 Hi everyone, welcome back to another vlog. I hope you're doing amazing. This vlog is all about grades do not define you. I wanted to do this because so many people I see on social media, I've had a few inboxes as well from people worrying about grades like how do I get first, how do I get this, how do I get that and do you know what? It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter whether you get a first, a two one, a two two, a three, whatever. It doesn't define the nurse that you're going to be as long as you can be the best that you can be if you're patient that's all that matters. But I absolutely get it. I know I've been there so some of you might know from my previous stories that I've told but I got the worst GCSEs. Well not the worst but I got D's and E's and everyone normally asks for an A to C grade. I got D's and E's which didn't really count for anything at the time and that really knocked my confidence. I thought I wasn't smart enough, I wasn't good enough but actually had a lot going on in my life at the time. You know 15, 16 years old, it's tough. You've got all these hormones going on, you've got life problems at the time and Nana just died right smack in the middle of my GCSEs. I had so much going on and I didn't give myself enough credit for actually achieving my GCSEs. Yeah I got D's and E's but you know what I did it and I passed in a way and then moving on when I finally got to university in my first year and I started to get 70%. Well in my very first oski I think I got 92% for my oski and I was just like what? How did that even happen? Oh my god! And even if it's a grade that you're not particularly happy with like my first ever assignment grade was 52% and I was like oh okay that's okay it's a pass it's fine and then when I went into second year my grades dipped a little bit again so I was just like what? Why? Why? God why? Why are you used to doing this? So that I think second year is probably where it hits a lot of people. The grades just drop a little bit and this is probably because you're still at that same level so in first year there's no real expectations it's level four it's it's just describing things it's not going into too much detail it's not too bad but then second year the bar goes up a little bit but you're still here so that bar is raised but you're still here so your grades are naturally going to fall back a little bit so you have to sort of up your game to get better grades if you want a better grade and I think that's where people fall down I know that's where I fell down I slipped the net there but then I suddenly realized what I had to do and get myself up to a standard where I'm going to pass and hopefully pass the whole degree but it is a worry and I know it I've been there I get it and nothing I tell you is going to think is going to make you think okay I need to just stop worrying now and you'll just let it go you'll probably always worry all the way to the end of your third year and even when you're qualified I still worry now about little things if I'm going to pass or not like my recent course for example but you know what I'm here to hopefully erase some of it and make you feel better about it firstly the marker marking your assignments your exams um oskies things like that all they've got is what they've got in front of them there and then they don't see the months of planning that they don't see the months of revision they don't see the nights of stressing out going on social media saying sls help my assignments due in tomorrow I hope that's not the case come on guys be organized um but it doesn't it does not take into the fact your life problems um things that's happening your personal life your family life your work life doesn't it does not factor into any of that this person doesn't know you this person doesn't um know your life problems maybe things like that so all they've got is your assignment or your exam in front of you and they're just going by that and they're going against the marking criteria the assignment brief and have you met it um and this is why I give this tip as well in one of my assignment writing vlogs go check it out if you haven't already um but one thing I say is always go by don't listen to what lecturers say I mean listen to what lecturers say sorry guys don't don't shoot me don't kill me off um obviously listen to your lectures but some lecturers say oh don't put this in put this in no forget what they're saying because they're not marking your assignment potentially you could have any single person marking your assignments you want to go by the assignment brief and the marking criteria and that's what I have up all the time on my laptop to make sure I pass because that's what I'm aiming for if I can just meet every single potential criteria on there I've passed as long as you can meet everything you've passed and then if you wanted a better grade you can write it in a way that might boost your grades up anyway sorry distracted but these grades I hope you're trying I hope you understand what I'm trying to say these grades don't define you and the best grades that you can get is when you've saved a patient's life or you're going out there and you've you know this patient's deteriorating in front of you and you've helped them and you've got them back on track or maybe someone's just having a really bad day and you think you know what let's just sit down have a cup of tea and you've made a difference that patient's life all these little tiny things makes you a really good nurse and do you know what that's priceless you can't put a grade on that and as long as you're striving to be your best self for your patients protecting your patients you're maintaining patient's safety you're doing everything in your power to care for your patients and not causing harm do you know what that defines you more as a nurse than your grade nobody asks for your grade when you finish I trust me I know I've been there I've been I've had a few interviews not one person asked me for my grades my two jobs that I've had no one asked me for my grade unless you want to like aim and go for like a PhD master's I think then I think they asked for maybe a 2-1 potentially or above but apart from that just don't sweat it guys like you are grilling yourselves to the ground worrying about these grades when you don't need to it does not matter and you know what makes it worse I think actually and I'm absolutely guilty for this is when people share their grades on social media and you're thinking oh my god this person's got 92% that was me but I wasn't thinking of other people when I posted those grades out I didn't think about how other people might feel if they failed something or if they didn't get the grade that they expected I was posting it because I thought you know what this is an achievement