Ccac/calu spring 2010

betty67 · Jan 28, 2010

BETTY,
i took my PAX test today, whew glad its over. i hope i did good. they said within two weeks i should get my results and then im taking my application straight down there and hand-delivering it. no chances/risks lol
Ill let you know what happens, i should know if i got accepted by mid-MAY (they said).....
but i do have a couple more questions for you so if you get the time to respond id greatly appreciate your advice anytime..
With nursing school, when you first start do they assign a hospital for where you will go? or how does this work exactly?
do you start in the hospital your first semester in nursing 101?
is lecture for nursing the same as lecture for micro or a&p? (just studying the material and getting tested? or is it different?)
How do you feel about the fast track program? (im not even sure if they have a fast track program at CALU or not) I of course want to get finished fast, and this is my last semester of classes i need to take. the only thing left is nursing classes...so im now contemplating options to take.
well thats all for now so ill talk to you soon...hope nursing school is going GREAT for you-A+++

I am glad you got the test out of the way! You start clinicals the 1st week of class, the 1st clinical you just get oriented to the hospital etc... You get assigned a hospital you don't get to pick a hospital. My group has 7 people in clinical we will be at the same hospital for the whole semester.

I don't think that CAL has a fast track. School is great! I love it even though I am still trying to get a handle on what will work best for me as far as studying goes. There is an incredible amount of reading!! We had something like 10 chapters to read for the 1st week!! Clinical is my favorite part!! (of course!) You go to clinical once a week I had my 2nd clinical this week I got assigned a patient for am care( bathing..etc...) I got to go with my patient for a procedure that they were having done & the Doctor doing the procedure was great about explaining what it was & what she was doing. The nurses and the aids are really great & helpful so far. Next week we get to do vitals!!

I am still getting a handle on what to expect in lecture. My teacher uses power points to lecture. You print them off and write notes or like me you get a net book and down load them and type notes onto the power point in your computer as she is talking. We had our 1st test today!! They ask the questions in NCLEX style. Basically choose the best answer usually there is more than 1 that is right. I will let you know more as I go on about what to expect in lecture. Like I said there is an incredible amount of reading, my feeling is that if you do all of the reading and review lecture you should do fine. But you have to remember nursing 101 is 8 credits so along with lecture you have skills lab to learn & practice your skills & you will be tested on that as well. My teacher in clinical assigns us homework, so there is that to do. It is a lot but it is great!! I love it so far even though most nights I am studying or reviewing or watching skills videos.... I will let you know how I did on my 1st lecture test!! The grading scale is more stringent than other college classes for example to get an "A" you have to get at least a 92% for a "B" you have to get at least a 84%.....etc..... Keep me posted on your application process!!! :nurse:

:stdnrsrck:

rebecca6890 · Jan 28, 2010

sounds great! keep up the good work, one day after we graduate and pass the N-CLEX, and we are finally working as nurses, we will remember how hard our struggles were before we got to where we are at that time. and you know, we are going to be so proud that we made it through...and besides WERE GONNA BE NURSES! We are going to finally become nurses someday!!! lol

when i think of working in a hospital and just working with patients, i get this happy, excited, and wonderful feeling about it all. i cant wait until we are at htat point in our lives!!! it's gonna be great!

THANK you again for the advice and all the details about class. i cant wait til may now, which is far away..hope it goes by quickly.... :)

talk to you soon girly...

P.S. hope you did great on your first test!

betty67 · Feb 12, 2010

Hi everyone it has been a little while since I have posted. It has been hectic & busy with school I love it!! Classes are going good! I have had 3 tests so far, the 1st one was rough! The class average was 17 out of 25. I was the average at 17. I did much better on my 2nd test and I got 100% on my 3rd test!! I am glad that this week is almost over, I have been snowed in most of the week, school was canceled for me including clinical due to the weather. The kids have also been off all of this week. We are going stir crazy!!! Even Jesse ( my 2yr old son) is sick of being cooped up!! I can't wait to get back to classes next week! Because of being off we have a lot to make up and we are having 3 tests next week. I have not been able to study much this week because of the kids being here with me 24/7. It is especially hard to study with the 2yr old always under foot & he has been sick this week too, so he needed a lot of extra cuddling & hugs too. Anyway I just wanted to say Hi! I'll post again soon. :nurse:

Betty

rebecca6890 · Feb 14, 2010

Betty,

Hello beautiful! Im so glad to hear that you are doing really welll with your classes! And hope your little one gets better!! My son who is 10 months got sick too. I think i got sick then passed it to him!! So like you said its been a crazy hectic week! We lost power for a whole week on top of everything too!!!

