Hello and good day.
Today we are talking about tests.
Fun, right?
And by 'we,' I mean Paige and I.
(grab a button and link up!!)
I don't know about other nursing schools, but it seemed like mine had about two tests a week.
It was ridiculous. I'm still amazed that I made it through!
5 Fun Facts About Nursing School Tests
1. You're always studying for something. Whether it's for a med/surg test or a hands on skills lab, there's always notes to review, books to read, and procedures to practice. Nonstop. Basically, you don't have a life in nursing school. You're checking your roommates' blood pressure. You're waking up at 5am for clinicals (and eating peanut butter sandwiches on the way). You're spending all your mornings reading textbooks to prepare for class and then taking notes during class and then doing homework at the end of the day. And you HAVE to, if you want to pass those many, many tests. I had a trusty digital tape recorder to take to class and record my lectures. Later, I'd go to the library and listen to them all over again. It was a bit of a hassle, but I'm glad I did it! (As a side note, I recently found the record option on my iphone! Brilliant! It actually works better than that digital recorder I had!)
2. I had to arrive with PLENTY of time to take my tests! If I procrastinated and waited until one hour before test center closing time, there was a good chance that there would be a line a mile long of other students trying to take their test at the last minute. You never make that mistake more than once.
3. It's best to have a study buddy. Or three. And have "study dates" at Wendys. Not the most productive, but VERY memorable. :)
[pictured above: the one and only time we had fun in nursing school]
4. My testing center had a fill in the bubble system. You get your test, a sheet of bubble paper and your pencil, then find an empty desk in one of the rooms to take the test. When you left, they scanned the test in and you had an instant reading of how well (or poorly) you did and it popped up on a screen outside the door. Think about one of those airport screens you look at to see if a flight is on time... it's like that. Except it has your student ID number (at least it was semi-anonymous!) and a percentage score of how you did. It was a little intimidating to find out immediately if you passed or failed. But either way, you were back at that testing center by the end of the week, taking yet another test.
5. Testing at my university was interesting. I went to Brigham Young University-Idaho where they have a Honor Code. We had people going up and down the isles, monitoring for people doing what they shouldn't. You got kicked out if your cell phone rang. You were not admitted to take a test if you were not dressed according to the code (no shorts, no holes in jeans, no beard hair for men, just to name a few). None of the dress/appearance stuff was ever a problem, especially if I was already dressed for class (the same rules applied any time I stepped foot on campus). It just made it interesting to see people sent home from the testing center to shave or change their clothes and there was always the audible gasp when a ringtone was heard.
P.S. if you're considering a nursing major, I hope I don't frighten you off! It's only a small moment of time, when you look at it with a broader perspective. And it's worth it. I promise!
What are/were test days like for YOU?
6 comments:
Did you have to wear a hat?? Interesting read! :)
I'm trying to get into nursing school right now. Was it hard for you to get in? Its very competitive here in Oregon.
I keep hearing about how challenging nursing school is--and it makes me wonder how my husband made it through, because I know for a fact Angel spent a whole lot of his senior year hanging out with ME. But I also know he's never been one to be really concerned about getting a certain grade. The first time I've ever seen him nervous about a test was when he took his PCCN exam last week, and I guess that's because he thought he wasn't going to have to take it until February and hadn't started studying yet? He made me nervous there for a bit, but he passed, yay!
half of the time for me i didn't know immediately if i passed or failed. i hated that part. waiting to see your grade was its own form of nursing school torture for me!
I wish we found out our scores right away! We had to wait a week or so until the teacher graded them all. We had an Honor Code too, but it was the type of honor code where the teachers weren't in the room while the test was going on and the students had to report to the Honor Code board if cheating was suspected. I'm glad we didn't have a dress code though because I definitely wore sweats and a hoodie on test days! :)
I barely remember nursing school. I am pretty sure I just blocked it from my memory. I neeeeeed to study for my GRE to go back. Blah. I keep putting it off.
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