Need Advice: Did Not Pass 1st Semester of Nursing School

JamieB86517 · May 15, 2015

Is there anything keeping you from studying more? I would designate more time to studying for your exams. Keep pushing if this is what you really want.

Haybah · May 15, 2015

More studying is always helpful, but I was wondering if there was something I could do differently next time.

Miss.LeoRN · May 15, 2015

What are your problem areas specifically? What is it on the test you have trouble with or get wrong most?

Have you may work an instructor to go over your exams? Ive found that to be one of the most useful things I've done. It allows you to hear the rationale behind the question as well as explain why you picked a certain answer, and allow your professor to correct any errors in thinking or strategy that you use. My first semester one of my issues was reading into the questions and assuming information that wasn't there when I answered.

Are there study groups? Are there nursing tutors? What resources are available for your success? Do your textbooks have online resources?

How do you study? Are you reading to memorize or reading to understand? Look at the material you're learning about. Can you explain it to someone? Do you write notes? Index cards? Concept maps?

General advice... get nclex study books and practice practice practice!

Qteapi · May 15, 2015

Get yourself the Saunders Comprehensive Review for Nclex and I bet money you will do well from now on.....I wish someone had told me that little gem when I was in Nursing school....I swear to goodness...I think my professors took info straight from the content of that book....hehehehe...seriously the content from that book is the same info from nursing school made simple!

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · May 15, 2015

Hi Everyone!
I failed my first semester of nursing school. It was very difficult and disappointing to me. What makes it even worse was that I got a 77.9% with just a 0.1% remaining. I passed very well on the lab and clinical portion of the course with an 87%, a B. However, I needed to pass both parts of the course to pass the entire course.
I am now over that phase of sadness and disappointment. I had a meeting with the director of nursing program and the instructors. They told me that I had another chance to repeat this semester and make amends. They said they would have more meetings with me from now on to closely monitor my performance. This will be my only chance within the three semesters of the program.
I would also like to mention that during this semester I did not pass any of the four exams. I tried my best on the final exam and got an 82%. Also, my grades in these exams were not consistent. I believe that I had yet to adapt to nursing school exams. That is why I sometimes wonder that perhaps being able to pass this semester might not have been good for me. I don't know.
Anyway, I would like some advice on what I can do differently now. I would also appreciate advice on books that would help me understand NCLEX style question better. Any advice would be helpful.
Thank you very much.

First off, congratulations on having as much trouble as you did and almost being able to pass the class. While you certainly struggled, you've found that you need to work on doing NCLEX-style questions. Those are not easy by a long shot. It also means that you have some time to start looking for appropriate resources to help you "decode" them and figure out how to really answer them.

The thing is that NCLEX questions are very much unlike any exam questions you've ever seen before. This is because in the past, most of your exams are essentially made up of questions that require you to only regurgitate material you've seen. NCLEX questions take that one step further and expect you to have that base of knowledge already to refer to and use that to analyze the question and the answers to determine which of those answers are not only correct, but most correct! In effect, you're being asked to go from regurgitation of info to applying what you've learned. That's a long mental leap for some people to make at first.

I agree with the suggestion that you acquire a resource like that Saunders Review mentioned above and use that to help you. Once you figure out how those questions are structured and what you need to know to help answer them, you should do better. I had a classmate that failed 1st semester by just 2 points... less than the 0.1% you failed by. He was allowed to re-enroll and ultimately did reasonably well, survived school, passed the NCLEX on his first try, and has been an ER nurse for about a year now.

Nursing school is "doable" but it's also a lot of work and it takes getting used to a very different method of testing.

Haybah · May 16, 2015

Thank you everyone. I appreciate your advice and suggestions. I also appreciate your encouraging words (akulahawk).

Next time:

- I will have the instructor go over with me the entire exam (or at least the questions I didn't know)

- I will try to be more involved with study groups

- I will try to read to understand rather than memorize

- I will also try my best to improve my skills in answering NCLEX style questions (will buy and make use of books such as Saunders)

I like that idea of reading to understand, but I find that difficult when I study from my notes. I am better at reading and memorizing the material.

johsonmichelle · May 16, 2015

I too failed my first semester, when I came back the next semester things made more sense. I recommend a study group. Have them test you on the material, that what really helped me. I'm now going into my last year of nursing school.

SeattleJess · May 16, 2015

Get yourself the Saunders Comprehensive Review for Nclex and I bet money you will do well from now on.....I wish someone had told me that little gem when I was in Nursing school....I swear to goodness...I think my professors took info straight from the content of that book....hehehehe...seriously the content from that book is the same info from nursing school made simple!

What Qteapi said. Really, sounds like you need to get the hang of the question format and sadly, for most of us, we do that by flubbing exams. The Nugent & Vitale Fundamentals Success book was useful to me, too, but if you can only buy one... what Qtepi said!

LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN · May 17, 2015

I would like to add a few things that have helped me pass nursing school; I have been in your shoes:

-Learn how to "think like a nurse": meaning, learn how to understand the material through the nursing process, instead to reading the material.

-I will throw in The Success Series as a good resource for NCLEX style questions; they have books for each subject in nursing school-Fundamentals, Med-Surg, Peds, Pharmacology, etc.

-Also look into the book Critical Thinking and Clinical judgement by Alfaro-LeFevre; a clinical instructor gave it to me in my PN nursing program (failed in an ADN program and got the courage to return to nursing school by entering a PN program) and it helped me bridge the gap on how I think; I have used this book as a resource for the past 10 (or eleven I think) years since I receive this book, and have been a LPN as well as an RN.

-Seek out help early and often: I made sure after my initial failure in nursing school-turns out it was test anxiety-to be more proactive in looking for help, clarifying information directly from instructors.

-Learn your learning and test taking style: VERY important, IMHO-the more you know how you learn and are able to identify how to take tests; that will be half the battle when succeeding in nursing school; I have always been a kinesthetic learner; however, I also learned that I also am an auditory learner, which prompted me to record lectures; in testing, I utilized action words and guided imagery to understand the scenarios that the questions presented, and focused on the action words in order to NOT read into the questions.

Hope this helps! :up:

LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN · May 17, 2015

I like that idea of reading to understand, but I find that difficult when I study from my notes. I am better at reading and memorizing the material.

I just want to point out that reading and memorizing is a sure-fire way to not move on successfully in a program; nursing is a theory and application of theoretic material into scenarios.

I will also suggest that for notes to utilized arranging your notes and material in the way of the nursing process; that way, you can understand the WHAT and the WHY you assess, what is presented as nursing diagnoses, what to plan for, what interventions are needed an what to evaluate in order to modify or determine if interventions are correct.

johsonmichelle · May 17, 2015

I think its good that you're getting advice early and trying to correct your mistakes. Early intervention is key. I think some good suggestions have been made, but I would like to add that although Saunders is a good book, it should mainly used for contact only, questions in there are to easy. Also find out what your weak points are now and seek help from your professor, every class is different and you may need to adjust according to each course you take. A lot of people who repeated with me , did well in first semester but when it came it second semester ( new material and much more fast pace ), all the students who failed the second semester were repeating students and so they were kicked it. I used this setback as motivation especially when I don't feel like studying. I know that I don't have any more chances so I work twice as hard.