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Make sure that you do all of the practice quizzes at the end of the chapters in your books (Medsurg, psych, maternal child health) or whatever book you are using at the time. You will see alot of these questions repeated on the quizzes and the exams. They will also use some of the ones from the sauders book, so do them as well. My advice for the exams is to read over everything that you have already been assigned (chapters, study guides, powerpoints). The way I studied was by doing this, particularly the chapters, because they will pull out things from the book that we might never think of. I never had any problems with taking their tests, so maybe this will help you also.

Hey Michael, In order to apply for the nurse aide positions, you will need to contact X. They do not use a website for applications, and the one that they have does not list all of the jobs that they have available. Unfortunately, you have to go there in person, but they are all super nice. As for my clinicals, I did Kennedy in Washington Twp, for my first and second semesters, along with Bridgeton hospital for my psych rotation. My third and fourth were done at Cooper for medsurg and peds, and X for my Ob rotation. My transition to practice was done at Underwood on 6E, the medsurg ortho floor, which is what I picked and also where I will be working as a RN. Hope this helps. Theresa

Dawn, I am also from Mickleton, I say Mullica Hill area because no one ever knows where Mickleton is. I have lived here since I was 4. Unless you have any qualifications to apply for any type of job at Underwood, you need to wait until you complete your first semester, so that they can see your transcript. Once that is done, you are basically in. I also have a boy who will turn 4 on Saturday, and a daughter who is 5 and starts beginners tomorrow. I hope I have been of some help, and let me know if I can help you any further. Theresa

Dawn, After my first semester I became a nurse aide at Underwood. They let you work in the pool so you can make your own schedule. They only require you to work 16 hours a month, and you can do more if you want. You can work whatever shift you want and for either 4,8,12 hours, it is up to you. It was great for the fact that you can work it around your school and home schedule, and when the nurses find out that you are in school they tend to let you be involved more. I hope this helps, and I am from the Mullica Hill area.

Hi Dawn, if you want to talk with someone regarding the program, speak with X, he is the best!!! The science classes are the only ones that you should have done, so that they show up on your transcript when you apply for the program. The program only has day classes, but if you are done all of your pre-reqs prior to getting into the program, you are only on campus two days for about four hours one day and may two hours the second. I personally took my clinicals on Saturday, because I have small children and my husband would be home to watch them, so it made things easier. 1st semester clinical is approx. 4 hours, 2nd is approx 6 hours, 3rd is approx. 8 hours and 4th is approx 8 also but can run more. As for the teachers, they are all pretty good, but once in the program you don't really get to pick they are just assigned to you, you pick your days of the week you want to be there when you register. Hope this helps.

Yes, you need to study more for the nursing classes. The micro and A&P tests are based on knowledge questions. The nursing tests may have a few (maybe 3) questions based on knowledge, but the majority are critical thinking questions. You need to know how to apply the knowledge that you have learned and put it into different situations. The tests are also made so that more than one answer is correct, you need to figure out which one is more correct for the situation that you are being given. The best advice I would give you is to not fall behind on your reading, and take good notes, and you will be fine. As for the bookstore not having the books in yet, that is typical and not surprising to me at all. The assignments should be done before school starts, but the first day you will spend most of your time going over the syllabus, so you have some time. The weeding out of people by the faculty is somewhat true, the strong do survive, but that is the individuals doing more than the faculty. The first semester is really when that takes place, but if you follow their rules to the T, than you won't have any problems. The second year of the program, although more difficult, is actually more fun. You start to feel more like a person, than a doormat, and you get to do so much more stuff at clinical. Hang in there and don't worry about the small stuff, or you will drive yourself crazy.:balloons:

