flysbyemerald08

If you would like a rudimentary understanding of chemistry then the chemistry for nurses might work out best for you. Unless you are on a clear path toward a chem-major, pre-med, etc then you would be required to take the academic yearlong chemistry courses. These are not glossed over courses and will go deep into the trenches of the topic. Labs would be required with those chem courses as well and although the labs might be (1) credit hour courses they often feel like a (3) or even (4) credit-hour course at times. Interpretation as to how tough they were is purely subjective but for me the chemistry courses were pretty intense. Some students found them natural (grrrr @ those students lol) but > 20% of the class failed for each chemistry course. On top of other classes the amount of work becomes even more time-consuming.

Have you taken any chemistry in high school perhaps? How are your math skills? Could you also elaborate on a course description and if pre-reqs are needed for that 'Physiological Chemistry' course? I do applaud your initiative into wanting to take a chemistry course. Knowledge is power! :)

You might take a look at Rio Salado College as well. You can choose either an 8 or 15 week online course which seems a good fit for your timeline requirements.

You are not alone in making mistakes. Several years ago I was only at school to socialize and party with my friends. My poor choices and senseless priorities dropped my GPA to a lowly 1.25. It took many years of life experience, odd jobs, and soul searching to slowly regain the faith in myself that I could do something different and meaningful with my life. I had been out of college for 12 years which is a huge lapse in time! In the past I had worked at a teaching hospital, long-term care facility, home health aide, and agency work as a CNA and PCT so I set a goal to go forth in pursuit of a BSN. Only problem was I was living in a very rural part of the country where there were virtually no jobs and the commute to school was over ice packed roads in the winter. I made up my mind to take one class that I dreaded (withdrew once and got a D on my second undertaking) that is college algrebra. I felt more confident and a bit more focused as my reckless youth years were behind me. I borrowed my parents four-wheel drive blazer to get me to my algebra class and paid what I could with the money I had saved. I also am pretty handy with laptops so I would buy broken ones on ebay, fix them up, and sell them for a profit. I was also asked by relatives for help with odd jobs and computer help as well for some pay. They knew I was working very hard to get myself on track in life so they provided work and pay for me. I wound up with an A for my final grade. I did have to pay out of pocket since my previous foray with college 12 years ago was pretty shameful. I had earned money as a temp work before re-entering school so I used some of that money to pay for my tuition and class text book. I took 2 classes the next term and passed them as well. I then reapplied for FAFSA and was granted funding for summer courses. I eventually graduated from the college with an AS in Health Sciences as well as an AA in Social and Behavioral Sciences 2 years ago with a remarkably improved GPA of 3.79 (grrr at that 0.1 pt lol). Things change and I am on a different path in my schooling now in respect to nursing. Still the point is it is never too late to correct mistakes. If you are able to walk and think then you can make this work. It really depends on how bad you want it. If you are paying out of pocket you might need to take a semester off and make some money and save up to continue with your classes. I find there is almost always someway and somehow in situations such as yours (and my past situation). I wish you the best of luck :)

I went to job corps many years ago and it was a very good experience. We got a weekly stipend (not much ~20 dollars) however the program issued students a check that ranged from ~$500 to ~$800 upon successful completion of our trade or program as well. I forget the specifics on how that worked but upon my completion from the CNA program I was also allowed to remain on campus and attend college classes as well. In addition I had been hired part-time from the long term care facility my group did our clinicals at. The program provided a monthly bus pass so I did not need to worry too much about transportation to my classes or my job. Not sure how job corps operates things these days but for benefits such as I had received it is a no brainer. If you live close to home perhaps you might be able to work something out where you can go home for the weekends and return to campus on Sunday evenings or even Monday mornings. Best of luck to you! :)

