Looking forward to third semester!

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  1. Was second year of nursing harder than the first?

6 members have participated

Specializes in ICU, Radiology,Infectious Disease,Forensic Nursing.

Nothing is better than finishing another semester of nursing school (except graduation and passing NCLEX of course!) As excited as I was, I was quickly filled with a fearful anticipation for the upcoming semester. What was your third semester of nursing school like? Was it more challenging than the rest? We are scheduled to take: Nursing Research, Community Nursing and Med Surg. Any advice how to better schedule study time outside of class?

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My third was great! We all started out a bit burned out from a really tough level two, but it was good. That's when we did mother baby, peds and mental health. I'm in level four now, just finishing research, community and med surge 2. This semester has been tough, but also awesome because things are finally coming together, making sense in the big picture and we have so much more autonomy! I got to do some really cool stuff this semester. Can't wait for my level 5! It's gonna rock. Enjoy your level 3, it will be what you make it!

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Specializes in Cardiac, CVICU.

I'm almost finished with my second semester, but the juniors tell me all about 3rd and 4th semester. Ours is a 3 year/6 semester program that you start in your sophomore year. 3rd semester is mental health and med-surg, which is a big combination. The upperclassmen tell me that 2nd and 3rd semesters are the most difficult because of the work load and information. I've done really well with clinicals and the coursework so far, so I'm not too scared about next semester.

Although, I think it will be more work than I expect. We have two clinical days per week about a hour away from our school, so we will be moving our butts all semester. Luckily I get Fridays off from class!

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Specializes in Hospice.

Ugh community........ We took that second semester. That class was harder than medsurg 1/pharm.

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Specializes in public health, women's health, reproductive health.

Third semester was the hardest semester in my entire academic career so far. And I have quite a few credits under my belt. However every program is obviously different. What do the students ahead of you have to say about it?

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Specializes in ICU, Radiology,Infectious Disease,Forensic Nursing.

I've gotten mixed reviews. Some said it was easier because we are applying information we have already learned. Others have said it was way harder and their grades slipped incredibly.

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I had one year of LPN, and then one year of LPN-RN. Therefore, my third semester was the beginning of my LPN-RN program. And yes, it was much harder. Much of that was due to changes in my program, an instructor having surgery earlier on and we had multiple instructors for the class and it was just a mess. But the material itself is harder as it was more RN focused, obviously, than previously.

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Specializes in Hospitalist Medicine.

My second semester was Med Surg, Maternity/OB and Long-Term Care. I found it much "easier" than Fundamentals because we got to actually apply what we were learning in class to what we were doing in clinicals (e.g. chest tubes, labor & delivery, etc.) The first semester was CRAMMED with information. 2nd semester, it felt like a more relaxed pace. We weren't on campus every single day like we were for the first 6 weeks of the first semester.

I know it really doesn't get "easier", per se, but it gets less overwhelming...does that make sense?

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