ASU- Summer/Fall 2016

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Hey everyone! I thought this would be a great place to talk about Applications, TEAS Questions/Scores, Titers, and just getting to know each other!! Which semester are you applying for? Questions? It'll be fun! :) Introduce yourself!!!

I am applying for the fall term downtown. I'm nervous but totally excited! :)

Hey guys! So a quick update that I thought would help ease everyone's stress. I talked to my advisor and she had told me that we actually should be finding out if we got in or not and which cohort as early as Monday or Tuesday! Who knows if they actually will but fingers crossed. We are almost to the end!

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NursingDevil, you are amazing!! That would be totally awesome if we found out that early! It would make sense as to why they wanted the confirmation emails done by noon. Thank you!! :)

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Anytime! :) Yeah I know. It may have been a bit troublesome for those who weren't checking their emails but they are still on track with telling us if we got in or not so the summer cohort will still have some time!

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Thanks for all the updates everyone! It's relieving to know the wait is almost over. I'm sure they're trying to give the summer applicants as much time as possible.

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Are there any fall students out there? I feel kind of alone in my cohort, haha. :cheeky:

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@surfsup95 I am! I feel the same way :bored:

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Hi guys! I'm a current Junior 1 at ASU, and I would love to answer some questions/concerns. However, keep in mind that there is going to be a curriculum change that starts either with the summer or fall cohort. I'm pretty sure they said it's starting in the fall, but I can't remember.

Textbooks. Honestly, I haven't done any of the required readings. I personally don't learn well from reading textbooks and all the information I needed was in the powerpoints. I do have almost all the books, but there are few that I have actually opened. I rented all of the books besides the Carpenito and Davis' Drug Guide. Health Promotion Throughout the Lifespan, Carpenito, Davis' Drug Guide, and Jarvis are absolute musts. Definitely buy Carpenito and the drug guide since we will be using them throughout the entire program. I've been told Health Promotion Throughout the Lifespan is needed in a future semester by a professor, but I'm not sure if we actually need it. You do need to buy SimChart, but I suggest waiting until school starts to buy it. I think most people buy a 1-year subscription at the beginning of Junior 1 and then another subscription at the beginning of Senior 1. Also, the access code is required! You'll need to have purchased that by either the first or second week of school.

Schedule. Lab is scheduled from 7am-4pm, but I haven't ever actually stayed that long for lab. We usually start at 8am and are done by 3pm at the latest. The reason they were able to shorten the lab time is because we complete Nursing Skills Online (NSO) modules, which is what the access code is for. The modules prepare you for the clinical skills you will be learning that day. I am not entirely sure if they will be keeping the same schedule that they have this semester, but currently we have NUR310 7:30-9:15 on MF, NUR312 10:30-12:20 on M, NUR311 7:30-10:15 on W, NUR330 10:30-1:15 on W, and then NUR320 on TTh with the time varying depending on the schedule. NUR330 was actually a hybrid course this semester. We only met for eight class periods, but do NOT miss any of them. If the same professor is teaching the course, you don't want to get on her bad side by missing class. You will feel her wrath. The gap between 310 and 312 sucks, but use that time wisely. Complete your NSOs or make the pharmacology flashcards (there are pre-made flashcards/study questions and they are amazing). Just find something productive to do or it really will be a complete waste of time.

Transportation. Personally, I drive to campus. I actually carpool from Gilbert with a friend. It only takes us around 30 minutes to get to campus most days. If you're driving, I suggest parking in East Garage. It's located on 5th St and Washington which is fairly close to Mercado, but it is around a 10-15 minute walk to NHI. It's SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper to park here, though. Several of my classmates take the lightrail to class and they have no problem with it! As for the campus shuttle, just be aware that it may break down. IF it does break down, ALWAYS notify the professor! They really do understand that things happen. I suggest finding a carpool buddy in your LC (learning community, basically your lab/clinical group of 10) so that you can ride to clinicals together and have a major jam session in the car to relieve some stress.

