Lpn student has study/work questions

Christine2009 · Apr 9, 2011

I work part time (25-30 hours a week) and go to school at night. I have found that, yes, there is a lot of studying involved, but doable with a part time job. I started my program working full time and did not have time to study and so I cut my hours down.

A typical day for me is work M-F until 3pm, School M-F 5pm-10pm. I am able to study a bit before class, and then when I get home from class at night I study for about 2 hours before calling it a night. On the weekends, I spend studying all day. I am maintaining a B+ average at this point.

Being a CNA or HHA is to your advantage as you are just building on what you already know and that will be to your advantage when you begin clinical...every nursing student begins with basic patient care.

HTH!

meo814 · Apr 9, 2011

hi christine, thank you for your input...its good to hear that you maintain a b plus and are able to work at least part time...also if you dont mind me asking, where do you go to school at night from 5 to 10...is that a 2 year program? i live in nj...toms river and will be attending 730 to 230 m-f...its full time...the only evening program i could find is 2 nights a week and clinicals every other weekend..but its over an hour away in edison nj at lincoln tech....where are you from?

maria

GoodtimeRN · Apr 10, 2011

Are you planning on going to MCVSD? It is extremely intense. I haven't had a social life since last September. I basically told all my friends that I'd see them in July. Our class started with 29 people and now it's down to 12. Even if you normally do well in school, it's at a completely different level of critical thinking. If you want to do well, you need to work as little as possible, and study your butt off. Best of luck!!!

meo814 · Apr 10, 2011

hi goodtimecna...thank you for responding...i am actually going to ocean county vocational school...i live in toms river....im going to assume the curriculum is similar....do you work at all ? im not being nosy im just trying to get input from different people...i do keep hearing it is very intense...i have waited 20 years to do this...but life and kids and divorce got in the way...i definatley cannot take a chance on failing out

GoodtimeRN · Apr 10, 2011

I work on Saturdays and sometimes that even seems like too much for me. There are a few people who work part time during the week, but it is very difficult. The most important part is keeping your head above water for the first phase, because that is when you'll be having 3 tests per week + multiple quizzes every day in a plethora of subjects (A&P, pharm, funds I, nutrition, legal & ethical, etc). I honestly studied about 4-6 hours per night. At my school, if you fail one subject (with below 75%) you fail the entire phase and have to start over. Once you get through that, the second phase seems to "slow down" (only about 1 or 2 tests per week, but on one focused subject). However, we are in clinicals 4 days a week from 7:30 until noon, so we only have class from 1-2:30. We are expected to do most of the reading at home and come to class with our questions. The instructors briefly go though the chapters, so you need to address what you're not understanding otherwise they'll pass right over it.

You need to eat, sleep, and breathe nursing in order to earn your stripes, but with hard work and dedication YOU CAN DO IT!!!! Save up $$ now so you will be more than prepared to take a few extra days off once September rolls around. Take a deep breath and remember THIS IS YOUR TIME TO SHINE!!! :nurse:

steffuturelpn · Apr 10, 2011

i started school feb 7 full time mon -fri 8-3 and i have not had a life at all, i dropped down to per diem and have only worked 2 days in the last two months, i also did very well in high school, im 26 and have a 6 year old, i study 2-3 hrs a day and have all a's, this semester is the hardest from what the senoirs told me cuz we have four class, a and p, nursing 1, pharmacology and p and v nursing, its very hard and i would suggest that u work as least as possible because this is VERY INTENSE and HARD, we started out with 29 2 months ago and we lost 3 so far, a lot of people are failing and im sure we will lose more by the second semester, so get ready for the hardest schooling of ur life, the rns at my job who were lpns first said that lpn school is harder than the adn rn and they said when they did their lpn to rn they breezed through. Good luck, btw i go to eastern center for arts and technology in willow grove pa, folks told me they had one of the toughest programs around and they were not lying, i cant wait till jan 26 when we graduate cuz im gonna cry a year worth of tears

meo814 · Apr 10, 2011

i just want to take a minute to thank each of you for offering up your experiences...i guess i pretty much got my answers....i guess i can pretty much count on not working much...which is what i figured...i was a good student in high school but hell i was no genius... im sure i will be studying ALOT...i wish all of you all the best in your nursing careers...and thank you:D