I am in A&P 2 and have the worst teacher I have ever had in my life, and I have had some bad ones. She not only grades hard, but she asks open ended questions on exams that can be answered in different ways. You never know what she is looking to get in the way of an answer, so anything can be right/wrong depending on what she wanted you to write (but not giving us any idea what that is).
At any rate, I just took my heart and blood vessel test and got a few points marked off when I answered the essay question about FETAL circulation. I knew a lot about it and thought it was a slam dunk of an answer, but I didn't get full credit on it. Apparently even though I knew everything (and than some) that I needed to know she took points off because I did not mention the blood flow from the umbilical chord. First off, if I know that only 3 chambers of the heart work in a fetus (and how it works differently than an adult) I think it should be safe to assume I would know something that the other 99 percent of the people know. But lets even say that I should not have assumed. The question was about FETAL circulation. The chord is outside of the fetus, I should not be graded on it IMO. I am not sure where the line is drawn between mother and fetus, but between my excellent understanding of the fetus's circulatory system, and the fact the question did not specify outside the fetus I don't think I should have lost anything. Heck, why stop at the chord? The rest of the mother has an effect on a fetus's development.
I did not do badly on the test, I just did not do as well as I would have liked to (I got an 88). Out of a class of 28 I did 5th best (about 25 percent of the class fail her tests so far). I am right at that B plus mark bordering on an A and I want that A! The way things are shaping up I will probably borderline at the end of the semester between an A and a B+. Do you think it is worthwhile for me to confront her on this and risk her grading me harsher in the future?
I did not do badly on the test, I just did not do as well as I would have liked to (I got an 88). Out of a class of 28 I did 5th best (about 25 percent of the class fail her tests so far). I am right at that B plus mark bordering on an A and I want that A! The way things are shaping up I will probably borderline at the end of the semester between an A and a B+. Do you think it is worthwhile for me to confront her on this and risk her grading me harsher in the future?
Or do I even have a leg to stand on?
Quite simply, my experience as a student was never make a stink about anything and as an instructor dealing with those students arguing over a high B, depending on the student and their approach, most times it was annoying.
I wouldn't "make a stink" or "confront" your professor. I would just talk to her. If you aren't sure what she is looking for on the open-ended question maybe you can ask her during an exam if she could narrow down the question OR personally, I would just write everything I knew that would answer the question. I would highly suggest that you talk to the professor. Let the professor know that you care and you want to know what it takes to pass the class with an A.
All I really saw in your posts was an intense defensiveness and you flexing for no reason. I understand being frustrated, and I've been there many times while taking courses to get into a nursing program, but there is a way to go about it. There was one professor I'd constantly have to correct and I actually was being cheated out of points. Every other time, I ended up being truly wrong and I had to suck it up. Nursing school will probably be many times more vague and some of your exams will not be explicit in notes and lectures.
The umbilical cord is absolutely part of the circulation. We can split hairs all night on where the mother ends and the fetus begins, but it doesn't mean your answer should have gotten full credit without mentioning the cord.
I would ask the professor what he or she is looking for, but I would not confront or make any stink.
That's how all of my teachers open ended questions have been...I mean what more would you have wanted short of giving you the answer? I'm serious. .how do you think she should have asked the question or how could she have told you in a way that you would know her expectations? I have asked my teachers if I can draw pictures as part of my open ended answers and most are fine with that. If you have a doubt about a question you should ask during the test.
I understand your frustration. However, I would probably talk to your professor and find out specifically what she is looking for on her exams (as others have suggested). I also wouldn't make a big stink about an 88.
Use it as a learning experience. Your professor has many more years of education (especially in this field) than you do, and she is there to help you. The open ended questions are to encourage you to begin to develop your critical thinking skills and figure things out for yourself; that takes practice. In nursing school exams, you will be given questions in which one answer is the MOST correct, and you must pay attention to the wording of the questions in order to answer them appropriately.
Pick and choose your battles wisely and understand that you MUST be respectful of your instructors. Don't get so defensive. Talk to your professor, do your best, and relax. Talking to your professor shows initiative and goes a long way. It's not the end of the world. Be humble and realize that you don't know everything (in fact, nobody does). KNOW WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW. Work on the attitude...you will never survive nursing school (much less be a SAFE nurse) with the kind you have right now. I'm 10 weeks into my first semester and I have realized all of the above. It's a different beast.
The placenta is the respiratory organ for the baby. The umbilical cord contains the blood vessels to and from it. They are part of the baby until they are cut off. They are both essential to fetal circulation. And by essential, I mean 100% absolutely, positively needed. Leaving them out is like selling someone fish and leaving out that they need water.
Also, all chambers of the heart "work."
You probably should not make a stink about this question.
