Failed not sure what to do next

Twiggi · Dec 12, 2011

Hello,

I am also a practical nursing student in my first semester. I wanted to say that I am sorry and I have nearly been in your shoes before. I cried and cried for days and it was an awful experience.

There is a girl in my program who has also been failed out. She failed her clinical portion, from what I gather handing in an assignment late. I feel that the teacher was making an example out of her. On one hand you need to be accountable but I also know that myself and others are not always the perfect students we ought to be.

I know in our first semester that we have done clinical in a long term care facility. If you have done the same have you enjoyed it? Is nursing for you? I -know- that nursing is for me.

When you answered that, and if you know that nursing is for you.. There's only one thing you can do. Try again.

I wish you the best of luck. If you'd like to give us details I would be more than willing to see if there are any suggestions I can give you. If you need to vent feel free, I understand how much this sucks.

mzrainydayz, BSN, RN · Dec 12, 2011

Sorry that you didn't make it. Been there done that, know how you feel. First, I would like to say is that you will have to figure out what went wrong? Because you don't want to go back and makae the same mistakes twice. You live, learn and move on. If it is your passion, then I say don't give up. Nursing test are hard, they require critical thinking. The way you studied in A&P is not going to cut it. I basically owned up to my mistakes, and I am now about to reapply to my schools ADN program next year, because I have now learned how to study and pass nursing school test. Good luck and keep on if nursing is your passion. :)

ToiyaT · Dec 13, 2011

Thanx for the advice... i'm going back and do it again because I really loved learning about the nursing process, skills, and laws. I just have to find a new way of studying... right now i'm trying to find audio textbooks, maybe that will help me out.

msdeniece · Dec 13, 2011

Hi, I know how you're feeling right now. I failed my first semester...found out today. I failed my second exam and in order for me to have passed the lecture part of the class, I needed to make an 81 today on the final. Well, I made a 70. I've cried all day and thought about giving up. Nursing is my passion so I refuse to do that. I submitted my readmission form already and pray that I can get a seat in the next class which starts Jan 9, 2012. Don't give up, keep pushing. We will all get through this.

Twiggi · Dec 14, 2011

Good for you two. You are not the only ones either, there are multiple readmits in my program.

You will make it- just keep your head up.

In regards to helping you learn Toiya, I have an iPhone and sometimes it helped me to tape the lectures. I am auditorial/linguistic and I would write notes out into my own words. That helped me. In anatomy, sometimes it was necessary to slowly draw diagrams. Try your best to attend every class and clinical. As well you will have to review content several times in order to learn it.. Not just once. Just a few tips you may or may not be aware of.

One more thing you may want to consider is taking advantage of your college's learning resources. It helps more students than you know.

You are here on this website demonstrating that you are drawn to this practice.. Good for you. I look forward to hearing from you guys succeeding down the line =]

Fina11yKym · Dec 30, 2011

I Just wanted to tell you to DONT GIVE UP! I barely passed my first semester of LPN school. we needed an 80, I got an 80.5 , then when second semester came I FAILED. I was in your shoes. and I thought I would give up on my dream. *But* I decided to reapply...waiting for almost a year is really difficult..but it was so worth it! Second time around I made a B in Med Surge and successfully passed to the third semester where I got an A in Trends and an B in OB.Psych and Peds. *YOU CAN DO IT!!!!* I think the thing that helped me the most is that I bought a critical thinking book and Saunders book that was hot to successfully complete nursing school or being successful in nursing school. It has a purple cover and I got it off Amazon. It helped ALOT! =) *I hope you continue your dream!*

Best Wishes!

speedyLVN · Dec 31, 2011

agree,dont give up,if this is what you truly at heart want to do, you're not alone in this battle, even though you feel you are. stand back and re-evaluate & be honest, ask yourself, did i allow enough study time, did i ask for help when i didn't understand material, what was it i had difficulties with? understanding the reading? critical thinking? following thru with assign? ask yourself what kind of learning will help you stay commited, a group study, alone study, or combo? how about case studies, they help you evaluate all areas of study, and ties everything together,i love those. what about skills lab, do you need extra practice, does your college program have a tutor that can help you break down small stategies that can help you recognize your thought process and stragties that would help you. ask yourself questions when you study, what are they asking for, what shld i be able to recognize at this point as an LVN, do i need to be teaching, do i know what this lab means and what do i look for when its too low or high, what is a se of a medicine or s/s of toxicity of a med. when you re-evaluate, fix what you can, and be committed to the plan. i failed a written skills test by 1 point in the 1st semester of RN, i felt like such a failure, that i let not only myself down, but my family too, they also gave up so much for me to cont school. i have 2 boys, 13 & 11,& married. but what my family tuaght me is that you never give up on your dreams. you keep going. and they are always proud regardless, you tried you gave all and thats what matters most, and keep going, reapply and go on, and most IMPORTANT--ask for help when you need it, thats what family and friends are for, youll return the favor one day or they may owe you a few. set aside time for yourself to unwind and refocus. when you can recognize where the issue is and can take steps to fix it, you will see a difference. i struggled with confidence, i would cont. check the worn ans even though i knew the rt one, id read the other ans and convinve myself i was wrong, i consultd a tutor with our school, but i have to retrain my thinking, and w/commitment it's getting better, i am rapply in aug , and am hoping to show my instructor that i can do it regardless of what she thinks!!! if you plan on reapplying, cont to study the materials from your books, labs, cd's that come with the book, they are an excellant study source, when you ans the quest, they show you the type of quest it is, like assess, teaching, etc, and it gives rationales for the answer, which in time will help you recognize questions and what they are asking. ask your friends that are still in the program to study with them, when you go back you will be extra prepared, and confident and ready, and will be at the top of your class!!! good luck and dont give up! keep us posted......heads up to a New Year...cheers

