I need to do better on my nursing exams, PLEASE HELP!

[clairebelle]

I am in my first semester of nursing school and study quite a bit. I have given up a social life and spend most of my time in my books, on my computer taking practice tests, and in study groups. I have taken two exams already and have not passed them. You must make an 80 or above to pass, if not you fail the exam. The only grades we get are our exams, and there are 8 total.

Our exams are on the computer and are 50 questions. We given an hour and 15 minutes and I never have time to look back over my exam. The timing is not agreeing with me.

I have a Bachelor's degree and have always made god grades. So I am baffled. I knew nursing school would not be easy but I am bending over backwards only to see discouraging results. I am schocked, freaking out and need advice and help! Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks so much.

[ag11]

Get an Nclex book and start doing questions galore after you finish all of your readings. It will help you gain and apply the critical thinking needed in order to answer the questions correctly...Try Mosbys, Lipincott, and Saunders....good luck!

[tokidokifantasy]

Yeah, the first exam of the first semester is always the easiest. I studied a lot on it, and thought I would do well on the test, and I was wrong. the way the test was worded, and when you have more than one answer that is correct, you became puzzled. I thought I rationalize the correct way, but it was not the NURSING way. Think Nursing process.... the first test I got a B and I was pretty disappointed, since I really studied. Then for the second test, I bought fundamental success test and I went through a lot of questions and made sure I got used to the style and utilized their test taking strategy and I aced the test. =) so it can be done, if you have the will. First step you have to do is identify what problems cause you to fail, for me, it was erasing my answer from right to wrong, over analyzing, reading into the questions, not understand the questions, and not being able to break the sentence apart and identify what the question is. i solved all that after the first test, so it can be done!! good luck!

[OB-nurse2013, BSN, RN]

Just wanted to updat everyone....I did not get an A but an A- on my second exam and was very happy! Hooray live and learn right

[Pmusicinhamony]

fundamentals success is great..nclex 4000 CD...test success.fundamentals reviews and rationales.also i would make index cards of important material go through them first then do test questions. Go to the teachers and see if maybe they can pin point where you are going wrong in the test. like are you having trouble applying the info..are you not understanding something..are u having trouble doin nursing school style questions...and if all else fails try and get a tutor someone who can help u pin point your weak point help you work throuhg them and do better..i tutor another student who i found out has trouble takin test questions so we work on how to take them and she has done much better!

[Anne36, LPN]

iluvpatho, congrats on your A-, Im sorry I forgot if you are going to OCC? Im only in Pharmacology so far and am getting an A, but Im freaked out about Fundamentals.

[OB-nurse2013, BSN, RN]

Hi Anne36! No Im at Madonna University :) I have Health Assessment and Fundamentals right now. How is your program going? Crazy busy, mine is:uhoh3:

[CuriousMe]

as evidence of different learning styles....i need to learn how things are applied to make sense of it.

i also need the flesh to understand it all...the more detail the better. the details help me to make sense of the whole and allow me to put it in a context...if i was just given the bare bones, and had to wait for them to flesh it out...well, it would frustrate the heck out of me.

the way i approach it, is my pre-lecture reading is my bare bones, the the lecture fleshes it out. there's not enough time for them to lecture on every topic we need to learn....so i'm responsible for the those bare bones.

^^ this. in. the. end!! stop trying to teach it that way in the beginning! it's grossly unfair to students to expect them to apply a concept until they thoroughly understand it. instructors don't take an accounting i student and make them try to pass the cpa exam questions, do they?

learn first, then apply. to teach it any other way is just setting the students up to fail. it's not good teaching. it's stupid women-think, again. can't organize, can't streamline it, can't remember to say what the key points are, out of all that blathering. if this stuff is indeed a system, then it has a stupid-simple work process and decision tree for the beginner, and then after they learn that rudimentary thing, then you start fleshing it in and teaching about more than one way to do this or that, or more than one thing to consider. please make some sense of your "system" before you stand up to teach it, you stupid women instructors! students don't learn by osmosis. if this is a beginner class, be sure to emphasis exactly what you want them to learn from each lecture. i feel like this is all just one big game of keep-away: "there is a message someplace in all of this 4 hours of talking i am going to do, but you'll have to figure out for yourself what is is, haha!"

there, i am off my soap box. if i manage to learn anything textbook in nursing i, it will be because i taught it to myself, not because the curriculum and the teaching tools are well designed.

original post: get the study guide that goes with your textbook. most of these instructors will pull questions almost straight from that if the school didn't suggest or require your to buy the study guide, i'd almost bet that their test questions are running very close to those in the study guide.

