Not passing nursing fundamentals

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Im struggling bad with tests in Nursing Fundamentals class. My total grades have been 71, 75, and 80. I have 2 more tests and a final in this next month and I'm beyond stressed. I've met with faculty and tried getting help but nothings helping me. I study as much as my brain will allow me to everyday but I'm getting burnt out and honestly Im getting discouraged but I know I can't and won't give up. My tests are worth 75% of my grade and no matter how many practice questions I answer I'm just not getting it with the tests. In clinical and lab I do fine. Im not understanding why I can't seem to get a good passing grade. I need an 80 (79.5) to pass the course and right now I'm at a 75.6%. Any advice is appreciated? I love being in this program more than anything and don't want to fail over just a few points

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Specializes in Mental Health.

What are you doing besides practice questions? Practice questions are good but you need to do a lot more than that and you need to find what works for you. Most of the publishers have websites which help you study too some of which I’ve found helpful to if nothing else just lazy study when I’m laying on the couch. lol

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Specializes in Addictions, Psych.

If you're doing practice questions, are you reading the rationales as to why your answers were wrong? Study WHY you chose the wrong answer -- could have misread the question, could be a weak area of content for you etc.

You can do a million practice questions but you need to study why your answers were wrong.

Maybe do smaller question sets, like 25-50 per day and write the questions you get wrong and the rationale. That way you can see what you don't know and aren't just studying aimlessly. If you do some questions and there are specific categories you're getting wrong consistently, you can do more focused study on the areas you're weaker in.

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Specializes in Addictions, Psych.
On 11/9/2019 at 10:01 PM, Rionoir said:

Most of the publishers have websites which help you study too some of which I’ve found helpful to if nothing else just lazy study when I’m laying on the couch. lol

I love doing that lol. The RN Mentor apps by ATI is one of my favorites and the app is free, if I remember. You can break it down by clinical area or NCLEX category, which is great when you're trying to study.

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check out davis funds book and saunders book , all information can be found in your ATI book.

You are lucking in skills answering nursing question. It is skill to develop you need to answer more nursing questions

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

What you know at this moment in time is that your studying methods are not working. The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over hoping to get a different result. With that in mind, you need to do something different.

Join a study group.

Learn to read NCLEX style questions (ie: Kaplan method)

Listen to your lectures in the car.

Get others to give you verbal quizzes. Be able to speak to the rationale of an answer. That matters more than the answer itself.

Make yourself acronyms for important concepts to help trigger your memory. Mnemonics work too.

Use flashcards. Try study apps like Quizlet.

Study more if you aren't studying often. Study less if you are.

Eat better. Sleep more (or less as the case may be). Get some exercise. Meditate. Stretch. Do yoga.

Chew a particular kind of gum when you are studying. Chew the same kind when taking the test.

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3 hours ago, Nurse SMS said:

What you know at this moment in time is that your studying methods are not working. The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over hoping to get a different result. With that in mind, you need to do something different.

Join a study group.

Learn to read NCLEX style questions (ie: Kaplan method)

Listen to your lectures in the car.

Get others to give you verbal quizzes. Be able to speak to the rationale of an answer. That matters more than the answer itself.

Make yourself acronyms for important concepts to help trigger your memory. Mnemonics work too.

Use flashcards. Try study apps like Quizlet.

Study more if you aren't studying often. Study less if you aren't.

Eat better. Sleep more (or less as the case may be). Get some exercise. Meditate. Stretch. Do yoga.

Chew a particular kind of gum when you are studying. Chew the same kind when taking the test.

This all of this. You need to find what works for you as we all learn differently. I like the success line of books as well as Saunders. Also, with study groups keep it small as the bigger they get the more likely you'll have interruptions that aren't helpful. Feel free to DM me if you have more questions!

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I forgot to mention about success line of books from davis. They have over 1200 question in each book

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Check out TutorRN on YouTube. She only has 2 videos but the advice is SOLID. It may reveal what your doing wrong with studying. I had several aha moments. Good luck.

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Hi I was just wondering if you ended up passing the course. I was in a similar situation. I ended up failing fundamentals by 2 points this semester. (I needed a 78, got a 76.25) ?. I'm giving myself time to figure out what to do in the meantime as my program only offers Fundamentals in the Fall I'd have to wait another 9 months to start all over again and repeat the entire course.

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Oh no im so sorry!! I know you felt so crushed. I did pass, but only because I got an 83 on the final. I just barely passed. Don't give up, just keep trying!! Everything happens for a reason. If I were you (this was my plan if I didn't pass as well), I'd study fundamentals online to get a better understanding of everything and maybe answer more NCLEX style questions. That was definitely my downfall. Tests killed my grade even though I understood the content

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