Microbiology in a summer semester

Hobbes02 · Mar 24, 2010

I took it over the winter and it was crazy; 4mo of material crammed into 11 days including 3 lecture exams, 2 lab exams, and a final! I wouldn't suggest it if you have a full-time job or any other major obligations, but other than that it's definitely doable. I was working 2 days a week at the time but I still managed to get an A in the class (even after nearly failing the second exam with a 65, yikes!). As long as you put in the time to study everything you need to know, it's actually easier because it goes so fast that you don't have time to forget anything! Our teacher said at the beginning that the scores were generally higher for students taking it over winter/summer than in the normal time period and that seemed to be the case for our class as well. It's a non-stop marathon of information being thrown at you, but in my opinion, it's not as bad as people say it is. Good Luck!

edit: btw, I would highly recommend that you buy a recorder if you don't already have one and record the lectures! It goes so fast that if you miss something, you're going to want to be able to go back and listen to it if you need to. I kept an eye on the time and put time markers in my notes so I knew where to go back in the lecture if I wanted to listen to it again.

orchid09 · Mar 24, 2010

I've heard as long as you stay on top of the coursework it is doable.

juliaann · Mar 24, 2010

I really liked micro and found the workload very manageable (I took it with Anatomy and Psychology last semester while working 60+ hours a week, and got an 'A' without much of a problem). It'll really depend on what else you have going on in your life and your instructor. :)

L8RRN · Mar 24, 2010

I took Micro over a 5 week summer semester and got an A. The first test was actually a little difficult but once we figured out how the instructor's tests were, I managed to pull up my grade. I took it between my 1st and 2nd year of nursing school and all of my nursing friends passed.

Best of luck!

Veganmom · Mar 25, 2010

I took it last summer with a few of my friends and we all consider it one of the best classes we have taken.

studentinnursing · Mar 25, 2010

Hello my fellow pre-nursing students. At my college, they just made Micro a requirement prior to applying for the ADN program. I am planning on taking it over the summer, since I apply Aug 15, 2010. I am currently in AP1 and have an "A", so I think that I will be able to do it. Was just wondering if anyone else has taken this class over a compressed schedule before? If anyone has any pointers to give to me? This class will be the only one that I am taking, so I am hoping that it isn't going to be as bad as everyone keeps telling me. Any help will be greatly appreciated......

Well, I'm taking Micro now, and I tell ya it's nothing like A&P in my opinion! I took A&P I in summer and it wasnt' so bad, but other than a computer literacy class, it was the only one I had. I think Micro would be fine for you if it's your only class. I think Micro is way harder than A&P I or II because everything is at the cellular level, and I sort of find it boring. I love learning how things make things happen to the body and systems, the physiology part, but what each part of the cell does and all the kingdoms and enzyme activity, just boring to me. However, you will learn about diagnostic tests and things like that, immune systems; that part is interesting to someone like me. I absolutely loved my A&P classes--Micro, not so much. If you normally do well, I think it is very doable to do over summer if it's your only class. The reading is what will get you, but that will depend on the professor; you may get lucky where you just take notes and they test you on the notes--it'll be easier that way and sometimes you actually learn more that way--our professor has us reading up to 3 and 4 chapters a week between the lecture and lab, so I'm not crazy about the class in that respect either, and it will depend on your professor how easy or hard the class can be; you can get bogged down with all the reading instead of concentrating on what you are reading because you are trying to get through so much info, just my way of learning, like to understand what I'm reading instead of racing through. Anyway, ask around, use ratemyprofessor, whatever you can to find out about how it is taught, get some feedback, and ratemyprofessor might have some summer students who posted so that you know what you're getting into.

Whatever you decide, good luck!

ErinDel, ASN, BSN, RN · Mar 25, 2010

Hi, I signed up for micro over the summer too. My class begins june 1rst, until july 26th. Its the only class I'm taking over the summer. I think we should do ok. Just keep up with the reading, take good notes, be organized, and try to surround yourself with people who want to succeed and do well in the class. Hopefully there will be other nursing majors in there so we will all have a common goal.... goodluck and maybe we could lean on eachother here if we had questions regarding our class. :)