I noticed alot of you have 4.0's. Do you have kids? I just dont understand how you do it. Are you up all night studying or just genuises???
I do ok I have a 3.4 but come on, BSN programs want a 4.0- the competition is stiff. Of course minimum prereq GPA may be 3.0 but thats not whose admitted. The school Im applying to gets 350 apps for 50 seats and is on a GPA ranking selection. So they automatically admit all 4.0's. I still have Stats, Micro, and Chem to take- so I want to know how are you guys getting A's???
This stuff is hard, and with small children and a household to run on top of that is even harder. I need some insight here.
OK, I don't have a 4.0, just a 3.89 but my only B's have been in honors classes. I am 35 with 2 girls ages 11 & 10. My Husband has been the best thing for my GPA in that he takes care of as much of the house cleaning, clothes washing, kids homework checking, and dinner cooking as possible. I could never say just how much I appreciate him for all he has done to support me and take care of the family while I attend school.
My study habbits are as follows (I will try to keep it brief)
1. Read all material ahead of the lecture and ask questions. Even the online resources for the books and disk work if available.
2. NEVER fall behind on reading
3. take lots of notes - I use a laptop and type nearly every word the prof. says
4. Study and understand all the pictures and charts in the books.
6. NEVER miss class
7. Make flash cards, question form, and carry them everywhere.
8. I approach the material as if I was making the test and make my own test for practice (usually much harder than the actual test)
9. I found photomicrographs of histology slides on the internet, printed them out on index cards and on the reverse put all the info for that tissue/cell etc. I did this before lab and verified the accuracy when I went to lab. *Lots of people offered me LOTS of money for these -- would not give them up (should have made extra copies and sold them though)!
10. Memonic Devices - usually made my own. My A&P book had one for the cranial nerves about an Old Trusty Truck, I made my own using the first few letters of each nerve so the O's, A's and T's did not get mixed up. I'll post it at the bottom.
11. Memonic Devices - I make up silly songs, I have a blood cell song, a nerve song, a brain song etc. etc. I sing them over and over, my kids join in, and I learn the info. The kids learn it too - they may benefit from it someday. It is embarrasing when the prof sees me boping my head to the tune during a test though lol.
12. Get lots of sleep and eat well, remember that I am doing this to make a better life for my family and because I have ALWAYS wanted to be a nurse.
13. When I get overwhelmed (Had 2 tests Today, Micro lab, Micro lecture, and honors history) I kick back and watch Trauma, life in the ER or John Hopkins 24/7 or something like that on Discovery Health and remind myself what I am working for.
14. I associate with people with the same goals as I do, my lab/study partner is also an honors student and is as anal about his grade as I am lol. I avoid study groups that end up being mostly chit-chat about who is dating who etc.
It's a lot of work but worth it.
Here is my crainal nerve memonic device if anyone wants it:
OLd OPpen OCeans TROpical TRIangles ABDUCt FAmous VESsels GLOrous Voyages ACCross Hemispheres.
Try printing out your PP lecture notes on COLORED (not white, it's offensive) cards that u like. I like 4x6 pastels (oh & when u click "print" look at options for paper size). Put notes from your Master lecture notes on here. Hole-punch these cards & put them on ring holders. Same color for same class. Diff color for diff class (organizes them). I take them EVERYWHERE! I have also recently put them on my PDA but had to get a PP program for my PDA (handango.com has good prices, but I am on a trial 15-day from another site that I found, but they want $45.00 & the other site had it $20.00 less)
Believe me I am no 4.0 student, but remember once u r in a program
"C" still = RN. Yes, it's still impt to study long & hard, but passing is what will count as will learning to be a good, safe nurse. Instead of "typing" my notes out I ViaVoice them (You Talk It Types) (runs $50.00 & comes w/headset). This has saved my butt many times! Talking out my notes ingrains them more into my brain too.
