How to Prepare for Nursing School: A Step-by-Step Checklist

If you’ve ever been a hospital patient, you know how vital nurses are to patient recovery. Hospitals can be stressful places, but nurses help ease the anxiety and fear that patients experience while receiving treatment. In difficult situations, nurses provide the care that can make a patient’s experience less painful and more bearable—and maybe even pleasant.

If you feel like your calling is to deliver this type of care to those in need, you could be a perfect candidate for a nursing career. 

Preparing to start nursing school means reviewing prerequisite science and math, completing your entrance exam and required paperwork, building study habits and a support system, and understanding how your program is structured—all before your first term begins. This guide goes over the months before you start.

Checklist at a Glance

• Months before: Complete application requirements, start compliance steps, talk to a nurse about the job, meet with an enrollment counselor, and sort out finances. 
• Weeks before: Review core sciences and math, set expectations with family or employer, and set up your study space.
• Final days before: Confirm your technology works, map out a weekly schedule, and get ready to learn.

Is Nursing School Right for You?

The Prelicensure BSN, the RN to BSN, and other similar programs are often rigorous, but they serve as strong foundations for a nursing career. Nursing is one of the most gratifying jobs for mission-driven individuals since it places them on the front lines of patient care. If you’re weighing a nursing career, these are the things that draw people to the field:

• Flexibility. Some programs, including WGU’s, let you access materials 24/7 with no set log-in times, which can help nursing students balance school with work and family.
• Breadth. Nursing education builds broad healthcare knowledge and opens doors to many specialties like critical care, neonatal care, cardiovascular care, and public health. 
• Demand. BLS reports a median annual wage of $97,550 for registered nurses as of May 2025 and projects 6% employment growth from 2025 to 2035. Of course, demand will vary by location and experience.
• Impact. Nurses provide necessary care and comfort in nearly every healthcare setting—not just treatment plans but emotional support as well. 

Still weighing your options? Read the following articles first: 

• What Is a Prelicensure Nursing Program?
• How to Choose the Right Online Nursing Program
• How Long Does It Take to Become a Nurse?

If you are concerned about the financial aspects, look into financial aid, scholarships, or tuition reimbursement programs. You may have more options than you think. 

Pick a Program and Complete School Requirements and Paperwork 

First, you’ll want to find the right nursing program or specialty. There are many different types of nurses, so be sure to do your due diligence to find the career path that best aligns with your goals. Once you have an idea of the area of nursing that suits you best, you should then choose the right degree to prepare you for that career.

After you have applied and are weeks away from starting school, you should make sure you have met all requirements. Depending on the school and program, requirements can include things like an application essay, a background check, immunizations, and physical requirements, so be sure to do your research. 

Prepare Academically for Nursing School  

Getting a head start on the basics shortens the learning curve once classes begin.

• Review core sciences such as anatomy and physiology, microbiology, and basic chemistry. BLS notes that nursing programs typically include anatomy, physiology, and microbiology.
• Refresh math used in dosage calculations and medication conversions.
• Learn medical terminology so early coursework feels less like a second language.

At WGU, prerequisites are built into the prenursing classes, so this review eases your start rather than replacing coursework.  

Prepare for Entrance Exams 

Many nursing programs require exams, so this is one of the most important ways to prepare academically. Most prelicensure programs require an entrance exam, like the HESI A2 or ATI TEAS, taken within the last five years. 

These exams typically cover reading comprehension, math, science, and English and language usage, but confirm current content with the ATI TEAS and HESI A2 sources. To prepare:

• Keep studying the basics.
• Take a practice test first to find weak areas.
• Study those areas.
• Use timed sessions to build pacing.

Know What to Expect in Nursing School

Your coursework may consist of nursing core classes, general healthcare classes, and courses related to your specific focus. Common subject matter could include information technology in nursing, global and population health, intrapersonal leadership and professional growth, anatomy and physiology, microbiology, and human growth and development.

In addition to coursework, most programs have a nursing skills lab. Here, you’ll discover the essentials of what it takes to be a nurse—how to practice empathy, how to employ critical thinking, how to stay focused under stress, and how to maintain patience on the job. In addition to these skills, you’ll also learn clinical skills, such as the following:

• Blood pressure monitoring
• Catheterization
• Head-to-toe assessment
• Intramuscular injections
• Oxygenation therapy
• Tracheostomy care
• Wound care

Similarly, nursing simulation labs are designed to re-create the environments and scenarios you’ll encounter when you’re a working nurse. These immersive, hands-on experiences will allow you to practice the skills you’ve learned. 

The labs will also familiarize you with what it’s like to work in healthcare settings, such as hospital emergency rooms, urgent care centers, labor and delivery rooms, and operating theaters. Simulation labs will differ depending on your specialty of study.

Finally, clinical placements allow nursing students to interact with patients under the supervision of employed nurses and other clinical staff. These rotations can be a great opportunity for nurses to practice and gain real-life experience in the field. During your rotations, you’ll often apply what you learn in your skills and simulation labs to interact with and care for patients. 

The work you perform in clinical rotations is a vital step on your nursing education path because you’ll come to know what day-to-day tasks you might encounter in your career. 

To-Dos for Nursing School Preparation

Build a study system. Set up the basics: a dedicated study space, a planner or digital calendar, and a rough weekly schedule.

Study actively. Favor active techniques over passive rereading: practice questions, concept maps, flashcards, and study groups. Active methods tend to support retention better than rereading notes. Build your own study guide as you go, such as a running list of anatomy terms and medication conversions. Eventually, once you’re further along in school, add NCLEX-style practice questions to your routine. They teach you to apply knowledge rather than just recall facts.

Understand competency-based learning. At WGU, you advance as you demonstrate mastery rather than on a fixed weekly schedule, so you set your own pacing. Strong study habits are easier to build before the term starts, so decide in advance how many hours you’ll study each week and when.

Build your support system. Talk to a current nurse or other nursing students about their path, how they studied, and what the first year felt like. Meet with an Enrollment Counselor to match your goals and learning style to a program.  

Expect some struggle. Nursing programs are demanding, and early difficulty is normal rather than a sign to quit. Set expectations early with family and your employer. It can make nursing school more manageable for everyone involved.

Plan for your first weeks. Expect an orientation to your program’s format, early coursework, and skills-lab preparation. Confirm your technology works, put your schedule on the calendar, and tell your support circle when you’ll be least available. Keep the NCLEX in mind as the long-term goal, but focus first on building routines. 

Look ahead to the NCLEX. You don’t need to study for the NCLEX yet, but it helps to know where the path leads. Graduates of prelicensure programs take the NCLEX-RN exam to qualify for licensure, and nurses must be licensed by the state where they work. Check your state board of nursing requirements, and ask your counselor how your program connects to licensure. 

Ready to Take the Next Step? Apply Today

You’ve done the prep work, so now it’s time to put it into action. WGU’s B.S. RN Prelicensure Nursing (available in select states) and B.S. Nursing (RN to BSN) programs are built for working adults and career-changers, with flexible, competency-based learning that lets you move at your own pace.

Apply now to begin your nursing education, or talk to an Enrollment Counselor today.