Having to teach yourself?

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So, I'm curious if other programs are like this. The program I'm in it seems like we have to teach ourselves the majority of the material. They will put stuff on the exams they never went over in class. It's not in the PowerPoints or class notes. Never gets mentioned. In Fundamentals, we were never shown how to work dosage calculations, so I spent an entire day teaching myself by watching YouTube videos. I was fine in first semester doing this because the material I didn't find difficult. Now that I'm in second semester, I feel it's going to be a bigger problem. I failed my first nursing school exam today, and I'm upset but determined to do better next time.

Just seeing if this is happening a lot out there or if I picked a doozy of a program. ;) It gets frustrating to say the least.

Specializes in LTC.

The school that I went to was like yours too. Instructors say that there isn't enough time to go over everything in class

Wow, that sucks. I only have one teacher this semester who basically make us self teach any she will only provide supplmental resources such as videos and role playing teachings. The rest of my teachers will only put things on the test that have been taught in class.

On the exam today that most of the class failed, we had 4 I&O calculations. We have never been over how to calculate IO, never been told we needed to know if for this exam (I figured they would teach it when we needed to know it) or I would have watched videos. We were told a TURP drainage calculation would be on there, but not the others. When we asked the teacher, he said y'all didn't learn that in Fundamentals? It's frustratung. That's a 6 to 8 point swing on a test.

I didn't sleep much last night cause I kept waking up thinking about this exam. I made a 68 and I know of 5 questions that I had the right answer marked at one point or another or thought that was the correct answer but I changed it or didn't mark my first instinct. I could have made a 78, which still isn't wonderful but better than a 68. I'm mad at myself about that.

The school that I went to was like yours too. Instructors say that there isn't enough time to go over everything in class

How did you get through it? Or what resources did you find helpful?

One of our instructors said if we mention it in class we think it's pretty important to know. Maybe not for the unit exam but definitely for the HESI. Well if they don't talk about it in class how do we know what to study or what to read. They give us readings, but it is impossible to read 5-6 chapters and know every single line in every single chapter. That's how it feels that we need to pay attention to every single sentence in the reading material. That's nearly impossible without some guidance.

On the exam today that most of the class failed, we had 4 I&O calculations. We have never been over how to calculate IO, never been told we needed to know if for this exam (I figured they would teach it when we needed to know it) or I would have watched videos. We were told a TURP drainage calculation would be on there, but not the others. When we asked the teacher, he said y'all didn't learn that in Fundamentals? It's frustratung. That's a 6 to 8 point swing on a test.

I didn't sleep much last night cause I kept waking up thinking about this exam. I made a 68 and I know of 5 questions that I had the right answer marked at one point or another or thought that was the correct answer but I changed it or didn't mark my first instinct. I could have made a 78, which still isn't wonderful but better than a 68. I'm mad at myself about that.

Sorry that you are going thorough this. Though calculating I & O should be taught in fundamentals because a CNA should know how to do it and it's basic care. The same with dosage calculations, it should be a requirement that you know how to do med math before moving on to the next semester. Although, it's not your fault that it was not mentioned to you. Are you attending a nonprofit school? I would definitely be more cautious going further and just study everything in the chapter. If they make you read then just read the outline, objectives, and review of the chapter and the first and last sentence of every paragraph. Once you do that then just do A LOT of practice question that have rationales on the material. You can do this, just keep trying different study methtods that seen to work for you.

Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.
One of our instructors said if we mention it in class we think it's pretty important to know. Maybe not for the unit exam but definitely for the HESI. Well if they don't talk about it in class how do we know what to study or what to read. They give us readings, but it is impossible to read 5-6 chapters and know every single line in every single chapter. That's how it feels that we need to pay attention to every single sentence in the reading material. That's nearly impossible without some guidance.

It is not impossible to read the assigned reading and pay attention to it. You owe that much to your future patients.

I know it's hard. Nursing is hard. School is the easy part.

We have to teach ourselves, through powerpoints and reading. Lecture is for review/questions.

Specializes in Neuro.

Talk with your instructor about your concerns, respectfully of course. Ask them what they recommend.

Specializes in LTC.
How did you get through it? Or what resources did you find helpful?

I used the textbook resources, so there were videos on it that I could watch and quizzes that I could do on the textbook resources as well. I used cuecards and also used the quizzes with my classmates and talked through our answers.

It is not impossible to read the assigned reading and pay attention to it. You owe that much to your future patients.

I know it's hard. Nursing is hard. School is the easy part.

I read the assigned chapters but it doesn't always stick in my mind. I'll be honest too, I do not like reading. It's hard for me to sit down and read a fiction book that I find interesting much less a textbook lol. I don't know why that is maybe because I don't retain the info well when I sit and read but I'm trying to do better because I know it's very important in nursing school. I'm going to try different things the next go around. It's on F&E and acid base, so we are getting into the fun stuff. :)

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