Rant*I hope I'm never their patient

Nursing Students General Students

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Today was the last day of the trimester, we finished with the pharmacology final. On Tuesday was our med-surg final. I've heard from several classmates that they just need ____ points to pass. Some are doing the bare minimum and just aiming for that 70 required to pass. A few people even finished the 100 question pharm final in 30 minutes...which is almost impossible because with the amount of SATA questions it seems unlikely that the students were even trying.

It makes me wonder about the nurses who have taken care of my family members and whether or not the nurse even knew what she was doing. Or if she just got lucky passing the NCLEX. I work hard for my good grades and it worries/angers me to see people that barely try and still get to continue to the next semester when it's obvious they're not that interested in actually learning anything. With many even using test banks from the textbook :(

Very scary.

I don't think you can pass the NCLEX with luck.

I'm at the end of my first semester. I'm not trying nearly as hard as I could be, but that doesn't mean I'm going to make a bad nurse. It means I'm tired. If you never want to be my patient because I'm not going for 100% after busting my butt all semester, so be it, I guess.

The nursing students getting by without "even trying" or not giving it their all make me a lot less nervous for their future patients than the nursing students that are giving it 100+% and are barely squeaking by and struggle with the material, but that's just me.

Specializes in Telemetry, Med-Surg, Peds.

Some students don't have to try. There were some semesters where I could bomb the final and still pass. I didn't, but I could, because I kept my grade up the entire semester. But I didn't study like a madwoman, I studied smart. Go over what I knew I needed to go over and refresh what I was already comfortable with. I had friends who would study day and night, hours upon hours, and would say, "Cs get degrees." Not my motto, but for them it works. Some people have to work harder than others.

Happy Studying!

I have A students in my semester class that go to clinical and STILL don't know how to properly do basic care. Same students have no real-life critical thinking skills and just give textbook answers.

Specializes in Critical care.

I passed my pharm HESI with a 99.99% and in just under 30 minutes. I can't remember how many questions it had, but it was a lot. I wasn't even trying to finish as quick as I did. I finished long before everyone else, but it was because I was confident with the material and not because I wasn't trying.

Specializes in Stepdown . Telemetry.

They may be excellent test takers but in this day in age with the "test bank" thing and the high prevalence of cheating in our culture today, there is definitely a likelyhood they are cheating. Its funny how programs just turn a blind eye to red flags while also creating these almost impossible standards in their curriculum. Nursing education has some issues at play. I dont entirely blame the students, because the system also a problem.

Specializes in Pedi.

30 minutes is about how long it took me to take most of my tests in college. I consistently was among the first to finish and I finished my NCLEX in less than 45 minutes. Someone taking tests faster than you has nothing to do with their competency or their ability as a nurse in the future. When I take tests and see the correct answer, I select it. I don't spend 5 minutes reviewing every possible answer. I remember in high school, taking an SAT prep course and there being some ridiculously easy math question like a picture of a circle cut into quarters with 3 shaded in and it asked what percentage that was. The instructor went through every answer and was like "well you can eliminate 45% because you can see that more than half of the circle is shaded in and half is 50%" and went through each of the 3 wrong answers like this and I was sitting there like "or you could know in your head that 3/4 is 75%, pick that and move on to the next question."

Depending on what you plan to do, the specific medications you're learning about in pharmacology may not even be relevant to your career. For example, we spent a fair amount of time on cholesterol meds in my pharmacology class. I remember next to none of it because, in 11 years as a pediatric nurse, I don't think I've ever come across a child on a cholesterol lowering medication. Rarely have I come across anyone on any of the anti-diabetic meds meant for type II diabetics either because type II is quite rare in pediatrics.

Plus, what are you going to do in the future if you are taken to the ER by stretcher impaled with a foreign object and see one of these people as your trauma nurse? Say "no, not you, you took your pharmacology test too fast in nursing school"?

What a bunch of judgmental slop. You're not "worried", for Pete's sake.

There's always a holier-than-thou student that like to pass off their announcement that they are superior to others by proclaiming to be "worried" for the *gasp!!!* safety of the patients.

Why do you really care what other people do, OP? What's really bothering you besides... patient safety? :sarcastic:

Today was the last day of the trimester, we finished with the pharmacology final. On Tuesday was our med-surg final. I've heard from several classmates that they just need ____ points to pass. Some are doing the bare minimum and just aiming for that 70 required to pass. A few people even finished the 100 question pharm final in 30 minutes...which is almost impossible because with the amount of SATA questions it seems unlikely that the students were even trying.

It makes me wonder about the nurses who have taken care of my family members and whether or not the nurse even knew what she was doing. Or if she just got lucky passing the NCLEX. I work hard for my good grades and it worries/angers me to see people that barely try and still get to continue to the next semester when it's obvious they're not that interested in actually learning anything. With many even using test banks from the textbook :(

Very scary.

Specializes in SRNA.

You should spend a lot less time worrying about others and more about you. You judging your classmates is subjective. If they are passing (an objective assessment) then you shouldn't be worried. The school is obviously not worried haha.

The nursing students getting by without "even trying" or not giving it their all make me a lot less nervous for their future patients than the nursing students that are giving it 100+% and are barely squeaking by and struggle with the material, but that's just me.

Exactly. Sorry, things just came to me easily. Plus, I knew how to study smart not hard.

Specializes in Neuro.

It's kinda presumptuous to say you think you know what other students study ethic is. Some people are really flippin smart & yeah could breeze through an exam in 30 minutes. I'm not saying there aren't bad students or even nurses out there but unless they are giving YOU care what do you know about them? Everyone is not like you & everyone doesn't study like you. I know students in my class who are A students & students who are just passing, both are equal in my eyes. They are passing & will have to sit & pass the same NCLEX if they want to be nurses. You have to allow that everyone is not like you or has your habits.

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