Tag: exams

It’s Been a While

by momentswithmarsha, posted in Nursing School

Hello Friends,

 

My, my, my time has flown!!! So much has changed in my life. I successfully completed nursing school December of 2016 (praise Him!) and passed the NCLEX in February of 2017 (wowzers).

I could go into great detail about all of this but the truth is I already have several videos documenting this on my YouTube channel and I don’t really want to think about the past as crazy and clichĆ© as that sounds. I’ve overcome so much that I just want to look forward to the future and see what awaits me. As of now, I’m still currently jobless šŸ˜¢ which is sadly expected. I live in a largeĀ metropolitan area which is veryĀ and I mean VERY saturated with nursing schools and nurses in general. Every public bus, bench, and billboard in a 30 mile radius has advertisements for this that and the third nursing program. My nursing school alone put out over 400 nurses this past December so getting a hospital job let alone into a nurse residency programĀ is something of an achievement and/or miracle.

The hospital that I’m salivating to work for isn’t releasing their new grad RN residency program application until June/July. As you can clearly see it’s February. So I’m figuring out what my next move is and I’m trying to be okay with knowing that I’m not quite sure what that is. I’m using all this free time to do all the things I never had time for in nursing school: Netflix binges, catching up on all the movies I wanted to see, devoting more time to my YouTube channel, reading more, updating my blog etc. Don’t worry, I’m doing some productive things too. I’ve enrolled in a nutrition class as this is my last prerequisite before I can apply to a RN-to-BSN program and I’ve seriously started looking at RN-to-BSN programs. In fact, I hope to start one this summer #allsummer2017. This is what is happening for me and it doesn’t sound terribly exciting when it’s written out. Thanks for following me along on this journey!

Anyways, until next time see ya!

Here are some videos documenting what I’ve been doing these late coupla months, enjoy!

 

 

 

Med-Surg HESI Results….

by momentswithmarsha, posted in Nursing School

So if you read my last blog post, then you know I had my Med-Surg HESI yesterday afternoon and I was FREAKING OUT.

So what happened? What wereĀ my results………?

 

 

 

I got a 922!!!!!! Basically that means I gotĀ full points on HESI and I am elated! If you want more information about how grades work in my nursing program you can read this blog post. I honestly wasn’t expecting to score this well but I did. I can only thank God for this result. I would love to elaborate but I have my Med-Surg final tomorrow so I really should be studying. I just wanted to check in and honor my promise from yesterday. Thanks for following my journey and be sure to follow my YouTube channel šŸ™‚

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV1dj9VeiCa_UcuF96Z6FMQ

 

Until next time, see ya!

Nursing School Update: Psych & Med-Surg 2?

by momentswithmarsha, posted in Nursing School

Hello guys and gals!

Long time no speak.

I’ve been pretty busy with school. I’m in the final stretch of nursing school (73 days ahhhhh). I CANNOTĀ believe it’s almost over. Seriously. 2016 flew by! Anyways, I passed psychiatric nursing (thank you Lord). I ended up with a B in the class. I was kinda bummed out because I ended up with a 92.1 and if you read my blog post about the basics of my nursing program, then you would know a 93 is considered an A and I was just about a point shy of an A. Either way, I’m still grateful for passing the course with a decent grade and I also did really well on the HESI. I got an 1167, this was the highest I’ve ever scored on a HESI exam. I was really proud of myself. Overall I did enjoy the course. Psychiatry is such a complex topic and learning about different mental and addictions disorders was extremely interesting. Ehhh, I’m not completely sold on the idea of becoming a psychiatric nurse, however, I’m not as opposed to it as I was before. Either way, psych patients end up in all areas of nursing so the content is very relevant to any nursing specialty. My clinical experience was pretty brief. This is mostly because the facility I was at had a lot of high-risk patients so students weren’t allowed on the floor for longer than an hour. That was psych in a nutshell!

On to the next one! SoĀ advanced Medical-Surgical nursing or Medical-Surgical nursing 2 started. This class is 6 weeks and I’m already two weeks in. Next week with be the beginning of the 3rd week. Up to now there has beenĀ one exam on the endocrine system that was this past Friday. So far I like the content. The endocrine system is pretty damn important and now I find myself looking at strangers who look like they may have an endocrine disorder and trying to diagnose them. I studied so much for this exam and I felt veryĀ prepared. After taking the test I knew I had passed but there were a couple of questions I was unsure of. And of course most of those questions were select-all-that-apply. Those are always the questions I struggle with the most. In this class there will beĀ 2 Tests (25% each), a final (35%), and the HESI (15%). I’m trying to start this course off strong and seeing as this first test was worth 25% of my grade I don’t have much wiggle room to not do well. Anyways that’s my update with school. I’m still chugging along. Hello to all my new subscribers/followers! Thanks for following my journey ^_^

Until next time…..see ya!

The Basics of My Nursing Program

by momentswithmarsha, posted in Nursing School

So I’ve already published a few articles and I realized that I haven’t explained some important basic information about my nursing program so that if anyone is out there reading my blog postsĀ they can understand what I mean when I throw around numbers and terminology.

 

 

 

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Gone are the days where a 90 was still an A. Grading scales like this are why people say be prepared not to get A’s in nursing school.Ā So how are grades calculated?

Thankfully, my school does round-up but only by 0.50. For example if I received a 76.6 as a final grade, the grade would be rounded up to a 77 which is considered passing. However, if the final grade was a 76.4 that would be a failing grade. Our grades are also calculated on a points system meaning if I get 95 on an exam which is an A, I wouldn’t get full credit as in getting a 100 on the exam. I would get a 95 exactly and that is the number that would be factored into my final grade.

