Usually an A student--got a C on 1st exam

nurturingkneads · Sep 3, 2007

Is this your first semester? It's difficult to adjust to taking exams in nursing school. It is unlike anything you have ever experienced on an exam. Personally, I have done well in my first two semesters but a lot of my friends are saying the same thing that you are. They are upset about getting a C but be glad you are passing. Don't give up on your dream yet. Hang in there - you will get used to it.

shock-me-sane · Sep 3, 2007

welcome to nursing school...a time to humble even the brightest of students.

But seriously don't drop out. You didn't work hard to get in to simply quit. Hang in there!

adamsmom · Sep 3, 2007

I had a 4.0 gpa before nursing school. I just passed my 2nd semester with a C+. Just remember C=RN

Good Luck

boomerfriend · Sep 3, 2007

I can totally relate. I am in my final semester of nursing school and got a (barely) passing grade on the first test. It is humbling and startling all at the same time. I am usually a B+ student (with the occasional A and C thrown in there). This one I didn't expect. I thought I knew this material and ended up with a 77% on exam.

Don't give up. Meet with your instructor (if you can) and re-examine how you are taking the tests. Perhaps it is the way you're approaching the questions, perhaps it's test anxiety, perhaps you're not reading all the question and all the answers. There's lots of reasons why the poor grade. There's lots more opportunity to redeem yourself. Just take it as a challenge to do better on the next test (and the next, and the next).

Just remember, we all have to go this path and sometimes you don't make the grade you want....you just have to pass and get that degree.

MikeyJ, RN · Sep 3, 2007

Welcome to nursing school. You will soon learn that nursing school does more testing on your "critical thinking" rather than on the content. I am in an accelerated BSN program, and I know of 2 students out of our 50 students that maintained a 4.0 their first semester. Not to discourage you, but nursing school typically decreases everyone's GPA. There are some individuals who manage to do very well.

After my first bad exam grade slapped me in the face, I was quite humbled but quickly got over it and picked myself up. I soon learned the ropes of nursing school and accepted if I received a poor test grade. I think the quicker nursing students accept the fact that nursing school is difficult, the easier it will go.

I can tell you that my goal was to manage a 3.75 my first semester and that did not happen. I was glad to manage a 3.4 my first semester!

Becca608 · Sep 3, 2007

I can see where I have my own problems with critical thinking--especially when I have only seconds to respond.

Which is the point of nursing school. This is an opportunity to learn. If you feel uncomfortable with something, make an appointment with one of your professors. I did that last semester after clinicals and it was very helpful. My goal for this semester is to focus on critical thinking and prioritizing. My weakest points, yet they are so critical.

Don't just give up. Nursing school is an adjustment. We just started second year and spent the first week laughing at the memories of last year...how freaked out we were about handwashing, making beds, etc.

You'll do fine. Just keep your nose to the grindstone!!!!

krenee · Sep 3, 2007

I would hate to continue just to fail out.

I'm sorry . . . but how does two As and one C constitute "failing out"??? This is a serious exaggeration, and I think it's indicative of your thinking. You need to be more positive! You're NOT failing out and dropping out over this would be . . . silly.

Not to belittle your emotions, trust me, I will be upset too if I get a C on my first exam, BUT I know from past experience that it would just push me to try harder!

Now I'm a beginning nursing student too, but my understanding is that critical thinking is learned. You just haven't learned it completely yet, that doesn't mean you won't or can't. My school gives a critical thinking exam at the beginning of the year and another at the end so you (and they) can see your improvement. They expect improvement, which means it can be learned.

You'll do great, just move on from one imperfect test grade!

Kelly

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Sep 3, 2007

critical thinking involves pulling together information from a number of different sources. unfortunately, the questions won't tell you what sources you need to pull the information from--it's up to you to make that decision! before nursing school most students have been exposed to anatomy and physiology, biology, chemistry and sometimes microbiology and sometimes pathophysiology (the study of disease) is taken separately as well. by the time you are in nursing school you are adding knowledge of nursing fundamentals and interventions (this includes the nursing process) and, if you haven't had it already, knowledge of disease processes, their pathophysiology and how they are treated by physicians. that's a lot to know! all of this knowledge is what you need to pull together (critical thinking) to answer these application type multiple choice questions on nursing exams. now, if you read through what i just wrote, that's a lot of information to have to process in your mind for one question. i tried to put this into a form for students when i created the critical thinking flow sheet for nursing students which is a form that has a link attached at the end of every one of my posts. it helps you to see the logical flow of all these elements. if you cannot open it up, send me an e-mail through allnurses and i will e-mail you the form. during a test you need to be able to incorporate this flow of information into your thinking in order to reason out the correct answer for a test question. that is critical thinking. and the fact is that as professional working rns we go through this critical thinking process with just about every single patient problem that presents itself. however, we do it so rapidly (our brains are very quick) that we are often not aware of it. school asks you to break this process down to its step-by-step bare bones skeleton. as students all of this information is still new to you, so it takes you a little longer to process it all and you will make a few errors in your thinking. seeing patients with disease conditions and their responses to all the different treatments and interventions will help put all this in perspective eventually. time and experience will take care of that.

