When I found out I got into the Fast-Track PN program at Gateway, posts on this forum gave me an idea of what to expect, and it really helped ease some of the fear and anticipation that comes with starting something completely new. In that interest, I thought I'd post some of my experiences to help those that enter the program in the future.
First and foremost - scheduling - I can't help you there! My program was over both summer semesters, and classes were sometimes evenings, sometimes mornings, and sometimes both in the same week. Your mileage can and will vary, they'll still be writing the schedules the day before your class starts, and you'll get whatever they have available.
Clinicals for block 1 are long-term care. Ours were 12-hour days, and your clinical experiences will vary greatly based on who your clinical instructor is. Some instructors require care-plans every week, and some only require a couple per semester - don't worry too much about care plans, or buy a bunch of care-plan manuals before class starts, because every instructor is looking for something different, and they have to tell you what that is.
For clinicals - you need to begin developing that "backbone" and resist the temptation to take shortcuts. In my facility, staff often ignored the requirements for gowning & gloving in c-diff & MRSA rooms, gave insulin in the halls, never checked armbands, and sometimes asked us to do things we weren't allowed to do or hadn't been signed off on yet. I'm not knocking the facility - I heard from other students it happened everywhere, just expect to get called out if you break the rules and your instructor pops onto your floor and catches you. Better to avoid the drama.
You'll get to do some injections, glucose testing, lots and lots of vital signs, dressing changes, passing meds, small-volume nebulizers, eye-drops, etc. You'll be taught how to do foley caths and feeding tubes, but you may never do one on a real person, depending on the facility you draw.
You'll have a couple of "practicums" where you'll demonstrate in front of an instructor the proper procedure to place a foley, a NG tube and a physical assessment. You'll also have a "med pass" and a dressing change practicum in the facility with your clinical instructor. You can fail a practicum once, and many do - it isn't the end of the world - you'll get another chance to do a perfect one.
You'll likely have a couple of "simulations" - which are in the lab, sometimes with a robo-dummy, sometimes just the regular mannequins. You'll be assigned to a group and given a role (you might be a charge nurse, primary nurse or a NA). These were actually fun in my class - remember the basics (keep the room safe and identify your patient!)
Grading... :)
My instructor had 9 quizzes and a final. The quizzes were deceptively easy, compared to the final. You could pass, and even do fairly well on the quizzes just by listening well during the lectures and skimming the book. The final was a different story - many of my classmates (including myself) dropped a full grade on the final, several failed the class because of it, and several more got through by only one or two points. Doing all of the reading, and spending even just an hour a week working on the nclex practice questions made a huge difference for me. Lots of those nclex questions ended up on the final.
The moral of the story is - don't count on bringing yourself up at the end of the class - you can't do enough "cramming" at the end to make a difference.
My group started with 30 students - we lost one before the first quiz, and two more dropped because they missed two clinicals. We ended up losing six more on the final, bringing the "casualty" total to almost 30%. 
I'm not sure if that's "normal" , but it is what it is...
If the questions on the final were just slightly different, that number might have jumped or fallen by 10%+. The point being - it is do-able, but not everyone will pass. My Block 2 class has several students repeating who missed the mark by only a couple of points.
My advice to students starting the program in the future would be to not "give up" a single point by not studying - you may need that point later in the semester. Don't worry about the class - it can be done, even without a medical background - but also don't get complacent - make the time to study and review at the beginning of the semester so you won't have to "white-knuckle" the final.
Good Luck!
