ccac boyce fast track

Nursing Students Student Assist

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Hi everyone. I have been on this site thousands of times and still cant find an answer!! I am taking my PAX within a month or so and applying to CCAC boyce fast track for spring 2012. The nursing department is not helpful. What was or is your scheduale? I know it starts in Jan with 101, then 102, etc. What I wanted to know is how many hours are you in class (lecture lab) what day/time.... and how many days/nights are you in clinical for each class. I still work full time and I am a single mom. I didn't know if I can handle the "scheduale" for the fast track, or if I should wait for fall and space it out a bit. Thanks!!

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Chloe,

I just finished the first semester of the fast track at Boyce.

Scheduling gives you a few options that you have to do a lottery for. So I'll break them down as best I know.

Lecture on Tuesdays 4-7 or 7-10

Lab for 3 hours either on Wednesday or Thursday depending on what you select.

Clinical for 8 hours on Wednesday or Thursday from 3-11, or Saturday from 7-3.

So its 3 hours Lecture, 3 hours Lab, 8 hours clinical per week.

Thats 101

102 is summer, 12 weeks of 3 hours lecture and 3 hours Lab on Tuesdays. 10 hour clinical one day (could be day, or night depending on how you draw in the lottery)

202 Fall - Not sure of the full details, but Lecture will be at least 3 hours (Probably Tuesdays) and then they increase you to 2-10 hour clinical shifts.

Probably very similar for 204

205 is the capstone, and you pair up with an RN and do 5 straight weeks of 40 hours clinical per week.

You can see from this breakdown, working through this makes a tough program tougher. Its when you get to 205 and you're doing 40 hours a week of clinical.. well... you get the idea.

Pax test. A few things to that.

1, get the study guide recommended by the NLN. Thats the red covered book from their website, but also available at Borders.

Anything else will probably make things worse.

2. Get that study guide and make sure you hit the Physics module HARD. Nobody can explain why this is important in nursing, but everyone I talked to, and I, had a LOT of wave, frequency, amplitude questions on the Pax. If you have finished your Anatomy classes, that will help. Break out a biology book and review the basic structure of a cell, organelles and functions.

The math portion you can't use a calculator, so they can't throw anything terribly complicated at you. The math section in the review book was a good primer.

The reading comprehension and English section.. well.. you can't memorize all 700 terms or so from that book. Its reading comprehension, and they ask you to give a definition based on the context of the passage. When it came to this section, time management was key. Beyond that I don't even know how to tell someone to study for this part.

Here's the last thing. I just got this from my clinical instructor, who was let go, because Boyce isn't getting enough qualified candidates applying. Not enough people are passing the Pax test for them to meet their roles.

It is NOT an impossible test. It is not a cakewalk, but its not impossible.

If you pass, apply and you should get your choice. I've heard they extended the application deadline for Fall. If you dont pass every section with a 50, talk to them anyway. I've also been told they are accepting lower scores because of the low application count.

Hope that helps. If ya want more detail, just write back.

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Thank you so much. I have been calling the nursing dept at boyce, with no return calls! The advisors are idiots wrapped in morons, always conflicting info from them : (

I figured by the time I get to 205 I would have to quit my job, but at that point, it is more or less the home stretch. I have the old NET books, should I put those to the side? I have a PAX study guide, but not one with a red cover. What site did you get it? I just passed (last night) my A&PII final. Over the course of the semester, I have lost most of my classmates that were hoping to move on to the NRN classes, so I literally have NO ONE to talk to about this stuff. I feel so lost and unprepared. I cant thank you enough for the insight. I know it is not set in stone, but as a single mom, it gets tough to juggle. Feel free to keep me updated. Hope your first semester went well and good luck : )

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I tried looking on borders site, and dont see a red cover. Can you give me the ISBN? Thanks, tracy

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