[CrazierThanYou]

I'm in my second semester. So far, I am doing better than the rest of the class. People are always asking me "What are you doing to do so well on the tests?" All I can say is that I read the chapters. I don't read them over and over but I read them once and I consciously THINK about what I'm reading. I have to force myself to do it.

Also, I agree with whoever said that one mistake is focusing on facts like in A & P or something. One woman in my class is failing miserably. I was listening to her go over her (time consuming) notecards before the last exam. Her notes were focused on definitions and such.

I have the reviews and rationales book but I'm not sure how helpful it is. I also have Fundamentals Success and I didn't find it terribly helpful either. Someone suggested study guides. I don't know what book you're using but I know that the Potter and Perry study guide was only a guide to what was NOT on the test. I didn't buy the med-surg study guide so I can't speak to that one.

Try doing a lot of NCLEX questions and read the rationales. That has helped me to get used to the style of questioning and to understand what the question is REALLY asking.

Good luck!

[TheCareerStudent]

Hi Clairebelle,

I hope I can be of some help. I am in an accelerated ADN program and a lot of my fellow classmates are struggling with our first mod. I am one of 3-ish people out of 20 that are doing extremely well and not struggling, I am not bragging, but I will tell you how I do things and hopefully it helps you. I have a bachelors in another field so I have been in college for awhile and it took me quite some time to figure out what works best for me, so hang in there.

I always read my chapters before class, I get a good general idea of what is going on an make flash cards, write notes, and/or use my study guide. When I go to class I am actively listening to the lecture because I have that general idea of what is going on. I highlight what my professor touches on in my book as we go. I know that she will test on what she lectures, but since I read the chapter I am okay on other concepts that help my knowledge base.

We test every day since we are a 5 week accelerated school, so I have to stay one step ahead at all times. Big key, stay ahead of the game.

To prepare for tests I review the lectures online and go to the website in my text book to take practice tests and whatever else they have on there. I also go over anything our professor posts to help us review.

I never stay up late studying because if I do not sleep I will bomb the tests. I eat well, including a full breakfast and one cup of coffee every morning. I try to get to the gym too. I do not cram for tests because it causes anxiety and that is an ugly thing with test taking.

So far this has worked for me, my last degree I had a 3.5 which I guess is okay. This time around I am getting near perfect grades on all my tests. My situation is helpful because I do not work, it is just me and my hubby, we have no kids, and I have a home office. This is not realistic for everyone but I hope it at least helps someone.

Also I do not complain. I stay away from the complainers in my class, I am one of the only people who stays positive. I find this is helpful. I also do not get involved with the cliques or gossip. I am at school to get a career not to make a million friends and have people to drink with on Friday night. I am dedicating my life to this school and it is paying off, but I am making big sacrifices in my personal life to do it. If I make one or two good friends along the way then that is just a bonus.

[TheCareerStudent]

^^

Original Post: Get the study guide that goes with your textbook. Most of these instructors will pull questions almost straight from that IF the school didn't suggest or require your to buy the study guide, I'd almost bet that their test questions are running very close to those in the study guide.

Very true, this is where our professor pulls 50% of her test questions from. Also the text book websites pre and post tests, which make up the other 50%.

[EarthhAngel2013]

Ok so for my school, I bombed my Skills course by one point. I wasn't doing what so many others are. I got the Kaplan NCLEX book, which our instructors swear by, and several others Exam Cram, NCLEX 4000 software, and all the CDS that come with the books. I read my chapter once. (Oh and if there are several chapters from different book, I only read the chapters pertaining to it out of my Fundamentals book. They're all saying the same thing anyways.) Once I have a general idea I take as many possible questions for NCLEX as I can. Their ultimate goal, is to get us to be able to pass NCLEX! So this way you are studying for it, and the instructors map out their tests the same way the NCLEX test maker's do. Every one else seems to have done really well, so I am going to try this now. I am taking Pathophys. so I can get back to taking Nursing classes, and actually getting the Kaplan NCLEX book and reading Chs. 1-5 was one of the stipulations I had to do. It is helping me tremendously with this class, I am still only pulling a C, but at least it is passing....

Hope this helps.

Caitlyn

[kvasnakcutie]

I am in the same boat. I go to Nursing school in Denver and the grading scale here is a 78% or better. I was trying notecards and that didn't help. Then it clicked, these are NOT pre-req classes. Before the program everything was easy to slap on a notecard and run through a few times. Now, we need to stop cramming all the little petty stuff into our heads. I have solely been going through the PP's and taking out all the crap. Then I go through and type out all the important stuff, print it out and read, re-read it, and re-read it again. Till I have it. I have improved my grades, and hopefully won't fail anything this quarter. I hope that this helps, if not, I wish you luck.