Reading Break Bliss

It's the middle of a reading break.  It feels sooooo goooood to sleep in, watch TV, and relax.  I think my classmates and I really needed this.

Midterms
The week before reading break was crazy.  We had three midterm exams and one skills mastery exam.  Lucky me got the IV push to demonstrate.  I was very nervous about it, but I did fine in the end.  It's definitely good practice for the real thing.

The Good-For-Nothing Zero
On top of this, we got some marks back and I was gifted with the delightful surprise of a ZERO on  my written paper for Pathophysiology.  Apparently I had used the wrong kind of article because I didn't realize that "Current Opinion" is just another name for "Editorial".  *groan*  I wouldn't normally get a zero for this, but my teacher refuses to mark papers that don't fit the assignment criteria.  *double groan* So since she won't read the paper, I can't get any marks.  I'm not allowed to rewrite and resubmit the paper either so I'm basically, well... S.O.L.

Why me?

I was very upset about it, and I still am, but I can't do anything about it.  Instead I have to double my efforts to study the material so that I can redeem my sad, sad mark.  I got about 83% on the midterm exam.  That's normally pretty good, but I'll have to aim for something closer to perfect to make sure that I still finish off with a respectable grade.

Grrr, it makes me so angry.  I should have at least gotten marks for the criteria that I did meet.  Getting marks for even APA formatting would have been great.  The worst part is that, aside from using an editorial article, it was actually a pretty good paper!  I worked really hard on it!  Now I'm getting the kind of mark I would get for not handing in a paper at all.  How is that fair?

Bah, but it's pointless to fret.  It's all non-negotiable.  Good bye pretty GPA!

Surviving Clinical
Anyhow, the good news is that I had my midterm meeting with my clinical instructor and she thinks I'm doing fine.  I always dread those meetings because that's when they'll tell you if you've screwed up and it's time to say goodbye to nursing school.  So far, four students will be leaving us.  Some of them were given the "either drop out or fail out" speech and some of them have had such a hard time with their instructors that they need a break.

I always hate it when this happens, but it's starting to be pretty standard.  The funny thing is that this is a lot like my old job.  Every year there were layoffs.  It was never good for morale, but it always happened anyways.

Well, I better get back to my study break.  I haven't studied yet, but I did write a paper and hand it in.  The paper isn't due until the end of next month so, hopefully, I'll get feedback and have time to fix any major problems before it's too late.  *fingers crossed*

Have a great week!