Wow, so much for blogging my way through nursing school!!! :) Forgive me? So here's the lowdown.
First of all I can't believe I've been in nursing school now for 6 weeks!! I mean a whole month & a half has gone by & I'm still kicking. Believe it or not we've already lost 3 people in our class in just this short amount of time! It'll be interesting to see how many we have left at the end. One person dropped out. HOW in the world do you do all that pre-req work, jump through all those paperwork hoops and THEN DROP OUT!!! I guess when you're young you have more options, so it's not that big of a deal to change your major & move on. It's only when you're old like me that you have to really stick it out I guess.
Ok so for my classes. Patho is hard. Harder than I expected but I don't think it's harder b/c of the content, I think it's harder b/c we have a new teacher & she is still trying to work out the kinks of how to teach & how to test. On my first test, which I told you I didn't study for, I bombed it. I mean seriously, how could I not, I literally did not even get to the last few chapters. So I made a 67, ok I didn't freak b/c it's what I expected & for those of you who read my blog you KNOW I am obsessive when it comes to getting good grades, but eh, I let it slide. O, so after the first test, I knew how to study & for the 2nd test I STUDIED. It is actually the first time EVER that I actually READ THE BOOK. Now I didn't read every word in all the chapters, but I went through & read all the pertinent things that we had gone over. I felt really good about how I studied & the content, UNTIL I sat down to the test. I can't even tell you how upset I was as I was going through the questions. The teacher had told us not to get bogged down with the specifics of every single thing we were learning & so, we didn't, NONE of us. You could feel a palpable sigh go through the room as we were taking the test, it was so much more detailed than we were all expecting. So by the time the test was over I seriously did NOT want to talk to anyone. I was so upset. EVERYONE was complaining about the test & how bad they thought they did, I basically just sat in the corner & sulked. So, later that day the word went out, the grades had been posted. By this time we were in lab & the lab teacher said "If you guys want to use my computer to check your grades you can" & all the young girls were like "No, I want to wait until I get home in case I cry" lol. Forget that!! My lab partner & I got on immediately to check our grades and GUESS WHAT! I GOT AN 80!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wooooohooooo. I've never been so happy to get a low B in all my life lol!! I was so thrilled. Although the teacher doesn't curve, what she does is if there is a question that a lot of people missed, she'll throw it out. I was so excited and relieved. But she sent out this email after the test & said that although there were a few A's & quite a few B's, there were still several people barely keeping their heads afloat & how could she help us. Well we all had a few suggestions for her, mainly helping us narrow down the sea of information (I'm talking 10 chapters, quizzes for each of those chapters, power points, study guide questions) so that we're at least able to focus a little more on what we're actually going to be tested on & she said she would do that. Thank goodness!! I know it can't look good on her if we all do poorly, seeing as she's a new teacher & all. So, now on to test 3. I think I'm a little more prepared now & I am actually getting into the flow of keeping all of my classes up to date. The only thing I'm concerned about in any of my other classes are the few papers I have to do. I seriously need to get on those b/c I have at least 3, maybe 4 due & I know with me I like to write & re-write my papers, so I need to seriously get started on these. But as for the bulk of my other classes, they're pretty easy.
The only other class that I know I need to stay on top of is Assessment. This is the class where at the end you have to do the head to toe assessment in front of the teacher w/in 25 minutes. I'm a little nervous about that one b/c I feel like I need to practice a little more. Any advice on that???
And last but not least I have made a couple of really cool friends. Gregory has become my bestest nursing buddy. We actually met while getting our CPR certification & we've been pretty tight ever since. Then there's Ashlyn who is so young, but super smart and awesome. She lives in the town right next to me so we try to get together every Friday & study, it's great to have someone else live out this way, b/c we live about 50-60 minutes from campus.
So that's it so far. I'm doing good in all of my other classes as far as grades are concerned. So no real worries except for those papers. And now that I'm in the flow of things (it took me a good month) I will definitely try to update my blog more often.
Hope all my other nursing school peeps are doing well!
Talk to you soon!
First of all I can't believe I've been in nursing school now for 6 weeks!! I mean a whole month & a half has gone by & I'm still kicking. Believe it or not we've already lost 3 people in our class in just this short amount of time! It'll be interesting to see how many we have left at the end. One person dropped out. HOW in the world do you do all that pre-req work, jump through all those paperwork hoops and THEN DROP OUT!!! I guess when you're young you have more options, so it's not that big of a deal to change your major & move on. It's only when you're old like me that you have to really stick it out I guess.
