Did I choose the wrong field?

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DocTAP87

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I'm a first year DPT student and I'm struggling. The thing is, I love the field. I do really well in our fundamentals course (patient transfers, positioning, wheelchair, etc) and I'm doing better in anatomy after switching up my study habits and I've become very comfortable with cadaver lab. However, I cannot seem to get anything above a C in kinesiology.

I'm not one to blame the instructor but we truly have a subpar instructor who makes her exams as difficult as she can. Her questions often have several right answers but you have to pick the most right answer. She says she does this because the licensure exam is like that. Well, that's all good but she also tests over material that we don't cover. Today's quiz, which I just took and I got a C on (might be why I'm posting), was over muscles. She never brought up muscles in lecture. Every lecture has been over arthrokinematics, ligaments, and pathologies but the entire quiz was over muscles. Everyone is upset but I seem to be the ONLY one who is afraid of being dismissed from the program.

I'm in C land now and I don't see a way out unless I ace the next exam and that seems unlikely.

I love the field, I don't know what else I would do honestly. But since I'm struggling so bad and I'm facing getting dismissed from the program my FIRST YEAR...is it possible I just don't have what it takes? Have you heard of people getting booted after their first semester?

Thanks you guys.

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@DocTAP87 , you should relay all these concerns to a faculty mentor or to the particular professor. It is certainly possible to fail / get booted out first semester but schools are NOT looking to kick anyone out because it also reflects poorly on the school and they lose revenue (your tuition dollars) I would recommend meeting with a member of the faculty at your school that you have a good relationship with to go over your performance in this class and see how you can improve.
 
@DocTAP87 , you should relay all these concerns to a faculty mentor or to the particular professor. It is certainly possible to fail / get booted out first semester but schools are NOT looking to kick anyone out because it also reflects poorly on the school and they lose revenue (your tuition dollars) I would recommend meeting with a member of the faculty at your school that you have a good relationship with to go over your performance in this class and see how you can improve.

Thank you. I emailed the professor right after starting this thread. I've been in contact with her and I've had several meetings since the first exam and she keeps telling me not to worry. This time I straight told her that I am worried that I am headed for dismissal. She responded that she is going to change some of the answers on the quiz and adjust accordingly and then set up a session sometime next week because there's a lot of us with the same concern.

I worked so hard and I continue to work hard and the thought that it could be over already is stressing me bad.
 
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Man, honestly that sucks! My class have had its share of assignments for which we were not prepared this semester. We somehow manage to pass but our voice was definitely heard in the course evaluation. Usually if this becomes a pattern, we would talk to the class representatives and they would address it to the professor with a survey on where we stand. Fortunately our professors really appreciate our feedback and if it is something they meant to do, they would clarify it with us and offer strategies so we can succeed.
If however you find out that you are the only one not doing well, then you might have to find one person that is Acing the class and inquire what strategy he or she has been using so you can apply it in your studying. It might be worthwhile to talk to your advisor as well and obtain strategies from him/her. This might not be glorious advices from me but this is how I would proceed. When my study habit wasn't keeping up with the materials last summer, I sought help from an advisor and things have been going great since then. AND please remember how hard you worked to get into school, remember how happy you were the first day. Hold on to those feelings and fight on! You will get pass that hurdle!
 
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Cover your bases. Find a smart student in the class who has figured out how to excel, speak with your adviser, and speak with the instructor directly. Do everything you can. It sounds like her exams are unfair, especially for a skills class. She is right. The NPTE has several correct answers, but she actually needs to teach the material.
 
Just an update, she gave me some points back on my quiz because I was correct even though I was marked wrong. This puts me into a high C and if I do well on the coming exam then I will be into C+, B- territory. There's still time to fix this so I'm just focusing on not freaking out too much. Maybe I should stop worrying until someone approaches me and says it's time to worry.

If I have to battle for every point, that's not cool either. The other day she argued with the class about a concept for 10 minutes when the slide she put up said the exact opposite of what she was saying. When we finally said, look behind you, your slide says what we're saying. She looks and says, "Oh okay, I trust my slides. Just go with that." She makes her exams and quizzes so detailed and complex yet she gets confused during her own lectures.

I hate to be like this but if she attempts to fail me, I'm going to appeal and fight it like crazy and use these examples as ammo. The good thing is, she's a nice person and is approachable. She's also my advisor haha

Thanks everyone. I'm taking your advice for sure.
 
AND please remember how hard you worked to get into school, remember how happy you were the first day. Hold on to those feelings and fight on! You will get pass that hurdle!

It's so easy to just get down and just say, forget it! My anatomy instructor said something similar to what you're saying. "Remember, you were good enough to get in and you're good enough to stay in." And like my barber said, "Don't kiss the devil good morning just yet."

I appreciate your motivating words. I feel better.
 
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I might be a little late but I'd like to say that you should just keep going. It is just another subject and soon you'll get it right. After all, you don't need to be excellent everywhere. During my time at school, I had my own issues with kinesiology (talk about a bad subject) but I managed to do just enough to pass it. In the end, your marks are nowhere near as important as the job that you'll do and it must be something that you like.
 
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Get the minimum grades. The real learning begins when you're actually in the clinic. Study the notes and answer the questions based on her notes. If she says you're wrong, then point to the notes. You can't lose.
 
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I hope everything resolved for you! But just curious, what kind of questions are asked on those quizzes that you can recall?
 
Things turned out okay. No matter what I did, I could not get better than a 72% on the exams but I nailed the practical and got 100% so that got my grade to a B-.

An example of a question would be, I'm paraphrasing. "What is the action of the bilateral SCM?" a. Extension of the upper cervical spine. b. flexion of the upper cervical spine. c. ipsilateral rotation of the upper cervical spine. d. some other option I can't remember...

The answer is A. A lot of people got caught on this one because we saw flexion and was like, "that's it!" but we ignored the UCS part. I remember this one specifically because I knew that answer. You put the head into protraction and then the SCM becomes an extensor so it bugged me that I got caught.

I plan to do much better next semester and I was really happy that I did so well on the practical especially with that instructor. On paper, I look terrible but I definitely showed that I can do this and I know this stuff.
 
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