How many more times....

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How many times or programs did it take for you to get your BSN? I just failed my fundamentals exam 1, and granted I didn't read all the chapters, I'm trying to implement that, but we just took our first med dosage quiz (50 questions), and I got a 36.14 out of 50, but the instructor has to go through it because the computer things we made mistakes, so he has to manually grade it. 2 people got a 45 out of 50 out of 47 students. Some got the same-ish score as me, some got a little higher than that around early 40s to 43 out of 50. I have a med pass off check in skills lab, we don't know if we passed the quiz except those who got 45 out of 50, and the med pass off check is a lot of information. I don't feel like I'm ready.

Our class has 3 exams. Minimum is 75%. I have a feeling nursing was either not for me, or I'm going to be spending a majority of my life trying to get through a program in different states and that's something I really don't want to go through.

How many programs did it take you to finally get what you wanted? What did you do when you failed an exam? Our instructors use power points and this is my second semester, so that's what they use to instruct.

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If you don't do the required reading for the test, I doubt any nursing program will work for you. Maybe you need to change your study strategy? How much med math homework did you do before your test? In my program we did 14 chapters worth of med math homework before our dosage calculation test. You will have to put in a lot of work if you want to get through any nursing program, there is no way around it.

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25 minutes ago, Triplepoint said:

If you don't do the required reading for the test, I doubt any nursing program will work for you. Maybe you need to change your study strategy? How much med math homework did you do before your test? In my program we did 14 chapters worth of med math homework before our dosage calculation test. You will have to put in a lot of work if you want to get through any nursing program, there is no way around it.

I've known now to prepare reading more. I didn't realize it was so important for fundamentals or nursing school. My CNA school was terrible. The books didn't match the exams. We didn't know anything about critical thinking and our instructor used chicken scratch notes that weren't legible. I wish I knew before hand how important reading REALLY is. I think we had about 15 chapters to read for fundamentals lecture. Med math was Ch. 1-5, and then 9 and 10, but we were tested on I think Ch. 1-5. Our instructor asks really hard questions.

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You should do math dose calculations until you are sick of them and could do them in your sleep. At my program we have one math exam at the start of each quarter and in order to pass you must get 100%

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It's easy to get discouraged by the first exam. I don't think I passed my first fundamentals exam (our minimum is a 77%) but I finished that semester with A's and B's. I'm now 3/4 of the way done with my junior year.

Re-evaluate your study techniques and plan to do better next time. Nursing school isn't easy for many people. You have to adapt and overcome.

Print out the powerpoints and skim the chapters before class. During class, add notes to the powerpoints. Then review the powerpoints. Do lots of practice questions (ones in the back of the book, UWorld, a practice question book, whatever.) Make flashcards if that helps you.

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I'll be honest with you just for the sake of it even though its embarrassing for me.

I am in my first semester. I have been doing great with clinicals and labs, fundies I am just getting by but that's BECAUSE of med surg 1. I literally pour every ounce of focus that I can into it because my first exam I did AWFUL. Like not even regular school passing (56%) it knocked me on my butt I will tell you that because I REALLY did devote so sooooo much time to it and did billions of practice questions. The second test I focused more on reading and making my own notes along with the lecture notes. I improved but still got a 70%. I felt SO discouraged. I questioned EVERY THING for a long time but I have worked SO hard to get where I am, as I'm sure you have. We arent stupid if we made it into the program. You are at a point where you need to decide if this is what you truly want and KEEP going. The third exam I did the study guide, I read and highlighted in chapters, I did practice questions, my friend and I randomly texted questions to eachother and went through rationales. I really took my time taking the test. I went back through and made sure I REALLY READ what the questions were asking and I ended getting an 82% on that one. My school is the same as yours, 75 staying alive. So right now I have a 70 in that class BUT the point is I decided I wanted it, decided I was IN and kept trying to evolve and adapt my study habits to help me get there.

Nursing school isn't easy, it isn't anything that is going to be given to us or else EVERYONE would be doing it and passing. It's okay to have your down moments, that's absolutely needed some times but if you are IN THIS, dust off and keep going. Do not stop and do not doom yourself by thinking you are too stupid to do this. You're not, or you wouldnt be here to begin with. Best of luck to you.

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And also, so what if you end up retaking a class. If that's what you need to TRULY grasp the content then so be it. You cant keep moving on if you arent grasping the foundation.

Swear that's my last thought on this LOL

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Keep your head up! Nursing school is hard its not you. Try a new study habit. Use Quizlet. Type up your class notes, but also make sure that you have balance in your life. If your not taking care of yourself, there's no way that you can expect to do well and handle the stress in life.

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On 3/5/2020 at 11:26 PM, Triplepoint said:

If you don't do the required reading for the test, I doubt any nursing program will work for you.

Never opened my books once and I'm graduating next week. Everyone learns differently. I can get basic information from reading, but I can't learn an entire subject from a book. Success in nursing school isn't about how much you read, it's about knowing how you learn and how to use that.

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On 3/5/2020 at 8:26 PM, Triplepoint said:

If you don't do the required reading for the test, I doubt any nursing program will work for you. Maybe you need to change your study strategy? How much med math homework did you do before your test? In my program we did 14 chapters worth of med math homework before our dosage calculation test. You will have to put in a lot of work if you want to get through any nursing program, there is no way around it.

This is a very late reply, but I eventually passed my test I think on my second attempt. I do have a question. I'm barely passing peds and some of our chapters are 50 pages long alone. The most I've seen so far. How do you read all of that? Word for word? Our teacher doesn't teach.

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3 hours ago, Beldar_the_Cenobite said:

This is a very late reply, but I eventually passed my test I think on my second attempt. I do have a question. I'm barely passing peds and some of our chapters are 50 pages long alone. The most I've seen so far. How do you read all of that? Word for word? Our teacher doesn't teach.

Does your book have an online code or anything?? Many of the books when you go to the sites in them, will have a key points available for each chapter. Does your teacher not lecture at all? How do they do their tests (like do they make them up themselves or go straight from the book?)

Or you could also look at the "main idea" pages at the end of each chapter too and see if you are grasping what it says you should understand by the end. Probably a lot of extra work but if it gets you through the end it will be worth it.

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22 hours ago, Kotylynne said:

Does your book have an online code or anything?? Many of the books when you go to the sites in them, will have a key points available for each chapter. Does your teacher not lecture at all? How do they do their tests (like do they make them up themselves or go straight from the book?)

Or you could also look at the "main idea" pages at the end of each chapter too and see if you are grasping what it says you should understand by the end. Probably a lot of extra work but if it gets you through the end it will be worth it.

She lectures online due to Covid, but it's not relevant to the content. Our first day she said, "I normally do not teach in class. What I do is I go around the classroom and I see if anyone has any questions to the chapters". She'll say things like "Let's talk about this", I think I even heard her say "I'm an A type personality". To me she sounds toxic and burnt out.

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