Western Governors University (WGU) Readiness Assessment

[TheCommuter]

Western Governors University (WGU) is an increasingly popular online school because it offers various features that appeal to adult learners. Some of these appealing features include very affordable tuition, nonprofit status, multiple choices of majors and concentrations, legitimate accreditation, and an innovative competency-based model that facilitates swift degree completion.

Since WGU is designed for the adult learner who already possesses some experience with coursework at the college level, prospective students are not required to take the traditional collegiate entrance exams such as the SAT or ACT. Instead, the school requires all applicants to take and pass the WGU Readiness Assessment, which is an unproctored online exam that assesses a potential student's academic preparedness for university-level coursework. This assessment should not be taken lightly because applicants who do not pass it will not be admitted. The WGU Readiness Assessment is broken up into four separate sections. Prospective students may start with any section they choose.

Language Test

The language portion is a multiple choice exam that determines the applicant's skill level in essential topics such as reading comprehension, grammatical usage and writing. The test taker will need to answer questions after reading paragraph-long passages, select the one grammatically correct sentence out of four or five selections, and know the difference between passive and active voice. This portion contained about 30 questions and had a two hour time limit.

Math Test

The math portion is a multiple choice exam that assesses the applicant's skill level in basic topics such as arithmetic, estimation, and graphs. The test contains several word problems and perhaps one or two elementary algebraic questions. The test taker will need to be familiar with topics such as fractions, decimals, percentages, probability, absolute value, integers, plotting lines on graphs, answering word problems, symbols, the order of operations, and prealgebra. This portion contained about 20 questions and had a two hour time limit.

Admissions Inventory

This portion has an assortment of questions to help assess whether online learning is a suitable option for the prospective student. Some people learn independently with ease while others desperately need the structure of a brick-and-mortar classroom with a professor directly in front of them for guidance. This section of the WGU Readiness Assessment assists in determining if the prospective student has the self-motivation, tools and prior experiences to perform satisfactorily in online learning.

Essay Exam

Prospective students must write an essay on a randomly selected topic. Since WGU's academic programs involve numerous essay submissions, this portion of the readiness assessment examines the applicant's writing skills. Essays with less than 200 words or more than 800 words are disallowed, so the test taker must carefully monitor this aspect while writing. It is permissible to type the paper elsewhere before pasting it onto the exam. The benefit of copying/pasting is that it allows the test taker to run a spell check and word count before submitting. WGU's website advises applicants to set aside up to one hour to type and submit their essays.

RESOURCES

Guide to the WGU Readiness Assessment

[featherzRN, MSN]

In my opinion the course was more tedious than anything. I passed the course in a couple of weeks and suspect that a true biochem class at a brick-and-mortar university would have had a greater degree of difficulty.

I guarantee it. I have pointed out on the other group that both stats and biochem would be MUCH harder if not done with a 'healthcare' focus and done at a B&M. I did start a biochem course at a regular college once in a previous lifetime and dropped it within the first week.

[zcoq72mehs]

thank you, TheCommuter.

I appreciate your thorough information in regard to sharing your experiences with WGU. Please feel free to create a thread in your profile regarding the process. WGU seems very unique in its approach to the BSN degree and thus seems confusing to me, especially the process of study materials.

I am old-school i suppose, and I am used to reading books and lecture notes wherein i tear apart the information--I suppose I am a visual-kinesthetic learner as I can sit in a lecture and not remember a word spoken (my auditory memory is atrocious). I am usually so busy writing down the notes that I cannot take the time to 'remember'/process any information. I probably remember 5% of what I hear but I am able to filter out any auditory information, at will, that does not have emotional connotation or an immediate associative connection.

I agree that WGU's biochemistry is probably less vigorous than a traditional brick and mortar biochem class, and I am actually glad for that. First, I have learnt that much of the prerequisitive information/studies for nursing is irrelevant to the degree itself as it relates to clinical application. Some schools do have a specific chemistry class for nursing wherein it focuses more on clinical relevancy, just skimming the core chemistry that is in traditional college chemistry courses, and instead the course focuses more on acid-base, electrolytes, and biochemistry that is related to allied health/nursing--those courses are refreshing but rare.

Biochemistry is a very deep and expansive subject and IMO one could take 3 or more years to study and learn 75% of the matter.

I am curious to know more specifics in regard to the biochemistry course offered at WGU. Is there a core text they use, and if so, which text?

I realize they probably offer online text/pdfs and possibly videos, but I believe I would be best served by a text considering my lack of fundamental chemistry and biochemistry knowledge.

There is a fundamental course on biochemistry called 'biochemistry visually in 24 hours' at BioChemistry Visually in 24 Hours and they also offer one for chemistry: High School Chemistry in 24 Hours - Online Video Course for Honors, GCSE and Basic Chemistry Study Guide and I imagine that course would provide the fundamentals that may be useful for WGU.

There is also some 'free' biochemistry courses online from major universities, but I feel they are too deep for what we 'need' to know as it relates to an undergraduate nursing degree.

