Chemistry stops more nursing and allied health students than any other prerequisite, and it’s usually not because of intelligence or effort. It’s because chemistry rewards a completely different study method than anatomy or medical terminology, and most students don’t find that out until after the first exam. The five mistakes below account for the majority of failed attempts, and every one of them is fixable in a couple of weeks.
You’re not in this class because you love chemistry. You’re in it because it stands between you and a nursing, radiology, sonography, respiratory therapy, or lab tech program. You may have been out of school for ten or fifteen years. You’re probably working, and you may have kids. You’re sitting next to nineteen-year-olds who took chemistry three years ago and seem to be coasting. None of that means you can’t pass this class. It does mean you can’t afford to waste weeks on a study method that doesn’t work for this subject. Here’s what goes wrong, and what to do instead.
As an example, a former student, Lou, a divorced mother of two returning to school for nursing, excelled in her biology and clinical classes but struggled with chemistry, feeling overwhelmed after nearly twenty years without studying the subject. Her common complaint was “everything might as well be written in Chinese, I do not understand anything that I am reading.” Despite eventually improving her grades, it became clear that she was applying the same study methods to chemistry as she had in her previous classes, which contributed to her initial difficulties.
Mistake 1: Studying chemistry the same way you studied anatomy
What it looks like: Flashcards. Rereading the chapter. Highlighting the notes. Rewatching the lecture. Making a beautiful color-coded study guide the night before the test, then walking in and not knowing how to start problem 1.
Why it costs you: Anatomy and medical terminology are recognition subjects. You see “brachiocephalic,” you retrieve the meaning, you get the point. That’s what flashcards are built for, and if you’ve done well in A&P, your instincts are trained for it.
Chemistry is a performance subject. The test doesn’t ask you to recognize molarity. It hands you a volume and a mass and asks you to produce a number from a blank page. Reading a worked example and understanding it is not the same skill as solving one yourself, and the gap between those two feelings is where students get ambushed. “It made sense when the instructor did it” is the single most common sentence I hear before a failed exam.
The fix: Flip the ratio. If you’re spending 80% of your time reading and 20% doing problems, reverse it.
Use this loop for every new concept:
- Watch or read the explanation once.
- Close everything. Notes, book, video, all of it.
- Do 3 to 5 problems on that concept with nothing in front of you.
- Check your answers and figure out why each miss happened.
If you can’t do a problem with your notes closed, you don’t know it yet. Much better to discover that at your kitchen table than in the exam room.
Before you reach for a formula on any problem, answer three questions: What information do I have? What am I trying to find? How are those quantities connected? If you can’t answer all three, the formula won’t save you.
Lou’s approach to her chemistry class changed significantly by focusing on understanding rather than rote memorization. Instead of extensive note-taking, she would copy each problem and annotate the purpose of each step, shifting her mindset from simply applying formulas to comprehending what the question asks and determining the best starting point for solving it. This new perspective often reveals a common challenge faced by returning students.
Mistake 2: Working around the math instead of rebuilding it
What it looks like: You memorize a separate setup for each problem type. You have one method for grams-to-moles, another for molarity, another for dilutions, another for percent concentration. Your notes are a pile of formulas, and when the test rearranges a question slightly, none of them fit.
Underneath that is usually rusty algebra. Solving for a variable, working with exponents, handling scientific notation on a calculator. Skills you had at seventeen and haven’t used since.
Why it costs you: You’re memorizing twelve procedures when there’s really one. And this is the mistake with the highest cost later, because dimensional analysis is the exact same skill as dosage calculation. The method you use to convert grams to moles in week 4 of chemistry is the method you’ll use to calculate a dose in your program and on the NCLEX. Skip it now, and you pay for it twice.
The fix: Learn dimensional analysis properly, once, and use it for everything. The rule is simple: write what you’re given, multiply by conversion factors arranged so the unwanted units cancel, and keep going until only the unit you want is left.
A chemistry problem:
How many moles are in 25.0 g of NaCl? (molar mass = 58.44 g/mol)
25.0 g × (1 mol / 58.44 g) = 0.428 mol
Grams cancel. Moles remain.
The same method, in the shape you’ll see in your program:
A suspension is labeled 250 mg per 5 mL. How many mL contain 400 mg?
400 mg × (5 mL / 250 mg) = 8 mL
Milligrams cancel. Milliliters remain.
Identical structure. That’s the point. Every conversion in this course is that pattern, and once it’s automatic you stop memorizing setups entirely.
(In actual clinical practice, dosing follows your institution’s protocols and verification steps. What transfers here is the math skill, not the clinical judgment.)
If the algebra itself is the problem, fix that first and separately. Spend three days on rearranging equations, exponent rules, and scientific notation on your calculator, including where the EE or EXP button is and how to enter a negative exponent. That’s a weekend of work that pays off for the entire course. Your campus math lab will usually do this with you for free.
