not smart enough

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Hey everyone. I'm in my second year of nursing school and im starting to wonder... am I smart enough for this? Why do I have to try so hard and work so hard just to get an 85%. I have to put in so much effort while other students can study two nights before the exam and still do well. What am I doing wrong? Why am I like this. I am becoming emotionally drained. If I can barely make it through ADN program then how will i purse my education further within this field.

Specializes in ED.

I am going to tell you, what I had a former nurse manager told me when I was in nursing school. First, no one is going to give a sh@# what grade you made in med/surg or any of your nursing classes, (yes, she said this to me in her office), just as long as you pass and successfully pass the NCLEX. Second, everyone learns different (some people are "hands on" learners, while others learn best by reading a book and taking a test), so stop beating yourself up. She told me she was a "C" student, and to this day, she is one of THE SMARTEST nurses I have ever known! She is currently the nurse manager on a heart floor in a ICU at a level I trauma center, and graduated with her doctorate a few years ago. YES, nursing school sucks! YES, you have to study your butt off! BUT...it will be worth it in the end, and you will never have to take the NCLEX again after passing. I failed nursing school the first time, because I listened to that voice in my head, and I would put myself down all the time. I also had an instructor tell me, "Maybe nursing is not for you, and you should look into other things, like maybe landscaping." SERIOUSLY LADY?! I'm also terrified of snakes, and could never be a landscaper! I know you have heard the saying "If you want something bad enough, you'll make it happen." Believe me, it is true! My daughter is struggling with math, cries in school, and calls herself dumb. I told her to GET MAD, and pretend that "math" is a bully, and to punch "math" and say "You won't beat me, I will beat you, and I will learn how to do this, and I am not stupid!" That advice might sound kind of stupid to you, because you're not a 3rd grader, learning subtraction either. But seriously, get mad and start telling yourself that you can do it. Stop worrying about other people in class, and worrying about grades. I was always the last student to finish a test. Are the other students paying for your nursing classes? NOPE! So who cares about them! Worry about the day you are looking down at your patient, and all of a sudden they go into cardiac arrest. No one is going to care what grade you made in med/surg! It's all about critical thinking. That is what you want to master! Just DON'T GIVE UP! Try the site simplenursing.com, and see if it helps. GOOD LUCK :)

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You are doing very well! Indeed, nursing school is hard and it is a daily grind. But you have the determination and the push which will help you so much when you get out of nursing school. In the real world, what counts is the gentleness, the dedication, the determination to help those who are in need and willingness to learn new skills and keep up the old....anyone can learn the skills. So keep on, girl, you can do it!

I know sound ancient but when I was in school, I would record all the lectures, listen to them on my way home and to school (1/2 hours drive) and type up the entire lecture highlighting all I needed to know. It sounds crazy, but it worked for me and made wise use of my time and helped with my studying.

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Nursing school is harder than actual nursing.

90% of what I do is repetition (same labs, GI bleed, broken hip, PNA, chest pains, MI, a-fib, etc.), knowing the processes at my hospital, and good customer service.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

Nursing school has exceptionally high standards, much higher than your average college-level curriculum. If you're making an 85% average in nursing school, that's easily a 90% average in any other program. You're doing fine. And what has been echoed here: Real-life nursing doesn't care how "smart" you are on paper. The important thing is, can you get it done? That takes way more than answering questions on a test.

My grades suffered in nursing school because I'm an excellent test taker but papers and homework (what I call "fussy bits of paperwork") are my eternal nemesis. But hey, I graduated, got licensed and I like to think I'm pretty good at my job. Don't beat yourself up. You're doing great.

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Thanks everyone for the tips. All of you are super helpful and kind. I understand that it isn't the end of the world if I don't excel every single exam, but being a nurse is just who I am. I have to pursue this goal. Since I was 5 years old I wanted to be a nurse- Im 22 now :). Never changed my mind once. Never had a single doubt.

The hardest part is my thoughts telling me I am going to fail and the long hours I spend trying to remember and grasp the content. I always look up to nurses and wonder if they felt like what I feel like in nursing school. Sometimes i get so nervous before exams that I can't eat and I feel sick

But i will work for it. Im sure you all are amazing nurses and I hope to be just like you all someday :)

Thanks again guys!

