Goldie798

Except for what I could find on Google, I didn't use any study aids. Just buy the textbook and the lab manual that comes with the class. I did purchase a few study aids when I first began, but I never used them. Like I said, they just made things more complicated because it was another thing to read and they were slightly different than what the instructors were teaching. I did use the Athens Tech tutors for Math, and they were great! Also, buy your books at Campus Bookstore. They are so much cheaper than the ATC bookstore, and they offer better prices when you sell them back. As for English 191, if you pick one of the good instructors and already know how to use proper grammar, it's a pretty easy class, but it still takes work. One thing they don't mention about the ADN program until you get accepted is that if you have a criminal record with law enforcement, don't bother to enter the program because no hospital will let you enter clinicals if you have a criminal record. Without clinicals a student can't pass the program. I understood them to say this at the orientation meeting, but last week they said that if you know of anything in your past that might show up on a background check to let them know beforehand. So I don't know if this means they can forgive some past offenses. I was certainly glad I had a clean record, but I was thinking this might have been a nice thing to know before working so hard to get accepted! If I had a criminal record I would have made all those A's for nothing!

I forgot something. You mentioned study aids. Stick with the books because there's not any time for anything else! A sweet friend loaned me his coloring books for the skeleton and muscles, but the pictures and some of the names were different than my text book. Google things instead. Sometimes you can find cute little games on the internet that help you understand and memorize complicated concepts. Other times, you can find things explained on an elementary level. The first thing I googled because I just didn't understand my instructor or my book was messenger RNA and the making of proteins in a cell. I played games and read different websites until I at least had it memorized. Eventually it began to make sense. Now I've pretty much forgotten it! But I know I can remember it in a minute if I review it! Good luck!

Congratulations on your decision to begin the ATC road to becoming an ADN! I just started in the ADN programn last week. I'm so glad I got in, but I'm overwhelmed right now! It moves so fast! The instructors are great, as are my classmates. It's so comforting to be among a group of folks that have suffered through similar experiences to get into the program. As for you, the first advice I give you is to use ratemyprofessor.com to get the best instructors. Your instructors make all the difference when trying to make A's in your five core classes. And do shoot for A's, never a B's. Forget that 3.68 GPA! Strive to make 4.0's!!! You can do it because I did, and I was an average high school student and have been out of high school for many years. To make A's, you must attend every class, you must read your book, and you must take your own notes to go along with the teacher's power points. Also test yourself with end-of-chapter reviews before taking test. When time for an exam, OVER STUDY and do whatever it takes to memorize. Sing it, make an anacronym, draw it, organize it, whatever! I began recording my classes after Antomy 191, and it helped so much! I could go home, read the book thoroughly and take detailed notes as I listened to the instructor a second time. Being able to read the book in small sections and then listen to my instructor helped me to understand better AND remember. Still take notes during class because you never know when the recorder will fail you! Now I'll tell you what I was told when I first signed up at ATC for the ADN program. Take one core class per quarter along with one (possibly two) easy classes such as Speech or Sociology. Take all of your sciences BEFORE the RN Pre-entrance exam. Take English during the summer, never a Science because there are only ten weeks during the summer quarter. Schedule the Exam for the first part of January so finals are over, you have Christmas break to study, and it's before your other classes really get started. Study the National League for Nursing book because the exam looks just like it. (I still have mine if you want to buy it. I also have the Cliff books for Chemistry and Physics that I used alongside of it. Strangely, there were a lot of chemistry and physics questions on that exam. I made a 98, and I studied for two weeks prior to the exam.) If you don't have time to take all of the Sciences before the exam, go for Anatomy 1 and Microbiology before Anatomy 2 because there were a few Microbiology questions on the exam. I know a lot of people who took Mathematic Modeling instead of College Algebra. I took the College Algebra and almost died! It was so hard. People who took Mathematic Modeling with Mr. R said it was easy. There were algebra problems on the NLN exam, but they were just like what the Guide had in it. Not hard at all if you know the basics of Algebra. I hope this helps you. I wish I had someone like me to answer my questions so long ago! Good luck!

congratulations! i know you were concerned about being accepted, but you did it! good luck trying to figure out which school to attend. the cost and location of athens tech makes it a no-brainer for me. i'd really like to know what percentage of atc's 2008 graduating class passed their rn exam, but i can only find 2007's percentages. this might help you make a decision. base it on the school's percentage of rn exam passing grades. i don't know "nurse lingo" yet, so i don't know the technical names for the tests and scores! i think i found the scores at the georgia secretary of state website, but i'm not sure. as for working toward a bsn, i spoke with piedmont college's nursing adviser, and she gave me a list of the classes i need to take to complete my bsn. she said pc accepts transfered grades from athens tech and gainesville state. they even accept clep tests. the final seven nursing classes needed for the bsn can only be taken after i become an rn, but classes such as statistics and the two languages can be taken now. i just hate to think that it's going to take me 3 years and 3 months to get my adn when i could have gotten a bsn in 4 years at another school! i'll have to see how it goes. piedmont college is very expensive, but they have a scholarship program for folks in my county, and i would only need to take the 7 nursing classes from them. but who knows what life is going to be like in 2011. i can only set a goal and work towards it. not having a goal earlier in life is what made me a 44 year old college student! (but then again, i am also a very blessed stay-at-home mom of two great teenagers! god really does work all things out for good!) good luck! i'll look for at orientation!