I got my Pax Rn results and i got overall 92 percentile, which i hear is really good so atleast i PASSED and i submitted my application last week. I made sure everything was in there and IM CROSSING MY FINGERS!!! I changed my mind, i chose SOUTH-DAY as my 1st choice and SOUTH-EVENING as my 2nd. The application did not have a line for CALU and i wasnt sure why. so i just put a star and wrote "I will also go to CALU if possible" which they probably wont even read it but whatever, ill go to either one. but i really want SOUTH-DAY. If i get in and i also get SOUTH-DAY i am going OUT and CELEBRATING IT CRAZY!!! i will just be the happiest person alive! lol :lol2: They said ill know Mid may if i get in or not..it seems way tooooo far away!!!

classes are tough this semester but very interesting. i am in micro which isnt too bad. i have commisso and he seems pretty straight forward..im also in A & P2 which i LOVE. its hard but once you understand what is actually happening with your body its neat to learn.!!! You know how people always say (exspecially teachers) "you'll get what you put into this"...how if you really wana learn the material, and if you take the time to learn it, in the long run it will be extremely beneficial....well thats what i keep telling myself. gotta learn all this so i know it when im a nurse! lol

Well just giving you my little update and its good to know your doing excellent!!! wish you all the best! talk with you soon!

rebecca:redbeathe

P.S. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

betty67 · Feb 22, 2010

Betty,
Hello beautiful! Im so glad to hear that you are doing really welll with your classes! And hope your little one gets better!! My son who is 10 months got sick too. I think i got sick then passed it to him!! So like you said its been a crazy hectic week! We lost power for a whole week on top of everything too!!!
I got my Pax Rn results and i got overall 92 percentile, which i hear is really good so atleast i PASSED and i submitted my application last week. I made sure everything was in there and IM CROSSING MY FINGERS!!! I changed my mind, i chose SOUTH-DAY as my 1st choice and SOUTH-EVENING as my 2nd. The application did not have a line for CALU and i wasnt sure why. so i just put a star and wrote "I will also go to CALU if possible" which they probably wont even read it but whatever, ill go to either one. but i really want SOUTH-DAY. If i get in and i also get SOUTH-DAY i am going OUT and CELEBRATING IT CRAZY!!! i will just be the happiest person alive! lol They said ill know Mid may if i get in or not..it seems way tooooo far away!!!
classes are tough this semester but very interesting. i am in micro which isnt too bad. i have commisso and he seems pretty straight forward..im also in A & P2 which i LOVE. its hard but once you understand what is actually happening with your body its neat to learn.!!! You know how people always say (exspecially teachers) "you'll get what you put into this"...how if you really wana learn the material, and if you take the time to learn it, in the long run it will be extremely beneficial....well thats what i keep telling myself. gotta learn all this so i know it when im a nurse! lol
Well just giving you my little update and its good to know your doing excellent!!! wish you all the best! talk with you soon!
rebecca:redbeathe
P.S. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Hi Rebecca! I am so glad to hear that you passed the PAX and did really well too!! Congrats on getting a great score. I am glad that your classes are going well. I am sure that you will do just fine and get into the program for fall. I know that you will!! I definitely agree that you get out of learning the material what you put into it! You seem very committed & you will do great because of that! I had a great week last week even though we had 3 tests. It went great! I am doing better with testing as I go along and right now I have a "B" over all which I am happy about! I hope to keep it up. I am always striving for an "A", but I don't know that I will get "A" in the class from what I am told it is very difficult to get an "A". I will keep striving and continue to do my best. We had a test on abbreviations this past week. If you want to be ahead of the game you may want to start learning medical abbreviations we had to learn about 80 or so abbreviations. The test was only on 20 of them. (I missed 1) If you want to practice abbreviations I have the list and a test that I made up for myself to study from. Let me know and I will e-mail it to you or post it on here as an attachment.

I hope that you had a great valentines day! Thanks for the info about commiso, I have him 1st summer for micro! I will talk to you soon! Take Care!...............Betty:nurse:

:stdnrsrck:

rebecca6890 · Feb 23, 2010

yeah Betty the list would be awesome! Thank you so much! if you ever get anything you think that will be useful please send it to me!

my email is [email protected] or you can post on here, which ever i check both....

Starkyss · Feb 23, 2010

Hi Ladies! I just noticed this forum today, but I hope you are all doing well so far!

I just graduated from Cal/CCAC in December and I have tons and tons of notes typed up from the past two years if any of you would like me to send them to you as extra study material. I sent them to most of my classmates at the time because I was able to attain more info typing than they could writing.

I know that the first semester is super overwhelming... there is just soo much stuff to learn! Not only do you need to acquaint yourself with the hospital and how that setting works, but you have to learn words you've never heard before and then you have to learn how to apply them to things you've never seen. It's difficult stuff, but I promise it gets easier and the workload gets lighter. I know my biggest problem was keeping my due dates in order and finding some way to organize myself that made sense! I would bring my stethoscope on lab day when we didn't need it and would forget my lab book on days we did. I was a mess for a while!

Good luck in your endeavor, it will be worth it. If you would like any of my materials or even just to chat or vent :) Don't hesitate to e-mail me at [email protected]

betty67 · May 6, 2010

Well the 1st semester is over!! It was great but nerve racking at times, thankfully most of us made it! Looking forward to a great summer and I can't wait to start NRN 102 in the fall!!!