Need some advice with a nursing class.

[zee_chary]

Hello everyone. This is my first time here and I am very exited to be part of your community. I attend Chamberlain College of Nursing in Chicago IL. If you have not heard of them, well their BSN curriculum is immensly fast and intense. You are suppose to finish your degree in 3 years or less.

Putting that to the side, I need some advice as far as to with a class that I am unsucessful with. I take a full semesters work in 8 weeks. Each week you are assigned 1-4chapters per class so that is roughly about 250pages per class. Exams are every week and a half.

I am currently passing the two hardest classes which are patho and fundamentals. Yet I am struggling with Health & physical assesement. I have one instructor for lecture, yet the class is divided for lab. Some students have the lecture professor as a lab instructor too, while some of us have another one on a different date. It just happens that the 7 out of the 13 students that are in the lab with me are failing. The students with the lecture instructor are passing. When i spoke to the professor she said she makes a review session during lab with her students to prep for exams. She assumed the other instructor did the same. NOT!!

I have not passed the first 2 exams regardless of how many hours and awesome notes I am taking. I even showed them to her and she was impressed. Why am I not succeeding in this class? Many factors.... Perhaps I need to study more than the 30+hours a week that Already do? My instructor has a horrible heavy accent? No pre-exam review? No study questions available in the book to practice what you have learned? Its just so many things....

With all that being said I either get an 96% on exam 3 &4 and pass the class, or I drop so i wont get an F on my transcript and risk me getting kicked out of nursing school? According to the professor the students that ARE passing are passing with an "alright" grade. So no one has gotten above a 90% in the class. I dont want to throw the towel but I dont know if I should continue the class or drop it. Droping it or failling will prevent me to continue fundamentals 226 (clinicals) although i am passing funds 224.

Any advise?

[NHA2BSN]

zee_chary: I know of many students that have been in your similar situation. If you feel that you can not get the 96% on #3 & #4, then it sounds to me like you need to drop the class. Remember also that the lab is only to supplement what is taught in the classroom. I would venture to bet that your lecture teacher is the person responsible for creating the test, and she is covering the test with her lab class. Something I have done in a similar situation in the past was to have a classmate record the lab (or lecture) for the other teacher. That way you can hear the materials as they are presented.

If you stay in the class and fail, your GPA takes a significant hit, you have one strike against you, and you have to repeat the class. If you drop the class prior to the last possible drop date, your GPA takes no hit, you don't have a strike against you and you repeat the class. Based on these two scenarios you should be able to make an individualized decision. Good luck to you!

[hazel30, BSN, RN]

I would withdraw from the course and try again. Sometimes we will experience setbacks in nursing school, but just dust yourself off and keep plugging along.

[zee_chary]

Thank you guys. I really appreciate it....