i received my acceptance letter to athens tech's adn program! what a relief because i forgot to apply to gpc's fall program and had to apply to their spring program instead! this would have put me on the clarkston campus which is way to far to drive! i can't wait for the fall to get here! in the meantime, i've started working on my bsn classes and will hopefully have a bsn by december 2011! i'm so happy to get in!

mom2000, there's always hope of getting accepted! i'm a worrier, so i try to make a's to give myself a little peace, although i'm constantly worrying about the next test. i thought that the hardest part of becoming a nurse was going to be making good grades and graduating. i never dreamed the hardest part would be getting into a program! i'm blessed in that when i began at athens tech in december of 2007, there was a different nursing adviser who actually took the time to schedule out my core classes so i had a better chance of making a's. (i.e. take english over the summer quarter because it's too short for the anatomies or microbiology. always schedule core classes alongside easy classes such as microcomputers and speech.) i was even told to leave a quarter open so i could retake any classes in which i made a c. the current nursing adviser doesn't seem to be doing this, but, with the a's you've made in the other three classes, maybe you still have a good chance - especially if it's god's will for you. it's impressive that you made a's in anatomy 1 and microbiology. those two classes were so hard! like you, i'm older now, and i'd like to go back and slap my younger self around for not trying harder in school. i wouldn't have had to take two remedial math classes before my college algebra if i had! what a waste of money and time those two remedial classes were! i make sure to regularly remind my sons how important it is to do their best now because they'll regret it later on if they don't! i'll be praying for you too! if we don't get in, there's still radiology and surgical tech! maybe we should apply for them as well! goldie798

hey mom2000! what a small world. maybe we'll meet in the nursing program if we make it! before i took the nln exam, i went by athens tech's testing office to ask about the scores because i was freaking out a bit! the lady behind the desk flagged down the man who is over the selection of the nursing program applicants each year. the man told me if you have a 4.0 in your core classes, you're pretty-much guaranteed a place in the program because it places you in the top tier of applicants. he said he recalled one 4.0 applicant who got accepted with an nln score in the 80's. he though it was an 82, but wasn't sure. the lady behind the testing desk was surprised, then said she thought she remembered that one being two years ago and with a score of 88. she said the average score of accepted applicants for 2008 was 93. the man agreed. they both said not to worry about the test scores, and to focus on my gpa. so far i have a 4.0, but i'm in college algebra this quarter, and it's scaring me a bit! i'm reminding myself not to worry because if jesus wants me in this program, he'll make it happen regardless of my gpa, but a perfect 4.0 would make me feel so much more secure! good luck! goldie798

I'm not sure how the marks work, but there were 60 questions in verbal, 60 questions in science and 40 questions in math. I've yet to figure out the NLN score sheet I received in the mail and the explanations are given at the bottom of the sheet. It's very confusing. It states that the Composite scores range from 0 to 200, but yet there are only 160 questions total. It then states that "most scores range between 50 and 150", and I made a 148. The Composite Percentile Scores range from 0-99, but "the percentile scores do NOT indicate the percentage of items that were answered correctly." Despite all the questions I missed, I still made a 99. I don't understand any of this, but my testing center has told me that my score is the best I can get, so I'll trust them and be happy. My test was a booklet that I could write in with a scantron type booklet to fill in the circles for my answers. It was similar to the SAT test I took back in high school, except that I don't remember being able to write in my test booklet. I'm not sure if all testing centers use this method or if some choose to use a computer. I'd call your testing center and ask. I know what you mean about getting different information. I was so confused prior to my test which is why I'm being so detailed with my responses to you. I think it may just be that each testing center has its own methods.

