patho..=[ helpp

soo..we have patho once a week for 3 hours a day and its hard but i took good notes. we also always have a quiz every class we meet on the previous lecture we had. since i just started my first quiz was today and i studied alot, made flashcards, etc but i got a 64. i am so bummed. the format was different and although i knew the stuff, it was different like the wording and it was put into situations rather than straight up definitions and memorization. he said if anyone got below a 80 they really need to study alot more. im so frustrated, as i have been with taking out loans and etc, im wondering if this isnt for me? i dont want to fail out and i studied so hard..should i quit now while im ahead so i dont lose all this time and money im investing?

it sounds like you might be approaching this topic the wrong way. i think flashcards and memorization will only make it more difficult for you to apply your knowledge to a given situation, be it your quiz, your licensing exam or patient care. your best option is to try to understand the concepts. i am sure that sounds like i am saying the same thing you were saying. here's my advice.....get the book pathophysiology made ridiculously simple. at times, it will go a little more in depth than you will need, but it does a good job of explaining how the systems work as a whole and how they work (or fail to work) together. i think you might be missing the forest for the trees, and it is easy to do in patho because there are so many trees!

good luck

by the way, flashcards are great for pharm, so it isn't that there is no place for the ol' flash card in nursing school

what about patho made incredibly easy?

Hey

I think nursing exams is all about understanding concepts and applications. The tests I have taken so far in my first semester have all been critical thinking and applications not so much of definitions. These are the type of questions on NCLEX exams. The better you understand concepts the better you will get. Also when your reading the questions, take your time and try to understand what the question is really asking. I know their were many times when I have misread the question and got it wrong and having a patho book helps to supplement your notes. Hope that helps.

he only gives us 20 minutes for 20 questions =[ its hard and i was reading them through and then towards the end just guessed because i had no time and it was that or leave it blank

I got patho made incredibly easy... it's helped a lot.

i'm in pathophysiology and pharmacology this semester and i start "real" nursing school spring 2008. patho is REALLY hard but i've been lucky to have a teacher who really stresses learning the topics in a real life setting and every single class she's goes over how to apply the knowledge by doing a case study type deal. maybe you could ask your teacher if he could do this. we get worksheets and work in pairs.. then go over the answers in groups. it definitely helps.

but man pathophysiology is hard stuff! good luck to you (and me! haha)