I am soooo scared even though I know I shouldnt be

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hi everyone!!

i am 24 years old and also a single mother. i have always always always wanted to become a nurse but i suffer from a learning disability. in high school i maintained a 2.5 and sometimes even a 3.5, but my weakness was math i am horriblllle in math once i hit algebra im like huhhh?? haha...it takes me a while to understand the material but once i do it clicks. i took a bunch of college courses and even had a 3.5 and i was able to do it because i put my mind to it and studied like crazy. my major at the two year college was nursing but i am having difficulty getting the rest of my preqs completed because of all the problems the school systems are having in california and i cannot afford to wait any longer. i am thinking of enrolling into one of the private nursing schools to start as a lvn and i was thinking of doing it very soon. i am just scared of the math section everything else i will be fine in. i have a strong desire to help people and i so badly want to be a nurse and i do not want a little thing like math to get in the way of my dream. another thing is that both my parents are deceased so my support system is very small :crying2: of course i have friends but they all have lives working and completing their education...i just feel stuck. anyone been in a simaliar situation?

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Specializes in Hospice.

Please don't let the math thing keep you from doing what you want to do.

The math you will need to use as a nurse is no where near as complex as algebra. Simple addition, subtraction multiplication and division are all you will really need. (Maybe some basic fraction stuff, but nothing too complex) You will also need to be comfortable remembering simple formulas for things such as converting pounds to kilograms.

I will give you one tip about learning math that really helped me:

Stop thinking of it was math, and think of each problem as a puzzle that needs solving. It may sound cheesy, but once you learn the rules for solving the puzzle, you'd be amazed at how much less intimidating math is.

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A lot of nursing programs offer free tutoring services for students. Believe me you're not the only one who has problems with math! Some people have a head for it, some people don't. I'd suggest checking with your school and see what resources they have to offer. it is a very common problem.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

I am also horrible in math...in fact, I am close to having a phobia in it. However, like you, I planned to become a nurse. So, what I did is take a continuing education course in basic math at a community college. In fact, at the end of the course, this math class determined your entrance in college...the community classes would not deny you, but upon entering, you had to then take a remedial course in math, including algebra, which would have slowed down my progress. We had to get 25 out of 40 questions correct, go to a testing site that timed us. We had 40 minutes to take that test. Took the class for about $110, failed the test by 2 points.

Something told me not to give up. I had major distractors, and I decided to retake the math course at a different community college (the test results would filter through ALL of the community colleges in my area, so, I would have been clear). This time, the professor was much more patient, gave examples that would be extremely close to what would be on the exam, and he told us to listen to him carefully. And, he arranged that we take the test in his classroom, rather than the testing site, and instead of having 40 minutes to take the test, he would give us the entire 2 hours to allow us to take our time.

This time, I understood a bit better, and I noticed that the professor was walking around, talking to the students for quick moments while taking the exam. I said to myself "Well, I got that 25 questions correct, I am outta here". The professor came and told me "I KNOW you know this. Sit down, make sure you go over each question. You have time You did say you plan to be a nurse, right?". I did, and then, a few weeks later, found that I had 36 correct out of the 40.

It didn't mean a hill of beans to me then, but a few years later, my job offered us a chance to apply for a program that allowed a paid leave of absence and paid tuition to become LPNs and RNs, while attending community college programs. I applied, got accepted. While some of my friends had to sit for those remedial classes because they didn't pass the math test, when I went to apply at the college, they told me that I can go straight into the pre-requisites, because anyone who received just 25 out of 40 would have to sit for BOTH basic math and algebra (each is one semester), and anyone who got between 26-32 had to sit for algebra. Because that man made me sit down, I didn't have to endure that.

My experience has been that most continuing education course instructors are more patient with the needs of adults. The man told us that many people have not made it for the positions they have natural talents for because of math, and he wanted to do the best he can to give us a chance. I'll never forget him.

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that sounds nice...I think I may just go ahead and take a math class this semester to kind of refresh my memory since I just found out that the next program does not start until march. Thanks for your response I know I am not the only one who struggles with math its just feels better to hear other peoples stories and how they managed to get through nursing school with that struggle

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thanks =)

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