esigler81

I had a class presentation to do last semester, and my group made it like the Today show. Each section we were talking about was a segment. Our class really loved it, and it was a lot more interesting than listening to an hour long PowerPoint.

Also check with your state BON. In Kentucky, they offer a scholarship for those with financial hardship.

I know you are super nervous! They pile all this info on you at once, and you are so overwhelmed. I was you in August. I start my second semester on Jan. 14. Take a deep breath; everything will be ok. The biggest piece of advice that I can give you, is to listen to yourself and no one else. I freaked myself out in the beginning because I was listening to everybody else talk about how nursing school is hard and it's not like anything else you've ever done. I'm not saying it isn't, but keep your focus on what YOU are doing and nothing else. You can do it!

We are using P&P for our Fundamentals class as well. The thing that has helped me the most is the Study Guide workbook that we got with it. It basically follows along the chapters in an outline form highlighting the major points. Also, I ditto the learn the objectives comment. If you can explain those, you should be good.

I use both a dry erase board and this (Mead 20-Month Weekly Dated Planner, 2011/2012: Office : Walmart.com) planner to keep track of everything. The planner has tabs for each month and two whole pages for the week. It's notebook sized so there is a lot of room to write everything down. It was only $8 and I love it!

I'm a planner as well. I think that's why it caught me off guard. I had been planning all summer on having Thursdays off, and now my planning is all messed up. I have two kids, you would think that I would have learned that lesson already. :)

That's how ours was as well, but our clinical and lab times were included in the 4 day schedule. The extra day is a test day. I just assumed we would be taking our tests during class times. I guess not! :)

I was accepted into the fall 2012 nursing program at my local community college. Our classes start on Aug 13 (yay!). We haven't had orientation yet, but our online content was just opened yesterday along with our calendar for the semester. When I looked at our calendar, I was surprised to learn that we have class scheduled 5 days a week. The reason why I was surprised was the scheduled class times when signing up for the class only stated MTWF as class days. My questions are: has this happened to anyone else? and is this something that I should expect the rest of the time I am in nursing school?

While I understand your frustration, you were able to accurately explain all the conversations. :)

Don't freak yourself out! You will do fine. Here are a couple things that helped me out: 1.) Take advantage of open labs 2.) If you can't go to the open labs, take pictures of the models you are studying at the time. Use the pictures to study throughout the week. 3.) You Tube videos and google images are your friend. These two things give you a different view on the same information. 4.) Take advantage of all the information your teacher gives you. Use the dvd's or cd's that come with your books. My lecture was online so we had online content that included games and quizzes to help study. These items were very helpful, and our teacher always had a question or two on the exam from these items. 5.) Remember, you know more than you think you do. Take your time and you will be able to think through the answers. Good luck!