What order to take prereq's in

maryruth · Jul 25, 2006

Now that sounds like a good plan! I am glad you have the luxury of time on your hands. I know how much daycare can cost too! That is the reason why I had to stay home and go to Rio because we could not afford daycare for a newborn and a toddler but now they are getting older it cost a little less. I hurried myself to get through bio201,bio205,hcc145 this last semester and took little more than I could chew because I just want to get back to work. Being a stay at home mother is driving me nuts.

Another thing you could do if your waiting to be expected to the RN program is go ahead and take your NUR156 & 157 and become a CNA. If you have a long wait you can work as a CNA and gain some kind of healthcare experience. They use to make that class a requirement but now it is no longer a requirement which is cool.:)

I'm going to take those classes this semester and I hope to get hired on somewhere that will help pay for my tuition. That way I wont have a huge loan to pay at the end. But that is all wishful thinking. Good luck on your CHEM class and let me know how it goes at RIO because I will be taking that in the spring. I am thinking RIO or chandler/gilbert cc, if you tell me RIO is hard I'll do the later. GOOD luck to you!

miniaussie · Oct 19, 2006

I did not take high school Biology. I took Bio 156 and I don't think it helped me at all with Bio 201 or Bio 202. I would not recommend taking any other class when taking Bio 201. It is intense and requires lots of studying. I have never taken a chemistry class and it is not required at the nursing school I am attending. I know that past a 2 year degree it would no doubt be required. If you have to take chemistry, I would do that first.

MsBruiser · Oct 20, 2006

Rio would not let me take Bio 201/202 without Bio 156. That made my pre-reqs into a 3 semester process (roughly since Rio classes start all the time - blurs traditonal boundaries of semesters).

I did Bio 156/Psych (take it now - not while in nursing school).

Bio 201

Bio 202 with overlap into Bio 205

That took me about 1.5 years, while working fulltime, or 3 semesters.

Let me warn you - look at some of the Rio posts on this board. The actual Bio 201/202/205 classes are MUCH, MUCH harder online. In fact, I find nursing school to be a breeze in comparison, since you can almost always tell what material is important and what is not based on teacher interaction. Bio 201/202/205 are nothing compared to the bs medical terminology classes - or even Psych 101 at Rio. There is no teacher dropping hints about what is on the exams, so you basically have to learn everything since all material is "fair game." Even with a masters degree, I found those classes, expecially Bio 201/202 to be some of the most time consuming (not difficult - but time consuming) of my educational experiences.

AZmom · Oct 20, 2006

Rio would not let me take Bio 201/202 without Bio 156. That made my pre-reqs into a 3 semester process (roughly since Rio classes start all the time - blurs traditonal boundaries of semesters).
I did Bio 156/Psych (take it now - not while in nursing school).
Bio 201
Bio 202 with overlap into Bio 205
That took me about 1.5 years, while working fulltime, or 3 semesters.
Let me warn you - look at some of the Rio posts on this board. The actual Bio 201/202/205 classes are MUCH, MUCH harder online. In fact, I find nursing school to be a breeze in comparison, since you can almost always tell what material is important and what is not based on teacher interaction. Bio 201/202/205 are nothing compared to the bs medical terminology classes - or even Psych 101 at Rio. There is no teacher dropping hints about what is on the exams, so you basically have to learn everything since all material is "fair game." Even with a masters degree, I found those classes, expecially Bio 201/202 to be some of the most time consuming (not difficult - but time consuming) of my educational experiences.

I was just going to make a post about Psych 101 with Rio. And I probably still will, lol. You thought it was easy? When did you take it? I'm really thinking they changed the format -- big time.

I just started the course and am thinking of dropping. I was extremely hesitant of taking it there based on the course description. Knowledge is measured very subjectively it would seem -- all essays on personal growth and such. No traditional exams/quizzes. Having asked around NO ONE has ever heard of a Psych 101 course being structured like that.

I got a really bad grade on a first (easy) essay and am beyond upset. Fired off a tactful, but angry email to the instructor. We'll see. I'm not one to cry "I was wronged" but I truly feel that grade was not deserved. And if that's how things are going to play out with all the other assignments, I'll fail miserably.

****

Just an update: I started out with Chem and am doing great! It was truly the best course for me to start off with because I was convinced I'd do poorly at it, hate it, and I don't. It's kinda fun actually. Plus it's really boosted my self confidence with school altogether.

Next month I'll start A&P1, then A&P2, then Micro. All through Rio even if it is harder. I'm smart, I can handle it. :) I'll be taking my CNA next semester through CAC so that will overlap with the tail end of A&P1 and all of A&P2.

So far, so good. :)

MsBruiser · Oct 20, 2006

I took Psy 101 back in late 2004. It was the essay format. I'm a writing type of person - I found the essays to be a giant blow-off. BUT that is my preferred learning style, not to belittle your results. In fact, I did none of the readings other than to find out exactly what was supposed to be in the essays - and then I gave the instructor exactly what they wanted. I also spent a lot of time editing the essays, etc. The final was a bit tricky as you essentially had to memorize a lot of information - but they gave you the questions in advance so if you prepared some outlines on paper and committed them to memory, you were fine. Don't give up - a good trick for editing an essay is to read it aloud to yourself - you will find lots of awkward sentences that way, etc.

Good luck on the other classes - they are not hard, just time consuming. Much like nursing school!

AZmom · Oct 20, 2006

I guess what tans my hide is that for this intro "essay" our explicit instruction was to NOT read the Welcome Statement prior to completing it, to just answer the essay questions right out the gate. So I do that, only to find out my answers weren't acceptable.....because they weren't of the correct detail ---- details and expectations only laid out in the Welcome Statement which we were told not to read. They apparently wanted deep learning and critical thinking answers.......both of whose definitions were given in the Welcome Statement, which, again, we weren't supposed to read until afterwards.

I guess I'd be in better shape if I didn't follow their directions. Simply can't agree with being set up to fail. I don't know. I have a few more days to decide yet. I told the instructor as much as I'm complaining here, lol. We'll see.

MsBruiser · Oct 20, 2006

I'm curious to see what the instructor says about that - do let me know...