Hello, I wanted to introduce myself before jumping in and responding to posts. My children are old enough now that I feel comfortable going to school and finishing my degree. I stopped school five years ago when I got pregnant with my daughter. I have thought about nursing for five years and no matter how many times I try to venture off to something else, my heart leads me back to nursing. My youngest is now 18 months old and I feel ready to go back to school and have been doing research for the past few months. I am currently taking two classes at Rio Salado and am looking at enrolling for BIO 156 here in two weeks and then CHM 130 and BIO 2o1 for summer courses.
I am nervous and excited and very scared. The bad shape that the economy is in does have me very worried. It seems like everytime I turn around someone wants to get into nursing because the money is good and I feel like screaming because that is the worst reason for going into nursing. It worries me that it will make it that much harder for me to get the job I have wanted for so long.
I would love to talk to others who are in the pre-stages as well as though getting ready to start the program, have started the program, and veteran nurses. Any advice, thoughts, etc will be highly appreciated.
thanks for posting, i've been hearing rio is very hard with the BIO's. Looks like you did fine.....how are you preparing for the NET test? I can't wait till December to apply then hurry and wait to get approved? Although I'm in a 16 week course, can you work with your professor to do it in 14 weeks? I'm hoping to do this so that I can get into BIO 201 and have it all done by mid December...they will not allow you to get into BIO 201 till grade for BIO 156 has posted.....share your experiences with online science...is it really tough???
I took BIO 156 last summer online, a regular 16 week course. I don't know if you can accelerate the class- you would have to ask your teacher on that one. I called RIO to enroll in my classes instead of enrolling online. If you speak directly with them you may be able to enroll in the BIO 201 class with a start date later than when your BIO 156 grade should post. I think you need CHM 130 too? The pre-req's for classes is all a blur now!
I was nervous at first regarding completing the labs at home. My BIO 156 class ran Monday to Monday. I downloaded the "lab report" from the link in each week's lessons and completed the lab experiment early in the week, so I would be able to ask questions if anything didn't go as expected. Then completed the lab report and submitted. By the time I did CHM 130, labs were very easy for me. The ability to take the quizes online has been wonderful. The first time I took a mid-term I was very nervous about running out of time. I highly recommend writing down a brief essayish paragraph for each question during the class so the 4 essays are a bit easier to begin. I actually ran out of time on the BIO 156 mid-term! The immediate test results (minus the essay grading) was really nice.
BIO 201 is very different. Most of the quizes online are timed, which requires that my kids are either occupied with Dad or sleeping. Temper tantrums in the middle of a timed test are not fun!!
I've read on various posts here that Rio online BIO classes are difficult and Phoenix College offers them online as well. Take care & Good Luck!
Thanks for responding and for the tips! I took High School Chemistry so I'm hoping I can bypass CHM 130, waiting to here back from advisement on that....
That may not be a bad idea, since the wait is so long to get into a program, I may go ahead and take it again. After I have all of my prereq done to get into the program. I pray I can get through both BIO's.
Ok, most importantly, don't take CHM again, unless you have to! I just finished that class, and not only was it not that much fun, I don't think very much of it is useful information for nursing. I would, and am going to, take Pathophysiology while waiting to get into the program. Also, for the BIO's I don't think you can accelerate them. I took the accelerated BIO156, and decided I was never taking an accelerated class again . My sister however, took the 16 week BIO156 and asked the instructor if she could accelerate the class on her own, and the instructor told her no, she should have taken the accelerated course. That might have just been that particular instructor though-it never hurts to ask!
Yeah, I will not be taking CHM, but I will be taking medical terminology, my dad's a nurse and highly recommended it, he said it would help a bunch once you're in the program. I'm going to be taking the 8 wk BIO 156 I've decided, that will ensure that I will have my application in by the end of the year. How was BIO 201 on line at Rio?
I took the medical terminology class too. It did help open up the medical world for me a little. I've never worked in any medical or clinical setting, so all of this is completely new and foreign to me. Have fun with that 8 week BIO156! It was crazy to keep up with, but I was pregnant and waking up at 4:00 in the morning to go to work, and still managed to get a B, so it is doable! There is tons of information to memorize for BIO201, but, again, it is doable. A tip for the quizzes, since they are timed, is to have both your textbook and lab book in front of you to refer to. This helped me do well enough on the quizzes to keep my grade up. This class does require a little more study time. It's not too bad though.
I just finished NUR 187 at Rio last week. I'm applying for advanced placement to the program today. I've taken 5 classes at Rio so far, and one thing that I really like about Rio is the instructors. ALL of them have been wonderful! I'm an LPN right now, and I've atteneded two different nursing schools, and I've had some instructors who didn't care if the students passed or failed.
BIO 202 at Rio was very frustrating for me because it seemed as if the course wasn't put together well. I especially had a hard time with the diagrams that we were supposed to lable. But I got through it with the help of the instructor, thank goodness!
I meant there is "hope" for me, thanks for sharing, I've heard a lot of negatives about Rio so your post is reassuring, keep us posted on your progress, congrats on your submission of your application, I can't wait to get there!
When I took my BIO 202 at Rio, I was sooo stressed out with the way it was set up. It was as if the class was put together from many different sources that didn't match up with each other. I was always in contact with the instructor venting my frustrations with the material. She would try her best to help me, and encouraged me not to stress out over it.
I would say, just study the material the best that you can. Prepare your essay questions ahead of time. I know when I took the class, we were given 4 essay questions ahead of time, and we were to prepare an answer for each one. When exam time came, we were given ONE of the essay questions at random.
I just finished that class, and not only was it not that much fun, I don't think very much of it is useful information for nursing. I would, and am going to, take Pathophysiology while waiting to get into the program. Also, for the BIO's I don't think you can accelerate them. I took the accelerated BIO156, and decided I was never taking an accelerated class again 
. My sister however, took the 16 week BIO156 and asked the instructor if she could accelerate the class on her own, and the instructor told her no, she should have taken the accelerated course. That might have just been that particular instructor though-it never hurts to ask!
But I got through it with the help of the instructor, thank goodness!
msiegel
40 Posts
I took BIO 156 last summer online, a regular 16 week course. I don't know if you can accelerate the class- you would have to ask your teacher on that one. I called RIO to enroll in my classes instead of enrolling online. If you speak directly with them you may be able to enroll in the BIO 201 class with a start date later than when your BIO 156 grade should post. I think you need CHM 130 too? The pre-req's for classes is all a blur now!
I was nervous at first regarding completing the labs at home. My BIO 156 class ran Monday to Monday. I downloaded the "lab report" from the link in each week's lessons and completed the lab experiment early in the week, so I would be able to ask questions if anything didn't go as expected. Then completed the lab report and submitted. By the time I did CHM 130, labs were very easy for me. The ability to take the quizes online has been wonderful. The first time I took a mid-term I was very nervous about running out of time. I highly recommend writing down a brief essayish paragraph for each question during the class so the 4 essays are a bit easier to begin. I actually ran out of time on the BIO 156 mid-term! The immediate test results (minus the essay grading) was really nice.
BIO 201 is very different. Most of the quizes online are timed, which requires that my kids are either occupied with Dad or sleeping. Temper tantrums in the middle of a timed test are not fun!!
I've read on various posts here that Rio online BIO classes are difficult and Phoenix College offers them online as well. Take care & Good Luck!