OveRNineThousand

Careful with the online lab classes. Most nursing schools will not accept an online lab class that has no lab. Read the fine print of the prereqs carefully

Junior college... if you're truly ready. It's no walk on the park

Hi I searched online but I can't seem to get a definitive answer. Clinical hours for Lpn schools seem to vary from 300 hours to 1000. I wouldn't think that low hours should affect your Nclex-pn scores very much. The tests are generally all from the books. Definitely ask the instructors though, or the school director if they are satisfying the state board requirements for licensure. I don't know what state you're in, but your state board of practical nurses should also have a website that describes the requirements, including number of clinical hours. Generally if these aren't met they will not allow you to sit for the boards. oh! Also I just re-read your post and I see they were starting clinicals but the site is asking them not to come during inspection. This happens a lot. In general the school will supply alternate clinical "type" activities, like watching videos or something, until the inspection is done... Usually one week. That's ok too.

Hi! I concur with everyone that you shouldn't let your age bother you. I was a tiny bit older than you when I started prereqs, and just got my Rn last dec. I wasn't the oldest in my class and in never came up once in any class, clinical or teacher or co-student discussion. Being older is also a huge advantage in many ways. When you've lived life and worked, you have a different perspective. I was incredibly focused and scored extremely high while working full time. It's just that, you know if you're going to do this, that you're going to do it. You're not going to complain about lack of sleep, or lack of social life. You study because in a way you know your future depends on it. I'm not dissing the young or anything, it's just that they have more time to recover from mistakes, you know?

Retake the class. Don't let anyone or anything stop you or stand in your way. You're in your 4th year, you have the knowledge and you know what to do. Spend this time going over any procedures that you now know you're uncomfortable with until you can recite the steps in your head without any effort at all. The way to come back from a defeat like that is by showing them all, including the preceptor and your instructors, that they were wrong about you.

I would, all other things being equal. The thing is, sure they teach that stuff in the first 5 weeks of nursing school, and sure it's a lot of what you do the first semester in clinicals, but people who had experience like that working with patients and doing CNA stuff were at a huge advantage those first 5 weeks and beyond. They were comfortable working with, bathing, helping, changing, escorting, positioning, toileting, etc etc etc, while the others were still dealing with the "ick" factor, or were afraid to touch the patients or worried they were going to hurt or kill them. Experience is experience, and that confidence will let you shine for your instructors when others are helpless.

Hi. I'm no expert on sciatica but I've had it before. I'm much older than you and just graduated last year. I certainly wouldn't drop out of anything for sciatica. Lots of people have sciatica. It's kind of painful at times, but it gets better and worse, and stretches seem to help a lot. I've had people recommend chiropractic services but that's not really my style. Just go to the doc and see what they say and what they recommend. My first clinical nursing instructor told us how she was run over by a car in her 4th year of nursing school, and she was bound and determined to finish with her class. She got casted up and was right back at clinicals, caring for people with her leg in a cast. That would be worse than sciatica by far, so don't despair and certainly don't quit. I got through school by thinking, "just power through it."

The thing about Nclex questions is.. all the choices are correct. Every single one. They ask which is most correct or which you should do first. That's why you need to know the content before it makes any sense at all.

Hi. Please allow me to put my own two cents in. As a recent graduate and NCLEX survivor I'm very familiar with the anxiety that not-knowing what is going to happen to you can bring. Nursing school is different than any other "class" you've taken or will take... it just is. The thing is, though, the instructors are well aware of this, and typically the entire process from the first day to your last preceptorship clinical is orchestrated to help you succeed. Things will be explained to you, test strategies and question styles will be introduced, and all of the little things they make you do starting from day one are designed to help you: 1. pass the NCLEX, and 2. take fantastic care of your patients, no matter who they are or what is going on with them. In other words... you gotta trust the system. I wouldn't try to out-guess "NCLEX-style" questions before you've even had the information... that just doesn't make sense and will lead to frustration and agitation. That's what nursing school is going to teach you. What you're trying to do is pass the Calculus test the day before the class starts. Relax. Chill. Study what you're taking, and trust that when the time comes, you will be more than ready.