ScarletCeylonRN

I started nursing school at 21 and graduated earlier this year with my BSN at 23. Considering my circumstances, it was easiest to go for the goal right after high school. I was one of the youngest in my class of 130.

I rolled into the TEAS right after taking my science prereqs, so my experience may not be completely comparable to yours, but I do seem to recall them being more difficult than I'd expected, given that I was still fresh! Hang in there. I think the biggest tip I can give on those is really examining the rationales once you've verified that the answer is incorrect. Figure out where you went wrong on those questions and try to integrate what you learned from them into future problems. You may also want to group several similar questions together and work through them one by one if you notice a particular running theme in your grading. My best tip would be to study the sciences, but don't hulk out on them. Being solid on your math calculations will be critical to you in nursing school, so I recommend spending the most time there if you have any difficulties with that area. If one must hulk out, I recommend it be on the math!

I would recommend buying the practice tests from ATI and getting a study guide. You could go with the official ATI guide for TEAS, or you could get a cheaper generic guide for nursing school entrance exams (just be sure to look at reviews and do your homework before you purchase). TEAS is a general knowledge exam, so you should be able to find resources that suit your study needs quite easily. Another suggestion? If you struggle with math, I highly suggest getting a cheap whiteboard and cheap dry-erase markers (I got both from a dollar store) and go to town. It will also come in handy later on in NS with calculations, so if you do decide to get one, hold on to it. Study up! Good Luck.

Unfortunately, this seems to be pretty cut and dry. If you did not meet the acceptable standards set forth by your institution (usually given to you at the beginning of every course), then you did not pass. How close you were to passing won't likely matter either since that 78 was a minimum passing standard, even more so considering this is a second attempt at the course. In this instance, there's nothing capricious about failing the class, because this is the final grade. Talk to the school about it if you can, but go into it with realistic expectations about what they will do for you. I'm not trying to be mean, but considering your situation, I wouldn't be holding out hope for the BON to make an exception in your case and allow you to test. That's not what they're really for, and doing so would actually be counterintuitive to their purpose, so I wouldn't put too much stock in that approach. Hopefully, they will allow you to retake it again. However, if they do not, I wish you luck in finding and joining another program to complete your studies. In the future, I recommend meeting with your faculty before the course starts so that you are 100% clear on the school/course grading policies so you never find yourself in this situation again.

Some people are stuck in the habit of oversharing on social media sites-- even if that information is not theirs to share. A good rule of thumb is to always assume that privacy filters are meaningless. Because they are. And simply hitting delete or hiding behind a filter will not make a lick of difference when HIPAA comes a knockin' at your door. What is posted will always remain on your hands; unfortunately, this is a critical concept of the internet that many of its users do not understand. The best policy? Don't talk about your patients. Simplest way to solve it!

As was I! I will just say that you need to be careful with this line of thought. In nursing school and out in the field you're going to encounter people from a wide variety of backgrounds, so you will need to be careful with how you treat your coworkers-- young and inexperienced or otherwise. Try to steer away from pegging your difficulties on the students that you feel are less deserving and focus your efforts on bolstering your own strength as a candidate.

It's good policy. People tend to run at the mouth when they start talking about personal issues or beliefs, and situations can easily get out of hand. It's best not to blur the professional lines and keep the relationship strictly about care. You never know what someone will do with the information they glean from you, after all! Thank you for all of the responses, everyone. :) Hopefully this can be a little social interaction toolbox for someone down the line. Anyone have any other suggestions?

Keep pace with the readings and be realistic about timelines. Don't wait until 10pm to do the care plan that's due at 11:59pm. DO NOT let classmates flake on group assignments! Hold them accountable to the same standards as you are being held. Even if they are your friends. Especially if they are your friends. Be honest and assess yourself from time to time. Debrief yourself in the car after clinical and think about what you'll do differently next time. Most importantly...find time to de-stress in it all and take care of yourself! Working yourself up into a constant lather does you no favors!

Do what you need to do. Don't worry about conforming to a specific schedule, because now is the time you need to focus on shoring up your weaknesses. It takes as long as it takes to be successful. Talk to your instructors and see if your school has any tutors/learning labs, or online resources. See if your instructors have any specific recommendations that they could make for you, having seen your performance. Make friends with people in class and teach the material to each other. Most importantly, find time to dedicate to these classes and stick with it. Ask your instructors if you can record lectures if you feel like you're not getting stuff the first time. These are all just suggestions, of course, but be sure to explore all of your options and be flexible.

