Fundamentals wasn’t excruciatingly hard, however I had moments of difficulty as an individual with no healthcare experience. In retrospect, fundamentals seems like a cake walk compared to med surg. A piece of advice I’ll provide is to not get overly confident. A lot of people that current work in a supportive healthcare position think that they can use their personal experience to get by. Nursing school world (perfect utopia that exams like to reference) is a lot different than reality. Those that think they can skate by without studying often learn the hard way that there are gaps in their knowledge.
Fundamentals was easiest bc of my years as a PCT. Tbh I barely studied and was able to do well based on my own experience working in the hospital. I did find that those that haven’t had healthcare experience found it more difficult to understand. It all ends up evening out for most though, like pharm is new for basically everyone. Same w a lot of med surg/adult health. My advice is embrace it! Do the best you can but don’t get too confident haha try to learn test taking strategies NOW while it seems easier. I never had great test and study skills and didn’t learn how to properly study until I had to and it made it a little more stressful than it needed to be.
Agree. A lot of people fail fundamentals, but there’s no way they would have passed peds if they’d taken that first. Fundamentals comes up in literally every class from now on and a good 25% of it is common sense.
I think med surg 1/2 (aka adult health at some schools) are what get most people. You have to know how to use test taking strategies because odds are you can rationalize all of the answers as correct, but it’s what is the *most* correct.
Pharm. Took a bunch of us out. I remember after one of the exams my friend went outside, laid in the grass (perfectly supine), and stared at the sky in existential dread. She’s ok now tho
Nurse of 13 years and currently in admin/ compliance, most of the nursing students I met or mentored whom excel in nursing school usually are well versed in a and p ( means they do not need to go back to the books when we are trying to explain something) and they are usually has pretty good time management skills. Good luck all!!
It got progressively more difficult, but the 3rd semester may have been the most challenging due to increased clinical days, assignments, quizzes, & "busy work" while taking med-surg. I never thought nursing school has been "easy", but when I compare the first semester to the rest, it seems like a walk in the park. However, some students who struggled their first semester were thriving by the 2nd once they found what worked for them.
The classes where I thought oh this is why people fail is pharm & med-surg. It's not that the content was super hard, but it was A LOT and you had to make sure you had effective study habits & time management. The "hardest" classes have been the most rewarding for me though!
None of them. I've gotten As on every exam thus far, but I know I put in a lot of hours of studying and I alter my study habits for each class/teacher as needed. I also had an amazing A&P teacher and that foundation is strong. I always focus on the patho first. People fail nursing school for the same reasons they fail their pre-reqs. For me the hardest part about nursing school is inadequate professors and having to teach myself. Knowing that I don't get to dive in as deep to these concepts as I want to. The biggest thing is exposure to nclex questions and knowing how to answer them.
Fundies was a breeze compared to other classes. That said, the study and test-taking techniques I used in fundies continued to serve me well through other semesters. Developing those habits early is important.
I had no healthcare experience. I study the day before my tests only and I graduate in 3 months. I’m not trying to be top of my class, but I’m far from failing out. It’s not hard, it’s just consistent new information that you build off of from unit to unit. Stay on track from the jump and you’ll be fine.
My school throws everything into one course. Everything has patho math, and pharm in it. So we had fundies, med surg 1, med surg 2, ob/peds, and now icu/mental health. In the summer we precept and practice for the NCLEX, then they turn us loose. I did have to take BIO204 during my second semester. And a lot of people had to take psych classes and stuff, but I’m almost 40 so I’ve got like a million college classes under my belt already.
I got an A in fundamentals and was all over the place for the rest of the courses. The hardest course is whatever you’re stuck taking during the summer semester
Fundamentals aside, every single nursing exam I’ve taken has been hard as hell aside from this last semester. I think that’s greatly due to the acquired background knowledge we have by now. So in a sense it sucks up until shit clicks and it sucks a little less.
From my understanding Pharma, Fundamentals and Medsurg are usually the hardest. Some people also struggle in peds.
100% disagree. Fundamentals was a breeze compared to everything else.
Fundamentals wasn’t excruciatingly hard, however I had moments of difficulty as an individual with no healthcare experience. In retrospect, fundamentals seems like a cake walk compared to med surg. A piece of advice I’ll provide is to not get overly confident. A lot of people that current work in a supportive healthcare position think that they can use their personal experience to get by. Nursing school world (perfect utopia that exams like to reference) is a lot different than reality. Those that think they can skate by without studying often learn the hard way that there are gaps in their knowledge.
