Nursing school IS rigorous

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I think this topic has been discussed ad nauseum but I went into this first semester thinking the horror stories were meritless and the result of lazy students, but that could not be more incorrect.

I am just about to finish my first week of the first semester in my nursing career, and I seriously have a headache from all the reading I've been doing. Today, I had my first post-lab quiz and I made a 60%, where 74.9% is required to be passing. Only 1 person out of 8 in my lab group passed. We all have individual appointments with our instructor to do it again. Our first grade stands, but we must pass it to continue on with lab.

I will be the first to admit that it is MY fault I didn't pass. I didn't do all the required readings, and the ones I did do were not thorough enough. I thought I could just look over the skill procedures for sterile technique and pass the 20 question quiz. WRONG! It doesn't help that my instructor spends the 3 hour lab session talking about her experiences as a nurse and allowing small talk between the students. I think that might have to do with our small clinical group size of 8 people. She doesn't lecture over the procedures or material, which.. let me reiterate, DOES NOT JUSTIFY MY FAILURE. It just highlights that as nursing students, we have to carry our own weight. We must be prepared to teach ourselves anything and everything.

This post isn't meant to scare or discourage anyone. Just know that the stories by other members saying how real and scary nursing school can be have validity to them. No, it isn't ENTIRELY life consuming, as I am here writing this topic. Breaks are actually needed lest you stop absorbing information from reading. But serious discipline has to be developed to sit down and read chapters at a time, and FAST. These reading assignments pile up and they do not stop.

Be prepared to tell friends NO, that you cannot hang out. This semester is the first one in forever that I won't have class or work on the weekends, but it doesn't matter. My free Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays are not really 'free'. They will be spent strategically reading and studying for the ever looming tests and quizzes. From the moment I wake up, to the moment I sleep, I am constantly studying. If I'm not, I am thinking about how I should be studying. I can't afford to make time for anything but eating, showering, and going to the gym.. and that's only because I need a stress reliever of some sort.

Thanks for reading my rant and I hope it helped someone. Please refrain from comments like "Did you think nursing school was going to be easy?", "Duh. It's nursing school." because no, I did not think nursing school would be easy. I knew it would be difficult. But no one can know what it is like until they are actually experiencing it, and more students to be need to know that.

I hate select all that apply.. especially when the instructor decides only ONE applies and you're freaked out thinking there HAS to be more than ONE answer ?!?!?!?! I just graduated from an ADN program. It will only get more challenging. My advice is do the hard work required and try and comprehend. I watched so many fellow students struggle because their old way of learning "memorizing" came back to hurt them in semester 3 and 4 where you begin to build on and apply knowledge gained in semesters 1 and 2. If you can't remember what you learned then it's harder. ALSO AIRWAY (ABCs), ADPIE, hand washing seemed to be my mantra during the program. GOOD LUCK ! !

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I did not read all the posts.....just wait until you get out of school, nursing school was easy and fun compared to that first job!

:wideyed: I start my first job in a couple of weeks thanks for the heads up! lol I've already told myself expect to feel overwhelmed and ask ?s that as crazy as it seems the HUGE INSANE VAST amount of knowledge I've acquired in the program is only the tip of the iceburg and I will need to seek out more seasoned nurses and learn all I can from them as well.

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And trust me, time will go by soo fast, before you know it it will e winter break!

Too true! the semesters flew by! Except for the last one it seemed the longest I'm pretty sure it's because I couldn't wait to graduate though!

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Sometimes I wish I could send every single one of those "If nurses were so smart they'd be doctors" folks to a semester of nursing school just so they could see how intense it is and how much we learn.

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Specializes in CVICU.
Sometimes I wish I could send every single one of those "If nurses were so smart they'd be doctors" folks to a semester of nursing school just so they could see how intense it is and how much we learn.

I agree. And the worst people are, "Oh, you can get an associate's degree and start out making 60k anywhere you want? Must be nice!" 1) 2-year programs are usually at least 3 years because of the prereqs, 2) it isn't as easy as applying and getting accepted. It's rigorous to just meet the requirements. 3) An RN's job is not a glorified baby-sitter like so many ignorant people seem to believe and 4) to start out, you cannot go 'anywhere you want'. I would love to leave Oklahoma upon graduation but the job market here is flourishing and I'm afraid to give up the job security here before having X years of experience.

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I enjoyed reading this post! As a pre-nursing student not even in nursing school yet it's good to know so that I can practice on my study skills and focus while i still have that "free" time. Thanks for posting!!

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Starting an accelerated program on Wednesday! Good luck to everyone

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Specializes in CVICU.

So tomorrow I will talk to my instructor about when our mentoring session will be and what we will cover. I did the NCLEX questions associated with our first lecture last night, and got 9 out of 10 correct, including one SATA. This renews my confidence that I will do just fine in nursing school. People who know me tell me I have the attitude, and I think that is one thing that should worry you if you don't have. Study habits develop over time, although sooner is better than later.

This post is to show people that you WILL likely fail a test/quiz during nursing school, but it isn't the end of the world. The key is to recognize why you failed, and motivate you to prevent it from happening again. It also helps if you have supportive instructors who want to help you instead of having an agenda to weed you out.

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Actually, yes, my Fundamentals book is by Potter/Perry, and we have access to the Evolve website. I had forgotten all about it but I will definitely check it out. I am sure it will supplement my studies. Looks like a good resource to apply information I've learned by reading.

EDIT: Is the material/review information not on the website itself? I see we can get a book called 'Resources for Fundamentals' etc for free, is that it?

if a text book 9on evolve has free online resources u can access them , I had a few textbooks in my account just tob have more practice questions and case studies

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I am starting my senior year of nursing school. Time has flown as everyone has told me it would. I already have a previous degree so I thought converting a BS to a BSN would be relatively easy. It has been a huge wake up call. Here are some things I have learned so far that I think can be helpful for those starting out:

1. It IS hard and your family WILL suffer with you through this. Let the guilt go as you are bettering their lives and they are learning from you that hard work will pay off (for those of you with kids like me).

2. PRN jobs are good to be able to work around nursing school schedules.

3. Plunk the money down for Bose quiet comfort headphones now. They will let you pay $25 a month on a credit card without getting their credit card. Then you can study w some pandora classical music anywhere. I can drown out ALL noise with those babies and I'm thankful I got them in the beginning on advice from a student going for her masters. Worth every penny.

4. While people say nursing school gets harder every semester, they fail to mention that you adapt, learn better and quicker ways of accomplishing things, and it evens out overall. Yes, it gets harder as the expectations generally increase every semester. BUT you get so much more efficient and confident that I would say it almost gets easier when you take everything into account.

5. Record your lectures and listen to them during your commutes. Several times I literally didn't have time to study for a test due to absolutely no free time after clinicals, school, kids, and work. But listening to lectures while driving saved my butt in those circumstances.

6. Keep your class paperwork organized from the beginning. I have several large binders that I put all class paperwork and power points into at the end of the class. Because I did that from the beginning, I am organized really well all the way back to first semester.

7. Wen studying for tests, take the nclex questions related to that in your nclex book so that by the time it comes, you have done 5000 nclex questions and you'll be ready to rock it.

You've got this!!!

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