Questions about Nursing School!

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Specializes in Alzheimer's and Dementia.

Hello there wonderful nurses!

I am a nursing student about to start my first clinical rotation in January to receive my BSN. I'm starting to get nervous since I have had such a horrible time even passing some of my pre-requisites (AKA Microbiology!) and am still working on trying to pass it, and I worry that it will be hard for me to pass majority of the classes I will be taking then. I'm sure the hands on experience will help when it comes to the procedures, but I still have that worry I won't succeed in what I want to do. Is there any advice from you guys that have been in my shoes once before, so I can either stop worrying or calm down a bit? I will take any advice given. I really appreciate it! Every nurse has a heart of gold for doing what you do, and hopefully what I will do here soon!

Thank you so much :redbeathe

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Specializes in Peds, School Nurse, clinical instructor.

Take a deep breath....study hard (this is a biggie, develop good study habits) and pay attention. You will succeed :)

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Specializes in Medical/Telemetry. Now ICU.

Look at how you were studying , and stop doing it like that....don't keep studying the same way if you are barely passing. You might have reread the chpts 2 or 3 times. Everyone learns differently. Keep trying. :)

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Hi jsable,

So every student is different with unique strengths and weaknesses, but I actually found some of the prerequisites to be harder than nursing classes. I would first start with some personal reflection...why do you think you were unsuccessful in prerequisite courses? Be honest with yourself...did you truly give yourself enough time to study? Did you read the material and look for other resources when you didn't understand? Find the strong students in your class and do what they do.

Here is what worked for me. I have to read the material, even though I don't absorb every word it gets the brain in academic mode and gives you one exposure to the content. During lecture write down topics you don't understand and meet with the instructor or other students for further explanations. For exams I would always study on my own for awhile and then went over concepts with a group of MOTIVATED students. This way I was able to explain things (which helps seal in info for me), and hear concepts I didn't fully understand explained in a different way by my peers. Also there are lots of great resources on the web. I like this YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/ed4nurses (just don't get distracted watching amazing cat videos ;)). Stay focused and think about your goal every day. Best of luck, you can do it!

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Specializes in MR/DD.

I agree that the pre-reqs were harder. The nursing classes are easier to learn because the material is applied to situations.

Take math for example.. in a math class you have math problems that are just random and almost seem pointless.

When you are doing math in nursing it is applied to medications, IV's, weights, measurements, etc... The same goes for chemistry and microbiology. I didnt do so well when I took those classes alone, but when we are talking about the chemical changes in the body I understand it better.

It is a good idea to figure out how you learn best. For me, I learn best by watching and doing, rather than reading. Whenever I am reading about something I don't quite understand, I try to find it on youtube and watch it. I especially like to use youtube for pediatrics since my clinical.. well.. sucks!! LOL

The above poster mentioned teaching material to others as a study tool. I highly recommend this method as well.

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Specializes in Medical/Telemetry. Now ICU.

I def did not think the prereqs were harder, but everyone is diff. Also, in my nursing school...it was an accelerated BSN for students with previous Bachelor degree....our entire math book was self-taught. Not sure how other nursing schools are, but our teachers did not teach us anything in our Dosage Calculations.

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Absolutely teaching the material to others helped me. I would even sit my toddler down and explain body systems to her in my 'story time' voice and show her pictures. Sounds funny but it landed me a 100% on my anatomy and physiology II final exam. lol I also LOVE a study group. If I don't understand something, it's just trying to get it to click together. Having a group of 4 people teach me something 4 different ways almost always gets things to click for me. Also, more often than not, you may understand something that your group doesn't and have the opportunity to teach it to them, double win.

I had outlines and terms stuck on the fridge. If there were particular things giving me trouble I just printed those out and carried the sheet with me and would read it throughout the day.

I just finished up my pre-reqs and will start my nursing program in January. The FIRST thing on my list is to find a study group at orientation in December. Pre-reqs were extremely difficult for me, coming from two degrees in music and NO background in math/science. I HAUNTED the offices of my professors. I emailed them. I went over my exams with them. I'm pretty sure I cried in front of my micro teacher in the first week of class. Then at the end of each semester I thanked them profusely.

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Specializes in Medical Surgical-Oncology.

Hey! I agree with some comments made above that everyone learns differently. As for me, I know EXACTLY what you are going through. I took Micro twice and Anatomy pt 2 twice as well. These prerequisites are the hardest classes I've ever taken in my life. I have a BA in psychology and the nursing pre-reqs were very hard to pass. I soon realized that the mistake I was making was that I was trying to memorize the info instead of truely understanding and learning it. But I gave it my all and my second time around I decided that failure was not an option. I took notes in class and recorded the lectures. I would listen to the lectures before I went to sleep and when I was commuting on the bus. I would read my notes and try my best to understand the information. I also read the book and made my own outlines of the chapters. I associated myself with students who were doing good in class. This all helped me pass anatomy and micro. I hope this helps and good luck!!!

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Specializes in Alzheimer's and Dementia.

Thank you so much everyone! I really appreciate everything and plan to try anything and everything you guys mentioned that I think I would do well with! I actually just went out yesterday and bought a recorder to record the lectures and plan to make my own outlines to study from. One of my main problems is I am very hard at trusting people because I have lost lab partners due to them lying to me and I've done poorly on assignments because of them, so I will have to get over that fear and start socializing in the class with those that seems to know what they are doing. I want to thank you again and keep the advice coming!!! THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO! :[anb]: :redbeathe

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Specializes in Medical Surgical-Oncology.

My first time around I was also trusting students who were my lab partners and they acted as if we were all a team. And all they did was waste my time. They are one of the reasons I failed anat pt 2 and micro the first time around. So the second time around I made sure that I studied really hard on my own and I only socialized with students who knew what they were doing in class. I'm glad you bought the recorder because that helped me pass the second time around. Good luck!!!

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