Well, as the title says, I just don't feel smart enough for nursing school.
Ok first of all, the last time I took the core science courses (anatomy, physiology...) was 3 years ago! So 3 years ago was the last time I took these classes which are the most crucial and the ones that we take with us throughout our career as nurses. I just feel like I forgot everything about the body During that time, I was planning on getting into an RN program but got rejected and decided to go for LVN so that's why it's been so long.
How am I going to be in nursing school if I don't know anatomy and physiology? It's important. To work with this, I've been reading an anatomy/physiology book I have in hopes of me re learning everything.
Speaking of reading, another reason I say I don't feel smart enough, is that I am really bad at retaining information I've read. I can read a sentence and forget what it was about. Ugh! I understand that in nursing school there is a ton of reading but I worry I will spend hours reading and not remember one single thing Do I not have enough brain cells? lol seriously...
I've always been an A/B student but nursing school just scares me because I read if you make mistakes, or fail a test, you get kicked out. This is important to me and want to pass and graduate but how do I get through it if I haven't taken anatomy/physiology in years and can't retain information when I read. What if I make mistakes during clinicals? Anyone have tips on how to remember information better or nursing school in tips in general?
Like I said, nursing school is important to me that's why it is so scary for me and question if I am smart enough, I really want to succeed.
I don't think anybody really remembers much from reading a dry textbook the way they would an exciting novel. I need to do multiple things with the material if there's any hope of it sinking in.
Just chiming in to agree with all these terrific replies! And i also wanted to suggest reviewing/learning medical terminology, that will help so much with understanding and memorizing stuff in A&P and nursing. My nursing school requires a class in med terminology as a pre-req. There's plenty of sites that will just list med term but if you can get a book or site that gives you problems to do I think that will help you remember more than just a list of them.
So you don't feel smart enough because 1. you don't remember hard material from 3 years ago and 2. you don't remember by reading text books. Sorry, that doesn't mean you aren't smart not even a little :)
I have had moments like that though where I think I'm not smart enough. My confidence has gotten better since last semester. But I thought that because it takes me a lot longer to study and write papers than my classmates. For ex I might start studying for an exam a week before, and my friend studies only the night before, and we both get an A. Or it takes me 2 days to write a short essay, and someone else 2 hours. But we all have strengths and weaknesses unique to ourselves. You will find you shine in certain areas that others may not, then you can help them. There will be people to help you too thru your own weaknesses.
During that time, I was planning on getting into an RN program but got rejected and decided to go for LVN so that's why it's been so long.
ShelbyaStar
468 Posts
I don't think anybody really remembers much from reading a dry textbook the way they would an exciting novel. I need to do multiple things with the material if there's any hope of it sinking in.