Crying Over 3.3 Points

Ok, so maybe I'm not "crying" over them...but lamenting, none-the-less.

Our last test had very poor results overall: The average grade was not a passing grade. To say the least, there has been a flurry of conversations and complaints around the class since the test. Especially since there are only 3 tests in this particular class, all semester! So, getting a below passing grade on this one, would make it difficult to pull anything respectable out of it.

Luckily, I don't have to worry about that; but I was not please with my own performance. While blaming doesn't solve anything, I have many theories as to contributing factors that may account for the dipping grade point average, overall.

Some factors that need to be addressed, I believe, are:
- There were only 30 questions - on a test that is 1 of only 3 for the semester. Do you realize how much content is covered over a whole semester in a nursing class; then to only have 30 questions per exam... It's ludicrous.

- The instructor lectures in a way that she places equal emphasis on ALL material. Nothing is more important, nothing less. So, what do we study????? Concepts or details? Because there is no possible way one can MEMORIZE everything that is covered. We must pick and choose. I usually go for the forest; not the trees.

- She also provides no study guides or review sessions, like other instructors do. Again, leaving us on our own to figure out what she thinks is important.

- For the first test, there were guest lecturers and the main instructor taught a limited amount of material. Not so for this last test; the main instructor taught all of the material. And, last year in this class, the same test brought the same results: average grade below passing.... See a pattern here?

- Some of the questions are RIDICULOUS!!! One question, in particular,has me upset at its focus on small, insignificant details. The question was strictly a knowledge based question, not concept/application based, which is the level we should be at at this point.

The question literally nit picks down to the centimeter. It asked what you would call a 2 cm, flat, discolored area on the skin. It is a "macule." Well, that is unless it is greater than 1 cm. Then, it is called a "patch."

How ridiculous is that. The difference between a centimeter is worth 3.3 points of my grade????

With the large amount of material covered, it is literally like picking a needle out of hay stack.

Sorry for the griping..... But we're all frustrated and trying really, really hard to make the final push out of here..... I can't imagine getting this far and then not making the cut at the last semester.... Some people are in a really hard place ... and I feel it is being made harder than it needs to be.