Nurses out there! What was your hardest Nursing semester???

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I'm about to start nursing school next semester and would like to know from any current students or working nurses which was the hardest semester for you? And why?!

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Specializes in Endocrinology, hopefully.

I'm in my first semester, so I can't speak for other semesters, but... Nursing school is like nothing I've EVER experienced before. I'm over a month in and still looking for that "balance" they tell you to find!

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Hi Melissa- Can you please be more specific?! Why is nursing like nothing you've experienced before?

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For me my hardest semester(s) was 3rd or 4th so for us that was year 2. We had med/surg for placement but alot of our core classes were in year 2/3 like patho, pharm, advanced a&p, etc. for me that was the hardest trying to find the balance between everything. You do though :) don't worry just be organized and always try and finish at least one assignment early so you can make room for the other ones you have to do! I had a good group of friends to study with so that made a huge difference!!!!! We all ended up working together and in the end consolidated together and I work with a few now :) I had a planner and that helped keep me on track! Good luck!

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Great. The planner idea I will use. Thanks

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

Peds clinicals were by far the most difficult part of my nursing education. I've never been around kids, except for two very bad experiences as a baby sitter. Just two. After that, I found easier ways to earn money. I didn't know how to interact with normal, healthy kids much less the sick ones. The whole semester was so stressful I'm not sure how I made it through! I've never worked in peds, never wanted to work in peds and though I have encountered the occaisional 12 year old in the adult ICU, I've still never been around kids!

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Adult (medical/surgical) has been the hardest for me, probably because I had the clinical instructor from hell. There is just so much to know for adult and it can be stressful. Just keeping on top of things is the key, don't ever get behind, because nursing school will swallow you up.

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OB.

Oh, the clinicals were okay, but I never was interested in women's health, childbirth and blah blah blah.

I struggled in it, failed it, passed it and to this day I hate talking about anything related to it.

It was incredibly boring to me so it was a challenge that I took on only because I had to.

Stressful + boring = :dead:

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Humm peds was hard for me as well as my 2nd med surg class. I think peds was hard because there are so many childhood diseases I had never heard of and I had to keep all of that straight. My second med surg class was hard because we had a new instructor and she taught one thing and the text book said another thing. But on her tests she would have questions from the book and her lectures and they would contradict each other. She didn't teach there anymore after that class. Out of 45 students only 18 passed the class. And I barely passed. The lowest grade to pass was a 78 and I received a 79 and there went my high GPA. There was a big uproar about it too. OB was the easiest and I actually got an A+ in the class and trust me I had no desire to be an OB nurse. Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

Oh the med surg and peds class was in the same semester so that whole semester was extremely stressful for me.

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The hardest semester for me was the 3rd . . .( The first semester of the 2nd year). Our Patho class weeded more students out than anything. I think on my death bed, I'll be ranting about the Krebs cycle! Clinicals were pretty enjoyable -- OB held no interest for me, though! Wishing you the best--- keep believing in yourself. You'll make it!

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For me the challenge in the first yr are different then the challenges in the final year. The first year getting your routine down and adjusting to all the studying and reading u do is the hardest thing by year two u are used to having no life you've come to terms with your vision loss from over using your eyes and you have a good foundation to build in IF u r doing well if u start out struggling grade wise I can see the entire program being a struggle because u really do build on your knowledge with each semester so u must retain not just regurgitate onto exams. However the last year I felt like was more challenging because u start really getting beyond basics and into nitty gritty disease processes etc critical care etc. Also for me my 3rd semester was the worst because my mom died. By the last semester u just can't wait to graduate and u feel so close that it seems like the longest semester ever! And u worry about having made it so far u don't want mess up now so the pressure is on. Overall there are no "easy" semesters each present new challenges just hold tight do the work and rejoice when it's over ! Good luck !

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My 4th of 5 semesters was the most difficult. Lots to learn and a psych rotation in there. Not the greatest 4 months of my life...

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