I have a health class where we just took a test about drugs. And more than half of the class failed. Like with 27 percent to 60 percent. I personally got a 65. But the thing is, I genuinely did not feel prepared for this test because all the teacher did was give us 6 pages of notes that we'll have to copy down each day and talk when we're copying down, so none of us can possibly hear him and jot down the note at the same time. And then, if we get distracted for a little bit, he'll threaten us with words like, "Well, I guess you guys aren't going to copy down this whole page of notes and possibly fail your test". And I really did study for the test, I wrote rewrote down almost 20 pages of notes over and over again without a study guide or anything to determine if I was studying the things I should be. Since the teacher expects us all to memorize everything he taught within 2 months.
So currently, I feel frustrated because this 65 is really not something I deserve or something anyone in my class deserves because I believe that it's not our fault that we don't even know what to study for and end up getting questions about the very little details that the teacher told us that we don't have to copy.
Damn, I ranted a lot. please keep in mind that it's the teacher's second year of teaching health.
I was very disappointed with how easy nursing was. I partly did it for the challenge, and there was little. The challenge that was there were the “gotcha” questions on tests that didn’t test how much you know but if they could fool you on something stupid, or if you read some little excerpt in a box on some random page. BECAUSE the material was so simple that’s all they could do to make it difficult.
Still wasnt hard though.
RN to BSN was embarrassingly bad. I was complaining to the DOR at the hospital I work at (she leads a different RN to BSN prog at the hospital) about how much of a waste of time it is, and she admitted it’s just about the money.
A great studying technique that I've learned is to be fully prepared for the test at least 3 days before the day of the test. I know nursing school is so hard (and I'm in an accelerated MSN program, so I promise that I really get it!) but it's so important to set aside the time in advance to ensure that you're prepared. I usually request to meet with the teacher or TA 3 days or so before the test, and bring in the study guide that I made so that they can skim over it with me to let me know if I'm missing or misinterpreting any important topics. The part that I think is really important here is that you are coming with material that you have prepared, signaling that you did study on your own and are putting in the effort to truly learn the material ahead of time and not cramming like they see so many students do
Meeting with the teacher will not only allow you the opportunity of being corrected on any issues before the exam, but also show them that you're actively trying to excel, and give you the opportunity to potentially be given a few extra hints about what to focus on.
I feel ya on the idea that it's tough when they test on things that weren't stressed during class, so this is a great way (in my experience) to just verify beforehand that you really are spending your time studying the important stuff!
Even half of the class failing seems to be the norm. In my school when 80% of the class failed out only then was action taken against the instructor. For the first time ever, the nursing course was offered during the summer which usually never happens. Anyways, she has been removed from teaching higher level nursing courses and she ended up being my first semester teacher. She still had so many complaints because the class that she was teaching should of been an easy A and it wasn’t.
I'm really sorry you're going through this but this is normal for nursing school. Some things that might help you I would bring note templates with me to school. I would read every single piece of information that my teachers gave me prior to going to class. I would try to anticipate the type of questions that my instructor would ask me, and test myself on the information.I saw those have mentioned if you can record your lectures it's a really amazing resource for you because then you can listen to it over again but some schools have a policy against this as my school did so I when I would get to my car I would take my phone out and I would like do a mine dump of everything that I thought was important and then I would listen to that information when I was driving to school or coming from school or like doing laundry. Nursing school sometimes is really hard but you'll can make it ?
ArmyRntoMD, BSN, RN
314 Posts
I was very disappointed with how easy nursing was. I partly did it for the challenge, and there was little. The challenge that was there were the “gotcha” questions on tests that didn’t test how much you know but if they could fool you on something stupid, or if you read some little excerpt in a box on some random page. BECAUSE the material was so simple that’s all they could do to make it difficult.
Still wasnt hard though.
RN to BSN was embarrassingly bad. I was complaining to the DOR at the hospital I work at (she leads a different RN to BSN prog at the hospital) about how much of a waste of time it is, and she admitted it’s just about the money.