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thanks all!

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Dear Amynursing. Sweetheart. A few things that may help...because I went thru this same menral process and then mentored students that in particular felt this way.

1. You have to have been intelligent and successful to even BE where you are.

2. I knew and still know students that would give their left arm for an 85%, even on ONE exam, let alone an average grade overall. This is not to say that you should be satisfied and cruise. What you should know is that YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING RIGHT in order to have that average, and divert your thinking from "glass half empty" to "glass half full".

3. Extension of #2...comparing yourself to your prior performance is not a good indicator of your intelligence or ability. Nursing is unlike anything you will ever do.

4. Extension of #3....comparing yourself to Others is a serious mistake. My instructors encouraged and even whipped up this hyper competitive environment, pitting students against each other in a misguided and sadistic attempt to motivate students. It is a fallacy that conflict breeds innovation. It doesn't.

5. Remember the great philosopher Gregory House, MD. EVERYBODY LIES. And the higher the personal stakes for any given person, the more they are apt to lie. I heard this schtick all through my years, whether it was EMS, Nursing, college....whatever. if the speaker feels insecure for some reason...and in nursing school...who doesn't?....then you will get the type of lies that imply that they are sososososososoooooomuch smarter than you are because they don't study.

Here is what I think about that. If you come into my procedure room and you have not studied the material...you will harm the patient and possibly yourself and me. Why in the sam hell would i want someone in my unit that never studied????? All that means is that this person can memorize what is given in lecture...and regurgitate it. I need someone who understands the concepts far beyond what limited time i have to impart it...that means you study and understand and then we come together to hone skill in application.

I can act like your mother and say dont't listen to them, they are just jealous. When in reality, they aren't jealous, they are insecure in themselves. Bullies are hugely insecure...when you meet that nurse the picks on irrelevant crap in your report or your performance...yet can never see,m to offer constructive solutions...and you will meet many....they are usually the ones that in nursing school swore up and down that they NEVER study.

Just ask yourself...why would i admire or want to emulate someone who is proud of the fact that they have no idea what the actual problems and issues are...because they took Cliff's Notes for Nursing?

Now. What i do hear from you is frustration that you are studying excessively and you are not meeting some abstract metric. What kind of learner are you? Visual? Do you need flash cards and feedback? Do youneed hands on before you can put your book knowledge to making sense?

Nursing questions are not designed to test your knowledge per se. They are designed to shape your critical thinking skills. The root of it i think is that working with peopleis not like working on a production line...where you get a set on instructions and those are laid outin a linear fashion to get to a predictable result. Medicine is very fluid. You can experience 10 codes and none resemble each other.

I sat across from a wonderful student a few years ago who was just amazingly intelligent...straight As before nursing school. Worked fulltime. Mom of 3 boys and wife. Yet she was struggling with the questions because she was choosing the second most right answer consistently. She was trying to control the outcome.

If i do this, then the outcome will be correct. No. I told her that she needed to stop trying to control the questions. She was reading them and she felt halfway thru she knew what the answer should be. Then she got knocked back so many times, she started second guessing and going back and erasing things. See where this goes?

The questions are NOT reality based. These scenarios are predicated on the idea of the "perfect NCLEX hospital". If every single resource was at your fingertips, fully staffed and no wonkiness occurs....now answer the question. People get tied up in some experience that they had two weeks ago on their unit rotation.

You ARE smart enough. You are doing the right things. When you get out there, because you studied and attempted to truly understand concepts...you will integrate that with experience and be a wonderful nurse, confident in what she KNOWS. I work with BSN and MSN nurses that scare the living crap out of me. They will admit (now. Because they passed nclex and have a job) they really don't know why we don't do one thing or another or figure out the solution for z problem....because all they can do now is task. They read the orders and just do what the doctor orders and cannot understand why bad outcomes happen...because they never question....they don't have the knowledge to do it.

You keep doing what you're doing. I'd take you as an 85 Nurse that knows her stuff any day over a 95 nurse that never studied.

Oh my goodness you are incredible. This is the best advice I have ever heard in my life. Thank you thank you! I actually might cry because nobody has ever given me such wise words that are close to home.

Im sure your an amazing nurse. Without a doubt

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