, read and really soak up the information. Sunday evening I go on the books website where there are a variety of practice tests and student resources and also use the books CD (also practice tests). This is just the way that works best for me and I've been happy with the grades I'm getting - but of course the constant feel of stress never leaves...