What was your first thought going into nursing school? Piece of cake? Or What career am I going to do if I don't make it nursing school? Did you fear some of the obstacles you knew you'd have? How did you get through it? Did you study with your classmates or were you able to learn on your own? Was your experience worth it? How were you able to overcome obstacles that maybe were as challenging as they were for your classmates? Did you have connections or was the material, on the whole, not that hard?
What kind of person were you before nursing school? Are you changed after you came out?
For example, I'm into cars, motorsports, mechanical things, physics, chemicals, atoms, science stuff, do you think I'd not be into those things when I graduate?
Many truly don't have any issues with nursing school. I didn't. But at what price?
Many also start abusing anti-depresents/anxiety meds during school. I lost count of how many of my fellow students were getting "a small dose of Xanax off a friend, from time to time, for clinical rotations and tests and skills lab and............and..............and..............".
What your friends warned you about is the mistake I made. I was not one to lay back while my (cough cough) perfect academic career was laid to waste by instructors who were more interested in telling everyone why they wouldn't make it than figuring out how to redirect the struggling students. I became obsessive about grades and clinical performance, and it showed.
It showed in my grades, yes. It also showed in my social life and overall attitude towards life.
Balance. That, coupled with a "I'll do this or it will kill me" mindset (yes, those two things seem mutually exclusive but they are not) will get you through.
What I mean by the mindset is: You may have to make tough choices. Will you put school first? Good example would be: If you are in a relation that just doesn't seem to work well enough to make room for school............will you end it or keep going and hope for the best? What if you have to cut cable to help budget and not have to work so much?
My experience tells me nursing school is easy for no one. Just, some have an easier time making the decisions necessary to keep school first.
I pulled a 3.8 and studied all through my summer session drinking frozen margaritas on my back deck. Seriously. (Not drunk, mind you!) I just didn't let it get to me.
I did a 16 month ABSN with 16 hours of grad level work. I really didn't think it was that difficult. I always felt crunched for time, but the work wasn't hard. My hardest class was patho (and it was grad level), but that was all the reading and because I was so interested in all of it. I had to force myself TO PUT DOWN THE PATHO BOOK. LOL. I was miffed when the class ended!
It's not just putting school first (I was lucky in that I wasn't working and I didn't have financial pressures, so I get that there was a huge load off my shoulders - having borne that load in the past, believe me when I say I didn't take it for granted) - but that is indeed key. It's finding balance to keep yourself from going nuts. For me it was sitting on my back deck sipping a frozen margarita while I studied OB and wrote my research paper for my (also grad level!) nursing research course (the only class I hated - well, my grad level research stats course wasn't my fave either). Stuff like that.
I say I didn't find it hard. I didn't once I figured out what was expected - NCLEX questions really aren't written like any other test you've ever taken, and once I figured that out, I was fine. (I did walk around sometimes thinking, this is when they find out I am totally clueless and I'm a fraud, LOL - but then I found out everyone else was thinking the same thing at different points...)
I agree with AutumnApple - if you have chaff you can cut, cut it. You have no time to cultivate that AND raise your wheat.
I pulled a 3.8 and studied all through my summer session drinking frozen margaritas on my back deck. Seriously. (Not drunk, mind you!) I just didn't let it get to me.
I did a 16 month ABSN with 16 hours of grad level work. I really didn't think it was that difficult. I always felt crunched for time, but the work wasn't hard. My hardest class was patho (and it was grad level), but that was all the reading and because I was so interested in all of it. I had to force myself TO PUT DOWN THE PATHO BOOK. LOL. I was miffed when the class ended!
It's not just putting school first (I was lucky in that I wasn't working and I didn't have financial pressures, so I get that there was a huge load off my shoulders - having borne that load in the past, believe me when I say I didn't take it for granted) - but that is indeed key. It's finding balance to keep yourself from going nuts. For me it was sitting on my back deck sipping a frozen margarita while I studied OB and wrote my research paper for my (also grad level!) nursing research course (the only class I hated - well, my grad level research stats course wasn't my fave either). Stuff like that.
I say I didn't find it hard. I didn't once I figured out what was expected - NCLEX questions really aren't written like any other test you've ever taken, and once I figured that out, I was fine. (I did walk around sometimes thinking, this is when they find out I am totally clueless and I'm a fraud, LOL - but then I found out everyone else was thinking the same thing at different points...)
I agree with AutumnApple - if you have chaff you can cut, cut it. You have no time to cultivate that AND raise your wheat.
Chaff? haha I love that! Good ol Air Force terminology
Now mind you, this is nearly 40 years ago. Nursing school is a bear, of that you can be sure. I did all college and nursing courses together and my 1st nursing class was 7 semester hours. It consumed every spare minute I had. I do better studying alone but that's a personal thing. I did well but busted my butt to do it. Yes, you will likely not be the same person when you graduate. You will be stronger. If at all possible set things up so you don't have to work. As I have stated before, get your associate degree at the local community college without having to work. It will give you all the foundations you need, your RN, and it's cheaper than university. When you graduate get into a good NCLEX prep program, and bust your butt on that from graduation until boards, take the test, get your RN, then get a job. After that get your BSN online. There ya have it 😊
Now mind you, this is nearly 40 years ago. Nursing school is a bear, of that you can be sure. I did all college and nursing courses together and my 1st nursing class was 7 semester hours. It consumed every spare minute I had. I do better studying alone but that's a personal thing. I did well but busted my butt to do it. Yes, you will likely not be the same person when you graduate. You will be stronger. If at all possible set things up so you don't have to work. As I have stated before, get your associate degree at the local community college without having to work. It will give you all the foundations you need, your RN, and it's cheaper than university. When you graduate get into a good NCLEX prep program, and bust your butt on that from graduation until boards, take the test, get your RN, then get a job. After that get your BSN online. There ya have it ������
So you're saying to do a community college RN program. Did you ever study with your fellow classmates or was the material not very hard on your own?
Just want to share my friend's experience with Chamberlain school of nursing. She failed her Capstone class NR 661 because she didn't reach 70% of APEA predicable exam. She attempted 3 times. She got 68, 69 and 67. The passing score is 70. As the school requested, after she failed the second time, she attended APEA live review class with her own expenses. She got the lowest score ever 67. It is very difficult to swallow the result. Chamberlain told her she has to retake the NR 661 with the clinic rotation. She almost has a nerve break down. It is so difficult to find a clinic site. She questioned about Chamberlain's evaluation method because APEA predicable exam didn't divide ANCC and AANP exam. As she plans to take AANP exam, she didn't study ANCC questions. There are over 10 questions regarding ANCC non- clinic issues. She also told me one of her classmate who just passed her AANP exam yesterday told her the real AANP exam questions are much easier than the APEA predicable questions. I am thinking go back to get my NP myself. I don't want to be stocked in my last class like she did.
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Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN
5,047 Posts
They will teach you how to do drug calculations before testing on it. It's basic single-variable algebra -- not difficult.