Want to be a nursing student, but too dumb at maths!!

[glittermoomin]

Hello everybody! :-)

I am a 35 year old female considering a career in nursing. I just completed my CNA programme as a first step.

My question is this - how good at maths do you need to be to take nursing? I'm not so much interested in responses that are all like, "You go girl! You got this!"

Rather, I'd just really, REALLY like to know how hard the maths is. How did you pass the pre reqs? Did you just have a much better high school than me?

I was looking at the prerequisites required for various programmes here in the States, and I honestly don't think I would be able to pass the prerequisites alone, let alone be a nursing student.

This is honestly NOT a case of me being all faux-modest about my abilities. I grew up in the UK, attended a terrible secondary school, and have no math skills whatsoever.

When I look at the math prerequisites required, I am not able to test into ANY of them, my maths is so poor. I look at the math pre req course syllabuses, and it might as well be in Chinese for all I know!

It's frustrating, because the prerequisites alone seem insurmountable. Because I do not have the skills to test into any of them, what this means is that, in order to get Math 111, I need to first do Math 105. In order to do Math 105, I need to first take Math 95. In order to take Math 95, I need to take Math 65, and so on and so on, pretty much down to Math 26...

It all seems impossible,not to mention, impossibly expensive. A math tutor is a possible option, although after taxes I currently earn $9/hr, so then again...

Sorry to sound like a Debbie Downer! I just want to know if there are ANY other potential nursing students going through this right now. I think about this a lot, and the whole thing just makes me want to burst into tears sometimes :-(

Thankyou!

[Leza1121]

Hi!

Take remedial courses if you need to (there's no shame in doing so). Also, even in pre-algebra, you will still need to know the Order of Operations: Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition and Subtraction. To remember the order, just say: Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally.

[wannabeny]

I'm not good in math; and by not good in math, I was 23 when I actually started to get a real understanding of fractions,decimals, etc. It still takes me longer than some to do the math, and I've learned that I am NOT good at mental math on a whim. I have a very hard time visualizing it in my head. It's as though someone keeps erasing my mental picture when I try to calculate something. I have to visually see it on paper to help me out.

That being said, nursing math is add, subtract, multiply, divide, ratio & proportion. Buy a basic kaplan's math for nurses. It gives a straightforward introduction, and very similar to what you'll see in the class during school.