I've proud of myself for doing this and I want to share it with the world because look how far I've come it was one of those sort of moments it wasn't a oh look at me I've got this because trust me I got terrible grades as well they sort they sort of counterbalance themselves out one of my biggest tips that I can give you is stay off social media when results day is out because if you get a grade that you're not expecting or lower than expected or you potentially might not have passed first time or even second time and then you go on to social media and you're seeing everyone passing and yeah I've passed my assignment yeah I got 70% yeah I got a first that's going to make you feel like crap and you're going to think oh everyone else is passing and you don't see the rest of the failures because no one posts their failures no one posts the downfalls um so you're just going to see these one or two people that are passing out of the your cohort of 200 150 people but you're going to focus on that one or two or five that handful small handful of people that did amazing and got really good grades and that's all you'll focus on and then you'll think god I'm the only person that's failed I'm the only person that got this rubbish grade I'm the only person that isn't doing well and it's not true it's absolutely not true and this is what my biggest tip is you need to remind yourself this is just one person that's fine that's great for them focus on yourself focus on your grade and think about okay so what does that mean what does that realistically mean I've got 40% let's say I've just made the part the pass rate one of my grades was 42% I literally was on the tip point of that and then other people were getting like 70s and 80s and that was me and I was thinking wow what did I do wrong like where am I going wrong but you can't think like this you need to think okay what does this mean now so the first step you want to take is look at your feedback on your assignment on your exams if the feedback isn't very good you know it's a little bit wishy washy and you're thinking oh I need a bit more feedback than this to improve email the person that marked it get in touch with that person sit down with them if you can have a meeting with them if you can and just say I want your help where can I improve where did I lose points and once they explain it to you and show you physically where you're going wrong or bits that really need improving then you then it'll just help you to understand what's happening and it'll just make you feel so much better this is something that I personally do and did back then I recently did it for my like the foundations of GP nursing course I asked for more feedback because I don't want to then go on to a masters or something and then fail because I'm not good enough I want that constructive criticism to help me move forward and help me pass a masters if I wanted to do that and this is what I did back then as well so I sent an email to the people that marked those things and said where can I improve and they sent really useful constructive feedback back to me and said these are the areas where you could have improved you could have written more about this you could have added this but these are the areas that are really really good these really stand out so they don't just show you the week they show you the positives of your assignment and what they liked so just think about doing that because it will really really really help you and it'll help you understand the grading system and all of that jazz and then my next tip for when you're feeling really rubbish about your grades is look how far you've come like first you first thing you've got into university a lot of people didn't get there a lot of people they would have rejected and you're there you're you're a nursing you're doing one of the best jobs in the world if you ask me and if you're at the very very start if you're in first year and this is your first assignment your first exam your first grade that you've got back and it's not very good or it's not the grade it's not the grade you expected it's okay like this is your first assignment everyone is gonna struggle I think initially like everything is so overwhelming you've just started this course you've got so much overload also we're in a pandemic right now come on guys um but if this is future in the line and you're watching this and there's no pandemic anymore that is still going to be stressful we're short of nurses I'm shoming in the future we are still short of nurses and it's tough and the exams are tough the assignments are tough and they're written in a way that you really don't understand them so please just be kind to yourself that is the most important thing you know think okay do you know what I've done this and this and that's amazing and it's okay to have your moment it's okay to feel like crap you know we are human we're not robots we're going to be going round like suddenly positive and springing in our steps and all sorts okay to have a day off get under the duvet cry have a hot chocolate have some chocolate whatever you want to do to make you feel that little bit better do more of that but don't let it consume you guys don't let it eat you up so so much that it's affecting your life guys it's not worth it honestly your health is far more important than anything else right now because you have to be your best self so that you can be the best person you can be for your patients so please don't live there take your moment take a day take a week however long you need but don't live there get back on the horse get out there and smash it next time and as always if you're really really struggling and you took a downward spiral turn please get help support speak to your friends speak to your family speak to university if you need more time if you need to defer anything get in touch with people and let it be known because no one's going to know how you're feeling if you're just bottling it up inside and you're just making it feel worse and worse and you're slowly chipping away and eventually you just crack so please get help get support and make sure that you are okay and as always my inbox is always open for anyone that's struggling please message me I will always reply I mean I can't do your exams and assignments for you but I can hopefully give you some constructive feedback or advice or anything like that that might just help you along and if you just need someone to say do you know what get your crap together and get on with it I will be that person for you as well but yes final message grades do not define you who you are as a person and how you are as a nurse out there in practice is the best that you can be so go out there guys protect your patients care for your patients and do the best you can be push that grade aside