How difficult are Intro to Bio and Intermediate Algebra?

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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I am starting my prerequisites this fall. I am very nervous, because I did mediocre to average in math/ science throughout high school (then again, i didn't really try at all) but any way, would you say those classes are very difficult at CC.What are some of your study tips? thanks.

Check out a video by Marty Lobdell. I think it is called "How to Study Smarter Not Harder" (I think...???). It is lengthy (about an hour), but I watched that before I took Biology. I would also recommend figuring out your learning style and what motivates you. Your learning style can help to guide you to study in a way that helps you retain the information best. Knowing what motivates you to become a nurse is something that has pushed me to finish strong even when I am feeling like I want to slack off (I do give myself some slacking off time, but it is controlled). I also have a few YouTubers that I watch. They are in different stages of their nursing journey (I think the last one just graduated and is prepping for the NCLEX), but it is really great knowing that there are people out there getting things done.

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great i will use your tips absolutely why do you think you achieved a C in Bio 1 do you think it will take time for me to develop study habits as well? and is Bio 2 in your school A&P? thank you for your tips xx

In Bio 1 I didn't have any great study habits, it took time for me to develop great study habits, which is why I suggest learning about active techniques to studying. Most people passively study, they chug and dump information without truly learning it. You're going to actually have to remember what you learn for your nursing program. My Bio 2 class wasn't A&P, but I did get an A in my A&P class, for which I used active recall to learn the material before exams. You're very welcome.

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My intro to bio (human biology) class required three hours of study daily to be successful. It was an online/in person hybrid class. I put in the time and got an A. Just put in the time and you should do well.

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Specializes in OR.

Not difficult!! Use Youtube and Google to reinforce the topics your teacher taught you. Also, if possible, always enroll early and choose your teacher!! I love ratemyprofessor.com ! There is always great insight about the instructor and their teaching methods. The teacher makes all the difference!

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@prereqtaker89 really? 20hrs a week for an intro class? thats a lot!

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That's because we didn't have a lecture. Some may require more time and others less. Just depends on the student and how much info your teacher makes you accountable for.

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oh okay, that IS true! thanks for the info

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I finished Intermediate Algebra years and years ago and just finished College Algebra this summer. It was hard for me. My mistake was taking it in the summer and assuming that Intermediate Algebra concepts would just come to me. A lot of it did, but a lot of it I had to review, which took time away from what I needed to study. I didn't feel like Intermediate Algebra was too difficult, but the next class up, College Algebra was tough.

I recommend not taking ANY math or science classes in the summer or online; if you need to take summer classes, make it a history, government, or elective class. IMO, science and math are too big to cover in a mere 5 weeks; information is crammed and sometimes topics are dropped for the student to study on their own to save time. On top of that, nursing schools really look at your grades in the sciences, more so than others. So it's important to ace them. You'll need a solid foundation anyway when you continue to higher level nursing classes, unlike basket weaving. :)

Utilize the campus math tutor! If there was a topic I didn't fully understand, I dropped in to the tutor immediately after class while my question was still fresh in my head. Toward the end, I hired a tutor to help me prepare for the final. I got an A.

Utilize Mathway.com. This saved me so much time struggling through homework. Their basic service is free, but it's worth the $20 to get the upgrade that unlocks explanations and steps to your homework. Sometimes it explained it better than the book or teacher. Of course it's important to know how to do the problems, so it won't help you as a cheat; it'll show come test time.

Practice, practice, practice. I don't know if there is an easier way, but for me it took A LOT of practicing. With the help of Mathway, I got ahead in the homework so that I could focus on the tests (my teacher assigned WAY to much homework). This paid off in the end; I was focused on the final while my classmates were still struggling to finish the homework. I practiced the sample problems in the book over, and over, and over...

Utilize a white board. I snuck into an empty classroom and spent hours practicing math problems on the white board, and only wrote down the problem on paper once I got it right for review. It saved a lot of trees.

