What semester is the hardest?

Nursing Students General Students

Published

:gandalf: Some friends of mine that already graduated from the nursing program both agreed that the 2nd semester of nursing was the most demanding. Is this what you have experienced or is it different for everyone.

Im sure I will find them all very demanding!! :uhoh3: :bugeyes:

Just curious.

I start my 1st semester in August for my ADN.

:penguin:

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

For me it was the first. I guess it was the newness of it all. I found 2nd semester more interesting. But it is where you get beyond the basics and start learning pharmacology, patho., etc. and it all starts to come together. But to me it wasn't "harder".

Specializes in Education, Administration, Magnet.

At my school, students think the 3rd semester is the hardest, because we start cardiac stuff. Every student is different. You might be good at some things, where other students have difficulties with. I also think that every school has a different schedule, but in my school 1st semester is fundamentals, 2nd is OB, oncology and GI, 3rd is psych and cardiac and 4th is neurological diseases, OB complications and peds.

As always ... depends on the teacher(s) ...

It's really up to them how tough the semester is.

If they're jerks, then it's really tough. If they're reasonable then ... it's easier.

:typing

Specializes in Telemetry & Obs.

The NEXT semester was always the hardest ;)

The one you're just starting .

The hardest semester is the one where you draw the short straw and get the clinical instructor from hell. Otherwise, it's a tossup :)

The NEXT semester was always the hardest ;)

This is so true. A semester is always easier when it's DONE.

:lol2:

Specializes in Neuro/Med-Surg/Oncology.

Third was the hardest for me. I was so burnt out by that point. I was taking classes over the summer and working like mad. They compressed our Psych into three weeks because the professor was on sabbatical and the sh . . . er . . . stuff just flowed downhill from there. The next professor seemed to get her test material from thin air. Couldn't find it in the lectures, texts or power points. By the middle of the semester I was ready to walk out and never look back. I was sick all the time from stress. It was only by the grace of God and a few good friends that I managed to do well on the final and pass. The last semester was much smoother sailing.

The last semester. You're just so burned-out by then.

For me so far it was the second semester. Mostly because they spoiled us in the first semester by making it too easy and we got majorily shell shocked when semester 2 hit. I wish my program would have made better use of that first semester by teaching us SOMETHING rather than just basically having courses that you didn't even need to show up or read to get A's in. :madface:

Specializes in Ortho/Neuro.

Well, my last semester was the hardest. In our final semester we get all of the "hard" stuff, cardiac, neuro, respiratory, endocrine, acid/base, immune, HIV, cancer. We touched upon these topics in the previous semesters, but now it is time to get down and dirty and really understand them. They expected a lot from us in our final semester (after all, we are to be RN's within 2 months or so) The second hardest for me was Peds. Those darned congential heart defects (yuck!). I think a lot of it was just figuring out what to study and how to get organized at first.

Since everyone seems to have different opinions (imagine that!),:lol2: I took the liberty of pasting(sp?) my 4 semester program below.

What do you think?

:o

Semester 3 will be over the summer and I have a feeling it might be a bit more stressful than the others.

Oh well, it gives me something to look forward to:eek: :idea:

block.gif First Semester - 10 Credits Required Fall 2006

NUR 1025Fundamentals of Nursing

NUR 1025LFundamentals of Nursing Skills Lab

NUR 1025C Fundamentals of Nursing Clin Lab

NUR 1060CAdult Health Assessment

NUR 1142Introduction to Nursing Math/Pharmacology

block.gif Second Semester - 11 Credits Required Spring 2007

NUR 1141 Nursing Math and Pharmacology

NUR 1211 Medical-Surgical Nursing

NUR 1211L Medical-Surgical Nursing Clinical Lab

NUR 1214CMedical-Surgical Nursing Skills lab

block.gif Third Semester - 11 Credits Required Summer 2007

NUR 2310Pediatric Nursing

NUR 2310LPediatric Nursing Clinical Lab

NUR 2420Obstetrical Nursing

NUR 2420LObstetrical Nursing Lab

NUR 2520Psychiatric Nursing

NUR 2520L Psychiatric Nursing Clinical Lab

NUR 2680LCommunity Health Nursing Lab

block.gif Fourth Semester - 10 Credits Required Fall 2007

NUR 2211Advanced Medical Surgical Nursing

NUR 2212LAdvanced Medical-Surgical Nursing Clinical Lab

NUR 2810CProffesional Nursing Leadership

Thanks!

+ Add a Comment