Lost 1/4 of our class to the math test in block 3!!

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I'm still in shock. The school is in shock. There were about 27 of us when we took our first math test during orientation for block three. Only five of us passed it. You get three chances, so on the second run, 12 people failed. They did the third run last Sat (I go to school fri/sat) and 6 people failed!! I"ve been in NS for over a year with these people! I'm just in shock, good friends now gone. One of the girls was due to get married next month, she has a Bachelors degree in accounting and failed it! One of our teachers just couldn't believe it, said it's never happened before. Just needed to vent!

3rd semester student here and i'm pretty sure we all passed with at least the 90% required. I don't think any student has ever been dropped from our program due to the math tests.

BUT this makes me think we are getting too easy of questions!

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Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.
I'm from the pre-calculator age and am more comfortable cross-multiplying, and adding in columns. I find calculators tedious and cumbersome. I agree, these days math students don't get enough practice doing math in their heads.

Basic math ability is inherited, imo. I have a son who is a math genius and it was evident before he was two years old. His kindergarten teacher put on his report card that he could count to 9,999 . He inherited it from his father's family, they were very mathematical.

While it may be "inherited", it generally has little to do with actual genetics and more to do with environment.

People who are "good at math", are generally that way because they have been required to practice, barred from routine use of calculators as crutches, and encouraged by family games/practices/traditions/education to work with numbers.

As far as mcg/kg/hr - that IS basic math in most nations, not calculus or trigonometry. If it was not learned in grade school, it has more to do with lagging educational standards in some schools/nations. Yes, it is good to use calculators to check work, or as rapid alternative. But if people would do more manual math growing up or in everyday life, these equations would not be that difficult.

As a cashier, I was required to write up sales tickets, add the totals, and calculate tax - then count change back. These days, the computerized register does it. The cashier has no clue how to make change if the system goes down.

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I agree, carol, mcg/kg/ hr is a cinch with 6th grade math. I was talking to my 6th grader today and she was telling me how to get a fraction out of a percentage. The example she gave was 16/20. I said that of course, you would convert that into how much over 100. And she told me, 'oh, that's not how we're doing it' and then went on to explain how to do it with a calculator! :angryfire It kind of p1ssed me off that they are teaching that first.

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Specializes in NICU.

That's tough. But honestly, as nurses we really need to be on top of our math in order to calculate doses correctly. If you miss calculate 1 dose you could kill your patient.

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We have lost something like 25-30% of our class and we are 1/2 way through or first term! It was like I looked around the class and was like, "where did everyone go?"

I think ALOT of the reason soooo many people drop out is because there is sooo many people who get into nursing for all the wrong reasons!

I hear people say ALL the time that nursing is good money, easy, quick education, lots of jobs.....and if you are ONLY getting into nursing for those reasons then you SHOULDNT be in nursing:angryfire As I see it those are just added bonuses;)

Also one of our instructors said that 50% of all nursing students drop out of school and then another 50% of the people that make it through school leave nursing in the first few years!

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I can relate to the people who failed the math test.. I do get to take the test over again next week, but it's embarassing. The last math class I had was Trig/Pre-calc, so there's no reason i don't understand this math. We ahve 3 times to take the test, and yeah i pretty much messed up on stupid mistakes, not putting the leading zero, or by just zipping through it. So hopefully I pass this next time when i take it.

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I don't think that everyone who fails out of nursing school went into it for the wrong reasons. Right now more than half of my class is in danger of flunking out. Not because they got into it for the wrong reason (at least not the ones that I have talked to) but because they aren't taking it seriously.

I am amazed when I speak to people in my cohort who absolutely refuse to believe that they will be dropped at the end of the semester if they do not get a B or better in calculations. Personally, that isn't even very much to ask for, if they can't get a B now then they will never be able to pass the test we have to take every semester and pass with a 90 for the rest of our program. It states what the minimum requirement is right in the handbook but time and time again people tell me that the professor is going to grade on a curve and that there is no way they will kick out half of the class if they all fail.

We shall see. :stone

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Specializes in Cardiac/Telemetry.
Happened at our school, also. year two. They were dropping like flies. It is the way of the Nursing School Beast!!

But honestly, if someone gets 3 chances, and still fails, there is either a problem with the teacher or the student. And all the rest of you passed....

I'm sure this is not everyone's experience because I am a second career nurse who had practically zero science or math background yet 100% determination, but my own personal experience was that:

NS is about weeding out people and seeing who will survive to make it to the finish line. To see who wants it bad enough.... I never thought of it that way when I started, but I was definitely thinking that way when I dragged myself across that finish line bloodied and beaten but with that NCLEX paper in hand and a big cheezy grin on my face like Gollum with the RING! "MY PRECIOUSSS!"

I really, really hope I am able to cross the finish line. I like the way you put it, and it just makes me really think about my priorities and my goals. :)

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Specializes in OBGYN, Neonatal.

Oh man that stinks! I've been in the same "group" pretty much since day one, which has been three years but for various reasons we have seperated, some failed and had to retake a course, I took a semester off to have my son, etc. so I'm graduating one semester behind and some of my "old" buddies are graduating with me. It is hard though to not be with the ones you have gotten used to especially if its a good group of people to get along with and help each other.

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sounds like gateway. we are losing them to that test like rats on a sinking ship. I am in block 3 traditional and we have lost 10 before the block started and will probably lose 5 more to the test.

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life would be easy if they had a med. calc. class, but there are none offered here. there was a review, but it was not good. the teacher was not up on her math skills so we only reviewed the very basics. wished I had not spent my money on it.

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Specializes in Medical/Surgical.

It baffles me that these schools don't offer a Nursing class related to the medical calculations. There's a reason that these people aren't getting it, it's because lack of teaching. I know there's a lot of people out there that need brushing up on their math skills, and need some assistance in doing so. With medical dosages being SO important in the healthcare field and can ultimately kill someone if a lethal dose is given, why isn't there anything being done about it?! I'm grateful that there was a continuing education couse offered at my school (not part of the nursing curriculum) and took it and learned SO much from it. Without it I'd be lost!

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