Exams / Panic Mode

[Hound dog]

Here is a quick run down of my week starting on Monday.

Monday : Chemistry exam

Tuesay : 2 anatome & physiology exams (one's a make up cuz most everyone fllunked last fridays exam)

Wednesday : Chemistry Final

Thursday : anatomy & physiology exam

Friday : Nursing Entrance Exam

easy child asked me yesterday if they were attempting to give me another heart attack. I'm beginning to wonder. ugh

Yesterday I spent the day studying. The whole day except for when easy child took me to aldi's for groceries. Yes, I worked on chemistry and a & p but I also took practice tests and looked at the book for the nursing exam to see what I need to review.

First to get a few things straight, I'm an avid and excellent reader (always have been), I'm an excellent speller unless you want me to do it outloud. I'm good in english. I can tell you when a sentence isn't right and how to fix it although I can't give the rules on the why's of it. Biology is and always has been my forte. Chemistry, well I'm learning it, getting great grades but don't feel all that strong on it. And Math, well since the head injury / brain damage me an numbers just don't seem to get along well. Which is hard for me because I also used to be pretty darn good at math, expecially algebra.

So............

I take a few of the online practice tests to see areas I need to work on. Bad mistake. I click into biology first as it's easiest for me. I didn't recognize the first 10 questions. I'd never even seen it before. What I did vaguely recognize I remember having way back in freakin' Jr High!!! I got a whooping 35 out of 50! So I try General science thinking it would be easier. OMG NO!! All of the questions were on space!!!

Who discovered venus?
The big bang happened how many years ago?
What are protons and neutrons made of?
When did life on earth begin?

These are only a few. by the way easy child missed every one of them too. Oh, they also wanted me to explain orbits, and how best to go about getting from here to venus. WTF??

Some of the biology was this way too, although not quite as bad. But it had as much chemistry (advanced) in it as the chemistry (really advanced) did!. Then I decided to at least check out the math. Huge mistake. No calculators allowed. And I've found I've forgotten due to lack of use how to do most of it.

I did, however, score super high on the reading, verbal skills, and spelling.

But the biology, general science, and math threw me right into a panic attack. I didn't even see it coming.

For the past two years I've been studying biology, chemistry, and math and I couldn't do squat on those practice tests. The chemistry I won't even attempt again as it was so far above my head it might as well be a different language. easy child is coming over to give it a whirl as a 4th yr chemistry student and see how she does. This because I tdecribed a couple of the outragious questions to my chemistry professor and he kept shaking his head and saying that shouldn't be on it.

So I freaked out a bit yesterday evening. (too put it mildly) I was dead certain I'm gonna fail this entrance exam. Which with the money I've racked up in loans for the past 2 yrs is unthinkable. I start ranting and raving as Nichole comes home from boyfriend's. Suddenly our roles are reversed and I'm the difficult child and she's the Mom doing her utter best to help me calm down....even using my own tactics on me. lol

Once calm I decided to forget the practice tests online and dive into the book I bought that is for the exam.

The 2 are nothing alike. The general science and biology into the book is stuff I know, or have at least been taught and can review. The chemistry is the same way, besides I've been reviewing that for the final exam anyway. The math is mostly general math with a little algebra tossed in. I whizzed right through their reading, verbal, spelling part without blinking.

WTF? How are earth can the practice tests and the book be so vastly different from each other??

Then I remembered what the girl at the book store told me when I bought the book. (we've always been on good talking terms) She kept stressing to "Studying the book. It was written by the person who wrote the test our school gives."

So now that I'm out of panic mode (for the moment at least) I've decided to concentrate on the book for the entrance exam and forget the online practice tests. I'm going to review my math really hard because that is my major problem area. I'm gonna have trouble during the test not freaking because it's timed. And I can do math ok once I review it, but suddenly all the numbers don't make any sense when I'm under pressure. (hence the c in algebra last year) And I'll have to hope that all my other scores are high enough to put me over the top.

Oh, easy child kept asking me if I could reschedule the entrance exam. Uh, yes. And lose the 35 bucks I paid, and have to wait until July. No. I won't back out. I'll grit my teeth and take it. If I fail at least when I take it in July I'll know what to expect.

Plus I keep trying to convince myself that it can't possibly be that darn hard. My friend from chemistry took it cold and only missed qualifying by 1 point. She's my age and hadn't seen the majority of stuff on the test since hs or jr high. The second time around she not only passed but ACED it with an extremely high schore and had only looked at the book for 2 hrs. Another friend who is in no way dumb, but average and happens to freeze on such tests, aced it the first time around and had not even had the anatomy or chemistry. She was going for the LPN program so didn't need the same pre-recs, but also qualified for the RN program. So if that's the case, my gut tells me that for anyone with some intelligence, this test is no hoo hoo.

Oh, God I hope so.

P.S. I'd like to gather some people and have a nice chat on what the heck flower reproducive organs, space, and weather have to do with nursing???

If you made it through all of this you have the patience of Job.

Ok. Back to the books. Vent/whine over.

 

[Andy]

Flower reproductive so you learn the difference between flower power and human reproduction.

Space so you can help those space cases out there (like me?)

Weather is because we all know a bad day effects us in a various of ways.

Now we all know why I don't belong in the nursing field. Nursing really is hard. It does sound like you will do great!!! Keep plugging away.

 

[Sara PA]

Who discovered venus?
The big bang happened how many years ago?
What are protons and neutrons made of?
When did life on earth begin?

Forget those questions. Any site that would claim those questions will be on some sort of test isn't a reliable site. Essentially those questions are unanswerable or so complex in their answers that there is no way they would appear on any test any of us would be taking.

