Bad at chemistry

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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I was wondering if anyone started thinking about getting into the nursing program not knowing chemistry very well. I really want to become a nurse, but I am weak at chemistry. I bought myself chemistry books and all I am doing is reading those books, hoping to learn it well enough to be able to pass the pre-entrance exam.

Please tell me what you think. Is it too crazy?:uhoh21:

The two Chem classes that are required for our nursing programs are specifically designed for nursing majors, so they are different than the regular Chem classes. Lots of conversions, dealing with the metric system etc.

I signed up for a class called "Chemistry for Health Sciences". Do you need to have some kind of chemistry knoweldge in order to be successful in that class?

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
I signed up for a class called "Chemistry for Health Sciences". Do you need to have some kind of chemistry knoweldge in order to be successful in that class?

I took a Chem with the same title for my RN to BSN, if it's the same course, it's a beginners course, so you don't have to have any background in chemistry. It empasses beginning chem, biochem. and organic chem.

It was very fast paced and a lot of work, but as was decided: YOU CAN DO THIS!

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I signed up for a class called "Chemistry for Health Sciences". Do you need to have some kind of chemistry knoweldge in order to be successful in that class?

The best advice I can give is just take your brain to the class and think positive......you will get it. Everything can be learned :)

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Specializes in Burn/Trauma PCU.
the two chem classes that are required for our nursing programs are specifically designed for nursing majors, so they are different than the regular chem classes. lots of conversions, dealing with the metric system etc.

interesting to see the differences in the different school requirements: both the accel bsn programs i'm applying to require one semester of chemistry w/lab. i've seen some, too, that want 2 semesters, 1 each of organic and inorganic, and i've seen yet others that will go with a biochem course or no chemistry at all. though in most schools i've seen, saying that you can have "only biochem" is a misnomer since in order to take biochem, you have to take organic/inorganic chemistry in the process (at least at my undergrad). hmmm.

i think that's great that your chem classes are geared toward nursing majors - i wish i could say the same, though the majority of those taking chem at my school are health science majors of some sort and so the professor does tailor the material a bit.

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interesting to see the differences in the different school requirements: both the accel bsn programs i'm applying to require one semester of chemistry w/lab. i've seen some, too, that want 2 semesters, 1 each of organic and inorganic, and i've seen yet others that will go with a biochem course or no chemistry at all. though in most schools i've seen, saying that you can have "only biochem" is a misnomer since in order to take biochem, you have to take organic/inorganic chemistry in the process (at least at my undergrad). hmmm.

i think that's great that your chem classes are geared toward nursing majors - i wish i could say the same, though the majority of those taking chem at my school are health science majors of some sort and so the professor does tailor the material a bit.

i just noticed that you are in orlando fl,......my son lives in orlando and we had a great summer vacation this year at the marriott village near disney

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Specializes in PeriOp, ICU, PICU, NICU.
:flowersfo Thank you very much for all your advise!!!!!!!!

I feel so much more confident. I CAN do it!:chuckle

You WILL do it! I absolutely have a Chem phobia but it will not stop me either. Good luckkkkkkkkkk! :balloons:

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Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.

I have avoided the sciences like crazy all through high school and a bachelor's degree in Business. And I'll be 50 this month.

Due to the timing, I ended up enrolling in an 8-week ONLINE chemistry course last summer. The instructor had come highly recommended for the classroom, so I was hoping his online version wouldn't kill me.

Do you know what was the hardest part and what dropped my grade to a "B"? I didn't know/understand metrics. I still struggle a bit with it because I am not at a point where I am using it much, but had I known the system, I wouldve sailed through my first 2 tests.

Words of wisdom? Ask around about GOOD instructors; understand metrics!

Good luck!

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I have avoided the sciences like crazy all through high school and a bachelor's degree in Business. And I'll be 50 this month.

Due to the timing, I ended up enrolling in an 8-week ONLINE chemistry course last summer. The instructor had come highly recommended for the classroom, so I was hoping his online version wouldn't kill me.

Do you know what was the hardest part and what dropped my grade to a "B"? I didn't know/understand metrics. I still struggle a bit with it because I am not at a point where I am using it much, but had I known the system, I wouldve sailed through my first 2 tests.

Words of wisdom? Ask around about GOOD instructors; understand metrics!

Good luck!

You are soooooo right about finding out who the good instructors are. It's half the battle. I am 46 and you could say I should have known better and not sign up for my impossible Biochem and A&P1 teacher. I guess we are NEVER to old to learn new things :chuckle Some of us older people still need to learn things the hard way Go to" Rate my professor.com" before you sign up for anybody.....learned that from the youngens!

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

The trick to getting through a Chemistry class is that it all builds on top of previous chapters in the book. The best thing you can do at first is to learn the symbols of the elements in the periodic table as well as their masses and electrons. If you don't learn right off the bat what these things are and understand the relationship between an ion and it's electrons you will be doomed from the start. Each subsequent subject in your chemistry textbook builds on what you've had previously. I learned the periodic elements and their symbols by putting them on flashcards. You probably don't need to learn them all, especially for chemistry for healthcare. The first 40 elements or so should be enough. You also need to know how to do basic algebra, so if you are given an equation like 3x + 2 = 5, do you know how to determine what x is? You also need to understand how ratios work. You will be doing valence problems where you have to know how many positive or negative charges are on an element in order to get the problem correct (this goes back to learning the periodic table, masses and electrons from the very beginning). Don't even go to a lab class without having read through the lab exercise so you know exactly what you are going to have to do in the lab that particular day. Hope this is helpful for you.

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Thank you so much for your advise. It makes a lot of sense. I'll definately follow it.

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