Microbiology In Summer

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Hi everybody, this is my first post.

Long time looker, first time poster. Just had a question for you guys seeing as how all the previous topics regarding this question was years old.

I plan on finishing my pre-req classes to apply into the BSN nursing program at Grand Canyon University here in Phoenix, Arizona. My only remaining pre-reqs are Microbiology, A&P2, and Pathophysiology. This current semester, I am doing A&P1, Statistics and only have just over a month left. Crusing along fine during this semester with good grades and terrific study habits, just nervous for the microbiology class I signed up for in the summer.

For our micro class, it is about 8 weeks long. Lecture from 1:30-4:20pm, then lab 4:30p-7:20pm. It is a two-day-a-week class, Mon and Wed with a lot of previous students who had this professor saying lab always got out atleast an hour, if not more early.

So just a couple of questions, what am I looking at moving forward towards this class? How does it compare to A&P? Any tips, or study habits you all recommend? Knowing this class being shrunk down from a full semester to 8 weeks, I'm sure there will be a lot of info taught which will require a lot of time to study and grasp the material. I do work at a hospital, and will be working pool (basically another way of saying part time so I can def work my schedule around school and try to fit work in when I can).

I also looked into taking A&P2 in summer, but that was Mon-Thurs everyday, and definitely did not want to have all that on my plate for such a shortened semeter and the teacher who teaches it has a reputation of a rough teaching style. So plan is, finish this current semester (spring), take Micro only in summer, then finish up in fall with A&P2 + Patho (online).

Any tips or information will be great! As stated, just two days a week, teacher is real cool, but never taken a science class in the summer; trying to get prepared. Thank you all, look forward to continue posting and interacting with everyone.

Mike

Hey I'm doing MICRO in a summer 8 week course too! I had already taken micro in the fall semester of 2013 but dropped out from all of my classes actually, because I got really sick and had to be in bed for weeks. However, my experience with MICRO and having done 3week, 4week, & 8week classes my advice to you is this: 1. MICRO to me was an easy class JUST PAY ATTENTION to both lectures and labs!

2. In any fast paced course their is no time/room for goofing off or being lazy ALWAYS do your readings and homeworks plus got to put in the studying time if you didn't understand something and even if you did understand the subject it is always good to keep it fresh in your head!

3. READINGS- don't think just because you got the lecture down and even if power points are provided don't be so confident in thinking that you got this you HAVE TO READ the chapters from the book entirely and intentionally....

Believe me if you do all of this things you will succeed.... *^_^* GOOD LUCK!!!

Specializes in Hospice, Palliative Care.

Good day:

If the only hard core science you are taking in the summer is Microbiology, you should be ok. Do read https://allnurses.com/pre-nursing-student/how-get-any-846733.html and follow they key points especially about using the syllabus to plan ahead. Do treat this class as a 6 to 8 credit class in terms of the amount of study time you set aside. I.e. treat the lab as its own class.

Do search the net for your book to see if there are student resources. For example, I'm using The Microbial World and You for practice quizzes, reviews, and what not.

Thank you.

Those 3 classes combined in an 8 to 10 weeks period is going to be very challenging. That is a lot of material that has to essentially has to be memorized for those courses.

In the past I took chem 1 and bio 1 simultaneously and my chem grade suffered because when ever I had trouble with bio I would spend more time on that which in turn took time away from chem. Ultimately I ended up getting an (A)in bio and a (B) in chem. However if I took them separately, I would have definitely pulled off an A in everything.

Specializes in NICU.
Hi everybody, this is my first post.

Long time looker, first time poster. Just had a question for you guys seeing as how all the previous topics regarding this question was years old.

I plan on finishing my pre-req classes to apply into the BSN nursing program at Grand Canyon University here in Phoenix, Arizona. My only remaining pre-reqs are Microbiology, A&P2, and Pathophysiology. This current semester, I am doing A&P1, Statistics and only have just over a month left. Crusing along fine during this semester with good grades and terrific study habits, just nervous for the microbiology class I signed up for in the summer.

For our micro class, it is about 8 weeks long. Lecture from 1:30-4:20pm, then lab 4:30p-7:20pm. It is a two-day-a-week class, Mon and Wed with a lot of previous students who had this professor saying lab always got out atleast an hour, if not more early.

So just a couple of questions, what am I looking at moving forward towards this class? How does it compare to A&P? Any tips, or study habits you all recommend? Knowing this class being shrunk down from a full semester to 8 weeks, I'm sure there will be a lot of info taught which will require a lot of time to study and grasp the material. I do work at a hospital, and will be working pool (basically another way of saying part time so I can def work my schedule around school and try to fit work in when I can).

I also looked into taking A&P2 in summer, but that was Mon-Thurs everyday, and definitely did not want to have all that on my plate for such a shortened semeter and the teacher who teaches it has a reputation of a rough teaching style. So plan is, finish this current semester (spring), take Micro only in summer, then finish up in fall with A&P2 + Patho (online).

Any tips or information will be great! As stated, just two days a week, teacher is real cool, but never taken a science class in the summer; trying to get prepared. Thank you all, look forward to continue posting and interacting with everyone.

Mike

Personally, I loved Micro! There is less content than A&P, and while some of it is cellular-level humdrum, I found it fascinating. Immunology is where it's at. In regards to the shortened term, with any condensed class the key is maintaining on top/ahead your homework. Don't fall behind! It sounds like you have fine tuned your study habits, I'm sure you'll do well.

Specializes in Hospice, Palliative Care.

Good day:

"There is less content than A&P"

I'm finding the level of content to be very comparable with the main difference being less "new" terminology (if you've had AP1, AP2).

Thank you.

Specializes in Psychiatry.
Good day: "There is less content than A&P" I'm finding the level of content to be very comparable with the main difference being less "new" terminology (if you've had AP1 AP2). Thank you.[/quote']

I disagree. The sheer volume of material is far less in Micro than in A&P. I was one of those annoying students who caught on fairly quickly in A&P and didn't study nearly as much as a lot of my classmates, and I still probably spent a third of the time on Micro. Much less intensive than A&P 1 and 2 in my experience.

Thank all of you for the responses. Feel much "safer" after reading a lot of the material.

I guess the the only other thing I'm caught up in, is the lecture time. For A&P, it's only an hour a day over lecture and we go over a lot. Having this summer micro class be nearly 3 hours long each day, what does that mean? Multiple chapters, multiple quizzes in same day? Never spent more than an hour in any science class for lecture before. Kind of tensed up regarding the amount of time spent in lecture for the summer. Thanks

Specializes in Hospice, Palliative Care.

Good day:

"The sheer volume of material is far less in Micro than in A&P."

Maybe in your school, not in mine. Therefore, please don't make broad sweeping statements; remember most stereotypes are false ;-)

Thank you.

I love Micro! But it seemed like it dragged on in the regular 16 week session. I definitely would have preferred to take it over the summer. I took both A&P 1 and 2 over the summer so I'm sure Micro would've been fine as well..

Specializes in Psychiatry.

I didn't take an easy Micro class. Not by a long shot. By comparison, it covered less material than A&P. Many people agree with this, so it's not just me. In comparing the two lab components, this is especially true.

I got an A in Physiology and Anatomy while taking them over one semester in addition to 10 other units. But Micro over the summer I landed a B. I thought my teacher was great but it was still a lot of info for me in 8 weeks. I regretted it and wished I'd taken it over a regular semester when I had more time to soak in all the the material. If you end up taking it don't fall behind! I did and had a hard time keeping up after that stumble.

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