Someone, throw me out a life jacket!!! What am I doing wrong?

1969 · Dec 9, 2011

Also, I found this is something that many students fail to do.... read the rationales for the questions you missed. you'll learn a lot , it's all about thinking it through, priorities, safety. You'll be fine no matter what !

ParkerBC,MSN,RN, PhD, RN · Dec 9, 2011

it's the end of the semester, and i have gotten myself in a bit of a situation that i did not want to be in! i started off the beginning of my first semester of nursing school doing great! but as the weeks passed, my grades slowly started to diminsh. i found myself questioning my ability to apply the information that i was receiving and becoming frustrated with the exams. so fast forward..... i am approaching my final which is on monday (yikes!!!) with a mere 79%, and in order to pass the class, i must have an 79.5. my final is worth 110 pts, and with that being said, i am only allowed 20 questions that i can miss! only 20 questions folks!!! so as you can tell, my mind is in a tailspin because judging from my most recent exams, it's going to be quite difficult to pull this one off.
so, my purpose of creating this thread is not only to vent, but to take any suggestions the following:
study methods/suggestions
suggestions on how to apply the information (critical thinking/application)
anything else that may be condusive to my situation
i'm really bummed out, and feel completed depleated. help me please!

i wish this post would have been made sooner. i always suggest going to the instructor and taking a look at your old exams. ask questions about the questions you missed and guessed on. understand the rationale. look for a pattern to the questions. as you know, everything nurses do fall within the nursing process, adpie. test questions follow the same guidelines. in your textbook, focus on the parts that discuss the nursing process within the body system you are studying. also, the charts are a good idea to review. in other words, don't focus on the small details...you will get lost.

ParkerBC,MSN,RN, PhD, RN · Dec 9, 2011

i respectfully disagree on that last point. recent research on learning and retention indicates that last-minute cramming is not helpful and in some ways interferes with the brain's efforts to organize information for later retrieval. from my experience it also just ramps up anxiety, and that interferes c sleep and priority-setting, and it doesn't sound like this student needed that anymore either.
good luck, op! let us know how you do!

grntea is absolutely correct. to add to her statement, there are several research studies recently made available where nursing students were made the subjects. one particular study followed a group of nursing students from the beginning to the end of their program. in the research findings, it is indicated that students who crammed information prior to exams versus those who did not received only slightly lower exam scores. however, those same students showed a significant decrease in their final exam scores (more information to cram). another significant finding was that those students who cram information earned a lower gpa in subsequent courses as the material builds upon itself. one last finding is that the percentage of students who failed out of nursing school was significantly higher for those who crammed the information prior to exams versus those who did not.

i’ll track down the article and post it.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Dec 10, 2011

excellent. if i miss it here, could you pm me the reference? many thanks!

Cuddleswithpuddles · Dec 10, 2011

Parker and GrnTea,

I so agree with you guys!

To me, time away from the books is just as important as time with the books.

If I have to look at my notes the minute before a test, I know I've already lost.

Music in My Heart · Dec 11, 2011

i respectfully disagree on that last point. recent research on learning and retention indicates that last-minute cramming is not helpful and in some ways interferes with the brain's efforts to organize information for later retrieval. from my experience it also just ramps up anxiety, and that interferes c sleep and priority-setting, and it doesn't sound like this student needed that anymore either.

if you mean last-minute cramming on material that you've not already studied then perhaps... to the contrary, continued saturation of material that you've already studied is beneficial... at least for some of us. for that matter, even when one has been slacking for the entire term, cramming is preferable to simply disregarding material.

if you're going to lean on recent research then you should cite it. the research that you cite, what is it using as the control group against the cramming group and what parameters are considered in assigning one to the cramming group?

in my experience, through two bs degrees and an msn - with grades at both ends of the spectrum, continued immersion in the material up until the moment of the test is very helpful to maximize scores.

auntlala · Dec 11, 2011

I have been in your shoes almost for every semester except my last. Study groups, meet with the teacher and the Saunders NCLEX book. Do lots of practice questions. You can do this :)