I've got 3 kids - a 10 yr old, a 6 yr old and a 2 yr old, go to school full time and also work 30-35 hours per week. I study every moment I get - nap time, in the floor of the bathroom while the kids are splashing away! :wink2: , While I'm cooking dinner, you name it...if the kids are playing and happy, mom's got her head in the books. Hubby is a big help too, especially on evenings when I'm working! Repetition is very much the key. I study using lots of notecards. I can carry them around with me and have even been known to carry them in my vest pocket at work...great for break times and while waiting for the paint to finish shaking!
i have a 3.8 at the moment, not a 4.0 - in the months before my wedding, i was taking a & p i and *totally* got overinvolved in every little wedding detail, letting my studies slack, so i got a b in that class.
every other class, thankfully, has been an a. when i did my degree the first time around, fresh out of high school, i was not as mature and didn't take school as seriously. i wanted to get out of school most of the time i was in it! maturity, a new ambition, and several dead-end jobs later, i have a great focus and appreciation for school, and i think that was the key - i don't believe i suddenly got that much smarter during that time.
for each class, i do what a lot of other posters have said: i rewrote my notes from class, i never, ever missed a class unless i was deathly ill, i became the notecard queen (i love the rainbow pack!), i studied a little every night instead of cramming just before, i always found out the best professors for my next classes when registration came up (www.ratemyprofessors.com is a great tool), and i always hooked up with at least one other serious, bright student in the class who could help me where i wasn't doing as well (and vice versa). when i was 18, i don't think i was as motivated to do all that: i had a pretty good memory that got me by, but not with the kind of grades i have now. i think that's why the a's are coming better now.
When i looked up the rating for my lit professor, i was a little intimidated about the poor rating he's received. But then reading a lot of the reviews that contained "gave me bad grades," "homework all the time," "gave me a D for turning in my paper later," i realized it wasn't a reliable tool. Plenty of people who used it to put down a professor simply because the professor had expectations.
When i looked up the rating for my lit professor, i was a little intimidated about the poor rating he's received. But then reading a lot of the reviews that contained "gave me bad grades," "homework all the time," "gave me a D for turning in my paper later," i realized it wasn't a reliable tool. Plenty of people who used it to put down a professor simply because the professor had expectations.
The same thing goes with the students who bash the program because they didn't get in.
Haven't read the other responses yet, but wanted to respond. I have a 4.0, (in fact, I made a 106 in my A&PI class this term!) am married with 2 kids and homeschool as well. It can be very difficult, but I really want this. I study very hard. I do stay up late often to study. Thankfully, I have a DH who wants this for me too, and is behind me 100%. He always asks me, "What can I do to help you?" He helps with dinner, takes the kids somewhere so I can have quiet time to study, helps with homeschooling, stuff like that.
Let me encourage you. At first, it was much harder because even though my DH was excited I was going back to school, he did little things to sort of sabotage my school success. I don't think he consciously did this, but on some level he resented my time and attention being elsewhere. We had to have a heart-to-heart. Now, he realizes that my success is good for our family in the long-run, so now he's my biggest supporter. If your DH isn't helping out enough, maybe you can have a talk with him too?
I don't know how single parents do it! I have so much respect for them. They are my heroes!
Best wishes, and you CAN do it! (And a 3.4 is nothing to sneeze at!)
I have other classes besides the classes for the nursing program, so over all I do not have a 4.0.
However, for the nursing program, every class I've taken in the past year, I've made an A.
I have a 3.77 on the 13 credits of pre-reqs, and a 4.0 on the 17 credits of support courses for the nursing program.
This coming Friday, I'm starting an Algebra class. It is a retake.
I made a B in it in 2001, so hopefully I can keep up with the "all A's since November 2004" thing. lol
Out of 30 credits ( 9 classes), I will have retaken 4 classes. (The pre-reqs....because I had B's in all of them from way before now. The Algebra was from 2001, but the other 3 classes were from 1991/2.)
So, I'm not a brainiac. I've had to retake classes, spend more money, and bust my butt to try to get my grades up from a B to an A. :)
If this is your first time in college...PARTY LATER, HAVE A LIFE LATER, DO EVERYTHING LATER....EXCEPT STUDYING! EAT, BREATHE AND LIVE STUDYING! :) Don't make it to where you have to retake classes in the future. Do it right the first time!!!!!
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RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN
8,498 Posts
All these tips are great. I don't have a 4.0 but have worked just as hard. I don't think I could have worked any harder so I am content.