Was anyone bad at math/ science before prerequisites?

Students Pre-Nursing

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I feel a bit nervous about my math and science skills going into prerequisites, I know if I really had worked hard in past schooling I would've had perfect grades but I was very lazy. I'm just nervous, that may not be the case at all and I may acctually be incompetent in these subjects, but I am really determined to do well. Any personal experience/ advice? Thank you so much!

raindrops1234

82 Posts

I was always great a science (was my best subject) but math was and has always been the bane of my existance. I only ever had to do a bio-statistics course for my degree (went straight in from high school) so not sure which pre-req's you need to complete. I had to put extra time and effort into that class in order to get a decent grade. I found that my problem had stemmed from me not doing well in math in grade 11 and that really affected how well I had performed in grade 12 and that course. As for nursing math calculations, you get a lot of practice/exams throughout nursing school and get used to it.

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VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN

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You are a math genius compared with me. I couldn't even do long division when I started pre-requisites! (In high school I got away with taking only a business math class---no algebra required.) A year later, however, I was doing quadratic equations and getting A's in my math courses. I was that motivated to get into the nursing program.

Science was also tough for me in high school, but I thrived on it in college. I especially loved my microbiology courses and wouldn't mind taking them again. It was fun to do streak plates and Gram stains. I'm still a little vague on the Krebs cycle though, even though it came up in several classes. But that was a very long time ago.

brownbook

3,413 Posts

I eked by in high school and a year of college with C's and B's. School was very unimportant to me. I assumed I wasn't very smart and never dreamed about taking any hard sciences.

Eight years later I took nursing prerequisites. Got all A's in inorganic and organic chemistry, microbiology, anatomy and physiology, etc., and loved school. Amazing what growing up and studying can do.

DoGoodThenGo

4,129 Posts

Totally hated math in high school, got by with B - and maybe one C grades. All Big Daddy's ranting and threats about "buckling down" and so forth were useless.

Fast forward to adult years managed a B+ in Finite math and A - in Statistics. So it can be done.

Most people get themselves worked up about math and science and that emotion carries the day. Once you settle down and think with a clear head things aren't nearly bad as one makes them out.

Great thing about science and math is things proceed in an orderly fashion. Once you get the basics down and understand the "rules" rest is a piece of cake IMHO. Most of math and good part of science knowledge comes from repeated exposure and doing the equations over and over again, along with memorizing.

For much of science one used flash cards to memorize things. It worked so well that even today many years later cannot *see* the word "sugar" and not think of C6 H12 O6 ! *LOL*

Best advice can give is never be afraid to ask an instructor to make things clear. If you are having problems early on either speak with said teacher and or hire/get a tutor.

Sour Lemon

5,016 Posts

I feel a bit nervous about my math and science skills going into prerequisites, I know if I really had worked hard in past schooling I would've had perfect grades but I was very lazy. I'm just nervous, that may not be the case at all and I may acctually be incompetent in these subjects, but I am really determined to do well. Any personal experience/ advice? Thank you so much!

My advice would be to start slow. Take one demanding class at a time until you're sure you can handle more than that. Ideally, you'll have all As in your sciences. I was a horrible student in high school who did very well in my sciences in college. I was simply more motivated. I also did fine in math, but still stuck with the minimum required because I truly hate it. :devil:

pureanea

37 Posts

Science was not my strong point in high school. I didn't understand anything and failed tests. However, when I went to college and figured that I wanted to pursue nursing, I really buckled down and started studying for about two hours a day. Got all A's and found that I actually learned to LIKE science. Also, for math, just make sure that you just know your basic algebra since it's needed in chem. It all comes down to how determined you are to reach your goal.

kwright8706

14 Posts

Yes, I had to re-take a couple science courses and a statistics course to get my grades up to par for a BSN program

I had a pathetic knowledge of math; I did not even know how to do long division. They did not teach this at the high school I went to; continuation high schools were more or less happy if the student body made it to adulthood without a criminal record, I had not taken math since 9th grade (made my teachers happy by not getting a record, either!)

Anyway, I had so serious catching-up to do so I psyched myself and told myself I LOVED math. I actually did grow to like math quite a bit. It helped immensely, all those years I had contempt of math without really having looked into it.

Jmpickett044

30 Posts

Yes I always believed I was terrible at math. It all ways had worried me,so much that I put off trying to go to school for years.I convinced myself I would never be able to be a nurse because I am "bad at math". I truly believe anyone can learn these skill with work. Just a year ago I could do nothing beyond the basics, I had no idea what an equation was. I am now in college algebra and have a 96 in the class. What I did was use Khan academy I started at the basic math and worked my way up spending as much time as I could studying. I also used Rate my professor to find the best instructors I could,and spent a lot of time studying doing example over and over again. Using all the resources the schools offered. Doing These things helped me tremendously.

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