What was the toughest pre-req you took?

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And how did it compare to the hardest part of nursing school?

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Specializes in ICU.
And how did it compare to the hardest part of nursing school?

I had two courses I'd classify as the toughest prereq - Pharmacology & Pathophysiology. They were both taught by the same prof, who happened to be a dentist & specialist in providing conscious sedation for pts undergoing dental surgery.

He was extremely demanding, and expected his students to have actually read the material & done their best to absorb it BEFORE walking into his class. Huh - imagine that!

His classroom performance pretty well matched his expectations on our tests. He would NOT just ask a simple yes/no/regurgitate-a-useless-fact type question. He'd ask questions that would make you THINK. If you answered one of his questions in class, he'd demand to know WHY your answer was the correct one.

He was not into spoon feeding at all, but helped guide his students to truly understand the course material.

They were the toughest classes I had, but also my favorites - most likely due to his teaching method. Highly demanding, but I actually learned the material (once again...huh! imagine that!).

As much as I loved his teaching methods, I'm not sure I could have survived if all my profs taught that same way. Very challenging, yet rewarding at the same time.

As to how it compared to my classes in nursing school - the pharm & patho classes were much more intellectually challenging, but the sheer volume & pace of material covered in my accelerated nursing program more than made up for it.

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Chemistry because I'd not had it in HS...I was an athlete. Luckily, the instructor made cool examples in class like Fluorosene that CSI use to find blood and we made "Goop" too. I just took one test at a time. It was WAAAY harder than nursing school, but I'd been a Paramedic for 23yrs when I went to get my RN. Nursing school was just showing up for me...thank you, Jesus!!!

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I had two courses I'd classify as the toughest prereq - Pharmacology & Pathophysiology. They were both taught by the same prof, who happened to be a dentist & specialist in providing conscious sedation for pts undergoing dental surgery.

He was extremely demanding, and expected his students to have actually read the material & done their best to absorb it BEFORE walking into his class. Huh - imagine that!

His classroom performance pretty well matched his expectations on our tests. He would NOT just ask a simple yes/no/regurgitate-a-useless-fact type question. He'd ask questions that would make you THINK. If you answered one of his questions in class, he'd demand to know WHY your answer was the correct one.

He was not into spoon feeding at all, but helped guide his students to truly understand the course material.

They were the toughest classes I had, but also my favorites - most likely due to his teaching method. Highly demanding, but I actually learned the material (once again...huh! imagine that!).

As much as I loved his teaching methods, I'm not sure I could have survived if all my profs taught that same way. Very challenging, yet rewarding at the same time.

As to how it compared to my classes in nursing school - the pharm & patho classes were much more intellectually challenging, but the sheer volume & pace of material covered in my accelerated nursing program more than made up for it.

Very interesting..

Just curious, which pre-reqs did you take for your ABSN program?

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Specializes in Telemetry.

chemistry!

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Specializes in ICU.
Very interesting..

Just curious, which pre-reqs did you take for your ABSN program?

I have a prior degree in chemical engineering, so managed to avoid more chemistry.

For my ABSN, I took pharm, patho, the full series of anatomy & physiology (& labs), microbiology lecture/lab, statistics, nutrition & health, nutrition & disease, 2 psych courses (intro & lifespan development).

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Specializes in ICU, Research, Corrections.

I have to agree with chemistry. I thought it was more difficult than any of my nursing courses.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

Microbiology. The instructor was very disorganized.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Transplant, Education.

Chemistry (general & organic) were my hardest courses for sure...I struggled with Chemistry in high school, and in college it was no easier for me. My hardest nursing courses were Critical Care & Community Health (Critical Care because of lots of material in a short time, Community Health b/c of a huge paper in a 6 week time span)...barely managed C+'s in Chemistry. I'd take the nursing courses over in a heart beat because the material was enjoyable, but you couldn't pay me millions to take Chemistry again.

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hmm.. they are all tough. The toughest class I thought was Anatomy just because of the sheer about of information you had to memorize. It wasnt hard in the sense that it was difficult to understand, just A LOT of work and time. Hardest to understand-wise-- Organic Chem I think. Def. needed a tutor for that one...

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Specializes in CAMHS, acute psych,.

At the school of hard knocks

nursing school is a piece of cake in comparison

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Organic chemistry and Pharmacology, which I'm taking right now. :cry:

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