A&P Online??

fleur-di-lis-RN2b · Apr 25, 2010

Jeweled,

I am currently at the end of AP1 online. I am taking it through my local community college because when I registered I was a little late and all the AP1 classes on campus were filled.

The course is difficult but it can be done. I had a solid A in the course, but last week slipped down a bit and I am borderline A/B now (too many deadlines and assignments with other classes, not on top of it like usual...blah!!)

It is a vast amount of information. Although I have an instructor, I am basically self teaching. Mostly my instructor provides the course outline, power point notes, and the testing and lab schedule. The rest is up to me. I am not joking when I say that I MUST study anywhere from 2-6 hours a day depending on how difficult the material is and if its my first time going through it. Some sections are plainly more difficult to understand than others. And like some teachers, she wants us to basically know the entire chapter! I often email her with questions, but I generally get back a pretty basic answer and I sincerely don't feel very much support from this person.

My best advice to study this course is this: study one section at a time until you feel completely comfortable with it before moving on to the next, since what you learn at the beginning of the chapter will be integrated with more complicated information later in the chapter. Time management skills are important as well. If you have a test in 10 days on a new module, break down what sections or chapters you will devote per day and study as much as you need to for that day with time to review before test day. I use youtube A LOT for concepts that are hard to understand on paper and in diagrams, such as DNA transcription and translation, and the Krebs cycle. It has been a lifesaver!

All of my lab was done at home, using a lab manual and cd roms. We were required to do a few at home experiements, but also much of the lab work was done on my own computer.

One work of caution. You must have a reliable internet source. You are responsible for having a backup plan should your electricity or internet go out, etc....so keep that in mind when test day comes around. In my class, if we miss an exam, we get a 0 unless its due to extenuating circumstances.

Hopefully, whatever your family situation is, they are supportive and give you the time you will need to devote to this! I am a single mom with 2 teenage daughters, so they aren't as needy as younger children. During the beginning of this course, I was working a full time schedule while juggling other courses. It was very stressful!

I hope this helps you and I don't want to discourage you....just wanted to be realistic in what you will be dealing with. This can be done, you just have to be willing to devote much of your time and effort into it. I figure the devotion and focus I am giving this course will prep me for the amount of devotion nursing school will require.

Good luck!!!

SingDanceRunLife · Apr 25, 2010

I'm taking A&P II online this summer through a community college near me (it was that or spend 2 hours in the car each day for 6 weeks, and I hate driving so...no thanks to that).

The professor seems exceeding nice. She answers emails quickly and thoroughly and has great reviews on ratemyprofessors.com so hopefully it'll work out okay.

dandk1997RN, MSN, RN · Apr 25, 2010

I'm finishing up a hybrid A&P II class online (most of my other classes have been online, too.) My experience is similar to that of FDL's, except I go to the school to take my exams and do my labs. I have a good professor who answers questions within a day or two, but aside from providing an outline, she does little in the way of teaching. I would prefer to take this class with a regular lecture (and boy, it would be great if she recorded her lectures and provided them as audio files!) It certainly isn't the worst situation in the world, but I'd like a little more direct info from the teacher. I'll be taking micro online this summer (with at-home lab) and it should be interesting to see how well that goes over. Good luck!

Jeweled · Apr 25, 2010

Thanks for your input!!!

I started taking A&P I online about 7 years ago, but had to withdraw from school for a few reasons. I did well, and I did have my lab component on-campus. I like online classes I guess for the same reason most folks do, the flexibility of it. At the time, I worked 3rd shift in a "slow" Emergency department and was fortunate enough to be able to study throughout most of my shift, lol. I did quite well and I'm upset that I wasn't able to finish the course and now will have to take it again. The thing that sucks most is that most of the schools here require you to take a General Biology course as a pre-req for A&P, and I'm quite annoyed by that, lol. Maybe I can speak with an Advisor to get that waived, especially being that I took probably 40% of the course already. At any rate, I digress.

My question was raised because I saw someone posting on another board that she was taking her pre-req's for nursing school basically entirely online, and she was taking them from a school that was NOT in her state. I wondered if that was a common practice.