Attend all lectures and if study groups are your style- form one. Make flash cards and quiz each other. Make each other draw out mechanisms and also simple reactant/ product Q and As (without the mechanism; this will become important in multi-step synthesis when you do not have time to draw out every mechanism). There will be tons of reactions and mechanisms. My professor did not stress nomenclature too much but we learned them through readings from our textbook. This class seems to be one where it comes naturally to some people while it is a nightmare to others. I fell between the two which meant I had to study rigorously and juggle my pre-lab and post-lab reports and 3 other classes as well. Many late nights and yes a few teary moments! What also helped me tremendously was a little book called Organic Chemistry as a 2nd language by David R. Klein. He has two separate Organic Chemistry books for first and second semester. If you do get the David Klein books start reading them and practice before the summer is over! Also the gentleman on this link http://www.freelance-teacher.com/videos.htm teaches pretty darn good! I watched many of his videos however there were times when juggling homework relegated me to old fashioned practice until I got the practice problems for our online homework correct (we had online homework but had actual in-class lectures). Lab was separate and :groan: a lot of work! Cool thing is we have an NMR machine, IR spec machines, mass spec machines, and my school gave us semester licenses for an NMR program (to check results from labs we did) and Chemdraw to install on our computers for free :) This class is time consuming and truly a second language. As forum member sopranokris stated make sure you know your Lewis dot formulas, sp hybridization, and VSEPR theory. As you draw your mechanisms those valence electrons become very important. If you have access to a model kit then it will help on your stereochemistry chapter. I found that only taking a carbon atom from my kit with 4 bonds and different colored endings helped me out as I became more proficient in spatial orientation rather than taking the whole kit. The most important thing is to practice and practice. Make use of every available resource that your school has to offer to help you get through the course. There are many variables to consider on how tough your class will be. Although I am no longer pursuing nursing I often check back here from time to time and it is wonderful to see how supportive this community is! Very inspirational! My OCHM courses are for science majors and a yearlong program but the suggestions I have given should still be valid. I took my courses at my University with 300+ students and exams that made you want to pull your hair out! I would say about 40 percent of the class either failed or dropped out in both OCHM I and OCHEM II. What I got out of the courses is that I have love and healthy respect for Organic Chemistry :) Best of luck!

Did good. So far 3.83 cumulative and Sciences and Mathematics about 3.91. I'm pleased as punch :)

I just have to respond to this because I can totally relate! I did a schedule like that for the last two semesters and it was a test of endurance, multitasking, and everything else in-between! I too also feel I am very disciplined and had a great run last year with part-time status in the spring and summer sessions. I did well in the classes I took but it definitely was tough! Would I do a schedule like this again??? I probably would but not anytime soon!

12 credit hours for our summers is full-time also. Having taken a horrendous course load the last two semesters (fall 2010 and spring 2011) I have no desire to go kazooey this summer! I'm only taking two courses this summer and will qualify for part-time Pell Grant. I'll get half the amount I get for full-time but for my situation I can make my budget work. Use the videos, do outside research (web resources), and study smartly. Use flashcards, look up the concepts you do not understand, and summarize them- in your own words on a flashcard. Take those w/you everywhere and read em' and read em' while watching visual aids (youtube videos) so that the simultaneous material gives you a "EUREKA I GOT IT NOW" moment! That's the trick that worked for me in some areas. It also helps to see some physiological processes animated as a supplement to the lecture and reading from the class. Best of luck to you :)

Go to youtube and search for videos that will help in clarifying some questions that you may have. Have you taken any previous courses in chemistry or biology? Those are usually pre-reqs for the courses you are having difficulties in.

How are your summer sessions set up? My school has either 5, 8, or 10 week courses. I'm taking Statistics (14 week online course with another school) and Human Development (5 week course) this summer. I've not taken 3 summer courses yet but I can imagine you'd pretty much be in class almost all day and week. I'd just take the 3 classes as I'm sure you're going to want some breathing room this summer. I'm also pretty sure you'll have a couple of essays to write for those classes. Either route you take remember that you want to keep your GPA up so that fourth class may make things a little more constrained. Good luck :)

Congrats!

i'm taking some time to study during the summer. i'm taking two courses but those are easy compared to the last two semesters. i've got a couple of books and will youtube for visual learning exercises so i'm ready for my last fall at cc. at this point i feel that nursing is a profession that will make you seriously brush up on multitasking and time management for sure. i wish you luck cookie91! we all learn at our own pace :)

hahaha EXCELLENT slinky :) Congrats!

I took mine in the classroom and it was great- very interesting and kept me busy! It was also a reinforcement for what I had learned in my A&P II and General Chemistry courses as we covered a little chemical structure, organic chemistry, and calculations. Not a whole lot of chem but my instructor knew just how much and in what way the material would be easy to understand as some of the students had not taken any chemistry. We also covered the digestive system and biology (cellular metabolism-citric acid cycle). Having taken the Gen Chem and A&P courses she'd pick on me quite a bit From my POV I saw this course as a reinforcement and having dipped my feet into the other sciences it was easier to grasp the material (which is a good reason to take as many sciences as you can!). This led to some "OOOHHH" and deja-vu as I remembered a lot of the concepts from the other science courses. I think it's doable if you have good time management skills and are dedicated. I also think that this is a temporary situation that will pay off! My class was 15 weeks long and I can say that I am glad that I took that course