I just started the 2 year ADN program at my community college about a week ago. I am actually the youngest in my program at 18, and I have no nursing experience. Before I started, I obsessed over blogs and spent a lot of nights wondering if I could even make it through nursing school. I graduated high school in the top 5% of my class with a good ACT score, and I'm generally a hard worker. I am just wondering, was nursing school as hard as you thought it would be and if so, why?

Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

I thought it was a lot of busy work.

And mind games.

"Hard" academically?

Not really.

Specializes in Psych/Mental Health.
SmilingBluEyes said:
I thought it was a lot of busy work.

And mind games.

"Hard" academically?

Not really.

This basically sums up why nursing is "hard".

Yes it is. As is studying for the NCLEX and then starting your first job.

Specializes in Med-Tele; ED; ICU.
chacha82 said:
Yes it is. As is studying for the NCLEX and then starting your first job.

Personally, I thought the NCLEX was a joke. 75 questions in 60 minutes and a pass rate of 85% are hardly the hallmarks of a "hard" test.

KindaBack said:
Personally, I thought the NCLEX was a joke. 75 questions in 60 minutes and a pass rate of 85% are hardly the hallmarks of a "hard" test.

Not a joke, but it certainly wasn't the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.

I will tell you that this gives me hope. You say you "tried again at 50"? Well, i'm 44. I have to go get my biology and chemistry classes yet. I have to do the 16 ( or is it 24 ) credit markup for a GPA score since my high school years were a total dump! ( i'm a different person now ). I have done several very difficult programs and only failed due to family misfortune. This, at 44, is my "do over" moment.

I called a local college and what I got was "you've been out of the game for a while. You may need some remedial help". Umm.. excuse me?? Do I have "STUPID" written across my forehead? It is what it is.

I'm assuming excitement and nerves go hand in hand.

The "one foot in front of the next" and "baby steps" rule does come into place. I plan to dedicated VAST amounts of time to studying.

Much harder than I anticipated as well! The more difficult core classes (Anatomy & Physiology and Microbiology) do not even come close to preparing you for the amount of material that you will cover in such a short amount of time. The way my program did it (the first year) was to have class and tests completed by the 3rd month into the semester, and have the rest of the time for clinicals. Which means: all of mother baby, labor and delivery, and pediatrics starting mid January and completing all 4 tests by the end of February. VERY DIFFICULT. However, it was doable. And rewarding. I only had a part-time job through half of the program and had a hard time trying to find time to study. And studying for nursing school is completely different than studying for any other class. The test questions are completely different as well. BUT, as many people have said before me, IT'S NOT IMPOSSIBLE!! :)

I heard a patient's family say it like this, and I tend to agree...

"I hope to God nursing school was hard, because my kid's nurse better know her s***."

Good luck to you!!

Specializes in ICU.

In my opinion it depends with the school, I went through LPN school first and the teachers there intentionally made it difficult, and a lot of students struggled to get everything done in clinicals and still pass, but as long as you studied at least 1-2hrs daily, you were good. Am in an RN program now, and it is very laid back and easier than the LPN program.

I would only listen to nursing students in the schools am intending to go to, since each one varies in "difficulty"

Specializes in icu, er, pcu.

It is hard only if you are not passionate about being a Nurse. Keep your priorities straight and the 2 years will wiz by with success in the books for you

It is hard but if you study you will be fine. That was the hard part for me because in prior schooling I had always done well without studying much. You have to study and focus in nursing school. You will be fine, good luck!

Heathermaizey said:

I'm also terrible at the SATA questions. I always get all the math right. What makes it hard is you are going to take a multiple choice test and each question will have 4 right answers. Your job is to pick the "most right" answer. It can get tricky. And you will be sitting there saying to yourself, but my answer is right too!! And it probably is, it's just not the most right answer.

Welcome to nursing school where everything is gray, not black and white, like your prereqs were.

Agree!!! After surviving 4 years of traditional BSN, I completely go with this post ?

It's all about critical thinking baby! ;)

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