WHY.

divine-guidance · Jun 28, 2011

awww i know you dont feel good about your situation but you cant give up and please dont call yourself dumb. maybe you just need to learn how or what to study. try to get with those students that made the A's and B's. im pretty sure that there is a study group going on. Sometimes we need a little help and dont be ashamed to ask for it. best of luck to you on your next test

Music in My Heart · Jun 28, 2011

"Why" is a hard one to answer...

Various things to consider:

1) How are your study skills?

2) How are your study habits?

3) How much time do you dedicate to your studies?

4) How good a student are you?

5) How good a test taker are you?

6) How bright are you?

7) Do you suffer from test anxiety and/or learning disabilities?

BacktotheBeach, ADN, BSN, RN · Jun 28, 2011

I just finished up my first year in an ADN. I thought Fundamentals was the hardest! Got a B, then got A's in all my other quarters-Med Surge and Peds-OB. I just found the subject kind of nebulous, lots of what would you say type of questions! Get the Fundamentals Test Success book, it will help.

allnurses Guide · Jun 28, 2011

Part of the battle is learning how to take the dang tests!

Meet with an educational counselor pronto! They can steer you in the right direction.

Don't wait.

Trust me.

I know.

1969 · Jun 28, 2011

Fundamentals is NOT the easiest! It is the hardest because you're not only learning HOW to study (this is not your typical physio class of memorization), but this is the foundation of your future. They throw everything at you now, then you have to learn to incorporate that info for various other situations (ob, peds, etc). Not to mention all the basic and advanced skills you need to learn and master. We were told that we would be lucky to get out of first semester with a C.

As for the tests, oh, my... it's tough. As I said before, you cannot just get by with memorizing things, you NEED to know the WHYs of it all. If you dont understand why a lab is the way it is and what it means, how are you going to fix it? You can't. It's very tough. Prioritizing is also key because lives are on the line and you can make a patient more il if you fail to recognize or ignore a priority situation.

Sorry so long.

Whey they say Critical thinking, they mean it! It' s a whole new way of studying things and learning things.

Once you get that concept down, you'll be Golden!!!

Good Luck

KimberlyRN89, BSN, RN · Jun 29, 2011

Fundamentals is NOT the easiest! It is the hardest because you're not only learning HOW to study (this is not your typical physio class of memorization), but this is the foundation of your future. They throw everything at you now, then you have to learn to incorporate that info for various other situations (ob, peds, etc). Not to mention all the basic and advanced skills you need to learn and master. We were told that we would be lucky to get out of first semester with a C.
As for the tests, oh, my... it's tough. As I said before, you cannot just get by with memorizing things, you NEED to know the WHYs of it all. If you dont understand why a lab is the way it is and what it means, how are you going to fix it? You can't. It's very tough. Prioritizing is also key because lives are on the line and you can make a patient more il if you fail to recognize or ignore a priority situation.
Sorry so long.
Whey they say Critical thinking, they mean it! It' s a whole new way of studying things and learning things.
Once you get that concept down, you'll be Golden!!!
Good Luck

If I could give kudos twice, I would:yeah: :yeah:

I agree 1,000,000% with this post! I was so happy to get a C in Fundamentals, you just have no idea. It's hard because you're just learning how to test. In the pre-reqs, your test formats were multiple choice, probably a few short answers, and maybe a short answer or two thrown in. In nursing school, you have to KNOW the answers..no BS'in is gonna cut it. For example, you have a lot of questions that say "Select all that apply". Well, ALL of the choices could be correct. And then my favorites "What is the initial step the nurse should take". All of the choices are steps you need to take, but you have to choose the one you as the nurse would perform FIRST. The first tests are always rough, but you'll make it through! Good luck:D:up::heartbeat

madewithlove · Jun 29, 2011

Thank you so much for all the encouraging words! It's amazing how much all your responses help to start thinking positively again. I took the advise and met with a director who gave me some great advice and i'm meeting with a tutor tomorrow that will go one by one through all the test questions to see what it is that I miss; the knowledge based questions or critical thinking, analyzing.,. I really hope I do well and graduate from this ADN program!

ImThatGuy, BSN, RN · Jun 29, 2011

I'm thorougly entrenched in the idea that something can be so boring it becomes difficult. That said, I made a B in foundations, and I've made A's in 24 hours of other nursing department courses. Foundations/fundamentals was craptastically boring and included nearly nothing that I deemed to be health-oriented. You may be like me.

Despareux · Jun 30, 2011

I found my fundamentals to be the worst quarter ever!!! It was so bad that even thinking about it makes me cringe. I studied every waking moment, sacrificed the needs of my family, and lost tons of sleep for a measly 87%, which in our school, is simply a B. Too bad effort doesn't count for much.

Everything about nursing school gets better as time goes on.

1969 · Jul 2, 2011

Dude, I like reading your posts. You have a great insight! You must be very intelligent. Have you worked in the med field before nursing school? (never caught that). Anyway, good luck to you, post on!!

BBRANRN2013, ASN, RN · Jul 2, 2011

Oh I must say that I agree 100% on all of these posts. I'm in fundamentals now and it is excrusicating. I was always an A student and this is killing me. The questions on these tests are totally diff then other pre-req tests. I bought the NCLEx study book by Lippencot and I look up questions pertinent to what we are studying and try to answer them. This seems to help me a great deal. I'm in a part time program so I finished up the first half of fundamentals last semester with an 87%. This semester so far after taking only two tests one of which I received a 100 on, I only have an 85%. It's hard work but shouldn't it be...we are going to be having patients lives in our hands. We have to know what we are doing, so I'm glad it's so dang hard. We wouldn't be great nurses if it weren't. Study Study Study is my solution. Good luck to all those pursuing this same profession. I'm determined to make it through.