Easiest and Toughest Classes In UT Arlington RN-BSN Program

Nursing Students Texas (UTA)

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I am looking to double up on nursing classes while in the RN-BSN program. I realize that it might be wiser to take certain classes alone and not double up. This thread is for everyone enrolled in the RN-BSN program to discuss which classes are the most/least difficult.

Specializes in As an aid: Med/surg, neuro, cardiac.

Ok, right now I'm taking Holistic Health Assessment and Health Promotion together. Neither one is really hard, in my opinion, and I currently have A's, but Assessment in particular is time consuming and I'm finding it hard to get everything done on time while also working full time (non-nursing job). If I want to finish by December, I'll have to take Research and Care of Vulnerable Population together. I've heard Research is hard, and that both of these are time consuming, so I'm concerned that won't be a realistic option if I'm still working full time. Ultimately, school comes before work, so I can actually get a nursing job. What do you guys think?

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Ok, right now I'm taking Holistic Health Assessment and Health Promotion together. Neither one is really hard, in my opinion, and I currently have A's, but Assessment in particular is time consuming and I'm finding it hard to get everything done on time while also working full time (non-nursing job). If I want to finish by December, I'll have to take Research and Care of Vulnerable Population together. I've heard Research is hard, and that both of these are time consuming, so I'm concerned that won't be a realistic option if I'm still working full time. Ultimately, school comes before work, so I can actually get a nursing job. What do you guys think?

Also in the same boat. I am looking at taking research and vulnerable population together in the 1st half of summer. This leaves me with just capstone. I am currently taking leadership and holistic health assessment. I am managing A's in both classes while also working full time and buying a new home n addition to moving all within the last two weeks. But even with all this i am still hesitant on taking research and vulnerable populations together.

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I have all of the nursing classes left to take, except for Prof A&B. Which classes would you suggest I take together so I may finish my degree earlier than I would if I took them one at a time?

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what was your best schedule? or what things worked together for you? I just finished Prof Nursing A/B and I only have nursing classes left.

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Also in the same boat. I am looking at taking research and vulnerable population together in the 1st half of summer. This leaves me with just capstone. I am currently taking leadership and holistic health assessment. I am managing A's in both classes while also working full time and buying a new home n addition to moving all within the last two weeks. But even with all this i am still hesitant on taking research and vulnerable populations together.

Research is beyond awful. I had a decent group and easily spent 40 hours a week on it. I felt that vulnerable was ok, but the week 2 assignment took me about 28 hours. So, if you can call out of work that week, that's what I would do.

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Assessment is easy but time consuming and requires great detail.

Research is awful. Just awful. With a good group you are looking at 30 hrs/week of work up to 50+ with a bad group. There are many bad groups.

Week 2 in vulnerable is tricky but the class is easy overall.

Easiest: health promotion, holistic health of the adult.

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How is Health assessment? Is it the assignment part that is hard or the quizzes. What are the strategies to passing this course?

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Specializes in As an aid: Med/surg, neuro, cardiac.

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Specializes in As an aid: Med/surg, neuro, cardiac.

Sara, there's not a whole lot you can take concurrently with Prof A&B because you have to finish that in order to take any of the other NURS courses. You could take it with Medical Terminology, though. That class is super easy. Four tests, no other assignments. If you still need any academic courses or Technical Writing now would be the time to get those knocked out as well.

Golden, Health assessment isn't really hard, just time consuming and tedious. If you follow the assessment outlines you're given to the letter​ you will get a good grade.

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Now that I am awaiting Capstone, I can run back through the courses and state which are killers, potential killers, and just plain serial killers. I tremble at the thought that I might have to bump Nursing Research from its coveted position as the worst course of all time, so let's hope Capstone is a wrap-up rather than something that makes you want to wrap a rope around your neck.

#1. Nursing Research: kiss your family goodbye for 5 weeks and prepare to hate your coursework (depending on your academic coach and research team). We had a good team but a coach that didn't exactly lead us in the right direction. Life is unfair, and we've all moved on since that class.

#2. Holistic Health Assessment: What's a nail bed angle and will you ever need to know that? Here you will. Fortunately you can pick your "patient", so choose someone who can't dodge your phone calls when you need to do a 3 hour assessment.

#3. Nursing Leadership and Management: Lots, and lots, and lots of writing on the down side. On the plus side, you get to follow your boss around and annoy them. I would love to utilize rules 224 & 225 and delegate the writing to someone else. A good learning experience to be had, but it is time consuming.

#4. Care of Vulnerable Populations: Gain a different perspective on nursing. This class requires some legwork, but if you stay caught up, you will do well in this class. It is research and demographics heavy, but the learning curve is forgiving.

#5. Cooperative in Nursing: If you guessed writing intensive, well, you'd be correct. Not too bad as an elective, but if your grade took a pounding in Nursing Research, this one is pass/fail and won't help re-inflate a sagging GPA.

#6. Professional Nursing A/B: It's your first class, you're a wide-eyed newbie, and it all seems like a lot to handle. It isn't. It is writing intensive, but not on the scale of Leadership, Vulnerable Populations, or Nursing Research.

#7. Holistic Care of the Older Adult: Sharpen up your interviewing skills and your APA know how. This one is graded close to the vest, but it lacks the sadistic glee of Nursing Research.

#8. Health Promotion Across the Lifespan: Should promote you to a fairly easy A at the end of 5 weeks.

#9. Medical Terminology: AKA, my other elective. For those who had to take a medical terminology class en route to ADN RN, then this one will barely cause you to break a sweat. This one is so easy that if you fail this course, you really should consider a career that doesn't involve being responsible for the health of living beings, animal or human.

#10. (or will it be #1) Capstone. We'll see shortly.

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MikeH2013- great post! What was difficult about the co-op experience? What does it require? I'm taking three classes right now... ENG, Health assessment, and Leadership, but next "semester" i'm taking co-op, vulnerable, and holistic care of the older adult. I'm a bit nervous taking all three together! But I want to get this over and done with in 9 months! Any tips for the next three classes?
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Co-op in Nursing is writing intensive and also requires input from a supervisor where you work. Other than that, it is a fairly easy course and shouldn't give you too much trouble. Note: The course only requires you to cover 120 work hours in the work journal, but you still have to log entries for EVERY week of the course.

It breaks down like this - 3 x 12 hrs = 36 hrs x 5 weeks = 180 work hours.

or in my case where we work 8 hour shifts - 5 x 8 hrs = 40 hrs x 5 weeks = 200 work hours.

You don't have to log all 180 or 200 hours that you work, but you do have to log at least one shift every week and turn it in on the journal, even if you hit the 120 hour mark back in week 3.

The course is pass/fail, so there is no "official" course grade at the end.

Holistic Care of the Older Adult has one major assignment - you need to find an older adult (of no relation to you) and interview them. The rubric will guide you through the process and prevent you from "over-writing" the paper as there is a specific paper length detailed in the course materials. My coach for that course was extremely tight on the grading - I lost 15% on a major assignment for a single contraction (no misspellings, no grammatical errors, no incorrectly cited sources). So, when it comes to the doing the "personal reflection", remember that it has to be APA approved, and about as personal as writing perfectly will allow. If you do use contractions, make it very clear that you are quoting a source - "My mother used to say we ain't allowed to play with no fire", said Older Person X.

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