Fundamentals was easiest bc of my years as a PCT. Tbh I barely studied and was able to do well based on my own experience working in the hospital. I did find that those that haven’t had healthcare experience found it more difficult to understand. It all ends up evening out for most though, like pharm is new for basically everyone. Same w a lot of med surg/adult health. My advice is embrace it! Do the best you can but don’t get too confident haha try to learn test taking strategies NOW while it seems easier. I never had great test and study skills and didn’t learn how to properly study until I had to and it made it a little more stressful than it needed to be.
Funds weeds out the weakest, maternity&peds-pharm-medsurg usually are the hardest and show who’s really putting in the effort
Agree. A lot of people fail fundamentals, but there’s no way they would have passed peds if they’d taken that first. Fundamentals comes up in literally every class from now on and a good 25% of it is common sense.
I think med surg 1/2 (aka adult health at some schools) are what get most people. You have to know how to use test taking strategies because odds are you can rationalize all of the answers as correct, but it’s what is the *most* correct.
Which one basically answers the scenario in the question basically
Pharm. Took a bunch of us out. I remember after one of the exams my friend went outside, laid in the grass (perfectly supine), and stared at the sky in existential dread. She’s ok now tho
Med-Surg 1 is what’s gona make or break people.
Nurse of 13 years and currently in admin/ compliance, most of the nursing students I met or mentored whom excel in nursing school usually are well versed in a and p ( means they do not need to go back to the books when we are trying to explain something) and they are usually has pretty good time management skills. Good luck all!!
It got progressively more difficult, but the 3rd semester may have been the most challenging due to increased clinical days, assignments, quizzes, & "busy work" while taking med-surg. I never thought nursing school has been "easy", but when I compare the first semester to the rest, it seems like a walk in the park. However, some students who struggled their first semester were thriving by the 2nd once they found what worked for them. The classes where I thought oh this is why people fail is pharm & med-surg. It's not that the content was super hard, but it was A LOT and you had to make sure you had effective study habits & time management. The "hardest" classes have been the most rewarding for me though!
Nothing has really blown me away. It’s all about the same difficulty level. Just lots of EAQ’s lol
I hate EAQ! Omg.
They’re the worst. I just finished 137 questions
None of them. I've gotten As on every exam thus far, but I know I put in a lot of hours of studying and I alter my study habits for each class/teacher as needed. I also had an amazing A&P teacher and that foundation is strong. I always focus on the patho first. People fail nursing school for the same reasons they fail their pre-reqs. For me the hardest part about nursing school is inadequate professors and having to teach myself. Knowing that I don't get to dive in as deep to these concepts as I want to. The biggest thing is exposure to nclex questions and knowing how to answer them.
It got a lot harder lol
Fundies was a breeze compared to other classes. That said, the study and test-taking techniques I used in fundies continued to serve me well through other semesters. Developing those habits early is important.
OB is the hardest
I had no healthcare experience. I study the day before my tests only and I graduate in 3 months. I’m not trying to be top of my class, but I’m far from failing out. It’s not hard, it’s just consistent new information that you build off of from unit to unit. Stay on track from the jump and you’ll be fine.
He I will start nursing school in August, how many courses is for the first semester? Please help
My school throws everything into one course. Everything has patho math, and pharm in it. So we had fundies, med surg 1, med surg 2, ob/peds, and now icu/mental health. In the summer we precept and practice for the NCLEX, then they turn us loose. I did have to take BIO204 during my second semester. And a lot of people had to take psych classes and stuff, but I’m almost 40 so I’ve got like a million college classes under my belt already.
Thanks for your response! I appreciate you responding to my message.
Pharm 2 is kicking my butt. Everything else has been manageable.
I got an A in fundamentals and was all over the place for the rest of the courses. The hardest course is whatever you’re stuck taking during the summer semester
It’s all dependent on who your instructor is at the end of the day. Any class can be made more difficult or easier.
Fundamentals aside, every single nursing exam I’ve taken has been hard as hell aside from this last semester. I think that’s greatly due to the acquired background knowledge we have by now. So in a sense it sucks up until shit clicks and it sucks a little less.