C_Bay

I am in my last semester of nursing school, its been a tough journey, but an interesting one, because I feel my life mission is to become a nurse. I am great in clinical rotations, to the point my preceptor was impressed and the manager offered me a job for when I graduate. I love learning about nursing, but there is so much information and little time, I struggle letting go of not studying the way I was used to (pre-requisites, when there were less topics and much more available time). My first semester was a little bit of a struggle because I tend to get too many resources and want to know everything about everything, I can easily study 8+ hours with no breaks. As semesters progressed, I have gotten better at narrowing my resources to mostly Simple Nursing, Register RN, and Cathy Parks to help me simplify some topics I might be confused from the book. Time management during this last semester, with capstone, job search, presentations, etc, has gotten busier than the past semesters. For the first exam of this Med-Surg class I did some practice questions, re-read my notes, read the book, and did practice questions I took 1.5 weeks to study, but I failed by 3 points. I go to the weekly reviews we have at the end of class, I never miss a single class, and always sit upfront and peel my eyes and ears to focus during class. My friend had only 1 day to study, so she watched YouTube videos on the topics and she passed the exam. I met with the professor, asked for suggestions on study techniques. I was thankful that I was able to get my adhd medication and began to study ahead of time for the 2nd exam. I read the book, re-read my notes, used flashcards, summarized my notes, watched some of the YouTube videos that help nursing students, did over 300 Lippincott book questions (I was getting most of them right). The last 3 days prior to the exam I joined a study group, where I was even teaching some topics, we did Lippincott questions and I was the one answering most and being able to analyze them correctly. I was confident I knew the material, the day before the exam I practiced more questions, did my last review of the material, and made sure to go to bed by 9pm. I was relaxed through my studying and when I went to school the next morning to take the exam. As I began the exam I was reading the questions carefully to understand them correctly, I timed myself, but sadly spent too much time on questions that I did not understand. I was running out of time, so I began to random click, as we can't leave unanswered questions. I was so sad, but hoped for a miracle, but then got my grade, which was lower than my first grade. I have never failed 2 consecutive exams, it has definitely shaken my confidence. The friends I helped passed the exam. In 3 - 4 weeks I have the cumulative final exam and the exit exam, and I am so scared to fail again and be kicked out of the program in my last semester. I don't know what else to do to assure my success in this class. Having the ability to explain the material to others made me believe I was capable of getting good grades in this class. I don't understand why I get such low grades when the people I help get much better grades than me. At the moment I have the option of dropping out of the semester or taking the final and the exit HESI. I don't want to quit, could you guys please give me suggestions on how to study or how to be a better test taker to pass these exams?

I have a bachelors in psychology and a MSW with mental health concentration. I have been working in a hospital, mostly stationed in ED for the past 5 years. I want to pursue a nursing degree but I am unclear as to what to get into. So far I am working on my pre requisites. They school counselor at the nearest community college, says I should apply for a MSN, friends from work say I should either do the accelerated program at places like Samuel Merritt, or do an ADN. I must say I am not by any means an A student, but from my masters I have a almost 4.0 GPA, I sadly anticipate this might go down a bit with the pre requisite classes. I would like a program in northern California that is not as complicated to get into and that they prepare their students well with a good guidance. I would like to graduate soon but I also do not want to rush so much and risk failing because of this. Also, if I get the ADN, many people have told me that my masters would count and a BSN would not be required, if this true?

I have a masters in mental health and currently work in a hospital over 1.5 hrs from my house, leave the house by 5am and don't make it back until 8pm. I am beat after my long shift of dealing with psychotic, unmedicated people mostly stationed in ED but responsibility of covering all 6 hospital floors, crazy schedule and being salary, I often times do not have time for lunch or any break and tend to have to do overtime. I have been inspired by my RN friends at work and have had the urge to go back to school for nursing for the longest time. As my time is very limited, I went to visit the local college counselor and she enrolled me in an online chemistry class and assured me it would be easy. I must mentioned that all my schooling years I have always taken option b and never took chemistry. I went to the first class and spoke at length with the professor explaining my anxieties, my lack of chem knowledge, my time restrictions, etc She said "don't worry, it will be a breeze, you have a masters and this should not be hard at all and if anything I live close to your work and can meet you after work to help you..." Sadly, her offer never stood, now I am stuck with being my own teacher, I asked the teacher for help and she said she does not have the extra time. They have just started having tutoring sessions at school but they have them when I am at work. I pretty much sleep with my book, I am a huge google and youtube fan for tutorials, I hired a private tutor, who fortunately or unfortunately has the need to compare himself to me, he is a chemist and often says things like "oh you are struggling with ionic equations, that's nothing compared to what I have to do at work" and goes into detail about what he does at work. I tell him "I am already confused about my own topic, I don't need yours into detail to confuse me even more" Unfortunately not many tutors are available in my schedule and others charge extremely expensive. At times I seek help from my RN co workers but I also don't want to seem incompetent in their eyes. On my first chemistry exam I did not do so well, 50% only. I have an upcoming exam tomorrow and I am struggling with the chemistry language and the formulas, I have another exam in 1 month, plus an exam of the whole book on the same day. I have never failed a class and don't want to fail this one, I am doing EVERYTHING I can but to be honest I only have 2 days off from work and mostly only have those 2 days off to fully give into chem, I read the other days after work, but I am soooo beat that my brain does not seem to retain as much. I am no quitter and that is why I am sticking to the class, besides, by now is already too late to drop it and I don't want to. I want to finish and PASS. Any clues on how to help me study for this? retain more information? Simplify things for me? how to memorize so many things in so little time? Polyatomic ions, Soluble and not soluble ionic compounds, net ionic equations, acids, electrolytes, etc HELP