Why does school have to be made to be (seemingly) unneccesarily difficult?

Nursing Students General Students

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With all the reading we are giving and expected to memorize, paired with minimal guidance and classroom time, how do they expect us to succeed? 2 classes over a 3 week period followed by a 50 point exam? And if I have a question or don't get it, then what?

I'm just very p.o.ed right now and getting very frustrated/borderline discouraged. All this hard work and I'm getting nothing to show for it expect disappointment and more frustration.

makes me want to cry right now.

Hi! I graduated in '11 and at first, I had the same problem as you. My solution was to not read the chapters at all unless I needed clarification from lecture. This saved my sanity.

I took notes and recorded the lecture during class, then when I got home I would listen again and expand my notes. If I needed clarification, I would look in the book.

To help memorize and correlate, especially meds and electrolytes, I would make my own charts and do silly craft projects. YouTube helped, too.

The only reading I would do is that I would look over the terms and headings right before class so I would know what the vocabulary meant.

Good luck!

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Specializes in critical care.
I'm finishing Nursing school this week and I have been done with the didactic part of it since Halloween. I have gotten B's in everything except OB and Peds (Ironically I will probably start in Women's health when I graduate) and every single instructor and Nurse I have worked with think I will be a wonderful and thorough RN. Why? I always did NCLEX questions on the subject matter before exams and when writing notes I would put it into ADPIE form so I always knew what to look for, what to do about it and how to tell if my interventions worked. This helps with care-planning and testing. Instead of reading the patho sections, watch videos or make concept maps for the major processes on each exam. And then you can focus on the nursing process. That first semester is tough because you are adjusting to the nursing model and you have a million things thrown at you. You are not stupid and this show ain't over yet! This fast paced program WILL get less overwhelming, but if you do nothing else, ALWAYS think ABC"s, patient safety, maslows (physical over psychological), acute vs chronic and least invasive measures first.[/quote']

This is fantastic advice. Wish I encountered it a few semesters ago! But I'll take advantage of it in my final semester and when prepping for the nclex! Thank you ?

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Specializes in ICU.

I remember our instructors would give us pop tests on the forthcoming lectures, instead of letting us just study for the test we were having on the lectures already covered. That meant you were reading next week's chapters in addition to the ones you were studying to test on!

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To me nursing school seems more about learning how to answer NCLEX style questions than anything else. I feel I am doing well at connecting the dots and bringing the information from lecture into my clinical experience and care plans. I enjoy learning. But I notice that when I study a ton for a test I end up making a not so great grade. I do best when I focus on NCLEX style questions. At the beginning of the semester I read a lot of information about how to answer questions, like treating SATA as true/false, remembering ABCs, and organizing everything into ADPIE form. Certainly if a question is asking you the normal parameters for sodium then you simply need the info in your brain, but, for the most part, I am benefited more by practicing NCLEX questions than by studying the material we cover in class.

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Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
Nursing school for me was a lot easier than the first few months of being a nurse.

Way easier. In school (and on exams) it is often a patient has one given condition--what should you do? In real life, you patient has that condition and 6 other problems. Which is the priority? What needs to be done for each condition? How does the treatment for condition A effect condition B?

Yes, there is a lot the learn quickly in nursing school. On the job as an RN, there is a lot to remember even more quickly. Every scholarly profession (nursing, medicine, law, business, chemistry, etc.) has volumes of information that need to be learned. It is unfortunate (at times) that it is a breakneck pace, but part of becoming a nurse if being able to handle large amounts of information, organize it, and apply it correctly. The pace of school helps you to do that, and, if you are successful at those skills, it will serve you well in you life as a nurse.

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Specializes in Forensic Psych.

I've never thought NS was harder than it should be. Yes, it's hard and graduation can not come soon enough (5 months!!!), but I've always felt like my professors were doing what they deemed necessary and important, and nothing else.

Maybe it's differences between programs. I will say, we don't have a ton of "busy work," like some people on AN seem to. We move at a breakneck speed and do some extra things (a cultural awareness project, and EBP project, things like that) but I've never felt like we were being weeded out. Maybe I should just be thankful for my program.

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Specializes in Pedi.
I honestly don't see how some are doing it. I presume that the ones who can handle the extra course load must already be familiar with the material from previous healthcare or personal experience..that's the only way.

It's not the only way. I entered nursing school (college) directly out of high school at the age of 18. I had no previous healthcare experience unless you count being a candy striper- but literally all that we did was walk around the hospital to find wheelchairs and stretchers and carry lab specimens in a hand-held cooler.

I'm honestly curious as to what "extra course load" you are referring to. You said you are taking two courses. Other than my final semester of my senior year, I always had 5-6 courses each semester and managed just fine.

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I have no medical background, but i do have a musical and culinary background. Mi have a good mental health background, but that was because i went through 3+ months of intensive inpatient treatment in a psych ward. Something about that experience made me want to go into nursing. But i still have some lingering anxiety and depression issues and they flare up whenever i get ****** off with nursing school. I worked as CNA for 6 months as a prereq for my program and saw the bloody, dirty, cruel beurocracy that is health care administration, though the nursing staff was awesome.

All i can do is keep on going and if i fail, get back in there, retake the class again and not give up...

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You got a lot of excellent advice. I didn't have time to read through it all. I will say this... The first thing my med-surg professor said is, "Do NOT try to read every word in every chapter assigned. You will not have time for that!" You don't. Look at the learning objectives and then go find that information in the chapter. Highlight it and reference it for studying for the test. Also, remember your anatomy and physiology. It's the basis for your pathophysiology of diseases. I remember thinking the same thing as you! Then, I finally listened to my professor and I chose the resources that worked right for me. What are you going to assess for, what will you monitor, what can you/will you do, when will you call a supervisor/doc/rapid response. Those are the questions you are trying to answer. Envision what you want your patient to look like when you walk in the room. What's normal? Then, what is abnormal going to look like in a patient with "x" disease/syndrome etc?

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Specializes in IMCU, Oncology.

This thread has been so helpful to read. I am not in nursing school yet, but hope to apply for next fall! Thanks for the advice everyone!

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It's not the only way. I entered nursing school (college) directly out of high school at the age of 18. I had no previous healthcare experience unless you count being a candy striper- but literally all that we did was walk around the hospital to find wheelchairs and stretchers and carry lab specimens in a hand-held cooler.

I'm honestly curious as to what "extra course load" you are referring to. You said you are taking two courses. Other than my final semester of my senior year, I always had 5-6 courses each semester and managed just fine.

How do you study? I can't seem to handle all the material in both of my classes.

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I know it seems rough and you feel like you aren't retaining the info but you actually may find that you are retaining it, you just don't know yet. It seems silly but as soon as I graduated and started to encounter real life issues I knew more than I thought I did. I also found some things were easier to learn at the bedside because you actually got to see how everything works together to create/solve health problems. You'll be fine, just stick it out, nursing school is overwhelming for most people but if you can make it (and if you are lucky enough to ind a job...being a new grad is tough) you'll see it was all worth it. Good luck!

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