how hard is the math in nursing programs? how about the HESI exam?

Published

just curious as i struggle with math, always have gotten C's

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU + Infection Prevention.

It is amazingly simplistic math. There isn't a single nursing calculation that I wouldn't have been able to do by 6th grade. It is a terrifying thought that any high school graduate would have problems with nursing school math

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in MPCU.

shhh... nurses are not good at math. I struggle with differentials, i'm o.k. with integrals (yeah, weird). But .....OMG math!!!!! What u need is enough to understand basic chem. (remember the preq's to the preq's?) To paraphrase SummitAP "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?"

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Hospice / Psych / RNAC.

It really depends on if you're planning on going into a BSN program; if you are then the university I went to required college level algebra in order to be able to take the probability and statistics course required for the BSN program. I know my friends who were doing the ADN didn't have to take the stats and had a lot better time because they didn't have to do that math.

The plus with taking the stats and all that math is I can actually help my kids with their math homework. :lol2:

Up Vote Up Vote ×

There is nothing beyond simple Algebra that is needed. If you can convert units and solve an equation such as 10x = 95 for the variable x, then you can do all of the math required for nursing.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in L&D.

Practice makes perfect! I never did particularly well in math classes, but once I got the hang of medication conversions and such, it is very easy. It's pretty much all dimensional analysis from chemistry...

Good luck! You can do it! :yeah:

Up Vote Up Vote ×

i'm probably gonna go thru a community college for my nursing....debating on getting an LPN and going straight to the 3/4 semester without going on the waiting list...or waiting on the list and take semesters 1-4....i have one more pre req...what is a co req?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psych.

My ADN math class was on the 7th grade level. My proff said, no previous math XP needed. We had 3 weeks of dosage calc, and the rest was just basic math concepts, basic algebra and geometry. I had tried the Comunity college equivlant and failed.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

moved to the General Nursing Student Discussions forum

Up Vote Up Vote ×

My school is really hepped up on us being able to do math without a calculator. We had to pass a math test in semester 1, and we have another one in semester 2.

That said, the material has been:

addition

subtraction

multiplication

division

(review those multiplication tables, b/c the 6s through 9s you probably haven't used in a while, hehe)

solve an equation for an unknown

set up ratios and proportions and then solve for an unknown

fractions: add, subtract, multiply, divide

units conversions; English to SI and the reverse, given the factors they want us to use (NO CALCULATOR)

There are formatting requirements for numbers that have decimal points in them: We use 0.2 ml, not .2 ml, for example. And there are other rules for the formatting of numbers in med calcs, to help prevent reading numbers wrong and thus prevent math errors.

Your drug calc book will have all of that in the early chapters, most likely. You could look at a GED Math review book, too. That's what I used for the pre-entrance exams, a GED math book. It had been years since I'd had to do pencil and paper calculations. That's what calculators are for, lol.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion