Any tips for those of us taking Micro?

I have heard some pretty scary stories about microbiology. Do you have any tips from your micro class that could help a fellow nursing student out?

Thanks :)

[Krystal_loves_babies]

I'm taking Micro in the fall, and I have already talked to the professor about how hard the class was going to be. His advice was to record the lectures and listen to them again and to spend a lot of time in the lab. He said that figuring out the unknowns in lab is the most difficult part. So Good Luck!!!

[Fun2, BSN, RN]

I took MicroSUX! in an 8-week maymester/summer 1 course, and finished with an A.

It is a hard class, but I enjoyed the lab. I did record the lectures, do study questions the instructor provided, answered the questions at the end of the chapters, and made sure I could answer the objectives at the beginning of the chapters.

I went in extra days to run test on my unknown, and made a 96 on my journal we had to keep.

Just study as much as time will allow, and do your best.

Good luck! :)

[crb613, BSN, RN]

God bless you! I hated Micro, my instructor was horrible, we had no open lab time at all, I thought I would die before it was over. I might have liked the class if we had a decent instructor.......I guess I just associate micro w/instructor & shiver every time I hear the word. I got a B in the class & was darn proud of it! so if yours can teach at all you should be ok.Good Luck! :)

[zoxena&Alexis]

i have heard some pretty scary stories about microbiology. do you have any tips from your micro class that could help a fellow nursing student out?

thanks :)

study! study! study! the lab portion is fun/gross all in one. lecture, well it's micro and you just have to study for it like you did your a&p. but i will warn you, once you get into nursing school, forget about that way of studying and welcome to a whole new world known as the "gray area." what i mean by that is you have 4 answers, 2 are obviously wrong, however 2 are correct, one of them however is just the better answer than the other.

[penny07]

Micro was probably my favorite pre-req! I loved that class. I also had an excellent teacher, which I'm sure made the difference. Good luck!

[WhitDogg19]

Out of all my pre-req's, micro was probably my favorite (although it ran a close second to Organic - YEAH RIGHT! :rotfl: ). The class itself is very interesting, however you are right, identifying the unknowns can be extremely difficult.

All I have to say is be sure to go to a number of sources to look at pictures of the various microbes (online, other books, journal articles, etc), and when the class is looking at various organisms, be sure to go around the room to get a look at all the examples in the room. The reason being, is that depending on the sample, the same microbe can look just slightly different in two different situations. Think of it like chicken pox - you can look at two people who obviously have the chicken pox, but one person might have a really mild case, with tiny red bumps and not much irritation, while another person might have a really bad case with them everywhere, and really itchy! :angryfire It can get kind of confusing, but spending the extra time in lab and looking at tons of examples will help a LOT! :plonker2:

Also, take a lot of time on your labs. It will help you to really understand the information. Plus, your lab grades will really help bring your grade up if you take the time to do them well!

Good luck!

[Alloramadai]

I loved Micro, but had two really great instructors that made it enjoyable. I used my laptop to take notes, but a good portion of our lecture was sketches and drawings....you really need a pad of paper to add that information into the notes. Also, take your time in lab. Just because others are leaving doesn't mean they have done the lab correctly and gained the knowledge. Spending the time learning how to look through a microscope, sketching the pretty things you see through the microscope (don't forget descriptive terms like colors you see, size, identifying features) shows the instructor you're attempting to learn. We also compared what we saw to something in every day life (a bunch of grapes, pebbles on a beach) really helped me out.

Good luck! You'll be amazed at what you learn.

[hula nurse]

I have heard some pretty scary stories about microbiology. Do you have any tips from your micro class that could help a fellow nursing student out?

Thanks :)

I took Micro this summer and did not like it too much. I had a hard time relating to the subject matter until the end of the class when we were discussing diseases of the body, etc. The only thing I can tell you is to study your notes! Try the best you can to look at them at least one hour a day, that way the information stays in your head for long term memory. Do your best and I'm sure you will be fine! Good luck!

[boomerfriend]

I took Micro last semester and finished with a hard-earned "A". My teacher was from India and she would pronounce words with an English accent. So, we all spent time just trying to understand what the heck she was saying, then figuring out...what she was saying!

Take lots of notes, take your time in lab, do Google Images searches, get a good study partner and try and enjoy it. I had a friend change her major after taking Micro because she loved it so much. She's now majoring in Lab Technology.

One tip: if your specimen tubes don't screw on or have a sealed cap, be VERY careful when you mix the contents. We had a gal shake her tube (up and down) and she spilled E. coli all over the lab table, her lab notebook and nearby papers. Within two weeks everyone at the lab table (all four people) were sick with one illness or another. Of course, our instructor had warned everyone of this but she didn't listen or understand. The gal eventually dropped the class. Go figure.

[dave1117]

Lab ws cool lectured was tough. Took it last summer not to deal with it and nursing at the same time. Ended with an A but studyed all summer. to many words you have never heard of and will probably never use again. The concept of Glycolosis and the Electron Transport cycle are cool but way to complicated. Be prepared for some sleepless nights...

Good Luck, dave :)

[LindseyLou2222, RN]

Wow Thanks, I am writting all these tips down!