New Nursing Student - can I do this?

anne_in_maryland · Jun 28, 2010

Take one day at a time. You sound like you are doing fine. Try not to think too far ahead.

Editorial Team / Moderator · Jun 28, 2010

Moved thread to the nursing student forum (vs. the GN forum) to encourage responses.

gumby1411 · Jun 28, 2010

Hold your horses. There's no need to drop out right now. You have good grades and you're keeping your head above water. You just need to catch up on the reading. Having a panic attack is not going to help you get your reading done any quicker. Take a deep breath, maybe go to the gym and work out some stress. Turn your cell phone and computer off, sit back down at your desk and get reading.

Maybe this isn't the best advice, but if it were me, I'd skim through the stuff that the professor didn't stress in lecture and concentrate more on the topics that he/she focused on in class...just until you get caught up, then go back to picking through it with a fine-toothed comb. Good luck and remember to take a deep breath!!

DGDreamGirl · Jun 28, 2010

Thanks guys! I keep telling myself to take it one day at a time - it's just hard to do that because I'm so many days behind in reading, so it's like I have to take 3 days at a time (it feels like). I feel like I can't catch up... I havent read things I feel like I should know, and I don't know things I feel like I should know...

I was literally falling asleep on my last fundamentals exam! That's not such a good sign right? I wish I had known what I was walking into more than I did - maybe that would have helped me? Too late to wonder now.

I'm going to try to talk with a teacher to see what her opinion/advice is on this. Hopefully, if nothing else, I can try again in the fall!

anne_in_maryland · Jun 29, 2010

Why would you need to try again in the Fall? Your grades are fine. If you think you are going to fail, you very well may. I didn't read 100% of the reading. I doubt most people did.

criticalRN10 · Jun 29, 2010

WHY are you talking about dropping your classes with HIGH B'S?????! am I the only one that is perturbed by this?? I would be doing freaking cartwheels at the fact that I didn't fail my first test and play catch up to the B the rest of the semester!!! forget what you haven't read, like the person above me said, look at what the professor is concentrating on, read it, then move on. I really don't see why you' are contemplating staying back and entire semester already there's no reason for it. You aren't THAT behind and if you are it's because you're freaking out so much you can't deal with the problem you're facing. Relax, do what you can do and move on. I could understand if you failed your first test and you're worried about getting kicked out...but you're not. You can make low Bs and maybe even a C in the mix and still pass to next semester. You're going to feel behind the entire time in nursing school, everyone does. I have news for you, it gets waay harder after the first semester and you can't get hung up on the 700 pages of crap you didn't read. One of the best things to know in nursing school is what information will be concentrated on. We know all of our professors and who makes what questions...we know what their specialties are so therefore we know what subjects they will focus on more than others. Know what's the most important to know about each different thing and learn it, don't memorize it. Reading the book only helps if you truely don't understand the concept they're covering and you need a complete tutorial and run through of it. If you do understand the concept, then go back through the book and look for the big boxes of important items to know about them! To make it through the rest of the time, you're going to have to chill out a little bit and learn how to prioritize what information is the most important to know and what is the least, then try to prepare in advance to understand all of it, but if you at least got the majority of the major parts then you already got a C...then you get a couple of the lesser covered items and BOOM! B's. Relax, and quit this nonsense about holding yourself back a semester.

with high B's HA. lol sorry I know this sounds mean I just have friends who were failing as of the first week of class and had to make A's on finals just to stay in the program!!! now THAT's somthing to freak out about, but we rallied together and got them to understand everything and they did it! next semester is a NEW semester take what you've learned and just try to keep up.

DGDreamGirl · Jun 29, 2010

I guess I wasn't too clear? My average WAS a B, now it's like a 76% - which I'm not complaining about at all! We just have to have at least a 74.5 in order to pass at the end... and I haven't gotten ALL B's on every exam either (I think that wasn't made clear...), in fact I made a 56% on the elimination chapter. I also don't even know some skills (but I can read those of course)... that's where I'm concerned.

It's actually not as easy as "repeating a semester" like I thought...and it's not what I want to do (who would WANT that? lol)

I'm just not wanting to move on to building my house when my foundation isn't solid... does that make more sense as to my fears?

I know B's are a God send in NS and I thank God for any C's and above no doubt... I'm just worried about my foundation I'm laying for the future.

But thanks for the comments guys!

I'm planning on going over the stuff I don't really know (which is a lot to be honest) before 2nd semester. 2nd semester = med surg = YAY! (Not....)

I'm hoping I've learned from this all and it all works out.

:redpinkhe:redbeathe:redpinkhe

Thanks again guys!

LightMyFire · Jun 30, 2010

The first semester is always a struggle just to figure out what you're supposed to do. Try not to get behind again (I usually did not read the whole chapters, especially when lots of it was stuff I already know, like the A&P stuff), and, like the others said, take it one day at a time. It really is the only thing you can do. The foundation is the hardest part. That being said, I did very well in NP1 but am still dreading NP2 in the fall. I think having second thoughts is totally normal. I had second thoughts (and third, and fourth...). I'm still having them because it is so hard and there is so much work. I just know it will pay off in the end. Hang in there.

allnurses Guide · Jun 30, 2010

Sounds like you are just a little panicky because you let yourself get behind.

Really put your nose to the grindstone, get caught up and then DON'T DO THAT AGAIN. Study some every single day, seven days a week, without fail and you will save yourself this awful stress!

You obviously have what it takes....just pull yourself up, give yourself a good stern talking to about time management, ask other students how they are managing their time if you need tips. In particular, students in semesters ahead of you are a great resource.

You are going to be fine. Just remember this little lesson and move forward.

Sheepwithagun · Jun 30, 2010

You simply can't do all the assigned reading in nursing school. Talk to students who are ahead of you (course/time wise) to see which classes you really need to read for and which you can get away with studying the notes for. If you have a class you have to do a lot of reading for try to split it up with some classmates with everyone typing up notes for their section. (Just make sure they'll do a good job.)

Most importantly, I think you need to find a study method that works for you - and it seems like you may have since you were getting high Bs. (I take notes on paper during class. Then I type up the (more) important info and use that to study. Add in typed on notes on reading if I have to read for the class.)

You CAN do this! You just need to put in a little extra effort to get caught back up, and then you'll be back to those high Bs!