North Lake/El Centro - Fall '06!

DreamBelieveSucceed · Sep 23, 2006

I'm so upset that I studied my _____ off and only made an 80 ("C") on my stupid test. I felt so confident of the material I wasn't even all that nervous about taking the test. So when I pushed the button on that blasted computer to say I was "done" and it graded it and said I missed 10 I almost flipped completely out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I knew I probably missed a few because there were 2 that I wasn't sure about the answer. I did not go back and review every question because I am notorious for changing the answers that are right and making them wrong - but maybe I should do that next time. The people that came out and changed a bunch of their answers scored higher than I did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND NOW I'M SUPPOSED TO DO THAT STUPID LASSI TEST:madface: :madface: !!!

Sooooooooo...... now I feel like a failure as a mom since I have done nothing but school for 4 weeks, I feel like a failure as a wife because my husband has pretty much done everything for our kids and our house since school has started, and I feel like a failure as a student since I worked my butt off to only get a "C"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know I should look at the bright side that I passed; however, I get so angry that I worked so hard and some people barely studied and didn't even read ANY of the chapters and scored higher than I did. Is my 40 year old brain that fried?!?!?!?!? I guess my perfectionistic attitude is going to have to change - but how do I get my mentality to change when it was drilled in to my head with HAVING to have 4.0's to even get this far.

FUN - what did you do to prepare for the test? I need anyone's input I can get. However, I'm visual so if you are auditory we probably won't share the same ideas on studying. It did seem that the auditory learners scored higher in our class. I tape the lectures; however, the first 3 weeks of lecture she pretty much read directly from the slides.

Finallyat40 · Sep 23, 2006

I'm going to do something for you that I didn't have when I was at your stage of the program......BRAVO, BRAVO, BRAVO! I know that many of you are disappointed in your grades on this test.....I totally understand that as a student who had a 4.0 going into the program.....Get over it and move on....I'm very proud of all of you, you've worked your freaking butts off this past four weeks....and you've survived....this is what nursing school is all about...SURVIVAL!

Now that the first test is over, you have a bit of an idea of how the tests will be written, quite honestly, that's half the battle! If it's any consolation, I still remember what I made on my very first test, a 78, I cried all the way home, told my dh that this was too hard on our family and that i thought I should just quit school before we were in too deep and move on....ya know what he said? "Go to your room, take a long warm bath, read a magazine, cry if need be, but come out of that water with a new attitude because I haven't supported you this far to see you fail!" It's time to get back on that proverbial pony and ride....dig right back in and start preparing for the next test. In my opinion, the hardest time of my nursing school career was the first six weeks of that first semester and the first four weeks or so of the semester following the summer (4th semester for me)...just took me awhile to get in the groove.

You ALL have what it takes to be great nurses, and I truly believe that by having the support system you've set up for yourselves here, you will be much more successful than the average student. I remember the first time that I whined about a grade and someone looked at me and said C=RN...I was so pissed off...why would anyone settle for that! Ya know what...it had nothing to do with settling, and everything to do with getting a grip. In my experience, the students who made A's on nursing school tests really struggled in clinicals, those who made C's on tests were clinical superstars and those who made B's were very well balanced between knowledge and skill...that's what you want, balance!

You all are in my daily thoughts and prayers. Keep on trucking!

Jamie

DreamBelieveSucceed · Sep 23, 2006

Jamie - Can I just say a HUGE........... THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!! :kiss :beer: :bowingpur :thankya:

I truly needed the exact words you just typed!!!!!!!!!!! I had not even cried about that stupid grade until I read your post. My friends and my husband have said the same things - basically - but coming from someone who has "been there, done that" has a totally different meaning and impact on me!!

SSSSOOOOOOOO..... I'm done beating the dead horse - now I have to give it CPR and then get on it and ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So what did you do differently to prepare for your second test? And should I even ask what you scored on that one?:roll

Finallyat40 · Sep 23, 2006

Well, you'd better figure it out, 'cause a lot of horses have to code before you can finish nursing school!

You made me tear up with your message....I SOOOOOO remember that frustration, someone could say BOO to me and I'd cry....I felt so out of control, and at 40, and with two kids and a husband, I WAS the one in control most of the time.

