megkat

This is what I usually try to do. However for this particular class, the two professors that teach the class co-wrote all FIVE text books for lecture and lab. In our first week we were assigned 4 chapters from the lecture text, 2 from the lab text, and a hand full of optional study assignments... one of which can be submitted for extra credit.. We have to read and work ahead to be on time. It's like the old saying goes "To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, and to be late is unacceptable."

My university (and I'm sure most others) recommends that we spend 3 hours for every one credit studying ( 4 credit class = 12 hours studying and so on). Well I find that I put WAY more time than that into my studies. I know I've said it about a hundred times on this forum, but I am taking Anatomy and Anatomy Lab (my school separates A & P into two classes) this semester. In total 4 credits... Today marks my second week of classes and I have already put in well over 50 hours of reading, open lab time, study exercises, and I watch the corresponding lecture videos from the Intro to A&P class. The videos aren't as in depth as the regular Anatomy class goes, but it gives me the basic concepts of each chapter. So I'm wondering how much time do you put into studying? Are you one of those lucky people that can read something once and completely understand it? Or are you like me and studying becomes a full-time job?

Man, am I in for a LOOOONG semester. I had my first Anatomy lab last night... we already had our first test and a second one that needs to be taken in the open lab before our next scheduled lab class. Tons of homework and reading were assigned too. On the plus side my instructor seems really nice (and energetic) and I really like her teaching style. It's going to be one long, but I think pretty, fun semester! Who else had their first lab? How was it??

Well I started tonight and had Anatomy lecture. I'm torn... I was expecting much worse, but then again it's only the first class and it's only going to get harder from here. After 3 hours of lecture, 2 chapters and 8 pages of notes my brain feels like goop and it might just fall out of my ears tonight. On the plus side, my professor tries to keep it interesting and we had a few good laughs in between the important stuff. Now I must go drink some more coffee, rewrite my notes, and shove cotton balls in my ears to keep my brain from falling out.

+ = me. I don't start till Tuesday, but I CANNOT wait!! I'm so ready for classes to start again and I'm going to kick the crap out of anatomy... I can feel it in my bones! Good luck to everyone starting this week!!!!

He puts a monetary value on his time with everything he does. For example, he'd rather get take out from a steakhouse for ribs because it's not worth his time to put them in the oven and wait for them to cook for a few hours. He thinks it would be more beneficial for me to work at a job paying next to nothing than it is for me to put 4 more years of my life into my education for a career that will last a lifetime. I think he looks at it that I'm losing money since I'm not working right now. My husband has a city job and works a steady 40 hours a week and not that he makes "great money" but he makes enough for us to get by. Don't get me wrong, we sacrifice a lot to put me through school, but we both look at like it's investment for our family's future and will pay off in the long run. One of his suggestions to start working asap was that I drop out of the program I'm in (I'm going for my BS) at a great state school to go to one of our local technical schools that offer an associates only program. Before I applied to school for my pre-reqs I did my research and those tech schools are 5x more expensive than the state school I go to and their credits are non-transferrable to any of the state schools. So if I did go there and then later on down the road decided that I wanted my BS I would have to start from square one. The whole idea makes no sense to me, pay more for less and not be able to move up if I choose to... unless I want to start over. I would LOVE to know what his reasoning is for this... but he does a lot of things that I just don't understand. To me, he's kind of a schemer and he has all these grand ideas of how to get rich quick, which all fall apart. Like sell his payed off car and truck that are working perfectly fine, buy at least seven or eight thousand dollars worth of tools and car stuff to get into the business of buying junkers, flipping them, and then selling them for profit.. Guess how many cars he's worked on... none. And that's just one of his many get rich quick schemes that have fallen to the wayside. Like I said in my original post, I think he's jealous. I have a plan and ambitions for my life and he's worked blue collar jobs his whole life and has nothing to show for it except for a mountain of debt.

Awesome idea! I'm keeping it light this semester and taking Anatomy with Lab. I want to give myself the best chance possible to get an A.

