NCTC ADN Spring 2014

jls0459 · Dec 15, 2013

Your mentor will be assigned to you during orientation. It can be anyone in 2nd-4th semester. I'm a mentor, so we might have a bout of serendipity and end up together! You absolutely can work and do well in school. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't. It isn't easy and you won't sleep much, but you can do it.

I personally never used another book to study for the exams. I did take online practice tests for the acid/base balance test, but that is at the end of the semester. The test questions come directly from the book. Be sure you look at the boxes/tables in the reading. There are a lot of questions that come from those tables and that information isn't really included in the reading. The reading part might give you the definition of something, but the boxes tell you signs, symptoms and interventions. Knowing what something is is about 10% of the class and knowing how to spot it and/or how to intervene is the other 90%.

Now, I have gone over the questions at the end of the chapters and I have seen some of those show up on tests - not many though. I also suggest you find a study group. You may think you have the right information and then you get with some one else and see they've got something else completely. That's happened to me a few times this semester so it is good to share information.

HelloWish, ADN, BSN · Dec 16, 2013

What math book do you all use in class? Or do you have a book you can recommend to help me brush up on the math skills I need for nursing school. I am going over Kaplan's nursing math now.

jls0459 · Dec 16, 2013

We use Medical Dosage Calculations: A Dimensional Analysis Approach 10th edition.

ashleyj2011 · Dec 16, 2013

Your mentor will be assigned to you during orientation. It can be anyone in 2nd-4th semester. I'm a mentor, so we might have a bout of serendipity and end up together! You absolutely can work and do well in school. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't. It isn't easy and you won't sleep much, but you can do it.

Thanks for the encouragement!! That's so awesome that we have mentors. It's nice to have someone there to give tips and guide us newbies

jls0459 · Dec 17, 2013

I STILL ask my mentor questions. She is a semester ahead of me, so I reach out to her to get the scoop on upcoming things. She taught me how to take a two step blood pressure before we learned it in class and she helped another girl practice for head to to assessment. You'll have help - just ask for it!

jlm311, ADN, BSN, RN · Dec 20, 2013

I was able to get my physical at CareNow, it was only $10 :)

ashleyj2011 · Dec 20, 2013

Oh wow, jlg- that is awesome! Thank you for letting me know!

jlm311, ADN, BSN, RN · Dec 21, 2013

No problem! Also, if you need to have any titers done (for either Hep B or Chickenpox), you can go online to requestatest.com, it's pretty cheap! You select a LapCorp clinic near you and get your blood work done the same day, and your results are available as soon as the next day online to print. My Hep B shots weren't taken within the right time frame (I think I took the 2nd and 3rd dose more than a year after the 1st) and the school required me to get a titer done. Make sure your Hep B is taken care of if you haven't already, it's the only one that can prevent you from starting.

ashleyj2011 · Dec 21, 2013

Good to know! I have records for everything except tdap, but I am pretty certain that I got it this past summer for work... I'll also need a second tb test as I have only had one in the last year

ashleyj2011 · Jan 6, 2014

Is everyone excited for Tuesday?!? :)

HelloWish, ADN, BSN · Jan 11, 2014

What notebook or electronic device would you all recommend? I may be upgrading my notebook soon, and I was wondering what you found most useful in the nursing program.