Phew!

Let preface this post by saying: this week I've been under a little bit of, um, stress. And very, very tired.

We had our first written exam in Nursing Competencies 1 on Tuesday, and our first graded assessments in lab today. In order to pass the class (with a C) we have to pass all of our clinical/lab assessments, as well as get an average of 71% on each of our quizzes and written exams. Oddly enough, we have to maintain a 3.0 average just to keep our spot in the ELMSN program.

Oh, the pressure!

All of our written exams are in a multiple choice NCLEX format where you have to pick the "best" answer. This will be great practice when we're actually sitting for the licensing exam, but on Tuesday things just seemed downright tricky. It was easy to narrow the answers down to two good ones. The hard part was choosing the best one.

Let me tell you, I have never been so happy to get an 86% on an exam before in my life.

The lab skills test was taking vital signs (temperature, pulse, respiration rate, blood pressure) and handwashing. I aced them all, with the exception of bumping the sink when I washed my hands (-1 point) and being a bit too eager to hear the systolic pressure reading on the first try (-1 point). Keep in mind these are skills that I have to opportunity to practice every day -- so I know they'll improve over time.

The good news is, I'm feeling much better about school today than I was at this time last week. I actually feel like I'm gonna make it.

At least for now.