Math in nursing school

[Beldar_the_Cenobite]

How much math do nurses have to know? I'm in Pre-calculus as my math pre-req and I can't figure out how to practice..this BS is difficult. I feel like giving up, saying **** nursing, and blowing my brains out..

I mean really..

Did you guys have college algebra to worry about? Or Calculus I? I remember a community college in Washington state required Calculus I as a pre-req and I'm like why? Is it really that much math? Here at my school they only require college algebra(pre-calc I is 80% the same so pretty much an equivalent)..

And I think to myself...if I can't make it in this math class, I can't make it into nursing school...or through it...

I feel like breaking down and crying..

Also, was nursing school more practice and less memorization?

Like is it like biology where you can study stuff by reading or flashcards or writing or was it like math where you can't use flashcards or reading you just have to keep writing the equations?

[la_chica_suerte85, BSN, RN]

I hope you've taken Pre-calc to back that quote

Pre-calc isn't that hard but it's much harder than math you need to do calculations like BSA and drip calculations. I think at a certain point the pre-reqs are meant to be harder than nursing school to help weed out people who think that nursing is easy street. It's annoying and it's stressful and it definitely makes you question your abilities to even be a nurse but there isn't much about nursing that is too intellectually difficult as long as you're willing to put the work in. And, boy, you will be putting in some work. Good luck! Don't stress. Dig in! There are things about nursing school that are much harder than the academic requirements. You gotta be as tough as you can be.

[Workitinurfava, BSN, RN]

I think one of the things that makes math hard is it isn't received by the student in a relatatble. I don't want to say it is the teachers fault and I am not trying to knock them however teachers from the U.S. tend to teach math in a rigid manner (not all but many). I have taken statistics so far and I don't feel I have really needed to use it other than when I read articles (EBP stuff). I was taught statistics by an Indian tutor (from Pakistan) and it clicked a whole lot easier for me because I was given different ways of learning and understanding the material. It is really sad because I sat in this class for 3.5 hours once a week and didn't understand one thing but I would log onto a computer 2 times a week for 1 hour and everything clicked. I took the class 1 time and got a B. We started with 30 students in this class and by the end of it, there were only 15 left. There were a few repeater students in the class. Even if there is a language barrier, I have done well when taught math by an Indian teacher. Just making a point that maybe you need to explore other methods of learning information.

[Applejack]

I don't need any college math for the nursing program. If i go for a BSN I will need to take College algebra and statistics though.

[noimnotamermaid, BSN]

A little late to the thread, buuuuut....

Nursing, at least BSN level, really only needs college algebra and honestly you're going to learn more than you need math-wise in that class.

I took precal (and Calc) in high school. Personally, I think PreCal is NOTHING like college algebra. CA is way easier. So if anything, if you can, see if you can just do CA; especially if PreCal is going to screw up your GPA.

None of the math I'm currently doing in my program is harder than stuff I do in low level maths in high school. Plus, at least for me, the math they want is very similar to what was taught to us in Chem in HS/what I already did myself. Plus, regardless, your school is probably going to teach you a specific way they want it done (DA).