I began studying the Science 10 days before my exam and literally spent the first five days doing nothing BUT studying Science because I was trying to learn the Physics and Chemistry along with reviewing Anatomy. Looking back, I'm not sure I needed to put so much effort into learning the Physics and Chemistry beyond what the NLN Guide offered because the questions on the actual exam were so much harder than anything a person can learn on their own! Once I felt I knew all the Science I needed to know, I tested myself from the NLN Guide and made an 82% every time. The NLN exam's Science questions are very similar to the guide except that they take it to the next level on the Physics and Chemistry. An example would be the reduction reactions in Chemistry. I understand and know how to spot those, but the exam had the reactions set up in a way I hadn't seen in the Guide, in the Cliff Notes, or in my high school Chemistry class! I had to guess on that one even though it was something I knew! The same thing happened with Parallel Circuits. I understood those, but the exam asked a question concerning how many Ohms a certain Parallel Circuit had. Nothing I reviewed told me how to figure Ohms in Parallel Circuits. I then moved on to reviewing math. I'm glad I spent the time to take all the NLN Guide's math tests because it helped me pick up my speed which is essential when taking the exam. My only regret is that I didn't spend any time reviewing the Comprehension. I thought I didn't need to since I had made a 100% on my NET exam's Verbal section, but I was rusty and wasted time trying to figure out the comprehension questions during the exam. Maybe I could have spent more time trying to figure out those blasted vocabulary words had I been quicker figuring out the comprehension questions. The questions and answers just aren't clear cut and take a while to figure out. So give yourself at least a good week to prepare for the exam focusing on reviewing and understanding what's in the NLN Guide and not trying to learn new things from Cliff Notes like I did! The NLN Guide really was a lot like the exam, but nothing could really prepare you for the difficult vocabulary words and outlandish Science questions unless you've already had Chemistry and Physics. Oh, there were a good many Biology questions, but most of them only require common sense. I hope this isn't too much information! These are the things I wanted to know before I took my exam, so I hope it helps! Really, just relax and review what you know and try to understand the other things the NLN Guide highlights because you just can't get everything right on this exam! And start guessing when you run out of time because wrong answers don't count against you!

I took the NLN on 1/09/09. I used the THIRD EDITION of the NLN RN Guide along with those little yellow Physics and Chemistry Cliff notes books. I got my scores in the mail yesterday and made a Composite Score of 148 out of a range of 0 to 200 with most scores ranging between 50 and 150. I made a Composite Percentile Score of 99 for ALL which has a range from 0-99. I don't know what any of this means, but my testing center at Athens Tech said 99 is an excellent score and that the lowest score they accept is an 82. Very confusing. I was as prepared as I could be for this test and actually came to understand the basics of Chemistry, Physics, Thermodynamics, and even Radiation. The problem is that the actual NLN Exam took some of these topics to the next level (way past the level that the NLN guide and Cliff Notes prepares one for), so I ended up having to guess on a few questions. There were a good many bizarre questions concerning Chemistry and Physics and Biology, but, thanks to the NLN Guide and possibly the Cliff Notes, I was familiar with the subject enough to answer them. There weren't as many questions related to Anatomy as I would have liked, and the few that were related asked things I wasn't familiar with. One question concerning a graph actually had no correct answer. The question asked for the range with the least amount of change, but three of the ranges were exactly the same while the fourth range was more. The next question also pertained to the range with the least amount of change, so I'm sure I got both of those wrong. Maybe this NLN exam is trying to see what students answer when there's no correct answer! On Verbal I got 51 out of 60 correct, which stinks. I'm very good with verbal skills and made a 100 on my NET exam, but this NLN test had some vocabulary words I have NEVER heard of along with some comprehension questions that didn't seem to have any correct answers. There were also a good many familiar vocabulary words, and they are all contained in sentences which makes it a little easier to know their meaning. I had to guess at the last few vocabulary words because I ran out of time, and I'm a fast reader! As for Math, I got 35 out of 40 correct. The math did not stray from what the NLN guide contained. I simply ran out of time and had to guess on the last few problems. So remember to work quickly when you take your exam. Oh, and calculators are not allowed, but they're really not needed for this simple math. There were a lot of fractions and percentage problems with a few ratio and algebra problems. Remember to work all the math problems in the NLN Guide without using a calculator so you can brush up on your math skills. Time yourself! In Science I scored 49 out of 60. I ran out of time on this one too, but I also made two stupid mistakes that came to me as I was walking out of the testing room. I answered them on the fly thinking I would go back to them, but there was no time. So remember to answer your questions knowing you won't have time to go back and review them! I reviewed all of my Anatomy notes that concerned the topics in the NLN guide and this was a definite help because I had forgotten a lot since I finished my Anatomy classes a few months ago. (I made A's in both classes). I'm not sure studying the Cliff Note books helped so much since the NLN exam went beyond the Chemistry and Physics in the Cliff Note books. Some of the Science questions were outlandish and required formulas to know the answer. I came home and tried to find some of the answers concerning Newtons and Ohms on the internet, but I couldn't even find the answers there! These questions were way beyond what the Cliff Notes books covered. I think I might have scored just as well studying my Anatomy notes and NLN Guide alone. I hope this helps you. Good luck!