Made a B on first A&P exam and I am bummed!

[Trenata]

Another A&P post...

I made an 82 on my first A&P I exam...I have taken 5 quizzes and made all 100's and 1 lab and also made a 100, however they were all open book. The exam (closed book) covered cell biology, which I just took as a previous class with an A and the integument and tissues. I fully expected to get an A on this exam, which was probably the easiest. I studied my butt off and I am NOT kidding, I really studied very, very hard! I made sure to use all my learning styles (auditory and visual) and just made some dumb mistakes, but didn't fully know the answer to the questions I missed. I had 1 hour to answer 50 questions and thought I had answered well enough to make an A in 35-40 minutes, I even double checked my answers and knew that if I went longer I would have second guessed myself too much.

I know that most people go into A&P and bomb their first exam after reading peoples experiences here on allnurses. I feel like I bombed it, because I really need to make an A in this class to keep my GPA in a competitive range - right now I have a 3.5 from 15 years ago and now I need all A's in my classes to up it to a competitive GPA. I now have an 88 in the class, so I know I can bring it up. However, if my first exam was this low I am afraid of future exams where the material is less familiar. It is an accelerated 8 week online class, so I have to study like mad - all this new material. The professor said exams are closed book and reading notes or the text during the exam is cheating, so I didn't look anything up. I take a quiz after every chapter, do 1 or 2 labs every week. I only have less than 2 weeks to get the skeletal system down and take the exam and lab practical. IT IS INSANE AND I AM SCARED and just needed to vent. I have NO idea how I am going to get all this info down in time to make an A on the next 3 exams!

[Trenata]

I just looked over my exam again, and now I feel really stupid to realize I missed mostly biology questions and only 1 anatomy question. I just took biology and made a freakin A in that class!!! 95 in biology and all the questions I misses were from biology even though I read all the material over cell biology for this class too! Sorry just needed a vent, because I have been really bummed with my first exam grade all day knowing this was the easiest of all my future exams. All the upcoming material is completely NEW for me!

[meeep, BSN, RN]

What we think of as dumb mistakes are really just gaps in knowledge that become glaringingly clear come exam time. That being said, A&P is SO much information that you're bound to have gaps here and there, everyone does. All you can do is learn from it. Identify your weaknesses and do better next time. A B on one exam is not going to keep you from getting an A in the class. I have friends who had low C's on the first exam who now have A's, so there is hope!! :)

[queserasera, RN]

I have to ask, when did your class start if you just took your first test, are you taking it as a condensed course?

[Trenata]

It is an 8 week accelerated course and started a week and a half ago.

[doxielover304]

Wow, sounds a lot more difficult than my A&P class was so all power to you. I don't think an 82 is half bad to be honest. But maybe you should just study harder for the next ones. That's really the only advice I can think of. I know you said you really really studied, but you can ALWAYS study harder and more often. :) In the past, I've used index cards to write down important key points. I also usually look over the chapter several times after I read the chapter thoroughly. I do that to make sure I didn't miss any info. If you're reading a chapter out of the book, your brain can play tricks on you and it can make you think you read it entirely. But in fact, you very well could have missed a key aspect. I also highlight important stuff in my book so it makes it easier for me to find important facts. You could always ask your professor what she/he thinks you could do to help you do better next time. I hope I helped!!!! Good luck to you!!! Keep your head up cause having confidence is SO important. Tell yourself you KNOW you can do it. :)

[Trenata]

Thanks, I will take any advice I can get...LOL! Becuz I honestly do not know how I am going to improve my exam grade. I feel like I tried so hard and still barely made it beyond a C.