I need help in class

[22angie, LPN]

Ok I been in lpn school almost a month now and I got one instructor that don't give us information about whats going to be on the test. My class is Physical Assessment first test was on vital signs. First I miss my class friday so I think that was part of why I might have made what I made and the student I got notes from didn't tell me until monday that we would have a test on that and the test was tuesday, I know you cannot miss class but it was unavoidable. We have two books the book we used for this test was basic nursing by rosdahl after we took the test we could have used nursing skills and concepts by barbara timby. The instructor said we want need to used that but now since we question her on it she said we are to use independent time to go over things that she don't cover. Now she made us write out an outline of the chapter give us all 100 and tell us to study from that but the question didn't really go with the outline. My question is how do you outline a chapter and get all the information thats important and still have time or even understand the material because it seems to me even the ones that made the class still failed the highest score was an 85. I hope you understand my dilema because I really thought I know that test thought I atleast pass it. Out of 29 students 6 students pass the test. I would like to thank you in advance for your replies. THANKS AND GOOD LUCK IN YOUR CLASS.:angryfire

[lisaBawesome]

at the end of the ch does it have an outline or objectives? bc if it does, ive noticed with my instructors, thats where the majority of the questions are comin from. i wouldnt "read", the txts are too boring, just skim through each heading, and if there are lists, like bulllets read those, thts what i do, and i got a high 80 in my first semester of nursing.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

first of all, whenever you miss a class, try when possible to get in touch with the instructor to get a run down of anything important that you might have missed. something that you will learn as a nurse is to get information directly from patients when possible, not from second or third hand sources.

secondly, don't be afraid to develop a cordial relationship with your instructors. nursing school instructors are not like high school teachers. you cannot think of them or be afraid of them as authority figures. they are mentors who are showing you how to become professionals in a career. someday you may very well find yourself working next to them as equal colleagues. you do owe them respect, but you are not slaves bound to them as if they were your masters.

third, i've been a student many times over my lifetime (i'm now 58). i recognize that when your instructor tells you that you are to use independent time to go over things that she doesn't cover in class and to outline a chapter of your textbook that she is trying to give you study methods. but, they are not the only ones. there are others. what i know from my many years as a student is that:

• it is very true that you do have to use independent time to study. but it should be things that you want to clarify that an instructor discussed in class, not necessarily things that the instructor didn't have time to cover in class. is it fair? no. should we stamp our feet and complain? why waste the time? it isn't going to get the instructor to change their method of teaching. the final line is that if you don't study on your own, you'll get a crummy grade. the truth is this is a crummy instructor. you can get help on allnurses for subjects that you need help with.
  
• with higher levels of education students are expected to do more independent study. but the reason for this is because they are specializing and the professors can't tailor the lectures to the specialized needs of each and every one of their students. they do get individual counseling and advice in one-on-one regular sessions with their professors. however, by the time students get into these master and phd programs they know what they are in for and are prepared for it.
  
• outlining works for some people; i sometimes outlined chapters of my textbooks up until the first test. however, i found it to be rather time consuming. if the first test did not cover much information that came from the textbook i stopped outlining. the point of outlining is to break down all the information in the chapter into component parts so that it is understandable. that is why outlining is so time consuming. if that didn't happen for you, then you are not outlining correctly.

there are a number of sticky threads on the student forums with lots of information to help students. you should become familiar with the various sticky threads and the information and weblinks that are posted on them on the nursing student assistance forum (https://allnurses.com/forums/f205/) and the general nursing student discussion forum (https://allnurses.com/forums/f50/). when you go onto those forums you will see:

sticky: check here first--sticky threads of ongoing interest located here

listed first. click on that to get a list of the sticky threads on that forum. there is a lot of help listed on those threads.

in particular, there is a thread on assessment and some of the links have videos. you will want to go to these web sites as part of your independent study of physical assessment. please take some time to check these out:

• https://allnurses.com/forums/f205/health-assessment-resources-techniques-forms-145091.html - health assessment resources, techniques, and forms (in nursing student assistance forum)
  • http://medicine.ucsd.edu/clinicalmed/introduction.htm
    
  • http://www.meddean.luc.edu/lumen/meded/medicine/pulmonar/pd/contents.htm

here are some of the weblinks that have study methods from one of the study threads:

• http://www.studygs.net/ - study guides and strategies
  
• http://www.accd.edu/sac/history/keller/accditg/ssindex.htm - strategies for success
  
• http://www.howtostudy.org/
  
• memory techniques:
  
  • http://www.accd.edu/sac/history/keller/accditg/ssmt.htm
    
    
  • http://www.psywww.com/mtsite/memory.html
    
    
  • http://www.mindtools.com/memory.html
    
    
  • http://www.academictips.org/memory/index.html

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

Most instructors have a conference time where students can make appointments to review material, but be sure you come with good questions and show that you have read the material. In fact, you should have questions that clarify confusing portions of the read material in the textbooks. It is true, you have to study independently. It takes a great deal of time to study and each person has to discover the method that works best for them.

I also suggest that if your textbook has a study guide to purchase it, even if it iwas not recommended that you obtain it or that it costs a bit more. Most will cover the majority of the most important points of the chapters. Some study guides are better than others, but it is like having a homework assignment and it forces you to read and obtain the answers you need.

[22angie, LPN]

:yeah:Hi I just wanted to update you on my progress I took my 2nd Anatomy test Tuesday and I got a 87 so I pass I change how I was studying Sunday. Well I was doing the flash cards but I wasn't recalling them good enough so I wrote my notes down 7 times each. I know thats a lot of writing but that seem to have work and I have a test next Tuesday so we will see how it goes I already started writing my notes 7 times.:clpty:I thank all of you for your help may god bless you.

[jckmechal]

I am really appreciate with u.

[Thujone]

Sentence structure, grammar... too hard to read.