Second-Entry Nursing Programs - 2014 Hopeful

fingers_crossed · Jan 24, 2014

Yep, exactly why I was having difficulty with communicating with OttawaU. One person said BIOL 235 was fine, but this is a quote from an email from someone in admissions office: "If you are planning on completing Anatomy and Physiology at Athabasca University, you will have to take both BIOL 230 and BIOL 235. The BIOL235 course from Athabasca is missing one component to cover all of the body systems. It is stated that a minimum of 6 credits is required but it may be more to cover all of the subject matter required."

Either way, I'm only taking 235 and hoping that it works out ok!

I decided not to apply to UofT because I found their tuition rates seemed extremely expensive (unless I'm missing misunderstanding something, is it on par with the other programs?) I also do not have a Life or Physical Sciences course for a pre-requisite, as I don't believe BIOL 235 can count for both the physiology category and Science category.

When I applied to Ottawa, I had just received my marks for the first third of the course, so I sent them along with my application. I think once I finish the second round of assignment/quiz/midterm I will send them an updated grade too. I hope the course is going alright for everyone! I find it a bit tedious to do all that reading, but I'm motivated to do well in it and really understand the material because it is really important to nursing.

Have your written the first midterm? I was a little under-prepared for it, and it was more difficult than I was expecting. Some of the questions were identical to those that came up in my quiz #1, or the questions from Orion in WileyPlus, but most of them were new. I'm a bit nervous for midterm #2 because most of the chapters covered in this section are about the nervous system, which I've found to be less interesting for me and harder to understand. But I find that the online resources on WileyPlus really help.

Good luck to you too and hopefully we'll both be starting this May!

ejohnso6, LVN · Jan 24, 2014

Wow you guys, I just had a mini heart attack about having to do BIOL 230 as well as BIOL 235! I looked at the Athabasca site and it says you can't do BIOL 230 if you already have BIOL 235 as a credit. What does 230 include that 235 does not?

fingers_crossed · Jan 26, 2014

Sorry to worry you! Not trying to freak anyone out, just trying to get things clarified myself, as well as keep everyone else informed! I was emailing back and forth with the admissions office at OttawaU, each time it was someone else responding. They originally told me that BIOL 235 was not sufficient and BIOL 230 was necessary as well. But like you said, Athabasca has them listed as anti-requisites. When I told OttawaU that, they explained that Athabasca does let you take both courses if they are being taken independently, not as part of an Athabasca degree or something. Biol 235 is human anatomy and physiology, whereas BIOL 230 is just a 6 credit physiology course

I was emailing a current student on Facebook, and she told me she took both courses, but some people got in with just 235. This is what she told me:

"Admissions told me I had to take both classes (I verified this TWICE in writing) but apparently there are people in the program who took just one. There is some overlap between the courses, but the physiology class goes into more depth on how systems work and has a lab component which is actually pretty neat. The HA&P class has more rote memorization of bones, muscles, cranial nerves."

Basically, I feel like they might just be a little disorganized there. Based on Isla88 's response, and on the fact that some people have gotten in the program without 230, I'm going to hope it's good enough, and I don't plan on taking 230 because 235 is heavy enough by itself.

isla88 · Jan 27, 2014

Same here... when I called they told me Biol 235 was what they needed so I am hoping its ok since its a 6 credit course that covers al body systems (anatomy and physiology). Do you guys know when they start accepting people? Im guessing not before march

fingers_crossed · Feb 2, 2014

I'm not expecting to hear back from Ottawa before the first week of March . Unlike some of the schools that do rolling admissions.

For those of you still working on Athabasca's BIOL 235, I found some good resources to help study! I've been struggling with the content for Midterm #2, and I realized it's because I don't do well with only textbook reading, and the WileyPlus resources, while helpful are still a little dry.