From what I've read, you are a visual learner....stop reading everything! You're trying to pack too much JUNK into your brain and giving yourself eye strain. For the next test, try this....take the syllabus (since you don't have the blueprint until right before the test) and week by week as you go to class, start answering the objectives....if there's a topic you don't know/can't remember/need clarification on, then go read it in your book. Spend the majority of your time on NCLEX questions that are related to your topics....someone mentioned doing 200 questions before the test....sorry girls....you need to do 200 questions at least every week! The more questions you do, the more comfortable you become with the way they're worded and the better you get at being able to narrow down the answers. If you can get a question down to two possible answers, you've got a 50% chance of getting it correct. As I've mentioned before, go to as many sources as possible for questions, but ABSOLUTELY use the websites provided by the publisher of your book....those question are almost always included in the test banks they choose questions from.

Surviving nursing school is all about how well you can bullsh** your way through a topic and still convince everyone you know what you're talking about. It is totally unrealistic to believe that you will graduate nursing school and be able to regurgitate all that is taught....concepts are the base and then you build on that....it really doesn't begin to all make sense until second semester when you get to start applying it to specific illnesses/conditions, etc.

Baby steps....you've gotta learn to crawl before you can walk!

Jamie

oh yeah, one more thing...by doing 200 questions a week...you've effectively learned information about 800 things....by the time of the test...you're at 4000! It's okay to repeat the same questions too....that helps to cement the info.

gauge14iv, MSN, APRN, NP · Sep 23, 2006

Finallyat40 - EXCELLENT words of advice.

I can't speak to the new NCLEX and DCCCD programs but I can definately agree with the attitude and the pick yourself up and go on. If you can choose your attitude, you have won half the battle right there.

I too noticed exactly what you said about A, B and C students as far as book knowledge and clinical expertise. Given my druthers, I'd be that B student any day!!

Balance is so hard during nursing school. Just remember, it doesn't have to be perfect anymore, you are done with perfection - make it excellent and know that is more than enough and don't waste time or energy beating yourself up about it!

Fun2, BSN, RN · Sep 23, 2006

Personally, I think that there isn't any reason a 70-79 shouldn't equal a C, etc. Who does a school think they are impressing if you have students make 78 and up? :uhoh3:

Yes, I realize they want their NCLEX pass rate to be high, but sheesh....Give me a good skilled nurse over a nurse who can quote something from a 1st semester class.

I did questions from Medspub, questions from the Fundamentals CD, 'skimmed/read' the chapters while answering the Fundamentals Study Guide questions & review questions, answered questions from the Saunder's Q&A for the NCLEX-RN Examination CD that came with the book, and questions from my NCLEX-RN Questions and Answers Made Incredibly Easy book.

I also listened to the lectures to and from school every day.

Hope this helps someone. I feel funny giving study advice as I could easy make a low grade on the next test, and y'all make the 86.

(Plus, LASSI said my study skills bit.) :chuckle

Good luck to us all. It's going to be a rough road, but WE CAN DO IT!

LKG6 · Sep 23, 2006

However, I'm visual so if you are auditory we probably won't share the same ideas on studying.

Dream, do you know the "Memory Notebook Of Nursing" series? There are books for fundamentals, drugs, and even for NCLEX. One of the authors is Ms. Zerwekh. These books may help you studying if you are a visual learner.

Katie

Fun2, BSN, RN · Sep 24, 2006

To those not in the program yet:

Make flashcards for the theories from your psychology classes such as from Freud, Erickson, Gould, Piaget, etc, and study them for a few minutes everyday!!! You will need them again. :)

Personally, I'm not sure why we give Freud's theory the attention it gets...seems like he was a sick, twisted person living in a world of perversion that he successfully hid in the depths of his educated knowledge. :uhoh3:

OK.....Yes, that's a bit of masked complaining.....now back to the books. :chuckle

JaxiaKiley · Sep 25, 2006

What? We had to do them in Gen Psych, Life Span and again?!

And yeah, that guy is a nut job!

gauge14iv, MSN, APRN, NP · Sep 25, 2006

Yes and get this...

they make you do them yet AGAIN in graduate school! There is NO escaping them!

Fun2, BSN, RN · Sep 25, 2006

Yes and get this...
they make you do them yet AGAIN in graduate school! There is NO escaping them!

Oh goodness! I guess I should practice what I preach, huh? :chuckle

a_clay · Sep 25, 2006

Fun,

Thanks for the heads up. I am taking Developmental Psych. this semester so I can just make some flashcards now.

Amy