" Evening students do better on exams then day students" ?

[NurseLoveJoy88]

this is what my instructor told us last night after we had our first ob exam on monday night. she said the evening students score were way better than the day students test scores. i was totally shocked because i know people who are in nursing school during the day and they don't work and some don't have kids thus they usually do better on their exams, so i was wondering how could that be ? not to say that our evening students are dumb but we work full time during the day so studying for hours and hours is not an option for most of us and usually the instructors are saying we are the ones who did poorly. what do you guys think ? do evening or day students have higher test results ? i'm just curious.

[FLmomof5]

Our school has an even more limited access to evening classes than day. Only 24 students per term. As a result, the older students, who have FT day jobs, shoot for the evening classes....and because of this, the cutoff score is higher. So, as a result, you have a 'brighter' bunch in the evening classes to begin with.

Our courses are the same length as the day students, so we don't have longer to learn the material.

Many of us older students have degrees already, so we have a higher level of education and some of the courses are not as tough as in our original major. Mine was Electrical Engineering, so you can only imagine when it comes to math....I can do the NS math in my sleep. I had 2 semesters of Chemistry and 5 semesters of Physics. I have been writing documentation for 25 yrs, so ENC1101 was a walk in the park. (CLEP'd out the first time.) We often have to present work before co-workers and management so there is no fear of getting in front of others (ie: speech class). We are older and IMHO, not as intimidated by the experienced nurses on the floor. Professors may relate to us better because we are their age or older.

As someone else has already said, we have kids....so we do have a bit more general knowledge of OB than those who have never been pregnant. Some of us had challenging pregnancies, so we get even more knowledge. Some of us had sick kids, so we do better in PEDS and Human Growth and Development was a "DUH!" level class.

Because we have raised a family and worked FT, we have had plenty of practice with organizing our time.

And, one other poster was correct....we don't do the socialization thing. BTDT don't need it anymore!

[back2thebooks]

My school's nursing classes are only offered during the daytime hours. I will say though, with pre-reqs, anyway--I have noticed that the age of people in evening classes tends to be older on average. When I earned my first bachelor's degree from '93-'97, I was fresh out of high school---a good student---but there is a HUGE difference in my own time management skills, determination and organization--and as a result, this time around I am getting really great grades as opposed to just good. I think it all depends on where you are in life.

[chnc1024, ASN]

I was actually told this in all of my evening classes, I'm taking day nursing classes, but all my pre-reqs were pretty much evening. I was told it's usually because day student's ususally are younger, and most people don't want to spent their evenings in class, so the ones that are there are there because they REALLY WANT to be there. Which means they are going to put more work into the class and trying to organize their time more effeciantly because they have other responsibilites that they have to consider. Makes since to me!

Have a Great Day!

Chancie

[J9G2008]

I don't think that having more time to study automatically translates to higher test scores. As the old saying goes, "If you need something done, give it to a busy person!" Those of us with lots of things going on outside class may have learned to compartmentalize nursing school so that the studying is more effective, even if it doesn't take as long.

This semester is really weeding out those who can't "think like a nurse", which is something that can't be taught and can't be studied objectively, no matter how many note cards you make.