I'm taking statistics this fall along with my first semester nursing classes and everyone I tell this to says, "REALLY? You're taking stats too?!?!?! Good luck with that!!!!"
Can anyone give me a heads up? Math isn't really my favorite subject but I don't exactly struggle with it either. I know the teacher and he comes highly recommended! I have to take the class at some point (for my bachelors) but it's not required for my associates degree.
Thanks so much for any advice! You guys are the best!
I got a B, which is the best math grade I've gotten since grade school No lie. It's a really neat class if you consider its daily applications, like whenever you read an article where X number of people say/think/do Y, and you start to ask yourself (and the article) things like, "Well, how many people? What were the questions they asked? How did they come up with that number?"
It also made me really wary of "sales". "Save 35%!" Off what? An inflated price? The wholesale price? Keystone price?
It's really very simple math, I've never gotten beyond algebra with any kind of proficiency, and it wasn't too hard. It's remembering formulae and understanding the basic idea of stats in general. You may find you like it!
I was scared to take stats because math isn't my specialty. However I found it to be simple. As far as I remember, it was all formulas. A single question would take up a whole sheet of paper. The challenge was that you had to keep the equation straight, one mishap and the answer will be skewed. My final consisted of ONE question. That was nerve-wracking having no room for mistakes but I aced the class.
You'll find that there are a LOTTTTTTTTT of things that get hyped up. I took stats in highschool and as a pre-req and it was one of the easiest things both times. Don't let people tell you what's hard and not hard...or else you'll think life and nursing in general is "wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too hard".
would you'll recommend taking it online? i'm looking for a online stats course. Everything in my home state of Va reguires a math class prerequisite, so I'm looking outside of Va.
Any recommendations? I need it to complete my MSN-I'm just starting and figured I'd get it out of the way
I heard a lot of the same stuff and honestly I thought it was super easy. I barely studied but never missed class and just reviewed the formula's a bit and really found it to be easy. Don't worry about it, if your teacher is decent it's very easy and if you have any questions about it during the semester message me-I kept all my notes and just took it last winter so it's pretty fresh and I got an A in it without having the right calculator cause I couldn't afford to buy one and I learned how to do many of the calculations by hand and with tables but I know how to do them eitehr way :) Good luck I'm sure you'll find its not so bad
Stats is not that hard. I did fail the second test we had tho because I was going through some really rough time but I still ended up with a B+ in the class. I just found stats to be somewhat boring :/
I missed an A by 3 points and stats is still the only blemish on my GPA. I took it online and it was aweful. Not an easy course to basically teach to yourself.
I think it wouldn't have been as bad if it were in person and I could have asked questions, etc. I definitely wouldn't reommend taking it as a distance course. But, there is a logic to it, etc.
The normal stats requirement was waived for me, and in place of it a business statistics course that I'd taken some years ago was substituted. It wasn't a hard math by any means, but I'm not one to enjoy frequently tedious, quantitative activities.
Unfortunately, you're going to find that our educators litter your classes with wasted stuff that has never... and I mean never... been at all proven to help you do a better job in your nursing career. This is true, by the way, of most all careers.
There's been almost no practical research about what, really and truly, should be taught in medical careers (or most other career areas) with the specific goal of making the professional much more effective at their jobs.
So... even tho they don't want to admit it... your eductors are winging it... and stick stuff like stats in there probably because they had to suffer through it themselves.
I guarantee... they will not be able to produce one shred of evidence-based research that shows taking stats will help you at all in your nursing career... or any other way, for that matter.
Hospice Nurse LPN, BSN, RN
1,472 Posts
I hated stats but found organic chem interesting.