If you "make a stink" about this and have even a fraction of this attitude with your professor and you were at my university you would have been hit with an incivility reprimand faster than you could blink. It's time to accept you are wrong and learn from it. You aren't going to be happy until somebody agrees with you and I don't see that happening. All your other knowledge doesn't mean a lick if there isn't a functioning umbilical cord.
You need to toughen up and stop whining. We all have stories about how awful our A&P classes were. I took mine as a 5 week summer course and found out later that a lot students at the university try to take it at the local community college instead because it is notoriously hard. About 75% of the students were retaking the class. My A&PII instructor was a very senior faculty member (a friend had her 15 years before I did and was surprised she was still alive and teaching) who spoke a mile a minute without pauses and still used an overhead projector (this was well past the time when most overhead projectors were retired and classrooms had smartboards). She also didn't post slides or anything for us and our lectures were 3 hours long. I had a lecture exam on a Monday, project presentation on that Tuesday, lab practical on the Wednesday, and a final exam on Thursday- all in the same week. But you know what? It was great prep for my nursing program where it was common for us to have 8 exams (the final and the final subject HESI) in a period of just 4 days.
Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.
You can continue to argue,refuse to accept you could be wrong...and end up with a DEAD PATIENT....IMHO the scariest nurse is the one who won't admit what he/she does NOT know....You really should take a step back from this self made controversy and refer to your A and P book,start with the first page of the chapter...Clear your mind of anything to do with the exam..
One thing I learned is sometimes in order to pass you have to know your professor. Know what she expects of you. Sorry, that's how it is. My A&P was incredibly hard, 2/3rd of the class have to retake A&P..that is how hard my prof was. I also had to answer open ended questions on my test and after the first few tests, I just did what I did to appease her. She has been at this game far longer than I have. Plus the professors who run you into the ground with A&P prepare you for nursing far better than the easier profs. Every nursing student has told me that..
you do not really have much to go off of, sadly that is how much of nursing school is; make sure you know each topic and be able to explain anything about it, so if you get an open ended question you may ask her to clarify and if she will not then give anything that you think she would want as an answer. As for getting full points on that question, it will not happen, the umbilical cord is part of fetal circulation, or you should have at least mentioned how that is where the fetus gets the blood from because that is the connecting point to the mother so it is part moms but mostly fetus's. for future reference never assume that something is common sense even if you think it is stupid to put it. some of the professors I have had would give you partial credit and some would give none at all if part of the answer is missing it can be considered incorrect.
OP, you're getting hit with a double whammy here. Or, like WWII, there's the Eastern Front and the Western Front.
Front one: you have a degree in a humanities field, where yes, answers can be debated until the cows come home. Especially when it comes to "why" and "what is the significance of" questions.
Front two: Anatomy and Physiology, as well as nursing courses, are notoriously hard. But there are two goals. One, obviously to impart information, but also to create people who can think critically about the biological sciences and to incorporate all their knowledge, even things learned in other classes. Sometimes that is the bigger goal. The technical skills? Can be taught by anybody, to anybody. But what sets us, as nurses, apart is our ability to use our brains. To look at a patient, say to ourselves "wow, he's covered in dirt and he has two, maybe three teeth total" and to extrapolate from that things to look out for. Nutritional deficiencies. Infections. Mental state. To ask ourselves "why is he like that" and where to start our nursing cares. Taking all the hard facts that we learned in school and blending it all together.
Or, you're needing to rewire how you think and learn. In history classes, you can get away with only the assigned readings, because that's all that you truly need to focus on. But in nursing school and its prerequisite classes, the assigned readings are things that need to be focused on a little bit more, but you're expected to read the entire chapter and have some idea about it all.
When I was in nursing school, our instructors started off by giving us study guides for the tests, sure. Eventually it changed over to "lectures N - R." But there was always, always the phrase "and other topics not listed here."
Go ahead and make a "stink" OP. On a subject you are clearly wrong about. The umbilical cord is vitally important in fetal circulation. Many people have told you that and you don't get it. Me is wondering how you have that B+.
I would not even bother applying to nursing school. Nursing school is all about ambigous questions, which you classified this as, yet it's pretty straight forward. If you want to regurgitate facts, stick to history because that's all that is.
As a history buff and having a grandfather who was a WWII veteran, I know most of the battles especially in Germany as he was a POW there. Captured in Battle of the Bulge. Don't get on here and act like you are the authority on everything because you memorized some battles. Big, freaking deal. Nursing school exams will have 4 correct answers. Your job is to pick the best. And it will be on info that you may not have covered in class. Still expected to know the info.
We had a question a couple of weeks ago about a med. I remembered briefly talking about the med, I even took notes on it. The question had nothing to do what we went over in class. I was still expected to know that drug inside and out. I missed the question and I deserved to. You were expected to know the fetal circulatory system and did not. accept the grade.
Jules A, MSN
8,864 Posts
Quite simply, my experience as a student was never make a stink about anything and as an instructor dealing with those students arguing over a high B, depending on the student and their approach, most times it was annoying.