Hello future nursing students, nursing students & seasoned nurses,
Here I am, 4 weeks into my first semester of nursing. I am currently enrolled in a 2 year nursing program. Right now my curriculum is microbiology, A&P and Nursing 1. The school I am in had a 5 year waiting list for the program and decided to do away with it and base entrance on the TEAS & the applicant's qualifications. Luckily (I believe) I was accepted; Out of 5000 applicants I was one of the 188 accepted. I also graduated last year with my BA in Psychology; GPA 3.8. Going into the nursing program I knew that it was going to be demanding and difficult but now I am realizing that it is harder than I had expected. This week I took my first Micro & nursing exams.. to say the least, I did not do as well as I would have liked. I do so so in nursing and micro, well I got a D. We've had 2 nursing skills exams which I passed the first time. The majority of my classmates had to take it twice and a lot failed the second time around and had to go through mediation. So what I'm getting at is that I feel that I am better at the skills than the paper tests, however, the skills do not count towards our GPA. My ego and psyche have taken a huge hit with these first exams. I know that in the end I am going to make a wonderful nurse but now I'm questioning if I'm going to make it. I quit my job to go to school full time. I was working 60+ hours a week while finishing up my undergrad and I feel like I had more down time than I do now. While I find A&P easy (although we haven't had an exam yet) I am struggling in micro and I'm perplexed at my nursing grade. I second guessed myself and changed answers. DUMB... I KNOW! At least with the nursing I know which answers I changed and why and what was the right answer. I have 2 friends in another local nursing program who have compared my program and material to theirs and both admitted that mine is much harder than theirs. Yet, I get very jealous when they tell me about their fantastic grades while I'm pulling C's and D's.
I hope whoever is reading this has followed thus far.... Why I'm writing this because I want to know if anyone else is in my situation. I was previously a great student and now I find myself struggling. Does anyone have any advice? Also, my ultimate goal is to continue on to get my NP. I have a friend who is in her senior year of CRNA school. Her advice was to do as well as I can in A&P. She said she got a C in Micro, which makes me feel comforted. Will my BA factor in when I apply for grad school?? I'm so confused and upset. I know that my heart is in nursing but now I'm starting to go through the "what ifs" because I chose nursing over the PsyD program due to the cost of education and tuition costs.
Any words of wisdom and advice will help!! I'm freaking out a little.
That's interesting. I have heard of it for a BSN program, but not a 2 year program. Like I said, I couldn't imaging taking all those on top of our nursing program at the same time, our 2 year of strictly nursing classes is already full time. I don't know where they would fit it. I guess I am glad my program is set up the way it is.
A&P is often taken the first year along with NSG 101A+B, psych and pharm 1.
Micro is in the curriculum the first semester of the second year along with critical writing, psych/mental health nursing, nursing care of women&children and a nursing leadership seminar.
^ That's the way the curriculum is set up at my school, so that's why I don't think it's weird at all.
Thank you all for your wise words and support. I'm going to take it one day at a time and not worry about the future tests. I'm going to have to train myself to work more efficiently. I've been doing a little bit each day rather than saving it all for the weekend. My biggest fear is that I'm going to fail out of nursing 1. What a slap in the face that would be. Thanks for the reassurance that a lot of other people do poorly on the first nursing test. I'm practicing more nclex questions and I promised myself that I WILL NOT go back and change any answers. A&P is easy for me, I'm not worried about that. Micro... it is the bane of my existence. I love love love love love my nursing labs. I like the hands on aspect. It's really what I have excelled in thus far. The good news is, I'm only a quarter in. That means I've got 3/4 left! I've had to take a med course for my job, so I'll do well on the dosages and such. I"ll get there.
Specializes in Electrophysiology, Medical-Surgical ICU.
My school also requires you to take the micro and a&p 1 and 2 but you can't take micro before a and p 2 and you have to take a and p 1 before your even excepted into nursing...and about your test don't trip over it I got a 76 on the test and the range in my class was. From 64 -94 but the average was like and 80...so there were a lot of people who are use to getting good grades... Just remember its only the first test trust me you have plenty more tests to go....good luck and be encouraged!!! Remember they wouldn't have excepted you if you couldn't make it
Our micro exam had an average of 71%... I got a 63%. It makes me ill even stating that grade. You're right... "Just remember its only the first test trust me you have plenty more tests to go....good luck and be encouraged!!! Remember they wouldn't have excepted you if you couldn't make it"!! Thanks :) :)
SingDanceRunLife
952 Posts
A&P is often taken the first year along with NSG 101A+B, psych and pharm 1.
Micro is in the curriculum the first semester of the second year along with critical writing, psych/mental health nursing, nursing care of women&children and a nursing leadership seminar.
^ That's the way the curriculum is set up at my school, so that's why I don't think it's weird at all.