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It will be very difficult to keep a 4.0, sorry to say! It's not impossible of course. Nursing is a different beast altogether.....There is some memorization(such as what signs/symptoms go with what disease process, lab values, etc), but it's more related to properly assessing the patient, choosing correct interentions, priorities, etc.
I would not worry about a 4.0 and just worry about passing :)
A 4.0 does not result from 'memorizing' everything. You're trying this approach and getting Bs.
I graduated with a 4.0 for my BSN last weekend and can attest that the grades are reflective of how I did on tests, papers, case studies, presentations, ATIs, quizzes, care plans and clinical skills but *not* memorizing.
That said, a 4.0 is (IMO) unnecessary for any career and certainly nursing. Now, my grades helped me get merit based scholarships. And I got great responses to my job applications thus far, but beyond that, the gpa was unimportant.
I strove for doing the best I could do and trying to understand info as best I could so as to try to avoid hurting people-that was my motivation.
Good luck and just aim for the best understanding of the material you can muster, not a number. :)
My advice is never to focus on grades. Know the information inside and out. If you do, you'll probably get A's or B's. If you don't know the information there is little chance that you'll even pass.
Yes, grades are important if you want to go to grad school. Grad schools are becoming increasingly competitive and it's harder and harder to gain admission. (More nurses are unemployed and see grad school as a way to get a job.) Yes, they do look at the 'big picture' and consider not only GPA but experience, references, volunteer work, essays, and sometimes GRE or other grad school admission tests. But, grads are a very important predictor of success. If a person can't maintain a 3.5 as an undergrad they will have a very difficult time surviving graduate programs, especially rigorous ones.
Students with long term aspirations need to ask themselves if they would be satisfied being an RN. If they have a longer term goal that requires an advanced degree, and they don't gain admission to an NP, CRNA, or Mid-wife program, would they be satisfied continuing as an RN? If the answer is 'no', some very serious thought should be given before starting down that road. And, if you're struggling to earn B's in patho you may be in for a rude awakening when the horrors of nursing school really begin.
You should also give careful consideration to judging (at this stage of the game) what is 'useful' and what is not. Your instructor has years of experience and knows exactly what students need to learn. It never hurts to gain collateral information, so of course, go beyond the lectures and assignments to gather more knowledge. But, don't be so smug to think you know better than the professor.
DarkLotus
233 Posts
So now that I am starting a BSN-RN program this fall, is it okay to understand the information instead of just memorizing it to get A's on tests? I'm taking pathophysiology over the summer and feel like I've been putting tons of effort into it and am only getting a B! I have been using online resources that accompany the textbook and reading sections that are not assigned as well as doing the assignments. However I feel like I am starting to understand the material better than if I was just studying the instructors notes and 'lectures' even though she keeps emphasizing that those are what the tests are based on. So yeah, is it more important to keep my 4.0 or is it okay to slack off and learn something useful for a change?