I just failed an exam. need motivation?

[sashaq]

Hello,

I am in my final semester in nursing school. I just took my third exam yesterday and received a 76%. My spirits are crushed and I'm honestly not motivated anymore. I really need to get motivated again, I hate this feeling of trying to push myself to study and pass my other exams. I did well on the previous two exams, 88, 93. I'm just really down about the fact that my grade went from a 90 to an 85. We have two more exams and then the hesi. I really need my grade to be as high as possible before the Hesi. I cannot depend on the Hesi to help keep my grade above an 80 and pass the class. And I cannot be at an 80, going into the hesi, this will just freak me out knowing that I have to get a really good score on the hesi in order to pass. I'm having really bad anxiety now. and I think I really just need someone to talk to. we took a practice hesi three weeks ago and I scored the third highest in the class, but really you never know with these exams. What if I don't do as well on the real one. I think failing an exam really change the positive attitude that I had in the beginning of the semester, now Im just worried. I'm so scared for these next two weeks. Seems, like her exam are getting harder because i studied the same way like I did for the other two, but somehow did not pass. ughhh!

[Nightmaren, BSN, RN]

So basically, from what you have written so far, it's not the end of the world yet. You aren't failing the class or fighting an uphill battle. All you got was a setback -- that's fine! You'll get tons of em when working shifts as a nurse.

Do you see how I kind of focused on one aspect of the paragraph you typed above? It's because you are letting your thoughts run wild into a negative spiral! I know that a bad grade can often lead to a domino effect of sorts in nursing school, but there is no indication yet that any of that will happen so don't freak yourself out by thinking of it!

I'm here to support you, friend. Truth be told, I used to think like that too until one of my friends would tell me to stop and breathe. I think that's exactly what you need to do.

Stop. Breathe.

...and take a step back from the situation. These things happen -- who hasn't hit a bump in nursing school? Heck, you have so many excellent nurses who failed classes in nursing school back in the day! The most important part is that, as I gather, you can still recover from it. I know you can do it -- you just aren't feeling it right now because you've had the wind knocked out of you.

So I want you to step back, close the books, and do something fun. I'm not telling you to do this every day -- just take a couple hours and do it. Take a moment, grab a friend, and do something fun like going to the movies. I hear the Kingsman movie was pretty funny. Distance yourself knowing that these tests do not define you. Distance yourself, and come back with a renewed attitude that you can overcome this obstacle. It's not over till it's over.

All the best.