As far as the clinicals go, once again, you get more out of them if you put more into them. Some students try to fly under the radar, and some succeed, but they don't really learn as much. If you put yourself out there and are up for excepting the harder patients,(trach, amputee, stage iv ulcers, HIV, kidney failure, stroke, etc.) then obviously you are going to learn more skills. I myself had, I think, the best clinical instructor for my 3rd and 4th semesters - XX. She is by far the toughest, but you will learn so much from her. I also was at the best learning hospital for both of those semesters - , I felt as though when talking with other students who had not had clinical, our group definitely made out better as far as patients and different things to see. Our group was able to do rotations in the ER, TICU, ICU, and OR. As far as the new changes they have made regarding the curricullum, I don't really know alot about that. I do know that they took out the Pharm class and are just incorporating that into the other classes, which I think makes more sense. The care plans were a bear, so hopefully they have changed those too, but I don't know. I can also tell you that you do not graduate from GCC without being prepared to take the NCLEX and pass. As for preparing you to work on the floor of a hospital, I am not sure anything really prepares you fully for that, but your transition to practice at the end of 4th semester will start you on your way. Hope this helps. Let me know if I can help you with anything else.

I just graduated from GCC Nursing program this May, and I will say that most things in your life will get put on the back burner while you are in this program. I know of some people that tried to work full time jobs while in the program and either had to quit, reduce their hours, or ended up failing the program. Don't get discouraged though, it is possible to have somewhat of a life while in the program. I did it with two kids under the age of 5, a husband and alot of animals to take care of. I would tell you that if you are not already working, once you finish your first semester, try to become a nurse aide at a local hospital, one that allows you to work in the pool, so that you can make your own hours around your school schedule and gain alot of hands on experience at the same time. That is what I did, and I only worked when I could. I hope this helps, and you are the only one that can make a difference in whether or not you succeed, so GOOD LUCK!! (but you will be fine)! p.s. If you need any good books, I have alot for sale - let me know.

I only got two select all that apply questions, and I passed!!! ;)

I took my NCLEX on August 7th, and I only got 2 select all that apply questions, but I got about 8-10 priority questions and I DID PASS!! I also was lead to believe that if you did not get alot of the select all questions that you were not doing good, and I remember while taking the test saying to myself, "where are all the select alls". The two that I did get I thought were extremely easy, so maybe I got those right and the computer felt that I did not need anymore of them. I also did not get any dosage calculations either. I am sure that you have nothing to worry about, and I hope that this helps to ease your mind regarding those questions.

Don't lose hope about passing. You are going to take the exam and there will be things that you will definitly know and things that you will not know. Just keep in mind that you only need to get approximately 50% of the questions right to pass. Stay focused, take you time and think each question through before you go on to the next and you will be fine. Good Luck.

To SoulShine75, The book is called Prioritization, Delegation and Assignment by Linda LaCharity, Candice Kumagai and Barbara Bartz. You can buy it at Barnes and Noble for $25.00. Myself and Kimber3ks studied together for the NCLEX and I believe between studying content and using this book it is the reason why I passed. I got mostly prioritization questions and without this book I don't know if I would have known how to answer them properly. I hope this helps. Good Luck!!! :balloons:

I too took the NCLEX on 8/7, and found out this morning that I did in fact pass. For the folks that have questions regarding, has anyone passed with even numbers or with more than 75 questions, I am the proof that it can happen. The other point that I wanted to clarify if anyone is interested is, just because you don't get any select all questions, which are considered to be high intensity questions, does not mean that you are going to fail. I only got two of those questions, and started to panic because everyone else that I knew that had passed got between 6 and 10. The bottom line is that everyone has a different exam and you never really know what is going to happen. I am just thrilled to death that it is finally over, and I wish everyone else out there the best of luck. :balloons::balloons::balloons::balloons::balloons::balloons::balloons::balloons::balloons::balloons::balloons::balloons::balloons:

I just took my NCLEX on Tuesday, and found out this morning that I did pass. If I could tell you one book to buy that I felt definitely helped it would be Prioritization, Delegation and Assignment by LaCharity, Kumagai and Bartz. You can purchase it at Barnes and Noble for $25.00. I did the whole book, and felt that it really was a hugh help, because the majority of the questions that everyone has been seeing are these types. If you know content and do the questions in this book, you will be fine!! Good luck, I hope this helps.