1) Interactive Biology, by Leslie Samuel | Making Biology Fun! This instructor has posted lots of short videos that each explain a topic in ANP (mostly phys, but some anatomy as well). The videos are a lot more dynamic than WileyPlus, and they are short enough to keep your attention (if that's a problem for you like it is for me).

2) I was really having trouble learning muscles, and this game Poke-A-Muscle really helped me! Poke-A-Muscle. It's still very basic and doesn't cover nearly all of the muscle content you need to know, but it's a fun way to get into the basics if you are having trouble like me.

How's everyone doing in the course!? I write midterm #2 in a few days, I'm quite anxious about it becuase I found these chapters much more difficult than the first ones. I am eager though to get it out of the way and focus on the last leg of the course and be done!

isla88 · Feb 3, 2014

Hi fingers_crossed! thank you for all the resources, I will deff check them out. I just finished Midterm 1 today and preparing to start assignment 2. I can already tell this second section is going to be intense. Do you know if the prerequisites are pass or fail or if Ottawa excepts a certain grade?

isla88 · Feb 3, 2014

I know some schools do conditional acceptance (you are in the program with the condition that you finish the course), I am wondering if Ottawa does this and if so if we need a specific grade

fingers_crossed · Feb 4, 2014

Wow, I'm not sure how you're working so fast! Just finished midterm #1 and now starting assignment #2! I will be starting reading the third section by the end of this week, and I'm expecting it to take me until near the end of march to finish the course completely! And that's studying full time! What are your techniques for the class? Do you read the entire chapters? I read each chapter while writing notes, then do the self-quiz at the end and move on to the next chapter. It usually takes me 2-3 days to read a chapter (I'm a slow reader). I'd be interested in changing my method if I could be done sooner!

AS for Ottawa's prerequisites, they might factor the grades for ANP if you have them completed, but otherwise I'm assuming that if you get conditional acceptance, you just have to pass the course and get the credit. They say that if you get conditional acceptance, they must receive the official Athabasca transcript by April 15 proving that you passed.

isla88 · Feb 4, 2014

Honestly it has been taking me forever too. I was able to finish the first part fast because I took a physiology course last semester so that really helped. I am not sure how I did on the midterm to be honest.. i knew some but I had to guess also :s. so I guess I will find out next week. I am expecting to write midterm #2 at the beginning of march and then study all of march for the last section to write the final by april. I take the study guide and copy and paste the information from the book under each section and study from there, not sure if its the best thing to though since i find soemtimes they ask random stuff that its on the book

fingers_crossed · Feb 4, 2014

Yeah, I was surprised at the difficulty of the midterm #1 when I wrote it, I thought I was prepared and then there were a lot of questions that I had to guess for. But I remember getting my grade back within half an hour by email. I got 76% on midterm #1, which I was actually surprised by because the test was harder than expected.

That's why I'm quite worried about midterm #2 - quiz #2 was really difficult as well, and I'm expecting the same for the midterm. But one thing I realized this week is that midterms #1 and #2 are only each worth 15% of the final grade, which is not too big of a deal. Personally, I'm more intrigued by the content of the third section (circulatory, respiratory, digestive, etc) and I hope it will be an easier section to study!

HenleyGirl06 · Feb 5, 2014

I too am taking BIOL 235 at Athabasca for admission to U of T and Western. How did you find the online assignment? There are some questions I am confused by - did you type your answers word-for-word from the book?

I see that many of you have already done midterm #1 - I was looking at some forums that dealt with older versions of this course, and people commented that the midterms were short-answer. Are they still short-answer, or are the multiple choice? How are the exams conducted? I really have no idea about anything regarding this course and am feeling rather clueless. :unsure:

fingers_crossed · Feb 5, 2014

For the assignment, I tried not to copy answers word for word and tried for the most part to create my own answers. This also helps you to better understand the content, when you have to explain it in your own words, but I don't know if they actually mind if you do just take stuff word for word.

The midterms are explained in the course manual, so you should read that if you want more information. They are multiple choice and very similar to the online quizzes.