CRNA school question

[ShockMe]

I am a worry wart and want to be perfect at ALL THE THINGS even though I am not. Example: I suck at chemistry and stats. So my dream is to go into the anesthesia field to be challenged and because I have a desire to know ALL THE THINGS. I crave learning. One day after a tearful night of 350 week long chemistry question homework I emailed my prof and said "WHY am I not getting this?" His one line email back to me..."relax and allow yourself to immerse yourself in the chemistry and it will come to you." It never did come to me.

So, am I doomed to fail CRNA school if I suck at stats and chem? What can I do to help myself so I can be successful if I make it into anesthesia school?

-Shock

[Bluebolt]

Well, the good news is, not all SRNAs are amazing at Chem and Stats, the bad news is that it isn't going anywhere anytime soon. If you're pursuing CRNA you'll see stats again in grad school and it will be harder and more confusing than ever. You'll also see organic and biochem back for a vengeance in grad school.

All I can tell you is that the path to CRNA is a major endurance test. You will be faced with situations akin to drinking water from a firehose just about every week, for 3 years. You will want to quit over and over again. You'll study for massive exams that you poured your whole soul into and somehow make a crappy 82. My point being, you just have to decide how bad you want it.

Break the chemistry down into small increments, study it every day in little pieces. Record the lecture and relisten to it while you're sleeping. Bring up the topic to your family (against their will) and teach them what you learned. Write it down, erase it, write it again. Take that action figure in your room and explain the concepts to him, get in a study group with other classmates and bounce the ideas off each other. When you're driving down the road start thinking about all the covalent bonds around you, recite them.

This may seem crazy to you but you're going to be doing that in CRNA school. I'm not just referring to chemistry or statistics either. You'll be living your life in that state for the whole 3 years with most of your classes. Just make up your mind now if that's what you want. If it's not, that's okay, it's best to know yourself well enough to admit that. There's always Nurse Practitioner school.

[ShockMe]

Thank you BlueBolt. I appreciate the realness.

[lasvegasnurs]

Little biased in that I had a degree in Biology and minor in Chemistry before I went into nursing.... but the chemistry understanding required is less than my first chemistry college class. I still think the chemistry is important.... but as for boards a "relatively" superficial understanding is all that is required. As for the statistics you will unfortunately be seeing those forever. Much of the emphasis really is more in the understanding what the statistics mean vs how to calculate the statistics so in that way it may be easier than an undergrad stats class.

[Dodongo, APRN, NP]

I am not a CRNA or in CRNA school, however, my first degree was in molecular biology and I had 24 credits of chemistry as a part of that (I was 1 class away from a minor but I just couldn't do that to myself).

Chem is rough. I'll admit. I don't particularly enjoy it. But, as with anything, the more you study it, the more you learn it. The thing with chem is that it all builds. So you need to make sure you are able to understand the basics in order to progress to the more involved concepts.

Simple example: The ideal gas law is really an amalgamation of Charles', Boyle's, Gay-Lussac's and Avogadro's laws. You learn them separately, why they are true, and how to derive the ideal gas law from them.

Keep plugging away. You'll get it. And, from what I've heard from the CRNAs I work with, the chem required in school is not nearly as detailed or in depth.