my nursing school journey in a nutshell

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Nursing school is not like anything I have ever experienced before. It is the hardest subject but the easiest to study (because you WANT to know how to take care of your patients). I couldnt stand half of my class towards the end of school because they were a bunch of know it all's and made me feel dumb.I failed one of the semesters by like 2 points (1 test question)and got right back in to another semester 2 weeks later (what a lucky ducky i was) I got a job as a CNA half way through school because i really felt like i needed some experience in patient care. After graduation i was 1 of 3 people to take the NCLEX first ( i was really over school by then and just wanted to get it over with) I passed with 75 questions in 55 minutes and thought it should have been harder which made me think i failed, initially. I got my RN license and two job offers 2 weeks after graduation and now i am just waiting to start my new grad orientation. I really miss school though..dont really know what to do with all this free time. Good luck to all the future nursing students, you will have a blast!

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I feel dumb, too. Seems more than half of my class has already had experience in the medical field and I'm one of the newbies.

Congratulations on graduating and passing your NCLEX. You got through it!!!

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Congrats... And I feel dumb as well lol. Im only a B student (84%) so far and I had test # 5 today! I have one more exam and the final in two weeks. Most of my friends have in the 90's and they dont study as hard or as much as I do :scrying: Some people just seem to get things and thats great for them :D Im OK with working hard for something I want. All my class mates are awesome though! Just about everyone gets along and there doesnt seem to be any competition. We all want to see each other succeed! Only two more weeks left in my first semester and I CANNOT wait for my five weeks off for winter break! Good luck at your first Nursing Job!

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Congrats... And I feel dumb as well lol. Im only a B student (84%) so far and I had test # 5 today! I have one more exam and the final in two weeks. Most of my friends have in the 90's and they dont study as hard or as much as I do :scrying: Some people just seem to get things and thats great for them :D Im OK with working hard for something I want. All my class mates are awesome though! Just about everyone gets along and there doesnt seem to be any competition. We all want to see each other succeed! Only two more weeks left in my first semester and I CANNOT wait for my five weeks off for winter break! Good luck at your first Nursing Job!

That is a pretty good average to have so good job on doing well!! At my school we had to pass with a 76% (i think that goes for most schools) so anytime my average was 80% or above i was happy lol I loved my classmates in the beggining too and most of us liked eachother there were just a few who were absolutely unbearable. It's not until towards the end when you start to see peoples true colors lol i think most of it was stress, nursing school is a two year long stressful situation!! well good luck on your final! enjoy your break and get some rest!!

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I feel dumb, too. Seems more than half of my class has already had experience in the medical field and I'm one of the newbies.

Congratulations on graduating and passing your NCLEX. You got through it!!!

thank you :)

In a way being a newbie is helpful because it is always easier to teach someone from scratch rather than try to relearn what you already know and how to do it the right way. At least thats what i observed in school.

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Specializes in CNA.

Thank you for your post!

To others: When you read those threads about "NO NURSING JOBS", read this one again.

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Hi, what state are you in? I am in the citycollege in chicago, and I failed my first semester with 77 and we need 78 . I have to wait a whole year till next fall to retake fundamentals, thats a long wait, how did you study to make it this far?

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Hi, what state are you in? I am in the citycollege in chicago, and I failed my first semester with 77 and we need 78 . I have to wait a whole year till next fall to retake fundamentals, thats a long wait, how did you study to make it this far?

I went to school in Arizona. Yea if i failed first semester i would have had to wait longer than a year...but in 3rd semester i was able to get back in because some people failed 2nd semester so there were spots open.

It was very hard for me to actually sit down and dedicate a certain amount of time to studying. I recorded all of my lectures and listened to them again. Sometimes i would stop paying attention in class, not by choice but my mind just drifts off...so when i would come home and listen to the lecture again i would always catch stuff that i didnt take notes on and my powerpoints would be full of writing. If i didnt understand how something related to the topic i would look it up or ask someone in class or the instructor..thats when i started to succeed. i NEVER read the book...just used it as a resource for clarification or NCLEX style questions for every chapter.

Another thing that i found was successful is if we are going over cardiac i would listen to my lecture again and then i would go to the NCLEX book and read the cardiac section and questions because it summarizes everything and makes you see what is really important to know.

For the NCLEX..i didnt study from my books/notes AT ALL! i just did the NCLEX 4000 practice questions in study mode...i do suggest investing in the CD it is only $40 and has thousands of questions that i used all throughout nursing school.

It took a WHILE for me to figure out what works for me...this may not work for you but those are just some tips. Good luck to you!

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It was very hard for me to actually sit down and dedicate a certain amount of time to studying. I recorded all of my lectures and listened to them again. Sometimes i would stop paying attention in class, not by choice but my mind just drifts off..

Thank you Beefree963, I felt the same way in lecture, but unfortunately we were not allowed to record

lectures :crying2:. I am a visual learner and I am still working on what would work for me. I have tried studing from power point, notes, quizzes, even reading the whole chapter page by page! and I still did not do well in my

tests!:eek:, which is the book NCLEX book that you say it summerizes the chapters?

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Congratulations on graduating and passing your NCLEX all your hard work paid it of. You did it and never gave up! Congrats again!!!

Nursing school is not like anything I have ever experienced before. It is the hardest subject but the easiest to study (because you WANT to know how to take care of your patients). I couldnt stand half of my class towards the end of school because they were a bunch of know it all's and made me feel dumb.I failed one of the semesters by like 2 points (1 test question)and got right back in to another semester 2 weeks later (what a lucky ducky i was) I got a job as a CNA half way through school because i really felt like i needed some experience in patient care. After graduation i was 1 of 3 people to take the NCLEX first ( i was really over school by then and just wanted to get it over with) I passed with 75 questions in 55 minutes and thought it should have been harder which made me think i failed, initially. I got my RN license and two job offers 2 weeks after graduation and now i am just waiting to start my new grad orientation. I really miss school though..dont really know what to do with all this free time. Good luck to all the future nursing students, you will have a blast!
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