Good luck to you all! I hope you receive good news about your advancement this week! The wait definitely sucks, but it'll be worth it in the end. If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask!

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Wow, thanks aliashanika for all of that information!! :)

I do actually have one question for you, though. When you say there was a curriculum change, what do you mean by that?

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@aliashanika thank you so much for reaching out to this forum! This is a lot of useful information that will definitely help prepare us if we get in!

My question is: how do you feel about the workload and how much do you actually study? What is the difficulty scale and do you have any tips with studying?

Thank you so much once again!

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You're welcome! I know it can be hard to find things out about the program since the internet isn't very helpful for that. At least it wasn't when I tried last semester.

Okay so the curriculum change they haven't told us much about. All they've said is that they are moving more towards self-directed learning rather than just lecture.

Honestly the workload hasn't been that bad this semester. There were a couple weeks that were awful, but other than that it's pretty manageable. And by awful I mean a test or a project in every class, but as long as you can remember to just take it a day at a time, you'll be fine! I'm a huge flashcard person so I've made flashcards for all the exams. NUR310 (nursing concepts) is basically a fundamentals course. She teaches you how to do your head-to-toe assessment before you go to lab and actually do it. For exams, she gives you a "blueprint" that tells you what objectives you need to know and how many questions there are for each topic. This class is fairly easy as long as you know your stuff. NUR311 (pharm) has flashcards on blackboard that are already made. They pull all the exams from a test bank and these flashcards cover everything you need to know. Seriously, study the flashcards first. If you feel like you need more background on a certain class of drugs, then go look at the powerpoints. One thing that I have found that has helped a ton is picmonic. It's a website that shows these goofy pictures with an audio description, but they're really effective. NUR320 (lab) is where you're actually learning all the skills you need to know. Competencies are how you're tested on them. Basically you get a rubric/checklist the first day of the skill and it tells you what you need to perform and what the normals are. If you want to see what one looks like, they're all on the virtual SLR. If you google "ASU SLR," it's the first one that comes up. On the left side under "Simulation & Learning Resourse," there's a button for the virtual SLR. Click that! It has all the checklists. If you're going to look at one, I'd suggest the vital signs one since it's pretty straight forward. To study for these, I practiced with a family member and handed them my checklist so they could tell me what I missed. For two of the competencies, they actually let us have a 4x6 "courage card" in case we couldn't think of what to do next. The instructor for this class is absolutely amazing. She also teaches NUR312 (psychomotor skills). We didn't have exams in this class. She just did quizzes on med abbreviations and math for meds. There was one multiple choice quiz that we took at home, and there's one at the end of the semester that we haven't taken yet. NUR330 just has projects, discussions, and online quizzes! Just make sure to find a reliable group for the group projects and you'll have no problem getting an A in that class.

I'd probably rate the difficulty around a 6. I focused most of my studying on pharm because for me that is the hardest class of Junior 1. As long as you pay attention in 310 and know the objectives on the blueprint, you probably only need to spend a few hours studying. That class is pretty straight forward. Pharm is a whole different story, though. Find a study group and memorize the flashcards. You'll be asked application questions on the exams, but if you know the flashcards, you should know the answers to those questions.

The most important thing is to know how you study best. Remember that nursing school isn't just about memorization. You really need to know how to apply what you've learned. I hope I didn't just freak you out with all the class stuff. It really isn't as bad as it may seem! Just take it one day at a time and you'll succeed!

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Thank you, aliashanika! I couldnt agree more with you that it's hard to find this kind of information anywhere online. It's very much appreciated!

If I'm understanding you correctly, it sounds like with good time management and strong study skills and effort, its very doable but isn't too intense.

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Thank you so much for the details you provided and the website for the virtual SLR, aliashanika! It really does help me somewhat mentally prepare myself for what I should expect if I get in!

Overall, do you enjoy it and not have any regrets? Of course, as you said, there are stressful weeks but in your opinion has it been worth every step of the way?

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