Grading Scale for Courses:

93-100% A Ā  Ā  [Passing]

85-92% B Ā  Ā  [Passing]

77-84% C Ā  Ā  [Passing]

69-76% D Ā  Ā  [Failing]

Below 69% F Ā  Ā  [Failing]

The dreaded HESI. What is the HESI?

The HESI (Health Education Systems, Inc.) is a computerized exam designed to assess prospective students entering the health science fields. In my blog posts I’ll be discussing the HESI in relation to nursing. HESI exams are not specific to any one nursing program. What that means is that the HESI may or may not cover topics that my program didn’t cover or include in the curriculum. Scary right? The HESI is used to prepare students for the NCLEX. For my program, I must take and pass 7Ā HESI exams in the following courses:

Fundamentals of Nursing

Pharmacology

Pediatric Nursing

Obstetrical Nursing

Psychiatric Nursing

Medical-Surgical Nursing

Exit Exam

I take each of the HESI specialty exams and the conclusion of the course. For my program, the HESI is worth a whopping 15% of the course gradeĀ for every course so it is something IĀ have to take very seriously. Not scoring on the HESI Ā can severely affect my grade and cause me to fail a course. At the conclusion of thisĀ program, every student is required to take a HESI Exit Exam. In a nutshell it’s a mini NCLEX that reviews all the material taught in nursing school and is a good indicator of how prepared a student is for the NCLEX. In my program you have to pass the exit HESI to graduate and to have the school submit your name to be able to sit for the NCLEX.

You can score anywhere from 0 to 1500 on the HESI. To pass the HESI within my program you need a 750 or greater. If I score 850 or above that basically means I know the subject well and I’ll get the full 15% factored into my grade. If I score between 849 and 800 that means I’ve grasped most of the necessary topics so I would only get 11% out of the 15% factored into my grade.Ā If I score between 750 and 799 that means I’ve grasped theĀ minimumĀ necessary topics so I would only get 7.5% out of the 15% factored into my grade.

Grading Scale for the HESI:

850 or above = 15%Ā 

800 to 849 = 11% Ā Ā 

750-799 = 7.5%Ā 

749 or below = 0%Ā 

I hope I was able to clarify any confusion. If you have any comments or you’d like to hear more about my experience with the HESI (I’ve taken 3 HESI exams thus far) just comment below and I’ll make a post about it.

OB Exam #1: Friend or Foe?

by momentswithmarsha, posted in Nursing School

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So if you read my previous blog post you know that I had my first OB exam last Friday, July 15th. I was SOĀ nervous before the exam. IĀ never really know what to expect when taking exams with new professors. No amount of preparation can ever make me feel 100% confident.

I’m happy to report that the exam went very well šŸ˜. At least that’s how I felt walking out. A lot of the questions that I made up to study with were extremely helpful and a lot of the content I focused on was on the exam. Now that I know how my professor words her exams I don’t feel as nervous for the next exam.

The nursing school I attend has had issues in the past with cheating so when we take any exams we cannot have any of our belonging with or near us. Our bags are placed in the front of the room, we cannot wear a jacket, and we cannot wear a watch. We are not even allow to have water with us. And it’s the same when we review our exams. Almost all of the exams are scantron based and we usually have to wait about a week to get our results which are given to us on paper. So basically, there isn’t much utilization of computers outside of powerpoints for lecture. I’m sure this is because of the cheating issues and that most of my professors aren’t the most tech savvy so they prefer gold ol’ paper and pencil. Anyways, I could not sit still while I was waiting to get my results back at the end of class yesterday.Ā But what did I get on the test…..??

I got an A šŸ˜­šŸ™šŸ¾. A 93.75 to be exact. Such a huge sigh of relief. ThatĀ exam was worth 25% of theĀ total grade for this course and I’m so humbled that I was able to start strong. Don’t get it twisted, by no means am I the perfect student. I’ve bombed my fairĀ share of exams and had to pick myself up off the ground but it is so gratifying to see your hard work manifest itself academically. I don’t have much time to celebrate because I have another exam this Friday, July 22, which is also worth 25% of theĀ total grade. Oh and it’s also my birthday šŸ˜‘. So I’ll be bringing in my 24th birthday studying. But that’s okay with me. I’ll be celebrating my birthday after this class concludes and I like I mentioned in the ADN vs BSN blog post,Ā I’m okay with sacrificing birthday festivities to do well in this program. In addition to this exam on Friday, I have my final and the HESI on Monday, July 25th, and after that I’ll be finished with OB and my second semester of nursing school. Right now I’m surprisingly calm seeing as I’m about to be lounging in hell for the next week. But I’ve made a study plan and I’ll keep praying and giving my anxiety and fears to God. So that’s my first update with OB. I really hope to keep this momentum moving forward. Until next time, see ya!

Oh and if you aren’t sure what the HESI is or the how grades are calculated at my nursing school check out this blog post.

First OB Exam šŸ˜±

by momentswithmarsha, posted in Nursing School

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So I have my first OB exam tomorrow and I’m pooping bricks.

I’m extremely nervous. I’ve finished studying all the content I needed to review for this exam but this is the firstĀ time I’m taking a class with this professor and the first test is always nerve wracking for me. And in this 4 week OB class…….yes…..4 WEEKS,Ā we have 2 test, a final, and a HESI (standardized exam). So there is absolutely NO room for error.

This exam covers fetal development, antepartum, intrapartum, and pain management fetal monitoring and this is a the bare minimum. We are still responsible for everything in the book. And this test is worth 25% of our grade. Ladies and gentlemen,Ā this is why people say nursing school is hell so instead of tearing my hair out or crying I’ll just vent to the interweb about my struggles.

I’m going to go back to studying but Lord………….please send up some prayers for tranquility and wisdom. I’ll check in tomorrow to tell you how the exam went.