So this is the part that usually sucks…no one likes to admit that they never learned to manipulate equations, or that they just are not very strong in math. Most of the time this says less about the student and more about the teachers that they had along the way. Look, I sucked at math until I hit 10th grade. This was not because I was slow or could not do calculations, it was just way too abstract for me and I could not apply it to my everyday. What changed in 10th grade? I had a teacher that made every equation, function, and graph something tangible that we used every day. Then suddenly holy smokes did it start to make a lot more sense! Lou had a similar journey, being more of a humanities person, she shied away from math and science in high school, she was great with people and thus why she was so interested in becoming a nurse, but solve for x…she would prefer to donate bone marrow! This is where she had to let go of her ego and go back to basic high school algebra. We spent a week just playing the game find (x)! Now once she had worked out manipulation of equations, the next tough nut was how intangible chemistry can feel at times.
Mistake 3: Skipping the mole because it feels abstract
What it looks like: Moles come up in week 3 or 4, feel like pointless made-up bookkeeping, and you half-learn them. You tell yourself the important stuff, the parts that sound medical, is coming later. Then solutions, molarity, dilutions, and concentration all arrive and nothing works.
Why it costs you: The mole is the hinge of the entire course. Research on first-year college chemistry students has found that the mole concept and stoichiometry are precisely where struggling students fall furthest behind, and that students who master those two topics go on to perform about as well as everyone else. It’s the single highest-leverage thing in the course.
And it isn’t abstract at all once you see where it lands. Molarity is moles per liter. Normal saline is 0.9% NaCl, which is 9 grams per liter, which is 0.154 moles per liter, the number you’ll see as 154 mEq/L of sodium and chloride on a fluid bag. Electrolyte values, IV concentrations, and lab results are all moles wearing different clothes.
The fix: Stop and rebuild the mole before moving on, even if your class has already moved past it. A mole is a counting number, like a dozen. A dozen means 12. A mole means 6.022 × 10²³. It exists because you can’t count atoms but you can weigh them.
Three conversions do almost everything:
- Grams → moles: divide by molar mass
- Moles → grams: multiply by molar mass
- Moles → particles: multiply by 6.022 × 10²³
Everything else routes through moles. Read our beginner’s guide to moles and stoichiometry →
Once you see that a mole is the keystone that holds all the equations together, the value of it becomes clear, and then you start to recognize it in all applications of concentration, titration, and medication. This takes some getting used to but for Lou, once the importance was realized, she quickly learned to convert and manipulate moles, because her math and approach had already been cleaned up.
Mistake 4: Saving it all for your one free day
What it looks like: You work Monday through Friday, so chemistry happens Sunday. Six hours, one sitting, usually the day before something is due. By hour three you’re reading the same paragraph over and over.
Why it costs you: Chemistry is a skill, and skills are built by repetition spread over time, the same way you’d learn to start an IV. One six-hour block on Sunday produces far less durable learning than six forty-minute sessions across the week, even though it costs you the same time and feels much worse.
There’s also a compounding problem: with one study day a week, you find out you’re confused on day 7 instead of day 1, which means you’ve had a full week of class built on a foundation you didn’t have.
The fix: Trade one long block for short daily reps. Thirty to forty minutes a day, five days a week, beats one Sunday marathon. If you can’t find that, find twenty minutes.
A weekly pattern that fits around a job:
| Day | Work | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Before each class | Skim what’s coming, write down two questions | 5 min |
| After each class | 3 to 5 problems on that day’s topic, notes closed | 20 min |
| Midweek | Redo the problems you missed | 30 min |
| Weekend | Mixed practice from the whole unit, then look ahead | 60 to 90 min |
The “notes closed” part is what makes this work. Without it, you’re just rereading in smaller pieces.
Now, real talk, this is what most adult students end up doing. There are so many “have to’s” in a given week, that usually studying occurs on that one day when the kids are away, or at night on a Friday after a long, taxing week. Adult students have one real advantage here: you already know how to protect time on a calendar. Use it. Put chemistry on there as a fixed appointment, not as something you’ll do if the evening allows. This is something that Lou understood and took great care to protect. She was fortunate that both of her children were older and already in high school, so it meant that she did not have to be on point every night. The kids knew that from 7:00 to 8:30 pm, this was mom’s time to study and to not disturb her. This allowed her to break up each unit into more manageable study blocks that she could more easily digest.
Mistake 5: Waiting for the second bad test to ask for help
What it looks like: The first exam goes badly. You decide to work harder on your own, because asking for help would confirm you don’t belong in the class. The second exam goes badly too. Now you’re doing math about what you’d need on the final, and the withdrawal deadline is a week away.
Why it costs you: The stakes here are higher than in most classes. Nursing and allied health programs usually require a minimum grade (often a C or better) in prerequisites, and many of them calculate a competitive admission GPA from exactly these courses. A retake costs you a semester and sometimes a place in the applicant pool as well as more money!
Meanwhile, the actual problem is almost always narrow and fixable. A student convinced they “just can’t do chemistry” usually turns out to be missing one or two specific things: unit conversions, or moles, or the algebra. That’s a two-week repair, but only if you start it in week 5 instead of week 12.
The fix: After the first bad exam, do three things in the same week.
