The Mystery of the Test Grades

Have you ever looked at your grade and wondered how the hell that got there, hoped it was some mistake and come to find out it actually was?

That happened to me this term and let me tell you I was sooo shocked when I saw my grade posted I was nearing tears. I am NOT a crying type of person. I was in class when they said the grades were posted and I checked my score. I was shocked and right away the girls could tell there was something wrong. My usually bubbly ( yes I said it, I am bubbly) No really I am... hehe... So anyway it was like a lead anvil fell on my head. I got a what???

The way our tests work is we take the quiz, leave the room when we are done, compare answers, second guess ourselves and then go back into the room and she has the grades posted on the wall. We see the right answers, hoping we remember what we put and then... there no surprises right? Wrong!

So needless to say I KNOW I missed 1/2 a point, a check all that apply and I checked 1 extra.. of course a temp of 100.6 in a postpartum Mom is not normal... what was I thinking?... report anything over 100.4 (duh... probably should have read that slide a little better.. hehe...)

So when I checked it said I had missed 4 questions... each worth 1/2 a point so instead of the 19.5 / 20 I had an 18... WTF??? I was devastated. I just couldn't stop thinking about it... because weird as it may sound this happened to me on another test. I was sure I had missed 2, 1/2 point questions and when I looked it had said 18.5/ 20... That one I let go, but this one just nagged and nagged at me... So I made an appointment to go over the test grades with the Instructor and low and behold... double errors on their test bank and I was vindicated. Course it didn't change my grade by much... but a point is a point and I need all of them I can get.

Now it wasn't like I was agruing a test question or anything, but I marked the right answers according to my version of the test on the scantron and seriously wanted my grade to reflect that! Nursing school is hard enough without getting jipped out of points you earned!

Ok off to a fun filled day of Practicums!

Skills Practicum Check Offs

Thats all I have for the week! 1 day of classes and the rest of the week just chillin'... well if you can call studying for the final and HESI just chillin'.. haha!

So check offs are tomorrow on Trach Care & Suctioning, NG Tube Insertion & Discontinue, as well as IV insertion and Central Line Dressing Change. I hear we will have IV for sure and 1 of the other options chosen by random draw. This is the last day of check offs, the last day of lab and all that remains will be the exit HESI exam and the final! ( Ok and the 2 Pedi Clinical days that we have to do still- which from what I hear is babysitting 101) Of course I could have told them that because the site we have clinicals at I was going to work there, but I got into Nursing School instead and didn't want to work full time while going to school.

So yeah... it seems soooo weird that this is almost it for awhile. Of course that doesn't mean I will not be in classes. I still need Micro, Chem & a Humanities class for my Associates Degree in Science,in order to graduate in May. Meanwhile I'll hopefully have a job and be able to get into the LPN-BSN program through UoP.

Working is the priority so NCLEX studying is in effect full force! I actually don't think I will be applying prior to taking the test like some Nursing students have done. I think I'd rather have a bit less pressure!! LOL So I'll test then start sending out my applications EVERYWHERE!

90% is still a B

Why oh why does Nursing School have its own grading system? I'd need 118.5 of the possible 125 left in order to get an A. Guess I had better get to studying!

Good luck to everyone taking finals soon!

The End is near...

Three weeks is all that is left until graduation and being a Nurse! 30 years of dreaming is finally becoming a reality. 4 tests left until I am licenced! Now to come up with the $500 for the exam and to get through the rest of the semester with a passing grade!

We have Peds right now and it is hard! Its the extra steps to med math calculations, the new diseases and the spin on the adult med-surg that become tricky. The immunizations and the developmental milestones to memorize. The Piaget and Ericksen theories in and out and back again. Which toys would be appropriate for blah blah blah! Sheesh now-a-days its give them a Nintendo DS not a coloring book, but not in NCLEX land.

Ok well enough blabbing time to get studying... Peds test tomorrow and I'm sure it'll be a dosey!.

First Fire of the season...

In the fireplace of course. Sasha spent the entire time it was lit in this exact position. So the weather has been really nice here this weekend, almost cold. Finally its starting to feel like Fall. Of course cold for us is in the 70-50s range for highs and lows. We actually had some rain yesterday which we haven't had in months and months.

The new puppy is driving us crazy. He is cute as hell, eats a ton, and pees wherever he wants. I can't wait until he housebreaks, and stops chewing everything he sees, namely until he stops chewing on US. But of course with both issues there is a process and we have only had him a week now.

School is getting very close to the end for the semester. We have moved on to Pedi. OB was a very good section for me and I only missed .5 of a point on the OB exam. Peds is going to be crazy hard I think. I really need to get some major studying in. I have a bunch of tests coming up, a few papers to write and have become inspired out of nowhere to return to writing.

When I was younger I wanted to be a writer, and used to write novel style fiction of the historical romance kind. I haven't written anything in nearly 16 years. But Friday night out of the blue I got an idea. Wrote it down and since its running the gamut of the popular genre these days I figure I may create a blog site that is strictly for that "novel". Of course where I'll find the time for this idea I have no idea.

I also think that I would like to start a vegetable garden and perhaps get some chickens. Of course I have no idea how really to raise them and if I really want all that work. But it has always been an idea of mine and since we have the land it could happen.

Ok time to go to bed!

SIMs

What a difference a year makes. They went much better this semester. I still got a bit flustered but overall I remembered the things I should do, of course implementing them was another thing. I did catch the two errors they put up, but couldn't remember the OR checklist. AND... I forgot to assess the leg ( which was the reason for admission!!) Ooooppppsss! LOL

The next was a Postpartum Mom who was actively hemorrhaging and then the assessment on the baby. Its still very hard to measure the heart rate, they are just so fast.

But all in all it was a pretty boring day. Next week promises to be worse, with Pedi medication dose calculations and such for the 4 hour lab time and a quiz.

On the Nursing School Front...

Today we start end of program Practicums, SIMs days, and its another lab lecture test, this one is chest tube management,with more dosage and calculation math of course. We also has tree case studies due which I had to get finished this AM, since I had not looked at my syllabus until about an hour ago and realized there were 3 instead of the 1 I knew was there.

I am looking forward to the SIMs labs. We have Vita Annie & baby which is supposed to be a simulated birth of course. Then we have our Med/Surg SIM man. I sure hope its not as bad as last semester. The SIMs experience seemed to be a big cluster f back then, I hope we have learned enough now!

The good news is that I am in group 3 for Practicums, so my check off isn't until the 24th. We have to test on Central Line dressing change, IV insertion, NG tube placement & D/C, as well as trach care with suctioning. So not too bad, its just the nerves that take over especially since its by the book and we are being graded Pass/Fail.


I also have a test on Thursday in theory on L&D and I am hoping we won't have to stay all day for that one, its scheduled as 8-4, but they were saying, with luck, we'd be outta there by noon. Its sooo nice to not have the Thursday Friday clinical anymore so that's a break at least. Fridays, I have decided, are going to be spent in NCLEX question land and reviewing the notes from last semester and this one for our HESI. Which is exactly like taking the NCLEX test and is used as a predictor but counts as 30 possible points out of our total 250 for the course to get that minimum 76%. I assume its like the ATI's other programs have. Its also the ruler by which those going into 3rd Block are measured, because without an 800 they can not progress. So of course there are those in my class that are FREAKING out right now. Me? I am just trying to get to December 9th with my B intact!