Although Khan Academy has tons of math videos, I found that many of them are too long and dry. It drives me crazy when he repeats himself for the 10th time on what he is doing. YouTube is a great tool to find smart people working out math problems at a fraction of the time. I love TechMath on YouTube!

It's been too long since I've taken Bio. I think it is best to take it before A&P or Microbiology.

Good Luck!

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I finished Intermediate Algebra years and years ago and just finished College Algebra this summer. It was hard for me. My mistake was taking it in the summer and assuming that Intermediate Algebra concepts would just come to me. A lot of it did, but a lot of it I had to review, which took time away from what I needed to study. I didn't feel like Intermediate Algebra was too difficult, but the next class up, College Algebra was tough.

I recommend not taking ANY math or science classes in the summer or online; if you need to take summer classes, make it a history, government, or elective class. IMO, science and math are too big to cover in a mere 5 weeks; information is crammed and sometimes topics are dropped for the student to study on their own to save time. On top of that, nursing schools really look at your grades in the sciences, more so than others. So it's important to ace them. You'll need a solid foundation anyway when you continue to higher level nursing classes, unlike basket weaving. :)

Utilize the campus math tutor! If there was a topic I didn't fully understand, I dropped in to the tutor immediately after class while my question was still fresh in my head. Toward the end, I hired a tutor to help me prepare for the final. I got an A.

Utilize Mathway.com. This saved me so much time struggling through homework. Their basic service is free, but it's worth the $20 to get the upgrade that unlocks explanations and steps to your homework. Sometimes it explained it better than the book or teacher. Of course it's important to know how to do the problems, so it won't help you as a cheat; it'll show come test time.

Practice, practice, practice. I don't know if there is an easier way, but for me it took A LOT of practicing. With the help of Mathway, I got ahead in the homework so that I could focus on the tests (my teacher assigned WAY to much homework). This paid off in the end; I was focused on the final while my classmates were still struggling to finish the homework. I practiced the sample problems in the book over, and over, and over...

Utilize a white board. I snuck into an empty classroom and spent hours practicing math problems on the white board, and only wrote down the problem on paper once I got it right for review. It saved a lot of trees.

Although Khan Academy has tons of math videos, I found that many of them are too long and dry. It drives me crazy when he repeats himself for the 10th time on what he is doing. YouTube is a great tool to find smart people working out math problems at a fraction of the time. I love TechMath on YouTube!

It's been too long since I've taken Bio. I think it is best to take it before A&P or Microbiology.

Good Luck!

Thank you so much for your advice! how much did you pay for you personal tutor and how many sessions with them to receive that score?

Intermediate algebra is the only math requirement but i may just take College algebra incase i apply to another that requires it! do you think your tutors at school helped at all? I may have to take 2 sciences in the summer to be able to apply for 2019, i think they will be Micro and intro to bio! :(

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Some colleges treat Intermediate Algebra as a remedial course and as a result, you do not get credit for it, yet you still have to take it if you are tested/placed into it. The class credit depends on your colleges; the one you're in AND the nursing school you are shooting for, so it is good to double check. That is what happened to me, I had to take College Algebra because my Intermediate Algebra didn't count. The nursing schools in my area require 6 credit hours of math, which ended up being 2 classes, College Algebra and Statistics.

Some colleges treat Statistics (if it is required for you) as a math OR as a psychology credit, but not both. Check on where Statistics stand for you, if it does.

I signed up with Mathnasium, a chain of math tutors in my area. My tutor was a retired Algebra II teacher (lucky me!). It was $65 per 1-hour private lesson. It was pricey for me, so I had to make it count. I reserved this time for test reviews and tricky homework problems that I thought were going to be on the test. I went to Mathnasium 3 times over a 2 week period. What was nice was that my tutor told me exactly where students get stuck on, ways that teachers 'trick' their students, and simple study tips and math hints. I was the only adult there (Mathnasium is geared for kids), but I didn't care, the help was welcomed.

