Background: I have low GPA of 2.5, 31 credit hours. I did bad my freshman year and made some C's and even F's because I didn't even bother to drop the course. I got dismissed. I'm not proud. Now I'm paying for it and retaking some classes and continue taking pre-reqs for nursing to raise the GPA at a community college right now. It seems like it's taking forever. I initially planned on doing ADN to BSN, but I'm doing bad in a&p and feel discouraged, and I'm half way done with my pre-reqs now so I might as well go for the BSN. I ultimately want to enroll for the BSN program at the university I attended my freshman year.
Okay. So I am failing a&p. I don't know if I can hang on to this class for another 4 weeks. I have a very hard professor and the exams are brutal. He told a girl in my class that she needed a back up plan because nursing probably isn't for her, and told this foreign guy that he was a slow learner, if that says anything. And total we can earn up to 1,840 points in the class. I've already lost 230 points. I did better the first time I took a&p. I should have taken it seriously back then and finished because I actually had a good professor. So much regret.
I initially planned on finishing up this summer class at the community college and transferring to the university in the fall to continue taking pre-reqs because of commute. But now that I am thinking about dropping out this summer...
I'm thinking about taking a&p at this technical college in town, and transferring over to the university. They offer it online as well. There are a few classes that I need to retake, but can only retake at the university I failed at and nowhere else, otherwise they will just average out my letter grade instead of taking the better one. And since I am on academic probation I am only allowed to take a certain number of credits, I planned on taking a few at my community college. I know it is not recommended, but I think it will be manageable.
So, how bad will it look if I am attending 3 colleges in one semester? There are 2 or 3 classes I for sure have to take at the university. Possibly a&p and the technical college. And other pre-reqs and the community college because of cost, because of the university academic probation, and because it doesn't look like the technical college offers a whole lot of classes anyway.
I wanted to stick the class out until I dropped below a B. I'm at an 87% for now, but I have made D's and F's on all of my lecture exams so far. And a C and D on my lab. I studied for hours and hours and hours for the last exam. I know I'm not a great student, but the tests honestly seem unreasonable. A third of my class are at a 70 something percent right now, which I was surprised to hear. Should I continue to stick it out?
It doesn't matter if he has "poor ratings" on a website. He is the professor and you need to accomplish the task. What if you have a Doctor you dont like? Are you just going to quit? It does not matter is someone in class is doing worse. It doesn't matter if someone else is doing better. It matters what grade YOU earn and what happens from that point on. Bottom line. It isn't complicated. You need to meet the requirements for nursing school. You then must earn the required grades in nursing school and graduate to be eligible to take the NCLEX. Simple. Do it.
I understand that A&P can be particularly difficult for some people. I didn't find it to be a walk in the park either. The other posters are saying that the pre-reqs are the easy part, but let me put it another way by repeating what my Micro professor told me.
She said that one of her students was what she considered nothing short of a genius. He excelled beyond any student she had ever seen. He entered our school's nursing program last year and reported back to say that he was struggling as a "barely B" student. That's how hard nursing school is going to be compared to the pre-reqs.
Yeah I do. I will need to decide what to do about this class and talk to an nursing adviser about my academic transcript and such.
I do not want to quit anymore. I'm serious about turning my GPA around. I have my CNA and plan on volunteering too. But I really don't know about this class this summer. I'm not blaming everything on my professor. But he's still from hell. I'll take this class again if I need to. But I'll probably do it at the university instead of hop around like someone mentioned. Or I could retake it with my first a&p professor who was helpful. I was just being a dummy back then.
What will you do in the future if you meet another professor who's learning style or personality you don't like or doesn't mesh with your study methods or personality? What if it's a nursing professor? What if you become a nurse and meet the patient from hell?
You gotta learn how to deal with what life throws at you! Your teacher really might be from hell. I have loved some teachers that other students have loathed and maybe justifiably blamed for poor grades. It's really about what's a good match and some just won't be and this is going to reappear again likely.
Stick this out and adapt, I would definitely talk to your adviser and a school counselor about helping you do this!
But reality is that a BSN nursing program isn't likely to accept you with your history doesn't matter that you're a CNA and will volunteer. They want to see grades that will show them you have what it takes to eventually pass the NCLEX.
I'm not about to call you dumb and imo you shouldn't put yourself down now or how you were in the past, because I mean, owning your mistakes doesn't mean you were/are dumb or should call yourself that ok.
I don't know if this idea is any good because you will need the same a&p but getting an LPN might give you a better chance to get an RN through an LPN to RN program.
EDIT- BTW there are other medical fields like previous replies said. I don't know how much your heart is set on being a nurse. Other medical fields I had looked at were laboratory scientist, ultrasound, pharmacy, and occupational therapy assistant (very high salary for an associate degree). The replies made really important points that a&p really is your foundation to understanding your nursing classes.
If I do have a disadvantage of getting into BSN because of my flakey and unreliable past, LPN to BSN isn't a bad idea. The school I want to go to offers that bridge.
