| What are the requirements to gain admission into | | | | time jobs and juggling kids and spouses needs. The |
| nursing school? Actually, they differ from one school | | | | responsibilities that the new nursing students must |
| to the next but all have certain main pre-requisite | | | | bear become at most unbearable when actual nursing |
| classes that are required for students to take. These | | | | school begins. So, the nursing student is faced with a |
| include courses in Anatomy & Physiology, Social | | | | stressful road map right at the beginning. |
| Sciences, Biology, English I & II, Psychology, Life | | | | Why are nursing classes so difficult? Time and time |
| Span Psychology, a Pharmaceutical course and a | | | | again nursing students have said the same thing, |
| Chemistry course. Most nursing schools require a | | | | which is, "how do you study for these tests?" The |
| grade of C or better for each of the above named | | | | frustration for the nursing student culminates when |
| courses. | | | | they get a poor score on their exam. Usually this low |
| If this isn't enough stress, the student must complete | | | | score is in the C range, which is a failing grade for |
| the Nursing Entrance Test prior to getting their name | | | | most Nursing Schools. When a student gets a 79 on |
| on the nursing school admission list. Consequently, for | | | | an exam, they know that they have to make up |
| the associate degree nurse, the entire program can | | | | those points on the next test. Worst case scenario is |
| be expected to take up to three years to complete. | | | | that they go into the final with a grade of 79% or |
| The up side of this is that many four year degree | | | | 80%. Final exams are always much harder than the |
| granting institutions offer a one year curriculum to | | | | exams throughout the semester. So, when a student |
| graduating Associate Degree Nurse (ADN) for | | | | goes into the final with a failing grade or on the cusp |
| completion of a Bachelors of Science in Nursing. It is | | | | of failing they become unnerved. Most nursing |
| quite likely, that when the ADN graduates and finds | | | | instructors will tell their students not to take the final |
| employment, that the hospital where he or she is | | | | if they have below an 80% and just drop the class |
| employed will pay their tuition for their Bachelors | | | | instead of chancing a failing grade. |
| Degree completion. All of this sounds very enticing to | | | | With nursing courses ranging in the 5-10 credit hour |
| many who wish to pursue nursing careers. | | | | brackets, one can imagine how much a grade point |
| The nurses pay is also an incentive to enroll in Nursing | | | | average could be affected by a failing grade. Yet, |
| School, though it should not be the main reason. | | | | nursing students do it all the time. They sit for the |
| Hence, with the occurrence of the mass lay offs | | | | final exam and throw caution to wind. The results are |
| from many of the automotive industries, those | | | | that some of them do indeed pass, while others fail. |
| without jobs are entertaining the thought of going | | | | Those that pass the final start the next semester |
| into the field of nursing. There is a huge influx of | | | | with renewed stress. The nursing tests are what put |
| people who are in the nursing program or who plan | | | | so much stress on the students. |
| to enroll in the nursing program ranging in ages from | | | | Although clinical rotation can also be very grueling, |
| 32 to 52. Many of these students bring with them a | | | | most student nurses will agree that it is the nursing |
| vast life experience base. Therefore it is not | | | | tests that they fear. Nursing students must be |
| surprising to find nursing students that have one or | | | | prepared to handle the stress ahead of time. Friends |
| two Bachelor Degrees, previous careers in | | | | and family should be aware of how much stress that |
| engineering, science, secretarial fields, emergency | | | | their loved ones have to endure while in nursing |
| medical technicians and teachers. | | | | school. They can assist by helping with the children |
| This type of cross section was not the norm twenty | | | | such as picking the kids up from school, or bringing |
| or thirty years ago, when most of the nursing | | | | over dinner a few times a week. Just being there to |
| students were in their early twenties. There are quite | | | | listen to their concerns and offering a shoulder to |
| a few current nursing students that are holding full | | | | lean on can help a great deal. |