Advice for taking Statistics...

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Hi! I am currently a nursing student in an ADN program and I just finished my first semester. As some background, I plan on getting my BSN after graduating, my school has this "dual-enrollment" program where you can start your BSN the fall after you graduate and it is online. One of the requirements is that I need to take a statistics class. I am taking it over the winter break (online) and after attempting the first homework assignment I feel very overwhelmed.

I am a good student (all A's) and I don't want this class to mess up my GPA. Generally I am good in math/science but I am worried about this class. I know I need to take it and I was just hoping that some fellow nursing students who have already taken it could give me some tips. I have looked up general tips online but I feel that other nursing students may have a perspective on this subject that will help me to better understand it.

Thanks in advance!

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Focus on trying to understand the underlying concepts. What exactly are you doing with the formula? What is the answer telling you specifically? What does this term actually mean? I've taken it twice now (as my first one was taken a while ago and was outside the time limit for one of the programs I applied to), and it was easier to understand the second time around by trying to understand the concepts. My professor uploaded these video lectures for us, which I used for the most part for this, but I remember using some videos off Youtube. There should be no shortages of videos there that can help.

Though at the same time, if all else fails and you are in a bind, you can also memorize which formulas go with which types of questions.

I might also suggest that you try to create something that summarizes each concept and type of question for you to use later on in your BSN program. I took the course less than a year ago, and I couldn't tell you how to do half of it anymore. Since I don't have something that gives me a good overview of what I took away from it, I'm just going to be looking up the info and hoping that it'll all come back to me or I can relearn whatever is going to be relevant.

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Specializes in PICU.

One thing with statistics that might help.. you are alwasy trying to reject the null hypothesis. Any calculation you run is about rejecting the null hypothesis. All data points are either within a range or out of a range.

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Statistics was a little scary and it required a lot of time. It did make much more sense, trying to understand the concepts.

Hunker down. Cancel your social life and minimize other obligations.

Statistics is one of those classes that separates the men from the boys.

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Thank you all for the tips!!

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