How important is a 4.0 once you are in nursing school?

thomasphan · May 17, 2012

I think high GPA helps you stand out among new grads when you search for jobs since most of new grads have limited experience.

pecanpies · May 17, 2012

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?

I'm not sure why you're thinking of this as an either/or situation. A high GPA is reflective of someone with an advanced level of comprehension and understanding of the material. You cannot simply memorize loads of information and do well on nursing exams. The majority of questions on exams (and on NCLEX) will require you to apply your knowledge or analyze a situation, not just pull up a fact from memory. It baffles me that people equate having a 4.0 with not learning anything "useful."

DarkLotus · May 17, 2012

While nursing school tests are completely different and not about regurgitating facts, it's possible for a pre-req class to still be based on memorizing. My pathophys class certainly was that way. (Yes,I needed to understand processes, but even that was still just remembering/understanding facts rather than the crazy application questions where you're choosing the BEST answer out of multiple good/reasonable answers.)

This is the way my patho class is too. The instructor states the answers are all in the pdf notes so you don't need to ask me questions that are other material in the text, etc. It's not a nursing course at my school, there are health science majors and other students in the class too. I understand the professor knows what is most important for us to learn. However I feel that I could either explore the material until I understand it and can explain it to someone else or I could just copy the notes till I know them (and what would be on the test). All of the questions are multiple choice but there is only one right answer, not several correct ones with a best choice.

DarkLotus · May 17, 2012

I'm not sure why you're thinking of this as an either/or situation. A high GPA is reflective of someone with an advanced level of comprehension and understanding of the material. You cannot simply memorize loads of information and do well on nursing exams. The majority of questions on exams (and on NCLEX) will require you to apply your knowledge or analyze a situation, not just pull up a fact from memory. It baffles me that people equate having a 4.0 with not learning anything "useful."

I am only using that analogy for this particular course. The quiz does not have NCLEX style questions. They are multiple choice questions or fill in the blank questions with only one right answer directly quoting the professors notes. So If a fill in the blank answer is not her exact phrase it is wrong. I feel like the only way to get 100 on those types of tests is to memorize the lecture notes. Instead of doing that I am going to try to understand the material by using the textbook and the accompanying web site. I do not equate having a 4.0 with not learning anything useful. Instead of stressing about memorizing exact notes to get a high grade I would like to learn how the body responds to each stressor and why. I guess my original post was taken a bit out of context.

MyMystudentRN · May 17, 2012

i get what you are saying i'd rather know the how and why of the human body instead of memorizing it. you can only memorize so much after you take the test most of the information you memorized is long gone and you cant pull anything out of your brain to save the life of you, you just wont remember at least thats how it was for me when i memorized things. i just thought it was way better to actually know the stuff because it'll only help in the long run

IndyElmer · May 17, 2012

Can anyone tell me how to make a new post??? I cant find it anywhere and its making me so freakin mad!....

Choose the right "main forum" (e.g. Students, U.S., etc.)

Choose the right "subforum" (e.g. pre-nursing, nursing student assistance, FL nursing programs, etc.)

At the top of the subforum, there is a CREATE NEW TOPIC button.

Songbird,RN · May 17, 2012

As a job applicant, I never had anyone ask what my grade point average was? I am proud of it, but no one has ever asked.

thomasphan · May 17, 2012

As a job applicant, I never had anyone ask what my grade point average was? I am proud of it, but no one has ever asked.

Maybe because it already shows up on your resume. High GPA does have benefit.

Patti_RN · May 17, 2012

Even though I don't focus on grades, there is a correlation between grades and understanding the information. Some people have text anxiety, others (like me) are practiced test takers and can sometimes pick out the right answer without knowing the subject. But, the reason grading systems endure is because, overall, there is a strong link between grades and subject mastery. And, although you can be lucky sometimes and pick the right answer when you truly don't know what the right answer is, you typically can't do so consistently over the years. That's why some people have a bad test, a bad course, or a maybe a bad semester, but rarely a bad lifetime history of choosing the wrong answers (unless they haven't mastered any of the subjects).

Generally, if you're getting close to a 4.0 you understand the material... if your grades hover around a 2.0 you're probably not really grasping the information. Sometimes this is reflected in a person's ability to perform their job, other times it's not. They've never developed a test that really predicts a person's ability to problem solve, think 'on their feet', or make good decisions in a clinical setting as opposed to a classroom setting. From my own nursing school experience, I saw people who did very well in the classroom but had terrible clinical skills, and I saw the exact opposite, as well. And, naturally, those who have high GPAs will claim their grades truly reflect their abilities, and those with low GPAs will believe they are the ones who struggle in the classroom but are excellent on the floor.

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · May 18, 2012

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?

Just because someone earns a 4.0 does not mean that they haven't learned anything "useful."

If you want to go to grad school, just do the absolute best you can. Really, what else can you do but your best? Grades are certainly not everything, but frankly, they are important.

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · May 18, 2012

As a job applicant, I never had anyone ask what my grade point average was? I am proud of it, but no one has ever asked.

When I graduated from nursing school, I applied to several new grad critical care internships. They all had minimum GPA requirements (lowest one was 3.5), so grades ABSOLUTELY impacted my future. Jobs after that didn't give a rat's patoot about GPA.