Ok so for my classes. Patho is hard. Harder than I expected but I don't think it's harder b/c of the content, I think it's harder b/c we have a new teacher & she is still trying to work out the kinks of how to teach & how to test. On my first test, which I told you I didn't study for, I bombed it. I mean seriously, how could I not, I literally did not even get to the last few chapters. So I made a 67, ok I didn't freak b/c it's what I expected & for those of you who read my blog you KNOW I am obsessive when it comes to getting good grades, but eh, I let it slide. O, so after the first test, I knew how to study & for the 2nd test I STUDIED. It is actually the first time EVER that I actually READ THE BOOK. Now I didn't read every word in all the chapters, but I went through & read all the pertinent things that we had gone over. I felt really good about how I studied & the content, UNTIL I sat down to the test. I can't even tell you how upset I was as I was going through the questions. The teacher had told us not to get bogged down with the specifics of every single thing we were learning & so, we didn't, NONE of us. You could feel a palpable sigh go through the room as we were taking the test, it was so much more detailed than we were all expecting. So by the time the test was over I seriously did NOT want to talk to anyone. I was so upset. EVERYONE was complaining about the test & how bad they thought they did, I basically just sat in the corner & sulked. So, later that day the word went out, the grades had been posted. By this time we were in lab & the lab teacher said "If you guys want to use my computer to check your grades you can" & all the young girls were like "No, I want to wait until I get home in case I cry" lol. Forget that!! My lab partner & I got on immediately to check our grades and GUESS WHAT! I GOT AN 80!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wooooohooooo. I've never been so happy to get a low B in all my life lol!! I was so thrilled. Although the teacher doesn't curve, what she does is if there is a question that a lot of people missed, she'll throw it out. I was so excited and relieved. But she sent out this email after the test & said that although there were a few A's & quite a few B's, there were still several people barely keeping their heads afloat & how could she help us. Well we all had a few suggestions for her, mainly helping us narrow down the sea of information (I'm talking 10 chapters, quizzes for each of those chapters, power points, study guide questions) so that we're at least able to focus a little more on what we're actually going to be tested on & she said she would do that. Thank goodness!! I know it can't look good on her if we all do poorly, seeing as she's a new teacher & all. So, now on to test 3. I think I'm a little more prepared now & I am actually getting into the flow of keeping all of my classes up to date. The only thing I'm concerned about in any of my other classes are the few papers I have to do. I seriously need to get on those b/c I have at least 3, maybe 4 due & I know with me I like to write & re-write my papers, so I need to seriously get started on these. But as for the bulk of my other classes, they're pretty easy.
The only other class that I know I need to stay on top of is Assessment. This is the class where at the end you have to do the head to toe assessment in front of the teacher w/in 25 minutes. I'm a little nervous about that one b/c I feel like I need to practice a little more. Any advice on that???
And last but not least I have made a couple of really cool friends. Gregory has become my bestest nursing buddy. We actually met while getting our CPR certification & we've been pretty tight ever since. Then there's Ashlyn who is so young, but super smart and awesome. She lives in the town right next to me so we try to get together every Friday & study, it's great to have someone else live out this way, b/c we live about 50-60 minutes from campus.
So that's it so far. I'm doing good in all of my other classes as far as grades are concerned. So no real worries except for those papers. And now that I'm in the flow of things (it took me a good month) I will definitely try to update my blog more often.
Hope all my other nursing school peeps are doing well!
Talk to you soon!
So nice to hear how you're doing. Trying to keep up with the blogging seems impossible at times, which is why I play catch up during my summer and winter breaks. Once in a while I'll sacrifice sweet family or study time to throw a posting out there but not often unless I really have the time to write.
ReplyDeleteKeep you chin up because before you know it, you'll be having a few days to rest on your spring break.
Spring break, I know I can't wait!! I'm actually looking forward to it more to kind of get ahead than to rest, but I don't now how realistic that is. We'll see, all I know is, I'm looking forward to it!! I'm glad to hear that things are going better for you this semester!! We're getting closer every day :)
ReplyDeleteThis is weird I know but I had a great study aide. I labeled it from head to toe, made a script for the assessment, and went over it daily. I NAILED my Assessment Practicum and unlike my lab partner did not miss one critical element. Check out this post
ReplyDeletehttp://azmominnursingschool.blogspot.com/2009/02/meet-assessmente-ho.html
Oh my gosh that is too hilarious! I wonder where I can find a dummy that someone doesn't want. I mean I can always use my daughter, but I now she'll probably get tired of it. Even if I can't find an assessment ho I could proably lay on a big piece of paper, draw me a face & some other stuff & use that. Love that idea. Thanks :)
ReplyDelete