The tutor on campus was great for simpler questions particularly in the beginning of the semester. They were also free. The downside was that the tutors are fellow students hired by the college, so you may get the 'how', but not the 'why', if that makes sense. They were able to help me with a problem, but I found that I still struggled in solving other problems similar to it. I also had to wait awhile for a tutor to become available. Toward the end, the tutors were also scratching their heads on tricky problems. The experience will probably be different for you, it a good idea to make yourself familiar with on campus tutoring. Intermediate Algebra should be perfect for on campus tutoring.

College Algebra caught me off guard, and I'm still scarred by it (LOL)! It felt more like Algebra II or Pre-Calculus; we were playing with the Quadratic formula early, then jumped into slopes of lines, secant lines, graphing parabolas, finding holes (which sounded so mysterious), solving logarithms, and ended it with solving matrices using Gaussian elimination. Everything I mentioned you can find on YouTube. Unfortunately I can't tell you if another math course, like business math would be easier or would transfer for you. I do think it is a good idea to take math back to back while the information is still fresh.

BTW, I took College Algebra during a 5-week summer semester and regretted it. I easily spent 10 hours a day doing homework and studying. It cost a lot of tutor money in the end. I didn't have a life, I had to put my job on hold, and it was my only class. Math is not my strongest skill, true, but I'm not THAT bad at it either. I really don't recommend science/math classes in the summer, I was SO stressed out. My math teacher said that summer classes are taught with the same number of hours as a regular semester, but the problem I found was that the students had less time to study or do the homework. He had assigned the same amount of work as a regular semester.

If you must take a summer science class here's what I recommend:

Only take one class, and don't get behind. Read ahead and do any homework ahead of time, if possible.

If you are given a test review, start working on it on day 2 of class. If the teacher does not give test reviews, make your own.

Buy your textbooks and print your syllabus before the class starts. You usually don't need the latest edition in whatever textbook your teacher is recommending; I worked off of a 1962 College Algebra book from the same author as the teacher recommendation; it had the EXACT sample problems and homework questions! The only difference was the page numbers were off by 28 pages (the updated forward, message from author, that kind of stuff). A lot of changes have happened in Biology since 1962, so you do need a newer textbook, perhaps the previous edition. This is a money saving tip.

If possible, see if you can purchase notes from another student who also took that class. You might run into them in the bookstore trying to sell their used textbook. If allowed, ask to purchase notes on a bulletin board. You can also check CourseHero.com if anyone posted their notes there. Check Quizlet if anyone made flashcards under your professor's name.

You can form a study group that meets after class and together work on homework or collectively ask the tutor for help. Usually what one person grasps, another lacks, so it works out.

Take the class in the morning so you have all day to study and you have the energy to do so; it is tempting to skip studying after a long day of work and sitting through an evening class...kinda like exercising; it is more convenient, but life gets in the way somehow!

I treat school the same as work; I have to be in by 8 am and leave by 5 pm. I bring my own lunch and snacks to save money and time looking for a place to eat. I give myself short breaks after working hard on something. If I don't understand a problem within 20 minutes of trying to do it on my own, I ask for help. This saves precious time.

For general study tips, I recommend watching on YouTube Thomas Frank's College Info Geeks. He has started a series on Crash Course about study skills. Crash Course also has concise, entertaining lectures on many science classes, including Biology.

I hope this helps!

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I took intermediate algebra in a 5 week winter session and earned a B. So study! Make a study schedule now throughout the semester and stick to it. I'm taking 2 math classes and 2 science courses this Fall so don't feel alone in this.

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I just finished Intermediate Algebra in an online 7 week class. Math is NOT my forte, but I was able to come out of the class with a 90 in it. I studied my ass off for that class and used Khan academy to study and mathway online to help me. If you can get over the thinking the class will be hard and embrace the concepts, you can do well in the class!

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