I just started the 2 year ADN program at my community college about a week ago. I am actually the youngest in my program at 18, and I have no nursing experience. Before I started, I obsessed over blogs and spent a lot of nights wondering if I could even make it through nursing school. I graduated high school in the top 5% of my class with a good ACT score, and I'm generally a hard worker. I am just wondering, was nursing school as hard as you thought it would be and if so, why?

courtneymann said:
I just started the 2 year ADN program at my community college about a week ago. I am actually the youngest in my program at 18, and I have no nursing experience. Before I started, I obsessed over blogs and spent a lot of nights wondering if I could even make it through nursing school. I graduated high school in the top 5% of my class with a good ACT score, and I'm generally a hard worker. I am just wondering, was nursing school as hard as you thought it would be and if so, why?

Fingers crossed! Head up high and, I guess this is the only thing you can do, STUDY!!!!!!!! Good luck to you!:yes:

Specializes in Psych/Mental Health.
TheAtomicStig_702 said:

I fear the work load and I lack the confidence because of the tricky questions and I won't know if the school will show you how to read those questions.

Stay ahead with studying at all times and start doing NCLEX practice questions half way through your Fundamentals course until the end of the nursing program, and you'll do fine on those questions. I use the online Saunders Q&A tool throughout nursing school and it's great (not the hardest questions but very comprehensive). I did about 2,200 questions just in Med-Surg (my school covers all organ systems in one semester). Know grading criteria so you don't waste too much time on "busy work" that don't actually count toward your grades or if it's "pass/fail."

umbdude said:
Stay ahead with studying at all times and start doing NCLEX practice questions half way through your Fundamentals course until the end of the nursing program, and you'll do fine on those questions. I use the online Saunders Q&A tool throughout nursing school and it's great (not the hardest questions but very comprehensive). I did about 2,200 questions just in Med-Surg (my school covers all organ systems in one semester). Know grading criteria so you don't waste too much time on "busy work" that don't actually count toward your grades or if it's "pass/fail."

2,200 questions on your own or they made you do? That's a ton of questions :no:

Are you already done with nursing school? I don't worry about the NCLEX because I guess schools like CSN and UNLV here have a 90+% avg pass rate. I'm just worried about the school itself. Nothing after school bothers me other than school itself.

Btw, did your school have an entrance exam? We have the TEAS and the HESI. How do you improve your grammar? Here grammar gets A LOT of students. How or why I don't know but I'll do anything to know how to pass it the first time.

Specializes in Psych/Mental Health.
TheAtomicStig_702 said:
2,200 questions on your own or they made you do? That's a ton of questions :no:

Are you already done with nursing school? I don't worry about the NCLEX because I guess schools like CSN and UNLV here have a 90+% avg pass rate. I'm just worried about the school itself. Nothing after school bothers me other than school itself.

Btw, did your school have an entrance exam? We have the TEAS and the HESI. How do you improve your grammar? Here grammar gets A LOT of students. How or why I don't know but I'll do anything to know how to pass it the first time.

On my own. It's not a requirement but it really helped. I want a good grade for grad school, possible scholarship ($_$), and I actually enjoyed what I was learning. I'm in my final semester (preceptorship) and just took the HESI exit exam (we took ATI for subject exams every semester).

Yes I had to take TEAS V for entrance (not hesi). I basically read the manual, then did practice questions and read the rationales. I didn't do anything specific to improve grammar or other sections. Perhaps you could use school's resources and tutors?

TheAtomicStig_702 said:
Lol I hope you're being serious :laugh:

Absolutely serious. Unfortunately. If nursing school is hard, I don't know what hard is. It's not a prideful boast. I am in it too. So it's actually just frustrating and demoralizing.

Specializes in Med-Tele; ED; ICU.
TheAtomicStig_702 said:
I don't worry about the NCLEX because I guess schools like CSN and UNLV here have a 90+% avg pass rate.

Nothing special about that. The first-time pass rate for US-educated student is more than 85%.

It's just not that hard...

Its exhausting! To give you an idea my program is considered 'part-time' because it's only 9 credit hours since all my non-nursing courses are done. We have to watch a minimum of 3 hours worth of lecture prior to each weekly class. Some weeks it is closer to 5 hours. Then there is reading anywhere from 3-7 chapters for the week. I don't consider myself a slow reader by any means but reading from a text book is significantly slower especially if you are trying to pick out key information. On top of that we usually have some project to do weekly. It might be a paper, a concept map, a presentation, but it's always "something". Then there is usually 1-2 case studies for clinical a week. And every three weeks or so there is an exam. The content of nursing school can be challenging because it isn't just route memorization but also prioritization. So for instance I can study for hours to get the content of my exam down but sometimes it all comes down to the way a question is asked to determine if you get it correct. It can be discouraging walking out of an exam knowing that no further amount of studying would have bettered your grade. It all comes down to one moment of time while your are answering a question. That can be daunting. On top of all of that add in working full-time (like I do) and having a family with kids (thankfully I dont) and you can see how it quickly becomes overwhelming. The actual content of nursing isn't the worst or most difficult. It's the testing, constant busywork, workload, and outside comitments that can make it overwhelming.

Xlorgguss said:

Its exhausting! To give you an idea my program is considered 'part-time' because it's only 9 credit hours since all my non-nursing courses are done. We have to watch a minimum of 3 hours worth of lecture prior to each weekly class. Some weeks it is closer to 5 hours. Then there is reading anywhere from 3-7 chapters for the week. I don't consider myself a slow reader by any means but reading from a text book is significantly slower especially if you are trying to pick out key information. On top of that we usually have some project to do weekly. It might be a paper, a concept map, a presentation, but it's always "something". Then there is usually 1-2 case studies for clinical a week. And every three weeks or so there is an exam. The content of nursing school can be challenging because it isn't just route memorization but also prioritization. So for instance I can study for hours to get the content of my exam down but sometimes it all comes down to the way a question is asked to determine if you get it correct. It can be discouraging walking out of an exam knowing that no further amount of studying would have bettered your grade. It all comes down to one moment of time while your are answering a question. That can be daunting. On top of all of that add in working full-time (like I do) and having a family with kids (thankfully I don't) and you can see how it quickly becomes overwhelming. The actual content of nursing isn't the worst or most difficult. It's the testing, constant busywork, workload, and outside comitments that can make it overwhelming.

Thank you for giving a detailed overview, I know exactly what you mean about "it comes down to one moment in time". Sounds like a lot of busy work!

Specializes in Prior military RN/current ICU RN..

"easy" or "hard" make absolutely no difference.  Do you want to be an RN or not?  If you do then to become an RN means completing school and passing the NCLEX.  If you don't want to be an RN then you don't go to nursing school.  You gotta get from point A to point B and how "difficult" the path is is inconsequential.  It is the path.

Specializes in STICU.

I think it is school dependent. Some schools are not, and some will try to weed people out. It also depends on where you end up working. 

I earned mostly As and some Bs. I worked full-time too. My teacher in NCLEX review, who was a dean too, asked me if I was fine. I explained I really didn't have much time to read anymore as I used to. I was surprised she wasn't even worried about my grades. She was worried that something happens to me. I was that student who nearly perfected everything, or I missed one or a few questions.  

I used to help other students back in the non-nursing major. Learners were unique. Others just didn't have it for whatever reason. I wasn't and am not judging. It was my experience. It's one of the reasons why I wouldn't want to be a teacher. I'd lose my mind. 

It's a whole new way of learning. That is what I was told. 

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