PASS is a resource for nursing teachers who want to help their students succeed on written tests.
"I was at risk for failing my nursing course but PASS helped me to succeed on my written tests"
"PASS helped me to improve my study habits and be better prepared for my nursing tests"
"I wanted to raise my overall R score and PASS helped me to focus on the areas that I needed to improve."
We designed PASS originally to help students who were passing clinically but were in academic difficulty. However, in using PASS, we have learned that every student can benefit from it. Here are three contexts in which you can use PASS:
- One-on-One: Meet individually students who are academically at risk.
- Small Group: Establish a small group of students who are academically at risk and who agree to meet as a group.
- Entire Class: Offer the resource to all the students in your course.
In time, we were able to use PASS in a blended format - that is, offer it to the Entire Class and follow up One-on-One with those students who were academically at risk.
When deciding the context in which to use PASS, there are several factors to consider.
Who are you trying to help?
- Individual student(s) in your class or clinical group?
- A small group of students in the class?
- The entire class?
Who is working on this project?
- You alone?
- You and a helper/assistant?
- You within a team/faculty?
How much time is available?
- Do you, as a teacher, have time to meet students individually (approximately 3 hours/student/semester)?
- Do students have time outside of their schedule to meet as a small group (approximately 4 hours/semester with students dealing with similar issues)?
- Does the students' class schedule have space that could be dedicated to PASS for the entire class (approximately 2½ hours/semester)?
We have provided you with the approximate time frames you will need to meet students. It is difficult to estimate how many hours you will need to implement PASS. Therefore, we urge you to read through all of the information before deciding how you want to use PASS.
For the purposes of teaching you how to use PASS, we are using the One-on-One context. You can read more about the Small Group and Entire Class contexts in a separate section.