My hardest prerequisite course was physiology, which I took at a CC. I was in a class with a tough instructor (I sought her out on purpose because I'd had her the prior semester for nutrition and she was incredible), but she was very thorough, very knowledgeable, and she made sure you knew your stuff. My tests were structured a lot like nursing school tests (concepts/interpretation) and the tests contained several essay segments that were graded with a fine-toothed comb. In a class of 30, only 10 of us were left standing at the end. Really, that class was one of the best things that could have happened to me. When pathophysiology rolled around in NS, I was already rock-solid from the get-go and I could focus my studies on connecting the concepts instead of trying to relearn the basics. It gave me breathing room and kept me ahead of the game. I guess the moral of the story is to take your prereqs seriously-- don't toss out everything after the class is over, because it may very well come in handy some day. Find an instructor that will challenge you; you learn more that way.

Thanks, Saoirse. I agree, a firm footing in some situations will be required. If they're just not getting the hint, you shouldn't dance around the issue and be frank about addressing the unacceptable behavior. The relationship might change after that, but so be it. I sometimes wonder if they were acting that way simply because I was a student nurse at the time. I don't get the feeling that some of these people would have approached me that way if I had been a licensed professional.

I use that that tactic as much as possible and find that it works very well in most cases. But some of the more insistent/intrusive people refuse to be redirected. I'm not as sure what to do about them, because they're aware of the tactic and actively combatting it.

Once upon a time, I was caring for a patient during one of my school rotations. This was around the time of the election, and his family were having a very heated political discussion amongst themselves. This is always a red flag for me, as I never get involved in political conversations with anyone if I can help it-- all it brings is negativity and arguments, both of which are counterintuitive to the nurse-patient relationship. I simply go on about taking care of my job, smile, and say nothing about it. All shift long, we seemed to have had great rapport, and we were all getting along very well. I thought that being ambiguous and keeping my head down would help me avoid it. I was wrong. One of the family members kept asking me about my political affiliation and who I voted for. I smiled and gently rebuffed her by saying that my political are deeply personal to me and that my vote and my beliefs are kept private. But she wasn't satisfied with my answers and kept asking me about it, over and over. Who did you vote for? Who are you gonna vote for? How do you feel about so-and-so? Who did you vote for? I don't even know why it was so important to them to find out, anyway. We don't have matching opinions about the subject of debate (I am a conservative, while the family held democratic beliefs), which was why I was so insistent about sidestepping the conversation. Things would have gone south immediately. I kept giving her the same answer, and eventually she backed off. While things remained largely pleasant for the rest of my shift, they seemed somewhat less comfortable with me than they had been before, as if I'd given them reason to mistrust me. This has also not been the first time this has happened to me before, either. Some examples: People asking me why nobody has gotten me with child yet (?!?! ) What my orientation is (same person as #1) What my religion is (I can understand this one, but I am agnostic and the people asking me are usually extremely religious, so dealing with it is difficult for me) This thread does not strictly have to concern politics, but rather personal or intimate questions in general. I was wondering if any of you have any special ways of nixing these ill-fated conversations? What is the best way to back out of these trap conversations and still remain professional about it? ~Ceylon

Nursing school really is different than other educational programs. Our practice is about interpreting and applying our knowledge actively in the care of our patients, so questions will be asked with a different focus, (i.e. "What does this mean?" as opposed to "What is this?"). The questions will therefore be asked accordingly and you'll be expected to be able to use pull your knowledge from multiple classes all together to achieve a broader knowledge base about a particular subject. When I got into nursing school, I had to change up the way that I study. Traditionally, I have done well with straight textbook, but I needed extra support for tying the subjects together. I began riding the bus when I was in nursing school due to high gas prices, and since I was spending so much time in transit, I used that time to review lectures that I had recorded on my iPhone. I would sit and (either mentally or on paper) map out how things related to each other. I found it convenient to go to the library and brain-dump everything I knew about a particular subject on the whiteboard, where I could often identify and shore up my gaps. Obviously, there was a lot of reading--keep up with it and try to get into it as early as possible. Writing this out makes it sound like I was one of those people who studied hardcore 24/7, but I really wasn't. I always found time at the end of the day to relax, which kept me from losing my mind. The best advice I can give is to find the methods of studying you work best with, and riff off of that. In addition, do not be afraid to interact with your instructors during class and clinical. You paid the tuition-- use all of your resources to their full potential.

