Here’s my step-by-step guide for what to do if you fail a nursing school exam.
I promise, friend, it’s not the end of the world. There are many things you can do to ensure you’ll do better next time.
I’ll walk you through what to do in this video.
HERE’S A BREAKDOWN OF WHAT WE’LL TALK ABOUT:
STEP #1: Don’t freak out and make it mean you’re a failure (0:25)
STEP #2: Write out your whole study process (1:19)
STEP #3: Meet with your instructor (3:00)
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
In this video, I’m going to walk you through, step-by-step, what to do if you fail an exam in nursing school. I promise friend, it’s not the end of the world, and you can be successful in nursing school even if you fail an exam, I see it all the time. So hit that subscribe button and click the notification bell, and let’s dive in.
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So the first step, and really, the most important step of this whole process is to avoid freaking out and making it mean that you’re a failure. This is CRUCIAL, friend. I see this happen all the time: nursing students fail an exam and then they give up on studying the rest of the term because they don’t think they can pass now.
That is NOT true. Do NOT quit on yourself. Just because you had one set back doesn’t mean the world is ending. So don’t freak out and tell yourself that you’re a failure and will never become a nurse. That is not helpful.
Instead, change the story that you’re telling yourself.
Instead of saying, “I’m a failure, I’ll never pass nursing school now,” tell yourself, “That was a tough test, and I’ll do better next time.”
If you stay stuck in anxiety, worry, and overwhelm, you won’t be productive when studying for your next exam. So switch up the story you’re telling yourself, and don’t make it mean that you’re a failure.
Now, step number 2 is to take about an hour to write out your whole study process for how you studied for that exam. List out everything you did: from taking notes in class, to reading the textbook, to making flashcards. Write out everything you did to study for that exam. Then, you’re going to go down that list and figure out which ones helped you the most.
Did you notice that you learned better by teaching someone else or doing flashcards? Or maybe you found that your instructor tested you on things from lecture class rather than the textbook. Make a note of the things that helped you most, and the things that didn’t. That way, you’ll have a better plan for how to study for your next exam.
If you’re not sure how to best study in nursing school, make sure to download our Nursing School Study Checklist, where I walk you through how to study, step-by-step. It will be really helpful for you as you go through school. The link is in the description for you to get it.
Now, the next step is CRUCIAL, so do not skip it. But before we dive into it, I want to give a shout out to Jessica for our YouTube comment of the week, which says,
“Thank you so much. This helps me so much! I’ve been struggling with how/what to study. Can’t wait to see the ATI video!!”
I’m so happy our videos have helped you Jessica, and thanks for your sweet comment.
If you’re wondering what video she’s referring to, it’s THIS one here, where I walk you through how to succeed on your ATI exams in nursing school. So if your nursing school uses ATI, you definitely don’t want to miss it!
And keep your comments coming, friend. They always make me smile! 🙂
Now, let’s talk about the next thing you’ll need to do if you fail an exam in nursing school, and that is to meet with your instructor and go through your exam and your study process with them.
It is really vital that you do this for 3 reasons:
- Number One: it shows your instructor that you care about being the best nurse you can be. And that can go along way, since they are in charge of your final grade after all.
- Reason Number Two: they can help you fine tune your study process to help you be more successful on your next exam.
- Reason Number Three: if they allow you to go back through your exam with them, you can figure out why you got the questions wrong, and you’ll be a LOT more prepared for your cumulative final exam.
So meet with your instructor and talk through your study process with them and see if they have any input. Ask them if there’s something else you should be doing to help you be more successful. Since it’s their class, they know how to study best for their exams, so definitely take their advice.
Some of the best study strategies our NursingSOS Members use are:
- Focusing on reading the sections of the book that your professors talk about in class
- Recording and listening to the lectures again
- Making flashcards
- Answering NCLEX® style questions
- Going through the videos inside our NursingSOS Membership Community, along with printing out and using our study guides.
So those are some good strategies to try if you’re not sure how to study better.
When you meet with your instructor, you’ll also want to ask if you can go over your exam with them to see why you got the questions wrong that you did. Now don’t worry if your school doesn’t allow this, some schools don’t, and that’s okay. But if you can, it’s super beneficial because you’ll be able to find out WHY you got those questions wrong and get the rationales for it. This will help you be more prepared for your next exam, as well as the final. So if your instructor let’s you do this, don’t skip it. It’s a SUPER great way to study!
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In the next video, I’m going to give you a game plan for how to deal with BULLYING in nursing school. This is a HIGHLY requested video, unfortunately, because a lot of students are dealing with it. So don’t miss the next video.
And don’t forget to download your free nursing school study checklist where I walk you through the study strategies I used to get straight A’s through nursing school. The link is in the description below for you to get it.
And make sure to like, comment, subscribe and share this video with a friend.
Now click on one of these videos here so you can keep rocking nursing school, and go become the nurse that God created only YOU to be. And I’ll catch you in the next video.