so, have you ever had to solve problems in this manner before? you probably have, but didn't realize it. it's how we learn to please our parents and others we care about in our day to day lives. but, with nursing school most of the information is very new to you so you are still trying to figure out what information is important and where you should fit it in on the importance meter. this is where time and experience will help you to sort all that out. is that a reason to quit? i don't think so. but, then again, i and most all of us nurses have gone through this period just as you are now. i survived with a few scrapes and scars. so will most of you. we learn. just as you learned what pleased your parents and made them smile. it takes some of us a little longer to "get it" than it does others. what is important is that you eventually do "get it".

you never quit. let them throw you out of the program kicking and screaming, but you never let the program intimidate you into quitting. rns are problem solvers. that was drummed into our heads from my first day of rn school. here's your first personal problem to solve. solve it or you won't be worthy of putting the title of nurse after your name is what i am saying. (i'm not being harsh here. i'm trying to give you a pep talk and let you know what kind of a battle you are engaged in. i had to go through it to.)

now, you should take that test that you got a "c" on and look at all the questions where you got the wrong answers. what were the right answers? where did your thinking go wrong so that you chose the wrong answer? what did you forget to include in your thinking that got you to the wrong answer? did you remember to ask all the "why" questions? will you make that mistake again when presented with that same situation? how can you use what you've learned to help you not make the same errors in thinking on the next test? if you could come up with a strategy to answer these questions what would it be? test your theory on the next exam. what i've just done is taken you through a modified form of the nursing process except i applied it to your test situation.

this kind of self-assessment is also how you will improve your practice on the job as a nurse because we all make errors in judgment and little boo-boos from time to time. the difference between a winner and a loser is that a winner takes a tragedy, analyzes where they erred, learns from it, uses that information to improve and moves on; a loser quits--just gives up and quits. now, you can go and get your tuition back, but you will still have learned a much bigger lesson here than anything you could have gotten from your textbooks. that is the real learning that takes place in college--not what you learn from lectures and textbooks. anyone can open up and book and read it. you don't need an instructor or lecturer to tell you to do that. it's what you do with the information. . .and that is what nursing school is going to help you do. that is what critical thinking is all about.

http://go.dbcc.edu/hhps/nursing/study_skills.html - study skills for the nursing student from daytona beach community college nursing department with some good advice.
http://go.dbcc.edu/hhps/nursing/test_taking_skills.html - test taking skills also from daytona beach community college nursing department. a couple of sample questions and how to choose the correct answer for these application type questions.

Kristi Lee · Sep 3, 2007

I too, had a 4.0 when I started nursing school. I studied all the time and graduated in May with a 3.45. Nursing school is hard on the GPA. I thought I had to have A's myself. I was told by my family that I was driving myself bananas and everyone around me trying to maintain straight A's. I ta;ked with my teachers, they told me not to worry, as they were not worried about me failing. They said that if each and every student can walk away retaining 80 % of what they teach they are happy. I was constantly worrying and I realized I was wasting valuable time worrying. YOu will be fine! I would get an occassional C myself, and now, I am an RN as of last week. The tests in nursing school are hard but you will appreciate the fact when it comes time to take your boards. Good luck to you, you will do great!

somberhue · Sep 3, 2007

thats the fact about nursing that i realized!!! when you thought that youve done enough, then youll be humbled by a low grade exam.

its just a start!!! dont give up!!! theres more exam to come.. and with an added effort, om sure youll do well!!

StudentNurseAbby · Sep 3, 2007

I had a 4.0 in college prior to the nursing program. I got a 78 on my first exam, that's when I learned that nursing was different. The highest exam grade I've got is an 85, but I got a final grade of a C+ both semesters of my first year and that's considered good in my program. It's still hard for me to pull A's in every class but nursing because I want the A's in nursing.