Test Help

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Hello y'all , this is my first post and I had to join the site out of desperation. I always enjoyed reading posts and benefitting from the vast amount of experience and knowledge in this forum. I am a first semester nursing student , I have previous degrees in accounting and finance but i realized late I wasn't a 9-5 person and I needed a lot of flexibility regarding working schedules. My issue is in my nursing classes , specifically health assessment and fundamentals of nursing. We have had 2 tests so far and I am a B-average on both courses , this is giving me sleepless nights , literarily. I stay up studying most nights and go into the exam knowing all the material in the text books , but my professor brings the most ridiculous questions. THey are almost not related to anything she has ever mentioned in class or anything that is reflected in the text books . She doesn't even explain her rationale , a lot of times it becomes a power struggle for her when she is asked why a question is a certain answer. I plan on making a 4.0 this semester but the same lady teaches Health assessment and fundamentals and I have the same problem in both courses. I need resoureces or ideas fo where i can get practice questions for her tests. Her questions aren't patterned after the questions in the text book (kozier) neither are the patterned after saunders or any other review questions I've ever seen. I consider myself to be a well above average students , I'll be very hurt to end up with a B on these courses 'cause I'm studying harder than I've ever studied in my life , someone please help me. I spoke to the professor but she was of no help, she just gave me useless information and I am taking classes at a community college so there isn't anyone I can voice my concerns and frustrations to among the faculty about this issue - pls help

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

Good luck to you. You might have to lower your expectations of getting a 4.0 and accepting the B, and getting some sleep at night.

It's a different way of testing and learning, and hopefully prepares you for NCLEX.

Hopefully, someone will come along and help. Welcome to Allnurses.

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It sounds like your problem is your unrealistic expectations for yourself. Most people don't graduate nursing programs with a 4.0. Pressuring yourself in to obtaining grades you may not be capable of achieving is self-defeating. Give yourself a break, you're only human!

Be proud of your B's! Once you graduate, the only person who will care about or remember your GPA in school is you. Concentrate on being the best clinical nurse you can be.

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thanks y'all. I feel that the first semester courses would be easy , so it's in my best interest to make the best grade possible in the first semester before I start dealing with more difficult material. I think if I make B's now in my first semester I might end up with C's in subsequent semesters . Is it really unrealistic of me to want to make all A's in my first semester ?

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It may be. I was a 4.0 student. I came out of 1st semester with a 3.2 *shrug* It's completely different from being an English or Business major. Focus on your skills and critical thinking, and the rest will follow. If you see a downward trend developing in your grades, then worry. You may just be a "B" nursing student!

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What I really find frustrating is that my professor isn't bothered everyone is flunking her class. The highest in those tests are B's , but I make A's in my pharmacology and Microbiology tests , that's why i can't accept myself as a B nursing student. I think the problem is with the instructor , once I figure out where she gets her questions from and I practice I can understand her rationale better and that will be reflected in my test scores. I'm really concerned because I want to go to a very good graduate program once I am done and I will need funding for my education also , so for me the bottom line isn't just passing the NCLEX and becoming an RN it's a much bigger burden, it's as important as getting into nursing school the only thing is i'm in nursing school already.

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Specializes in PEDS ~ PP ~ NNB & LII Nursery.

What you might need to do rather than memorizing and remembering what you read and learn from the books is to actually be sure you completely understand the 'why' and 'how too's' of the information. That is what you will need to know for the NCLEX as well. It is a completely different style of learning. Much more application processing rather than recognition learning.

Don't worry so much about your GPA now. I realize that is a common theme in your replies but is so very true and worth repeating. The competition is over. You are in the program now and your GPA really doesn't hold the water it used to. Also don't think that the classes get progressively harder. That just simply isn't true. Yes, learning the material in your 1st semester classes well will help you in future semesters but it really doesn't build on itself from easiest to hardest. All the nursing classes each semester cover completely different aspects of nursing. You may find you excel at some classes and struggle through others. Each student will have their strong points and that usually will assist you in learning what area of nursing you will find your nitch in as well.

To be honest, it really doesn't sound like your class is struggling all that bad. If students are getting B's, they can't all be flunking can they? I was also a 4.0 on my pre-rec's and remember going into finals my first semester of nursing school figuring out what grade I needed on them to pass the course. In fact, most of my class did that. Nursing school is more about how you apply the information during clinical and how well you understand the processes of the information you learn.

Good luck and don't start stressing yet! It is a long road that is not particularly difficult but rather time consuming and stressful. Take it all in stride and it will also be the most rewarding thing you have ever done in your life! The day of graduation is the most exciting day of your new career because of the overwhelming feeling of accomplishment that goes along with it!

Well, at least until the day you find you passed the NCLEX...

Hope some of what you get is helpful to you and you are able to apply it to you nursing studies. Everyone here is wonderful at being brutally honest and sometimes students don't always see that for what it is.

Once you get your license, nobody really cares what grade you got in nursing school. (or what school you went to)

rags

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

Actually usually grades might improve.

It's not unrealistic to expect A's and go for A's. I'm the same way. What we have to learn in nursing school. Is that if we've done our best (which varies from day to day, week to week), it's easier to be gentle with ourselves and not lose sleep if we're less than perfect.

Nothing wrong with going for A's, and learning from mistakes so you can make an A next time. What's wrong is getting so stressed over it you're losing sleep and feeling like a failure for not meeting your goals.

Accept yourself and the outcomes and move on.

Good luck to you.

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Esther,

This is my first semester as well. I am too am spending many hours studying. Although I don't have my first test until this Tuesday, and our first week of clinicals are this Tuesday as well. I would be ESTATIC to pull a 'B'. It is hard and different from all the other subjects we have all taken up until this point-they told us that during orientation-they also told us to not go in with pre-conceived ideas of getting 'A's especially if that is what we are accustomed to earning. I am studying long hours working hard and if all I can pull on an exam is a 'C' I would still be happy. Why? Because I know and 'A' does not guarentee someone will be a good nurse. It is a science and the other part of it is that it is an art. Just do your best academically but also know that it isn't about the 'A's. It's about passing-learning the skills and learning the art to become the best nurses we can be.I know because I was like that all through General Education and Pre-reqs, but now, I know I will be satisfied with giving it my all, and now I refuse to let my ego interfere or be a stumbling block to learning theory and rationale and understanding, afterall, it's not about us-but the client.

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The best strategy that has work for me so far, practice nclex questions. The last exam, I got one of the highest grade in the class. I am taking med surg, my instructor said, this is one of the toughest nursing classes. It is challenging, but so far I am doing very well.

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thank you all so much for your advice , they've been really helpful. For those of you in my situation I have advice for you. I finally figured out what the problem was. What my instructor actually tests are my test taking strategies. Nursing questions are usually composed of four parts - the stem , the issue , the client and the key words. If you answer a question "academically" correctly and it isn't addressed to the client , or you fail to take cognizance of the key words such as the age , initial , first , preoperative etc then whatever answer you provide is still wrong. I applied the strategies to my last two tests and I finally started making A's. Y'all can check this website for more info on strategic test taking - http://nursing.drexel.edu/excel/index.cfm?action=study_resources

thx again y'all

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Specializes in PEDS ~ PP ~ NNB & LII Nursery.

I knew you would get it. It really is a matter of understand the different testing format isn't it? Throughout nursing school you will continue to improve on nursing process because you learn to think that way, no matter what you are doing.

Good luck and I'm sure you will do wonderful!

rags

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