Thinkwell offers very good courses on mathematics and chemistry but I feel the chem is not specific to allied health and may be too comprehensive, but nonetheless seems to be a good course on general chemistry:

Online Chemistry Course | Try College Chemistry Free from Thinkwell

Thank you, TheCommuter, for sharing your experience with WGU. I would love to have a mentor for WGU, especially as it relates to the specific courses and also the writing process for nursing research papers, in particular. I have been looking for a compendium of undergraduate nursing essay/research papers as I learn best by analyzing and tearing apart information, but I have been unsuccessful in finding such a resource; I have not been in school for about 25years now, since graduating from an associate in science, registered nursing program, and back then I could go to the university of california, riverside, and I could use the card catalog and a periodical and newspaper database and then go directly to the resources (sometimes microfiche); this made research extremely straightforward/simple, but I do not have access to such a database anymore, and I have learnt that it can be very difficult/laborious and inefficient nowadays as I have heard of ppl waiting 2-3wks just to receive a copy of an article/resource they may want to use in their paper/essay; i feel that is not a proficient way to go about writing essays for an online nursing degree like that which is offered at WGU

I passed Biochemistry last week. Tasks 1 and 2 passed on the second attempt, task 3 passed on attempt number three, and tasks 4 and 5 passed with the first and only submission.

In my opinion the course was more tedious than anything. I passed the course in a couple of weeks and suspect that a true biochem class at a brick-and-mortar university would have had a greater degree of difficulty.

[zcoq72mehs]

Yes, learning statistics, esp. as it relates to nursing, does not seem straightforward.

MathTutorDVD offers a statistics course bundle Statistics Course Bundle -- Save 20%! and each individual course may be viewed via the left-hand navigation system:

The Probability and Statistics Tutor -- 10 Hour Course

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Mastering Statistics - Vol 2Probability Distributions

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I do not think (but i could be wrong) the third volume may be necessary for an undergraduate degree course in stats.

I have not been able to find anything else that may assist in understanding statistics at an elementary level that may be appropriate in our case, but there are also a couple of online free courses from major universities, and there is also an application from a guy in the UK that is interactive that seems to teach the fundamentals in a more visual, straightforward way.

thank you for sharing.

I guarantee it. I have pointed out on the other group that both stats and biochem would be MUCH harder if not done with a 'healthcare' focus and done at a B&M. I did start a biochem course at a regular college once in a previous lifetime and dropped it within the first week.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I am curious to know more specifics in regard to the biochemistry course offered at WGU. Is there a core text they use, and if so, which text? I realize they probably offer online text/pdfs and possibly videos, but I believe I would be best served by a text considering my lack of fundamental chemistry and biochemistry knowledge.

WGU's biochemistry is not the type of course for which you'd read a textbook or study in a traditional sense. The course consists of five tasks, and you will pass the course if you can satisfactorily complete these five tasks.

I did not read any textbooks or 'study' in the traditional sense for this class. I basically cut to the chase and completed the tasks based on the instructions and rubric provided, and I passed the class within a couple of weeks.

It appears that I would have spent an entire six month term if I had done all the other busy work associated with the course. And like you, I do not have a strong scientific background and have never taken a college level chemistry course previously.

[smartnurse1982]

My recruiter told me that Rn to Bsn students did not have to take the readiness assessment exam.

That was after i had taken it though.

He said it was for people who never went to college.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Smartnurse, why do you think you failed it, and they told you you passed it anyway?

[Grad 2020, BSN, RN]

Can anyone share with me the code to wave the application fee?

[MyCall2Nsg]

Quite helpful, thanks for keeping us in the know!

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Can anyone share with me the code to wave the application fee?

The referral code to wave the $65.00 application fee is WAV2. Good luck to you!

[MyCall2Nsg]

Any pointers on how to prepare for the following classes: Biochemisty, College Maths, Clinical Mico and Statistics. I will be starting at WGU on August 1st in the RN to BSN program and there are the CUs that I am the most anxious about.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Any pointers on how to prepare for the following classes: Biochemisty, College Maths, Clinical Mico and Statistics.

Biochemistry: There's no way to prepare or study for this course in a traditional sense. You simply complete the five PowerPoint tasks according to the rubric in order to pass the course. I completed the course in less than three weeks and I do not even have a strong scientific background.

College Mathematics: I was exempt from taking this course because my AS degree satisfied WGU's math requirement. Keep in mind that I have never taken a college-level math course before, so I was quite pleased that WGU was not requiring me to take this course. Math is my weakest subject.

Clinical Microbiology: I was exempt from taking this course because I took and passed it while attending the LPN-to-RN bridge (AS) degree program.

Statistics: I have not taken this course, but will have to take it to fulfill one of my requirements for WGU's BSN degree. From what others have said, there's absolutely no math or calculations in this course. According to others, it is purely about concepts and theories surrounding healthcare statistics.

[MyCall2Nsg]

Thanks...I submitted an appeal for micro, I've already taken and passed it in my diploma program as well.