jkim414

I am reading this after being so hard on myself about being borderline (79%) in my Med-Surg II/Critical Care class. I studied my tail off trying to pull it up to a B, but the more I freak out and panic..the worse I do. I practiced hundreds of nclex questions and still can't break an 80, even when the professor adjusts scores by throwing out questions. So technically, I would get a D on my exam and it would be pulled up to a B after reevaluating the classic statistics. That's just the way many med-surg classes are. Period. I can't change that. Anyway... I've come to terms with the fact that quality >>>> quantity. This doesn't mean I'm going to procrastinate. When I step into the exam room, I can honestly say that I KNOW the material. But the reality is that there will be exam questions that I will not know the answer to, no matter how much I study. All I can do is prepare, pray, and be calm enough to critically think through the especially tricky questions. The final is coming up and I am at 79%. At this point, studying and reading everything is NOT going to help. Instead, I'm focusing on being comfortable with the material and just mentally and spiritually preparing myself for a brutal 2 hour exam :-) It sucks that I might end up with a C in this class, when I studied and also have LEARNED so much! But that's just the way nursing school is and I'm not going to go insane because I can't change the system. I think that's what people mean by C=RN, not half-ass and graduate.

I am really coming to terms with the fact that memorization is okay. But I really need to focus on getting comfortable with nclex questions and going in to the exam confident.

I'm struggling in this class. I am passing (75%), but if I do not pull it up to a B- (79.5)...I'm gonna be put in a tough position with the academic progressions reviewing my status. Anyway, I studied my tail off for my last quiz. I still did poorly, even though I felt like I knew the material very well. I even did 200+ practice questions from Saunders and NCLEX made easy. I can confidently say that I score above 90% in those questions. It was almost too easy and straightforward. My school's exam are not straight forward at all. I panicked and ran out of time. I don't have time to critically think through 25 questions in 30 minutes. I am not blaming the professors at all. There's no point in that--I need to do my best and focus. I know that I have the material memorized. Now it's time to really think critically and prioritize. I already gave myself a pity day as I usually do after feeling so defeated--a feeling I am very used to by now from this whole nursing school journey. But I refuse to give up. I've heard that KAPLAN has harder questions than Saunders. Does anyone have advice, practice exam q-banks...anything? I have two weeks to study for my comprehensive final (35%) of my grade. Any advice would be awesome and prayers are welcomed too. Thanks, A typical nursing student trying to stay strong...