Nursing school is pretty easy so far...

Published

before i started school i was so scared because everyone was saying how its so hard and a lot of people dont survive the first semester etc. people were saying how the teachers at my school are evil and rush through the material, that couldnt be further from the truth.

the only "hard" class so far is a&p but even that is not difficult. cell organization? organ systems? i learned this in grade 11 for christs sake. you just need to put in the time to study so you can memorize all the definitions. why does everyone say nursing school is so hard? i thought first semester was supposed to be the hardest?

Specializes in med/surg, home health.

In Nursing you can't just memorize and spit back facts. It involves critical thinking. For example, on a test with scenarios they will ask not what you would do in a situation (because you actually might do all 4 options) but what you would do first. And it's not all tests either, you have to write papers, care plans, etc..(a care plan you will learn about soon-it's basically a set of instructions you write about a patient that you and the staff will follow to ensure continuity of care) I, like other posters here, didn't find nursing school "hard". You just have to put in the time and effort and never ever let yourself fall behind!:nurse:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Wound Care, LTC, Sub-Acute, Vents.

i thought the same during my first semester of lpn school and got too cocky and eventually failed my psych rotation in second semester. i thought i could pass the final exam with only 2-3 hours of studying. wrong! my friends moved on and i was left behind and repeated the class the next semester. i was depressed for a couple of months but realized it was my fault due to being too cocky. i hope you don't suffer the same fate!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
before i started school i was so scared because everyone was saying how its so hard and a lot of people dont survive the first semester etc. people were saying how the teachers at my school are evil and rush through the material, that couldnt be further from the truth.

the only "hard" class so far is a&p but even that is not difficult. cell organization? organ systems? i learned this in grade 11 for christs sake. you just need to put in the time to study so you can memorize all the definitions. why does everyone say nursing school is so hard? i thought first semester was supposed to be the hardest?

Just wait.....

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Just wait...you will eat these words as you discover that what you know is only a very small part of the whole picture. And there is never a single answer to any question...

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thank you soo much! :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Saving templates and copy and pasting is a great idea! Thank you!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

You're just starting so yeah, it's probably not too bad. And as others have said, I don't think it's just a question of the material being especially hard --although I was always horrible in the sciences so I did always struggle in school.

What gets hard is when you are taking four or five different classes on completely different things and they start ratcheting up the pressure and you feel like they are bombarding you with ping pong balls of completely different concepts and you have to catch all of them and put them together in some kind of coherent order.

And it never, ever stops, the balls keep coming and coming, bouncing off your head, right and left, then you become so exhausted from it all that you just want to cry... and that is when they decide to give a massive test on all of the material, in all of your classes at the exact same time.

While you're spending your days in clinicals.

So yeah. Buckle up. It's going to be a bumpy ride.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Saving templates and copy and pasting is a great idea! Thank you!

No problem!

Just make sure you tweak it to make it fit your pt.

You'll see what I mean.

Trust me, when you have to do The Big Careplan from Hell, you will be glad you saved all the previous ones in an editable form.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I have been all A's until today. I think I failed my first med surg 2 exam. Its not even knowing the content. You can know everything that is in the course and then get questions that are so random you wont know the answers to. Im so upset. This is crazy stuff, did the same thing I always do that gets me A's on the test and I fail this time. I wonder why the big change all of the sudden in the type of test questions?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I have been all A's until today. I think I failed my first med surg 2 exam. Its not even knowing the content. You can know everything that is in the course and then get questions that are so random you wont know the answers to. Im so upset. This is crazy stuff, did the same thing I always do that gets me A's on the test and I fail this time. I wonder why the big change all of the sudden in the type of test questions?

They are trying to get you to use and improve your critical thinking skills.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC, SNF, Rehab.

I would not say first semester was easy, but I'm in my 2nd semester & it has gotten harder. We lost 2 students after the first semester, but I really feel that our nutrition class was harder than our fundamentals class. That's because there would be one test of 65 questions to cover 5 chapters of material & the instructor never gave us ideas as to what areas to study over. 2nd semester has gotten much more rigerous. For example, I have a dosing calculations test in pharmacology tomorrow(if I pass, I'll be passing meds in clinical on Friday!) and a NUR 102 test covering peds to adult cancer, skin diseases, infections, autoimmune disease, etc. There's just a lot to learn and remember in a short time....not to mention that I have a case study to present in clinical on Friday. Not sure that the work itself is 'harder', it's just more demanding.

Good luck!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I've just started as well and it's incredibly easy so far, you're right. However, once the clinicals begin I'm positive that I will be behind some of the students who aren't so great at book work. Everyone has different strengths--also, don't forget that nursing school is quite long! Give it time; it'll get harder, I promise. : P

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion