Nervous about math in nursing school!!!

MotoMonkey, BSN, RN · Jul 23, 2019

I would really not worry about it. I am not a math person, I have always struggled with math and I scraped by in the last math class I needed during my prerequisites. I had similar worries until I got into nursing school and realized that there is actually very little math, basically just medication calculation and some conversions. Solving "nursing math" problems almost always uses the same steps, and once you know the process it really doesnt change. Its essentially learning one formula that you use over and over.

Crash_Cart · Jul 23, 2019

You will primarily need to know stuff like ratios, rates and proportions, fractions, decimals, solving percentage problems and unit measurements like how many ounces in a gallon, quarts in a pint, ounces in a cup, cups in a quart, ml in an ounce etc. There's usually word problems involving patients and you have to pay attention to the way the questions are worded.

I would suggest visiting Sal on Khan Academy. It's free and there's really good instructional materials and practice tests.

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/pre-algebra

If you stick with the Khan Academy course material, and do some of it everyday, pretty soon you will have it mastered it like no one's business !

Luchador, CNA, EMT-B · Jul 23, 2019

10 hours ago, Ashley012009 said:
Hey everyone, I'm starting nursing school this fall and I am so nervous about the math! I have always been awful at math and it really worries me. Does anyone have any advise, or a positive outlook on it?

It's not too bad. And there should be a lot of support if you need in the form of test reviews and tutors.

Mcorrie · Jul 23, 2019

It really isn't too bad, promise :)
There are a few simple formulas you will need to know and then you're basically set. Check out registerednursern.com for some examples, she has practice tests etc as well. Even just using google search for "practice nursing med math" or "nursing med calculations" can be helpful.

blr3, BSN, RN · Jul 24, 2019

I am not great at math. However, we were taught dimensional analysis and I get that. You will have to know conversions such as cups to ounces to mL, etc.

Wuzzie · Jul 24, 2019

I hate math! I’m not good at math! I never made it past Algebra One and that was an extreme struggle. That being said, I have never had an issue doing med math.

KarenMS · Jul 26, 2019

Everyone made it seem like math was going to be impossible in nursing school, but it truly was no big deal. They’ll generally show you a few different ways of doing the calculations and you can figure out what works best for you.

The best thing you can do is really concentrate on what you’re trying to do rather than on memorizing formulas, if that makes sense. Meaning, what are you trying to figure out rather than where to plug numbers...

Rionoir, ADN, RN · Jul 26, 2019

We are required to pass (with no more than 2 wrong) a math test the first week of every semester and there are always a few who struggle with it and have to do the retakes, but I don't think we've actually lost anyone because of it. There are practice tests and a math lab available for anyone who needs extra help.

As mentioned above, you really should learn dimensional analysis because then you won't have to memorize 20 different equations, and also, you won't have to worry about whether you used the correct formula or not.