My school used burnt orange scrub tops and black bottoms to match the school colors. They were nice-looking, even though we began casually referring to ourselves as pumpkins. Memories, memories!

That's what I did when my grandmother gifted me with an RN charm for my necklace. I didn't want to wear it before I legally gained the title. But immediately after I got confirmation that I passed NCLEX and my license was posted on the BON, I put it on and told her the great news. She wasn't offended by it-- she understood why I would want to wait. Just tell them that you're working to earn the right to wear those things. :)

Hello! I didn't do VATI-- I just used the stuff I was required to purchase through the school. I took some of the practice tests, but I didn't go crazy with them. I don't know how different any additional packages from ATI are, but I only had access to two practice tests per subject area, and after you've done them a few times, they lose their effectiveness (the test questions don't change). At that point, I switched over to the books. I personally found the ATI books particularly helpful because they are great for giving a brief review over subjects and for giving you LOTS of teaching information, which you will definitely need. Just give yourself plenty of time to get through them. The ones that I used most were the Maternity/Newborn, Med/Surg, psych, and pediatrics books.

I graduated my nursing program at the end of May and took the NCLEX-RN on June 25th. Unlike many of my classmates, I did not have the money for the Kaplan or Hurst reviews. I used the ATI resources I was required to purchase for my school, my drug book, a (huge) stack of homemade flashcards, and a massive book of questions and practice tests that I barely touched. My test shut off at 75 questions (oh, how your stomach drops when it goes to that blue screen) and consisted 80% of teaching, prioritizing, and delegating. I passed the first time I took it and spent only $30 on study materials beyond the required ATI. It can be done on a conservative budget! Here are some of my personal tips (your mileage may vary): Don't dwell on the number of questions. In fact, I didn't even look at it but twice to see how efficient I was being with time. The test will end where it ends and you can pass/fail at both extremes. Don't read too much into the number of questions, or you'll psych yourself out. Relax your mind the night before. Going into the testing center frazzled and stressed out will not help you. Make sure you get some good rest, a good meal, and are dressed comfortably for when you sit for the test. Don't make yourself more miserable than you need to be! Don't cram. The impulse will be high, but try to resist the urge to cram. The content that the NCLEX covers is incredibly broad, so cramming will not help you. DO NOT cram drugs. Know general classes/major drugs/associated therapeutic ranges, but do not plug away on a bunch of specific drugs. It is not uncommon to be tested on drugs you've never heard of. It's okay. You don't need to be a walking drug book. On that end, you should study in the method that you are most comfortable in doing so. You may have classmates that study 8 hours a day for 6 months. I studied 4 hours a day for 2 months. While I don't necessarily recommend my short prep schedule, I mention this because you should never let a colleague's study plan make you feel inferior. Everyone will prepare differently. Do what works for you. Develop a strategy for approaching alternate format questions. I got 10-15 SATA, 2 image questions, 2 exhibits, and 1 hot spot. Just do a lot of practice questions with these formats and become accustomed to dealing with them. In the case of SATA (which everyone hates), resist the urge to check off on the things you're really unsure about. Take them item by item and treat them like true/false questions. Get familiar with your testing center. NCSBN has an online video depicting what a testing center is like. Do some test runs by your center to make sure you know where it is located and leave early enough so you won't have to worry about travel issues. Erase that uncertainty from your mind. Don't "score" the NCLEX while you're taking the NCLEX. My issue with CAT is that part of it is very psychological. Unlike what you're used to, this isn't "70% is passing," this test is determining a trend in your answers and whether it meets the standard they set. Don't dwell on previous questions if you fear that you got them wrong. Put them away; you're done with them. Don't bog yourself down over thoughts of "where your line is right now," focus on what's ahead. In all, know that the NCLEX can be passed. It is possible. And if you don't pass it, it's not the end of the world. Pick yourself up, brush yourself off, assess your efforts, and try again. Eventually, you will succeed! Good luck!

In all honesty, I found the ATI books much more helpful than the online component. The books are pretty generous in the teaching component which was easily 60% of my test (75q).