nursing school THAT hard?

concordance · May 20, 2015

I hated micro and nursing school was busy, but I found it far from impossible. I think junior and senior year of other degrees are probably hard too, but I wouldn't know from experience.

NurseBaddieRN · May 20, 2015

Two years of: 6 hours composing one careplan each week for clinical, 1-2 clinicals per week depending on the semester, 1 lab a week, at least one test/exam per week with 20-40 hours of study time, 3-4 lectures per week. Factor in home life, jobs, other responsibilities. Tests/Exams = every answer is correct, two are most correct and one is the only truly correct answer. Naw, nursing school was a breeze! Pshhhh..... I kid. I'm just glad it's over...... P.S. If you stay organized, determined and focused, you can do it.

Omg,exactly my thoughts about it! So glad its over,now on to this dreaded NCLEX.Nursing school is a different kind of hard. But if I can do it as a single mom of 3,and full time server at Buffalo Wild Wings,anybody can do it. It won't be easy but sooo worth it!

umbdude, MSN, APRN · May 20, 2015

I would be more worried if she struggled through A&P or Patho. Micro not so much.

I find nursing school harder than pre-reqs. But she won't know until she tries. I wouldn't let one course determine my fate.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · May 20, 2015

I imagine nursing school will be as hard as one persons hardest pre-requisite class(es). Staying on top of things and effective study skills are surely a must. The only thing I'm concerned with is that I rewrite everything. Effective but time consuming and I don't think there will be time for lots of note taking.

Nursing test questions are unlike questions from any coursework you ever took before.They aren't all strictly factual-based ("What were the main factions in the War of the Roses?") or memorization ("Name the three bones found in the middle ear." "What common organisms are Gram-stain positive?").

Also remember that nursing school isn't like any other education you ever had. You can't take a course, pass the final, sell the book to someone in the next class, and forget it. All the classes you take --including all your prerequisites! -- will have a direct and immediate use in all the courses to follow. You will constantly refer back to the books you used in prior semesters. You have to really understand the whys of everything they teach you, so you can apply them to the novel situations you will encounter in a later semester. Your faculty-- and the NCLEX-- will expect that you will be able to do that, and if you can't/won't, you will fail.

Therefore the minute something doesn't make complete and total sense to you and you can't think why it would ever be useful, find out immediately. (I used to ask my students all the time, "Why do we care about this?") Those moments tend to pile up if not cleared away, and before you know it, you're in too deep. Always know why, and you'll have the tools you need for problem-solving (what they call "critical thinking") later.

See you on the Student fora later!

Bubbly26, BSN, RN · May 26, 2015

For me, nursing school is extremely hard. I have a Bachelors and my program makes the prereqs look like a cake walk.

Hollyhocks720, MSN, NP · Jun 4, 2015

The prerequisite were not difficult for me and that is no indicator of how difficult nursing school is anyway. The content isn't any harder than, say, a&p, but many schools, especially the community colleges, slam you through it way too fast. On top of that is a lot of seemingly mundane busywork that just takes time away from studying. The worst aspect however is the style of questions. Whomever decided nclex style questions. The schools don't teach you critical thinking (I think they overuse hat term) so even if you are a great analyst and great scholar the style of question is designed to really trip you up. In reality you would assess more or ask more questions before taking acation described in those questions.