I agree that a&p is difficult, but I do believe that my professor makes it more difficult than what it has to be. It is also condensed into an 8 week class and I expected to work my butt off. Last week we had a lab and lecture exam and pop quiz on the same day, pop quiz on the next day, and the next day, and the next day. A lot of us lost points on the pop quizzes because we thought, what are the chances of getting quizzed day after day again especially after recovering from two exams. And learning new material for the next chapter before even taking exams for the previous chapters. Today our professor was 10 minutes late and we were all in sitting in class silently studying for our lecture exam that day. We got yelled at because we weren't working on lab stuff instead (we have lab before lecture) even though the lab exam is on Wednesday.
I read through the text book, my notes I take in class, I listen to the recordings, I take more notes at home, I take advantage of the internet, I feel like a failure.
Sorry, but this comment is that of a very immature student. Pop quizzes are just that, surprise and can cover anything. FWIW, my pharmacology professor gives pop quizzes on material we HAVEN'T covered in class yet - yes, that happens in nursing school. As does learning new material before the exam - yep. Fundamentals of Nursing we finished the material for Exam 1 and had 4 lectures of exam 2 material before Exam 1. Rinse and Repeat until the end of the semester when we had Nursing Exam 4 on Friday, Pharm Exam 4 on the following Thursday. Nursing Final on the following Tuesday and Pharm Final the following Thursday. Plus we had a HESI exam thrown in there - so if you're keeping count that is 2 content exams, 2 cumulative finals and a standardized test within 2 weeks time. And your professor had every right to be upset that the class was studying for the test rather than doing to lab work assigned - you were in the LAB class, not lecture, studying the hour before the test is pointless, it's too late.
Also, if you've made D's an F's on the exams as you stated in the OP how do you have an 87% average? that math just doesn't work
It look like to OP is subtracting the points they missed so far from the total points possible for the class to figure out their "average". OP in reality your current grade is much lower than that. At this to have at least an 80% you can only lose another 135 points on exams, quizzes or other assignments that may be given. Possible, maybe with some big changes in how you are studying.
Anatomy is a difficult class, but it is one of many classes that are going to be difficult in classes required for prenursing, or nursing. Some instructors are difficult, some do not know how to teach, but as an adult and a student you need to take responsibility for your own learning. My anatomy instructor last summer was a difficult instructor. For the lab portion of the class he told us to take pictures of the models and to use our lab manual and the pictures we took to study at home. On our lecture exams he would test us on things that he did not cover in class. Fair, maybe not but we all had a textbook. It was our responsibility to read the material before class and to be prepared for the exam.
From the sound if it, the way you are studying is not effective. Definitely take sometime to think about what is and is not working. Also depending on what your schools policy is on withdrawals you might want to consider that. Check to see when you can withdraw by, and also what the nursing programs policy is on retaking classes and withdraws. Also check into how things may/will affect your financial aid if you are receiving any right now.
You have to treat A&P as a self study class. When I realized my instructor wasnt the best, I started to memorize everything on my own. Our exams were 75% essay questions! I memorized everything I could from the book, step by step, and I did very well on the essays. I cant imagine taking A&P over summer! You might have better luck taking it during a normal semester.
Actually, I found nursing pre-reqs way harder than nursing school. My grades dropped from an A to B average in nursing school but that was because the strict grading scale. The unique stress of nursing school is what makes it so hard. I was always worrying that this is it, I cant quit now, this is what I worked so hard for... etc. But the content was understandable thanks to A&P.
Hey, it's your money. If you want to keep flushing it down the toilet, it's your call. Retaking all those classes costs money. You are currently failing A&P. Your response that you will simply take it again, is very arrogant to say the least.
I had pretty much straight As in the prereqs. My one B was in micro. I had taken 5 classes that semester and going through my divorce. I was learning how to be a single mom. I was disappointed but dealt with it. I worked my butt off that semester.
I start my second year of my ADN program in August. It's not easy. It's a lot of studying and applying what you know. A&P is simple memorization. That's all it is. You need to know A&P well to have any idea what they are talking about in med/surg. Then you take that knowledge from A&P and med/surg and apply it. No more memorization. What is the priority in this situation, what does the nurse anticipate happening? It's a whole different way of thinking.
There is nothing wrong with picking another career path. There are tons in the healthcare field. There are many professions I could not do. That doesn't define who I am. Blaming the professor is going to get you no where fast. You are in college. It's not a walk in the park. Take responsibility for your grades. And realize when it's not as easy to even get into a program as you seem to think it is, this is why. Your grades. I see it everyday, all day long in here.
windsurfer8, BSN, RN
1,389 Posts
It doesn't matter if he has "poor ratings" on a website. He is the professor and you need to accomplish the task. What if you have a Doctor you dont like? Are you just going to quit? It does not matter is someone in class is doing worse. It doesn't matter if someone else is doing better. It matters what grade YOU earn and what happens from that point on. Bottom line. It isn't complicated. You need to meet the requirements for nursing school. You then must earn the required grades in nursing school and graduate to be eligible to take the NCLEX. Simple. Do it.