pre-req help!!!!!

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i am 1yr out of high school and i am taking my pre reqs at a community college. i am currently taking anatomy I for the SECOND time with no prevail. i want to become a nurse, its my life goal.but i am getting discouraged now. the first time i took a&p i dropped almost all the way into the course with a C. i am taking it with a defferent teacher now and i am still making a C. maybe worse. But i am not giving up. I just need some advice on what to do next. I am willing to take it a third time, or however many times i need to to pass, but how many times can i take a&p? Could i just transfer to another school and start fresh?clean slate? i live in the dallas area. if anyone could let me know of some good community colleges to take my pre req's that would be wonderful. i just really could use some helpful advice. and soon!! thanks for reading

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I attend Mountain View, and I thought that the instructors there were great for all nursing scince classes. But I wanted to ask. What is the hardest part for you? A&P I and II is alot of memorization. Depending on what your weaknesses are you may just need to study more often. And ask your self,"What is this talking about?, "What is this asking me?" Study with a partner, if you can. My instructor told me that, If I can't teach and or explain the material to her or someone else, that I don't have a full grasp of the material. It's alot of work but you can do it. Don't give up.

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It varies between schools/programs, but for example at my school, you are only allowed to repeat a class to either improve the grade or to pass it once. A C- for all pre-requisites, co-requisites and nursing courses is considered failing. If you did not fail the class but repeated it more than once, your grade from your second attempt (whether it is better or worse than the first attempt) will not change.

A&P is a very hard class so do not get discouraged. Here are some things that have helped me:

* In lab, we studied models. We did not do any kind of dissection except for a sheep's brain and cow's eyeball, but those were optional. I brought a camera with me to lab and took pictures of the models then printed out the pictures with arrows pointing next to the structures that we were responsible for knowing with blanks next to them. Then I placed the printed pictures in a clear binder page, or placed a transparency page on top of it so I could write with erasable markers. Using those erasable markers, I would "test" myself by filling in the blanks of the structures. This is what helped me in lab.

* I recommend The Anatomy Coloring Book and The Physiology Coloring Book. They're about $20/ea and you can find them used on amazon, but I would rather buy a brand new one so all of the pages are blank and you can color them yourself. If you do not want to buy the Anatomy Coloring Book, I would at least check out the Physiology one. They are by Wynn Kapit, Robert I. Macey & Esmail Meisami. You can buy them at Barnes & Noble/Borders.

* Review your notes from lecture sometime within the same day (after having lecture). Doing so will help you remember the material better. This will also be a pain, but read through your notes every day if you can. Don't wait until the week of or the night before the test to study.

* Flashcards are also a plus - you can also buy those at Barnes & Noble/Borders.

Hope this helps a bit and good luck! :nurse::heartbeat

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dont be discouraged if nursing is what you want to do than do it. i speak from experience when i tell you not to rely on taking anatomy for an third time. just work you butt off now. alot of schools in califorina automically disqualify you if you have taken it more than once... just trust me and try your hardest..

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daniedi77

thank you. i'm not sure yet what is my biggest struggle. i have memorized all of the bones and what not with no problem. when it comes to the cells and structure of the cells i am lost. do you know of any good schools i might could look into? if a&pI is this hard i can only imagine how hard a&p II is....

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shrimpchips-

thank you for your studing advice. i've heard of the coloring book, but i've never looked into it. i think i will. i know i am not stupid, but i feel stupid having to take this class over simply because i do not understand-and to take the course 3 times. its just frustrating.

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i live in rockwall. where are some schools i could look into to transfer to finish my pre-reqs?

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I thought A&P II was much easier, and yes i hate the cell stuff as well. I always did better on the lecture exams then the lab exams. Just keep going, check with your advisor about the transfer of hours, some schools only accepted certain classes and course numbers. At my school, we were allowed to take a class as many times as we payed for it and depending on the school they will either average the grade or take the last grade taken. Don't worry so much, you have to look at the big picture. A&P is just a part of it. I made a couple of C's and I still made it into a BSN program. Good Luck.

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daniedi77

if you dont mind me asking but where did you attend school for your basics?

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Have you taken a biology class yet? My college recommends taking a biology class before A&P. There were several chapters dedicated to teaching the cells and their components in the biology class while the A&P class only had one chapter covering that material. If you haven't taken biology yet and want to retake A&P, you might want to consider taking biology first.

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We have to take biology first but I don't think it will be much help. I got an A but remember very little of it now, more general, not very focused on complex cellular stuff.

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I did all of my prereqs at Mountain View (DCCCD). I had a GREAT advisor, who told me what classes to take, when to take them and with whom.

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