LSU BSN

BeeJayCeeYa · Dec 10, 2009

As long as I am posting all of my thoughts on the physiology class, I'll also list what I thought was most helpful:

1. Other students - you will need each other's support unless you have an excellent background in physiology.

2. Physiology BRS study guide - I read the entire book the weekend before the final, worked the questions, and had my best score of all the exams. This was a blessing for me because if your final exam grade is higher than your average, it will also replace your lowest test score. So a good final is a double boost to your grade! And believe me when I tell you that you WILL have at least one score bringing down your average.

3. The textbook. I am tempted to put this even lower in my list because I often went online and found other FREE sources for info, including videos, that were more helpful to me. This is not a fault of the textbook but rather how the course was taught. Powerpoints are given for the lectures but IMO you can't waste too much time trying to tie them into the textbook. If you don't get it, Google it.

4. My trusty digital recorder. I bought it about 3 weeks into class and recorded all the lectures. Some students even transcribed all of the lectures that they recorded. I had to listen to each lecture at least a 2nd time and some I listened to as many as 4 times. But this is a dangerous practice because it will eat up all of your time.

5. Old tests, the book's chapter questions, and the online tests. When you take one of the tests, you can't trust that you know the right answer -- you also need to know why the other answers are wrong. They love to have questions with answers like "all of the above, none of the above, A&B, B&C". During the post-exam review sessions, if you can validly argue why your answer is correct, you can get credit for it. We frequently had multiple questions thrown out. And even though this is a physiology class, we had lots of pathophysiology questions.

6. Last but not least, find a student who took the class the previous semester and ask them for help, face-to-face! If you can find someone who kept everything from the class, that person is worth their weight in gold!

cpkRN · Dec 10, 2009

beejaycee's advice is poifect! I'd just like to add that if you're a notecard maker, don't waste your time and energy. Using rote memorization in phys will absolutely not cut it. I wasted a ton of my time doing this. Everything is application - you have to understand, not memorize. That was difficult for me because I made it through an entire bachelor's degree on memorization. On tests, you will be given very broad questions to which you may have to apply several concepts that were taught.

Definitely find someone when you get here and see what they have from phys. Unfortunately, I literally burned my printed power points in my fireplace the night after the final :angryfire Haha! beejaycee, I should've had some of you over for some kind of ceremony.

No worries, you'll make friends and and get through it together. We lived to talk about it, so it definitely won't kill you - LOL!

newgirla · Dec 10, 2009

thanks so much for all that beejaycee!! and thanks cpkrn2b2011!! I have already started reading and taking practice tests for physiology!

where does it show what books we need?

BeeJayCeeYa · Dec 10, 2009

The advisors will tell you that the instructors don't HAVE to give a syllabus until the day before classes start. However, most are really helpful and if you email, will tell you. For my 4 classes last semester, the books per the syllabuses were:

Physiology - "Vander's Human Physiology", 11th ed. Note that there is an international edition you can buy and save major $.

Anatomy - Marieb, Mallat, & Wilhelm's "Human Anatomy", 5th ed. & Thieme's "Atlas of Anatomy"

AB Psych - Comer's "Abnormal Psychology", 7th ed

Intro to Nursing - Taylor, Lillis, LeMone, & Lynn's "Fundamentals of Nursing", 6th ed.

charliehopeful · Dec 10, 2009

I just went to the bookstore and they have all the books for spring semester - they are exactly the same as beejaycee listed :coollook:

newgirla · Dec 10, 2009

okay good. were the prices outrageous?

rebecca9341 · Dec 10, 2009

i am curious about the prices as well...

newgirla · Dec 10, 2009

yea because ive been receving emails from soph II selling their books and ive already bought a few from them and theyre exactly the ones beejaycee said. but waaaaay more cheaper. because i remember hearing the anatomy book cost like $138 andi bout it for $50

charliehopeful · Dec 11, 2009

To be honest, I didn't even look at the prices. I just jotted down the titles and authors so I could look them up and get them used off the internet.

but I'm pretty sure they were expensive.

charliehopeful · Dec 11, 2009

Just for fun I went on the LSUHSC bookstore website to look up prices. Here's a couple:

Vander's Human Physiology: LSU- 197.40 Amazon- 107 used 10ed- $22!!

Fundamentals of Nursing: LSU- 109.95 Amazon- 52.01 used

Atlas of Anatomy: LSU- 74.95 Amazon- 52 used

I can't find the Human Anatomy book by Marieb on the LSU website which makes me a little worried that I wrote down the wrong edition. Books are getting snatched up off amazon, a used fundamentals was 44$ a couple days ago, and now its 52. My financial aid hasn't come through yet so I just have to sit and watch :cry: .

I did go ahead and get the 10th edition of Vander's so I can spend the whole break reading up on physiology :)

BeeJayCeeYa · Dec 11, 2009

FYI, I just googled the Vanders international edition and you can get the 11th ed. new for >$50 w/shipping. That's the edition I used and it was identical to the US edition, but it is softbound.

newgirla · Dec 11, 2009

so i just bought all my books from soph II used (same ones we need) except fundamentals. if i had a book scholarship before do you think ill get one for lsu? i heard u barely get anything.

oh and do we have to dress a certain way for school and do we need plain white tennis shoes?