My first nursing school exam

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Specializes in HH, Med/surg- liver & kidney transplant, ortho, ++.

So my first exam is tomorrow. We are starting week 3 of the program. So far things have been really well. My first PQ (principle quiz) for lab I received a 100%. I hardly studied, I actually thought I would get around a 90 and was totally suprised when I saw the 100.

Anyways, don't know if many can answer this for me or not. I am just a little nervous about my first test tomorrow.

I have no idea if I have studied enough. I have gotten together with one of the other students to go over notes. She says it sounds like I have the material down pretty well. I feel like I have a basic understanding.

I have previous experience as a medical assistant and feel pretty confident about the test tomorrow, but then there are times where I feel like I am going to fail the test and fail right out of nursing school.

I spent most of my day studying yesterday, have read most of the readings. I keep looking at my notes and just don't want to do it any more. I don't know if it is because I feel like I know the material and I feel like I don't need to study it any more or if it is that I am just sick and tired of studying for the test.

I am all over the place right now. I suffer from anxiety and am on meds to control it on a daily basis plus xanax to help me if I am really in a bind. I find that it helps to take a half a dose before testing. I don't get frustrated and rush through my questions when I take it before testing. I know thats what I will do tomorrow, it has helped me quite a few times during test taking.

Maybe I just need someone to reassure me and tell me that everything is going to be ok and I am not going to fail out of nursing school. I don't know. I am just ranting on, kind of venting some frustrations. Sometimes talking about my frustrations and anxiety and getting feedback from others helps me. So I guess I am just looking for some words of encouragement from fellow student nurses and whoever else is out there listening and going through the same thing I am.

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You will be fine. Make sure you don't over study. If youwould like to know a few tricks here they are. As soon as you get the text put an X across the entire back of the test booklet (the entire page) this makes you smile and the anxiety drop. Next start with the last question and work forward to #1. Last if you are stumped circle the entire question with a huge circle and move on. Then come back to the circled question. I hope this helps out. Good Luck.

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Specializes in HH, Med/surg- liver & kidney transplant, ortho, ++.

I think I might just do that. I haven't really looked at much of my notes today. I am feeling pretty good right now. This is my first test so I feel that if I don't get that 75% i need (its actually average of all the tests that needs to be 75%) I will be ok. It will just tell me that I need to study a little harder. If I don't make that 75 I am sure I will at least be super close. So I have some room for error, but I am trying to stay positive. At least on both ends of the outcome.

I took a nice hot bath and am sitting here relaxing trying to stay calm. I am going to arrive at the college about 10 minutes before the test is to start. I don't want to talk to anyone from class before hand. i just don't want to get confused as to what others have to say when they are talking in the hallway. It will just stress me out even more.

I will definately try what you have suggested. Cross your fingers that I do well. Oh, I will be wearing my lucky shirt too. A friend from work gave it to me, it was actually her lucky shirt. I wore it when I took my first PQ for lab and I got a 100% on that one.

Thanks for your input.

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let me know how it goes and I hope you did well.

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good luck!

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Specializes in HH, Med/surg- liver & kidney transplant, ortho, ++.

The test went well. After the test we took it as a group too. My college gives us 70 % on our individual test (if we score 75% or better) and 30% of our score as a group.

When doing the group test, according to the answers we got as a group I missed 3 or 4. Which would put me at a high B I think. So I totally passed the test.

I will find out my actual grade of my individual test either tonight or tomorrow. I will post it when I find out. Keep your fingers crossed. I may have gotten a low A, if I am lucky. I am pretty proud of myself.

The test wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I guess I studied plenty. I feel pretty good about myself today.

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Specializes in HH, Med/surg- liver & kidney transplant, ortho, ++.

I got all worked up and panicked for nothing. I did so well on the test. I got a 90.9%. .10% away from an A, little frustrating but thats ok. I did my best.

There is still a chance I get an A on the test. At my college, after we take the test as an individual we also take it as a group (small groups of 4 or so, total class of 24). We get the test questions back after taking the test individually. We can right whatever we want on the exams.

We get 70% of our individual score and 30% of our group score. So if we did well on the group test I may come out with an A on the test!!!!

Just wanted to share my accomplishments with everyone. It is a small one but a big defeat for me. I feel so much better about nursing school. I feel like I can do this now.

My first clinical is tomorrow on ECU. Wish me luck!!!

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Congrats on your test. I told you you would do fine. Did you use any of the techniques I talked about? My school has a 75 or better on test unless your a state officer then they require us to have a 80 or better. I guess what does not kill us makes us stronger. Good luck on everything else. By the way where are you attending? I'm at UT Tyler.

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Specializes in HH, Med/surg- liver & kidney transplant, ortho, ++.

I did. Put a big X on the back of the test. Made me laugh. I don't know if anyone else saw me, it would be funny to know what they were thinking if they saw me though.

Our college does require at least a 75 to pass. If you get more than a 75 you get the 30% of the group score. If you get less than 75 you don't get the group score.

I am attending a pretty small community colleg called Clatsop Community College. It is in a town called Astoria which is in NW Oregon. Pretty much in the NW corner of Oregon.

I had to move from the Portland area, which is about 1 1/2 hours just to go to school. Well worth the move though.

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I told you it would remove some anxiety. I hope that it helped out. I wish I was in Portland right now. I lived in Montana for a while but never made it over there. I aslo had to move to go to school from Fort Worth, Texas to Palestine, Texas what a shock.

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Specializes in HH, Med/surg- liver & kidney transplant, ortho, ++.

Moving out here has been a bit of a shock for me. Not just the people and the environment. That is all so different and unfamiliar to me.

I got married almost 2 months ago. I am living here by myself. My husband is staying in Hillsboro (west of Portland) so that he can work to support the both of us. He couldn't transfer with his job so he is looking for one out here.

It has been extremely hard for me. I feel like part of my anxiety is because of him not being here. We have been together for almost 5 years. Things moved so quickly for us. We started living together pretty much since we started dating. So we haven't spent much time apart from each other.

I don't even think we have been able to really enjoy being newlyweds. We were married for 2 weeks before we were separated. So it has been really hard.

There is a job opening with the coast guard, well..........at one of their camps anyways. It is a non military job in the maitanence department. He is now working for Goodwill in their maitanence department. He has a few stores he works at. Anyways, keep your fingers crossed that this works out for him/us. If it does it means that our little quality time we have together will be much longer than a weekend.

Thanks again for the tips. I felt so great leaving the test.

Kelly

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I'm sure it will all work out. Keep your head clear for school and everything else will work out. If your husband is a mechanic or mechanically inclined he shouls look at a company called peter Kiewitt. I think they go by Kiewitt Western up there. I used to work for them as a equipment manager and they are a wonderful company and located everywhere. They do a lot of mining up there. You can find them on the internet. I think www.Kiewitt.com I hope all goes well. Later.

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