1. Diagnose before you study. Go through the test and sort every lost point into one of three bins:
| Bin | What it sounds like | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Concept | “I didn’t know how to start.” | Something earlier is missing. Trace it back. |
| Setup / math | “I knew what to do but got the wrong number.” | Your chemistry is fine. Tighten the process. |
| Careless | Misread the question, wrong units, skipped part (b). | Build a checklist and run it before you submit. |
Most students are surprised. The person certain they “don’t understand chemistry” often finds half their lost points were setup and careless errors, which are the fastest kind to fix.
2. Ask your instructor a specific question. “I’m struggling” gets a general answer. Try: “I sorted my exam and most of my lost points were on mole conversions. What should I practice, and are there problems with an answer key?” Other good ones: “I understand the formula, but I’m not sure which values belong in it” or “I get a different answer on my calculator. Can we check how I entered it?” Bring your attempted work. Instructors help students who arrive with a diagnosis. Also ask directly about exam corrections, grade replacement, and the withdrawal deadline, so you know your real options instead of guessing at them.
3. Find out what your campus already gives you for free. Most colleges have a tutoring center, a math lab, and instructor office hours that almost nobody uses. If your schedule makes campus hours impossible, ask whether tutoring is available online or by appointment. Many schools added that and never advertised it.
Look, asking for help is not an admission of weakness or not being good enough. This is not an easy course and usually it is highly out of context with everything else that you are learning, so it is perfectly OK to fall flat on your face. The real thing is how do you get yourself back up. If you had the courage to go back to school to sit in a class with a bunch of “kids” so that you can improve your family’s life, you are not a weenie nor less than. Give yourself the grace to say I need some help, like you give grace to others who look to you for help.
Where does chemistry show up in a nursing program?
It’s easier to study something when you know where it’s going. Some of what’s coming:
| Chemistry topic | Where you’ll meet it again |
|---|---|
| Dimensional analysis | Dosage calculations, IV drip rates, unit conversions |
| Molarity, percent concentration, dilutions | IV fluids, saline and dextrose concentrations, lab standards |
| pH, acids and bases, buffers | Blood pH, arterial blood gases, the bicarbonate buffer system |
| Ions and electrolytes | Sodium, potassium, calcium, chloride lab values |
| Solutions and osmosis | Isotonic, hypotonic, and hypertonic fluids |
| Gas laws and partial pressure | Oxygen delivery, respiratory therapy |
| Intermolecular forces | Why some drugs dissolve and others don’t |
The class isn’t a hazing ritual. It’s the vocabulary of half of what you’re about to learn.
Frequently asked questions
Is chemistry hard for nursing students?
It is one of the prerequisites that stops the most nursing and allied health students, mainly because it needs a different study method than anatomy or medical terminology. Students who switch from rereading to closed-notes problem practice, and who rebuild their algebra early, usually do fine.
What kind of chemistry do nursing students take?
Most programs require a general chemistry course or a GOB course (general, organic, and biochemistry). The general chemistry half covers measurement, moles, solutions, acids and bases, and gas laws, which is the math-heavy part most students struggle with.
How much math is in nursing school chemistry?
Mostly algebra: rearranging equations, exponents, scientific notation, and unit conversions. If your algebra is rusty, spend a few days rebuilding it before you push further into the chemistry.
Does chemistry help with nursing dosage calculations?
Yes. Dimensional analysis, the method you use to convert grams to moles, is the same method used for dosage calculations. Learning it well in chemistry means you learn it once instead of twice.
How should I study chemistry if I work full time?
Use short daily sessions instead of one long weekend block. Thirty to forty minutes a day, five days a week, of problems with your notes closed will do more than a six-hour Sunday marathon.
What grade do I need in chemistry for nursing school?
Many nursing and allied health programs require a C or better in prerequisites, and some use those grades in a competitive admission GPA. Check your own program’s requirements early.
How can you find and fix your chemistry gap fast?
Every Virtually There Teaching lesson covers one concept in 10 to 15 minutes, so you can go straight to the topic you traced back to instead of rewatching an entire course. The units that matter most for a nursing or allied health prerequisite:
- Unit 1: Foundations of Chemistry: measurement, conversions, and dimensional analysis, the method behind dosage calculation
- Unit 2: Building Blocks for Atoms and Naming Compounds: atoms, ions, and where electrolytes come from
- Unit 3: Mole Conversions and Stoichiometry: the hinge of the whole course
- Unit 4: Solutions and Solution Stoichiometry: molarity, dilutions, and IV concentrations
- Unit 10: States of Matter and Intermolecular Forces: solubility and osmosis
- Unit 16: Acid/Base Equilibrium and Buffers: pH, blood pH and ABGs
Being straight with you: VTT covers the general chemistry half of a GOB course in real depth. It does not currently cover organic or biochemistry, so if your class is in its second semester of functional groups and metabolism, this will help with foundations but won’t cover your current chapters.
The first two lessons of every unit are free with a free account, no credit card. And if you’re stuck on one problem at 11 p.m. after the kids are down, ask Tilly. She’ll point you to the lesson that covers it and walk you through the reasoning instead of handing you the answer.