 

[ScentofCedar]

Lisa, I am a baccalaureate-prepared nurse.

Here is what I did to combat test anxiety ~ it's simple, it's free, and it works everytime. It's called a focusing tool. When you receive the test, make a small vertical line in the upper right hand corner of the first page. As you do this, place yourself where you are. Remind yourself that you are prepared to do this. Then, draw a horizontal line at the midpoint of the vertical line you have just drawn.

That's right, Lisa.

A cross.

There is no religious connotation to this action. It truly focuses the mind on the task at hand.

When I was taking the anat-phys classes (and the chemistry ~ Lord, I will never forget those chemistry classes!) this is the tool I used. It worked so well that soon, those at my lab table were using it, too.

And we all, always, aced those tests.

Not because we were better or smarter or studied harder (though I did study, just like you are now) but because we were focused on the task at hand.

The knowledge is in your brain, Lisa.

You just need to quiet everything else down so you can demonstrate that you do know it by answering the questions in front of you.

That's the problem.

Fear.

And the answer is focus.

And that is what this tool will give you.

Try it.

Know that I wish you well, Lisa.

I took my degree at fourty-two, so I think I can empathize with what this feels like, for you.

You CAN do this, Lisa.



Barbara

 

[Abbey]

Ah, Lisa...I DO NOT envy you at all right now.

I am probably one of the worst test-takers. I won't even tell you my ACT score. I'm glad I lived in a state that was required to accept you to college.

I consider myself relativaly smart, but fail all the time on tests. I guess that is why I never made it a bit part of my grading structure as a teacher. I'd rather know what a person can do on a daily basis than on a one hour exam.

The other issue is I tend to 'chunk' information. If it is not important to me, I don't waste one brain cell to remember it. I'd never make it on Jeopardy. husband, on the other hand, remembers the most stupid stuff...but never a conversation with me. I HATE it when our friends want to play a trivia game. Hello??? It's called TRIVIA for a reason.

Good luck on your exams. I'm sure you'll do quite well. by the way...what year did Eli Whitney invent the cotton gin? That might be on a test.

Abbey

 

[Hound dog]

Barb, bless your heart and I will do exactly that. I hope it will help me too. And I will remember what you've said right before I go into the test. ((hugs))

Adrianne, I never thought about it that way. lmao

Sara, I remember 3 of those answers. (mostly because they blew my mind)

The big bang happened how many years ago? 3.7 billion years

What are protons and neutrons made of? quarks
When did life on earth begin? 3.7 billion years ago

The last one I recall because it doesn't make sense at all. How can the big bang happen 3.7 years ago and life on earth also begin at the same time?? Evidently someone wasn't paying attemtion to their own test. lol

Too bad this test isn't based on things I'd need for nursing........cuz I'd ace it without even trying. sigh But I guess having on things just based in nursing would make sense.

P.S. and yes I came on here for a momentary break from the books. lol In a moment I'm switching from anatomy to chemistry. So I'm giving myself a few mins break.

 

[skeeter]

Who discovered venus?
I don't know, but didn't she loose her arms over it?

The big bang happened how many years ago?
2 weeks ago, when a truck with a locomotive on it hit one of the overpasses on the expressway.

What are protons and neutrons made of?
Quarks. Or baby protons and neutrons.

When did life on earth begin?
We talking intelligent life? I'm still waiting.

they also wanted me to explain orbits, and how best to go about getting from here to venus.
Wait until we really develop a Star Trek teleporter.


See - piece of cake!!!!

 

[Sara PA]

Quarks? Quark was the Ferangi who ran the bar on Deep Space Nine.

Seriously, yes, quarks are what makes up protons and neutrons but the next question is "What's a quark?" If we can't answer that, we really only know a word. And very very few of us know what quarks are.

 

[susiestar]

Lisa,

You are unquestionably intelligent. use the focusing tool, answer as intelligently as you can and do your best to stay relaxed.

My mom used to do textbook reviews, and test reviews (she was a professor). We also had a couple of family friends who wrote textbooks.

Usually the person who writes the textbook does NOT make the practice tests. That is just usually how it is. The writers are busy doing other things.

Often they have to pay separate reviewers to check the test and the book, and often these are not checked in depth. the quality of textbooks is going down.

I am NOT saying this to mean your books are wrong. I just mean maybe paying attention to the book and NOT the practice tests (which may have been written by someone else, based on what THAT person thought should have gone in, NOT what the author thought was correct and NOT what the actual test will be.)

I hope this isn't too confusing, and is reassuring. Just remember you study hard and effectively, and you CAN do this!!

Hugs,

susie

 

[flutterbee]

Just remember to stay in the moment and breathe. If you've studied (which you obviously have and are) you're going to be as prepared as you can be.

Breathe.

(((hugs)))

 

[Hound dog]

After 12 solid hours of studying today.....I am done for today. Bad thing is I had to tear myself away because for the first time in quite a while chemistry was just beginning to actually make sense. So far it doesn't seem as if I've completely forgotten all of the formulas, which was what I was afraid of. I hope it's still there tomorrow.

No more panic over the entrance exam. I either do well or don't. I'm too bogged down in the "now" for chemistry and anatomy. (And I'm thrilled that my psychiatric class is a breeze, so no real studying needed there.)

Ya know, there are times when having a tendency to be obsessive helps rather than hurts. I was so hyper-focused on what I was doing that I nearly fell out of the chair when husband told me it was 10pm and time for me to quit already. lol

Good Lord, I will be sooooooo glad for summer vacation!

 

[busywend]

Good luck on your tests! You will do great - I just know it!

 

[Wiped Out]

Best of luck on the tests! Will be sending good thoughts your way!