Still Standing · Jan 1, 2012

You are definitely not alone, I felt the same way too, I had to drop out the program because I wasn't passing it was heart breaking. But It took me a long time to get there and I made a lot of sacrifices to get to that point. I sat down and realized where I went wrong and what I need to do to make it right. I reapplied for Fall 2012. In the meantime I am finding a better way for me to study and retain information, and test taking skills. If this is your dream don't give up, no matter how long it takes for you to get there.

RNfor918 · Jan 2, 2012

I would suggest meeting with primary instructor to go over your semester with them. Sit down with them and see what went wrong, and where your strengths were. Determine if what happened is fixable. I know somebody who failed their first semester of nursing school, but past then next 3 in an RN program. They just needed to learn how to take the kind of tests that are given in nursing school- critical thinking based. However, sometimes nursing isn't for everybody, and that doesn't make you a bad person. Find out what you liked about nursing and focus on your strengths to carry that over to a realistic career. If you do give it a 2nd go, something I did in nursing school that I'd highly suggest is meeting with your instructor after each exam to review how it went. It is not only a great review of the material (and I also noticed that many questions from the major exams also showed up on our final), but really shows you what kind of a test taker you are. When you find out how you test, you can determine how to best remediate and focus on answering questions better as your semester goes along. Again, I would highly suggest asking your primary instructor for a meeting to sit down and determine how to proceed. Don't give up or feel discouraged. You are in school because you don't know it all yet :) Failing a semester doesn't mean you won't make it, but it does mean you need to work at pinpointing your struggles so you can best fix them

saa2827 · Jan 7, 2012

Hi all,

I know hows some of you feel. I have been in school for the last 4 years, 12 semesters strait. This past fall I started my first set of BSN clinicals. I nearly lost my mother due to multiple complications post CABG x4 (Quadruple heart bypass). I am 33 and already a non traditional college student, was diagnosed with ADD and Panic disorder in June of 2010. I also was having trouble understanding the questions on the tests. I could take an Nclex practice exam and do extremely well with out any higher level nursing skills but I couldn't pass their tests. I was told I over analyzed the questions but in the same breath she tells me I do not possess critical thinking skills. That being said, I asked my instructors what to do, should I drop? Their response was ," no don't you dare drop we will help you!" Yeah well that didn't happen. I ended up failing 2 classes with F's and one with a high D. Out of 46 college classes I only made 3 C's and now these F's and D. Well i was told to appeal and in my appeal explain everything.... Surly they new what was going on because 2 of my instructors are on the appeals board. I was denied and basically told I was just a number. the way I felt was, "Oh we are going to take the $50,00.00 you spent on coming to school, but you failed.. pick something else to do with your life cause your not good enough to be a nurse!

During my clinicals, I felt like I was teaching my fellow students. Many of them would complain about changing a pt.s bed or cleaning a pt after a bowel movement and so on. But I looked at it as my duty. I was fortunate to do my clinicals at an extended stay hospital were I was able to learn many many things other nursing student did not. My Clinical instructor, a graduate of Colombia University with a MSN, pulled me aside when she found out I failed and asked me a question. She said, " Did you not realize throughout the semester that I gave you the most complicated and difficult patients?" I said no Ma'am I did not know that.. She said, "The reason I did was because I knew you could handle it and you did with no help from anyone nor did I hear you once complain. I have never had a student in my 15 years as an instructor, that I trusted more and believed in as much as I do you!" I was dumbfounded. She continued to tell me that regardless of what happened and what the other instructor told me, that I better not give up on being a nurse because that is who i am suppose to be.

I have wanted nothing more that to be a Nurse. I resigned as a sheriff deputy to pursue my dream of being a nurse, but with all that said, every university in the state of Louisiana that I know of will not take nursing students into a BSN program if the failed more than one course. I have contacted and visited two school who turned me down 5 min after walking in. I was told well why don't you go to med school and be a Physician's Assistant. Well 1) due to the F's and D my GPA has dropped from a 3.42 to a 2.811. 2) I am a care giver, Dr.'s are great and most are good at what they do but it is the Nurses that take care of the pt not the Dr. so that is not what I want to do. I was recently told about the LPN to ASN (RN) program. to which I could transfer to a BSN program after that and with the credits I have now many would transfer. But I am worried that if I do that, will they take me into a BSN program later considering they wont accept me now.

I am sorry I vented. I want nothing more than to be a nurse. I feel so cheated and discouraged and even though I know differently, the voice from that one instructor telling me that I am not smart enough to be a nurse still lingers in my thoughts. I think its sad that we are taught that we have to have empathy and compassion for others but yet the same ones teaching it do not practice what they preach.

So I am going to call the schools that have the LPN to RN programs and RN to BSN programs and see what they say on Monday. Wish me luck and thank you for allowing me to vent. I wish much luck to anyone who has been through what I have because it can truly shake one's spirit.

Thanks Scott~