Published Feb 20, 2007
juicy_jade
44 Posts
I am a prenursing student and am in my 1st semester back in school in 7 years.
This time around, I am taking school seriously and feel blessed just to have the opportunity to go to school.
I am having a few issues in A&P 1 and went to the library and checked out children's books on biology and chemistry and have also visited websites that people on this forum have been kind enough to post.
However, when other people talk of the trouble they are having I show them my books I checked out and tell them to come check out allnurses.com. A couple of people laughed at me and said "What, do you sit around and chat about bones all day?"
But I know I will be laughing at the end of the semester.
HeartsOpenWide, RN
1 Article; 2,889 Posts
First of all. Congrats on going back to school! Just ignore people like this. When I took Physio I bought the "Physiology for Dumb-Dumbs" and the "Anatomy Coloring Book" and I got A's in Both classes. I think that it is good that you are going out side the text to get a better understanding of things. Even if they are "children's books" baby steps right? I had a friend "dumb down" the inflammatory response for me this weekend in Pathophysiology. "The common pathway is like a police officer that pulls a person over (or bacteria) and the alternative pathway is when the cop (phagocyte) is not there and the speeder (bacteria) goes until it crashes and makes smoke from the accident (chemotasis) and then the cops see it and goes to the wreck by following the smoke (phagocytes 'sniff' the bacteria out and attack)...and other dorky analogies to make me understand" Once I got the simple kid version, it was easier for me to understand the confusing text book. People like to act like they know ever thing, but I bet they are just too proud to admit that you have better study habits. And if they do not know it now, they will.
Multicollinearity, BSN, RN
3,119 Posts
You've got to do what you've got to do. And you are correct about who will have the good grade at the end of the semester. That is all that matters.
Chemistry was hard for me last semester. I ended up getting a middle-school chemistry book to help me out at the beginning of the class. Guess who got the A?
Keep at it!
stpauligirl
2,327 Posts
I am a prenursing student and am in my 1st semester back in school in 7 years. This time around, I am taking school seriously and feel blessed just to have the opportunity to go to school.I am having a few issues in A&P 1 and went to the library and checked out children's books on biology and chemistry and have also visited websites that people on this forum have been kind enough to post. However, when other people talk of the trouble they are having I show them my books I checked out and tell them to come check out allnurses.com. A couple of people laughed at me and said "What, do you sit around and chat about bones all day?"But I know I will be laughing at the end of the semester.
Please don't let anyone discourage you. You do whatever it takes! There is nothing wrong with finding explanations in sources that simplify difficult concepts. The text in our books is sometimes poorly written, our A&P teacher didn't like our book and would refer us to different sources. I need stuff translated into "English" and a kid book does this perfectly at times.
For example I went to a website that had "bloodtyping" set up like a game. It had such cute animation which made is so much fun and my 9 year old son even looooved it and was competing with me who goes first!!!! He learned bloodtyping faster than I
I was "criticised" by some classmates for spending "too much time" in the study labs but guess what???? I made the A's and they didn't.
Keep up the good work. Good luck and I will be her for you if you like "to chat bones" !
MB37
1,714 Posts
I got made fun of by a couple of girls in A&P I for "actually making flashcards." They snidely told me it was a waste of my time, since they had heard that he curves our grades at the end of the semester, plus offered extra credit that you only had to show up for. This wound up being true, but the curve only raised grades 1% and the extra credit was offered only while I was at work. I already had my A and didn't have to worry about any of it.
catzy5
1,112 Posts
ahhh yes the lovely curve, I hate the curve and think its a useless tool, if a teacher curves I try to stay out of that class there is a reason for it and from my experience it is typically due too them not being able to teach tests being so hard very few could ever actually pass it. I took Chemistry last semester and had a 90.1 for my final grade however he did curve and an A was 83 to 100 however only 2 people including myself got an A the majority of the class got a C everyone a curve in my opinion just does not help.
I don't ever want to depend on one. It might raise your grade significantly or it might not, but I'd rather work my tail off for the best actual grade I can earn, and if I get a little help from a curve so be it.
Galore
234 Posts
As long as you get the grades, who cares what means you used to achieve them? I have a feeling you will be laughing in the end. Sometimes students have made comments about my typed up notes or whatever, but I know what I need to do in order to pass and usually it is just friendly teasing or jealousy on their end.
Consider the source of this laughing. It is quite juvenile and harkens back to junior high and high school. The one who earns the best grades and engages with his or her studies most will go the farthest and have the last laugh.
GeneralJinjur
376 Posts
I wouldn't worry what silly people say. I also use children's books and websites to learn processes that are giving me trouble. Last semester, I did a project on the endocrine system (in Psychology, but I was happy to use my A&P knowledge). I had to include a couple of links and out of all the information I found, the best explanation was a children's website. Often, the children's versions of these scientific principles give me a basic overview better than our uber-technical textbooks do. That and reading the chapter highlights at the end before diving into the techical mumbo-jumbo. That helps, too.
I found an excellent "kid" version explanation of the Immune system, which was such a huge monster because our teacher went really deep into it...they had the cutest T-cells and B-cells macrophage cartoon pictures which made it easier to remember what they all did etc. It just really summed it up nicely and helped me understand the big picture.
Well...we took our first test today.....
I passed at least, but the instructor said that on this test that a 70 is just like getting an A if that tells you how hard this test is.
I did notice, however, that the students that were laughing before were not laughing when we got our grades back. :rotfl: