Current WGU RN-to-BSN students: How does WGU feel to you?

klone, MSN, RN · Apr 22, 2014

Some classes have 3 or 4 tasks (usually a paper/essay of some sort, sometimes a powerpoint presentation or something else). Some classes have only 1-2 tasks.

Katie85 · Sep 6, 2014

How long are the papers? What's the most amount of pages they assign? Also, do they give multiple choice exams and are they difficult or fair.

featherzRN, MSN · Sep 6, 2014

Papers have a grading matrix - you need to hit all the points they want for each paper. The length is not really an issue as long as you can do that. My longest paper at WGU was about 16 pages - most were well under that.

Exams are generally multiple choice, SATA, matching, etc.. As to whether they are difficult or fair, only you can answer that. I didn't fail any, so I thought they were fine.

Read the other posts here - WGU works differently than a normal school - the tests and papers are 'finals' so to speak and judge your competency in a course - not 'assignments' that are given throughout the course as in a regular school. You could enter a class, do the papers immediately and pass the class if you are familiar with the material. Or you can work through the course of study.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Sep 6, 2014

How long are the papers? What's the most amount of pages they assign? Also, do they give multiple choice exams and are they difficult or fair.

My longest paper has been about 11 pages, but that particular assignment called for a recommended length of four to six pages.

The exams consist of a mixture of multiple choice and select all that apply. I have not yet failed any of their exams, but keep in mind that I know how to study independently. I know of others who have missed the passing cut score mark by only one or two questions. So, as the previous poster mentioned, "difficult" or "fair" is purely subjective and based on what you can do.

Katie85 · Sep 6, 2014

Ok. Thanks guys good to know. I'm strongly considering going there In a few months so I am trying to get every detail and question answered. I study/do my class work pretty well on my own and don't procrastinate, but I do have two kids under 2 at home. So that's why I want to realistically get a feel of how many papers there are and their length, as well as the structure and difficulty of exams. But once again thank you for clarifying. I really want to try and finish this program within 6 months.

Last question- what can you tell me about the biochemistry class. I think it's the only thing giving me anxiety about this program, especially because I haven't seen this class as a requirement in other schools. I'm not used to taking pure math or science classes online so anything chemistry-related scares me. I feel like I won't do well unless it's a live class.

Please be honest, don't tell me I'll be fine LOL. I want to know the best and worst part about this class. :) TIA.

klone, MSN, RN · Sep 6, 2014

Biochem was probably the hardest class in the program (IMO) but even then, it was doable. You just have to break it down into one step at a time.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Sep 6, 2014

Last question- what can you tell me about the biochemistry class. I think it's the only thing giving me anxiety about this program, especially because I haven't seen this class as a requirement in other schools. I'm not used to taking pure math or science classes online so anything chemistry-related scares me. I feel like I won't do well unless it's a live class.

DISCLAIMER: Math and science are my weakest subjects.

My RN-to-BSN program start date was May 1st and I had the biochemistry course completed by May 16. It reminded me more of an 8th-grade level science class than a college level course. Some of the tasks are very juvenile, such as using candy and toothpicks to create a saturated fat model, or using ribbon to create a model of hemoglobin.

Unless the course has changed, it consists of five PowerPoints that you create. You take pictures of the models that you create and upload them to the PowerPoint documents. Two of my tasks passed on the first submission, another two passed on the second submission, and another one passed on the third submission.

I finished the course in a couple of weeks because I completed absolutely none of the mindless busy work that appears in the course of study. There's seriously enough work in the biochemistry course of study to keep you occupied for a semester, so I skipped it all and just completed the tasks based on the rubrics provided in TaskStream.

If the TaskStream graders send your work back to you and ask you to redo it, it's no big deal. Just redo the part that they disliked and resubmit it promptly.

Katie85 · Sep 7, 2014

Wow thank you! You just made me feel a lot better. So would you recommend I take it as my first class to get it out of the way

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Sep 7, 2014

Wow thank you! You just made me feel a lot better. So would you recommend I take it as my first class to get it out of the way

I would work on a couple of courses at a time to keep from inadvertently falling behind on any one thing. Many people plan to immediately knock a class off the list, but end up spending a couple of months on it after becoming overwhelmed at all the busy work in the course of study.