This is a great post! My father-in-law is the kind of guy that lives in the here and now... which is nice and all but he has a really hard time understanding why I'm "wasting" so much time in school. We had a conversation a few weeks back about the fact that I still have 4 years left before I graduate. I made a conscious decision to split my pre-reqs into two years so I can put as much time and effort as possible into the classes I take to get the best grade I can before applying to the nursing program. He said "You need to look at how much money you are going to put into your education and what the return on your investment is going to be." To be honest, I'm going to a state university and my tuition is really not bad at all. My husband and I are able to pay for it in cash each semester, so I have no loans and no post-college debt. So I will make back what I put into school in my first year working as an RN 3 times over. He told me I'd be better off working for $10 an hour and quitting school so I can start making money now instead of having to wait until I graduate. SERIOUSLY dude?! Cause that makes a TON of sense. Be stuck just like you... No thanks. Well quite frankly, I think he's jealous. He never did anything significant with his life. He is in a dead end job and has been in the same position for the past 15 years with no chance of advancement. I'm finishing my pre-req's and then going for my BSN so I have options in the future. The way I look at it is that I am still young(ish) and I'm doing this to give me and my family a better life in the future. And if he can't understand that then I feel sorry for him. There is nothing anyone can say to me to change my mind about my future career. So suck it naysayers.

This may make me sound like a schmuck but I'm doing it for me. Plain and simple. It's something I want (and have wanted for a very long time) and I'm chasing my dream. It's been 7 years in the making and my husband and I were finally in the position to put me through school... ex: sacrifice pretty much everything and move in with my in-laws to save on rent/bills and have built in baby sitters when I have to study for days on end. On the other hand to downgrade my schmuck status just a bit, I'm using this as a teaching opportunity for my daughter. Granted she's almost 3, but I want to set a good example for her and show her that hard work pays off in the end. Also, knowing that I will spend my days helping people and having, in my opinion, the worlds most exciting (and stressful) career is just pure bonus.

These topics are really hard to answer. Every school is different. Like Ashes172 said, make an appointment with a nursing advisor and go over your options. They are the only people that can tell you your chances. Good Luck!

I am not a fan of energy drinks. Once in a while I'll have a Monster Rehab but I try to stay away from them as much as possible. The one time I drank a 5 Hour Energy, I literally took a nap for a few hours. It in no way made me feel like I was pushing past that "2:30 feeling." My husband was drinking a can of the Monster BFC (big ******* can, something like 32 oz) for a while everyday before work. He started to feel "funny" so he went to the doctor and his blood pressure was through the roof. He stopped drinking them, went back to the doctor a few weeks later and it was back in the normal range. So I pretty much just stick to coffee.

So I've been trying to better myself both intellectually and physically. When classes start, I find it really hard to fit in a proper workout and studying makes me hungry so I snack a lot more than normal. What do you do to stay fit when classes are in session... specifically those of you with families, jobs and other non-school responsibilities.

I know there are already a ton of pro-mac/pro-pc posts in this topic, but here are my two cents. I have a MacBook Air... and I LOVE it. It's 4 years old and it's been through hell and back. I've dropped it on the travertine floor more times than I'd like to admit, my almost 3 year old has dropped stuff on it and spilled on it several times, it's nice and light so it travels with me pretty much everywhere I go, and in my opinion it's super easy to navigate. My father-in-law made the switch from PC to Mac about a year ago and his take on it is "You have to dumb yourself down to use a Mac. PC makes everything more complicated. What takes a PC 6 clicks to do, a Mac can do in 2." Even my very anti-mac husband uses my laptop significantly more than he uses his windows laptop (like he hasn't turned his on in over 6 months). If you are willing to make an investment a Mac is the way to go. Now to get to your original post, go with the MacBook. It's portable and it can do everything an iMac can do. I use mine in class and if you get Office for Mac (which I HIGHLY recommend) you can even record the lecture as you're taking notes and it will sync up what your professor is saying to what you're typing. Just use the "Word Notebook Layout" click the Audio Notes tab and click record. Simple as that.

I had never taken a chemistry class until this summer. I was also very overwhelmed with the material. It didn't help that I took it in a 7 week semester. Anyway, I ended up with an A- which I was very happy with. My professor was very scattered and I had a really hard time understanding and following her in lecture (lab wasn't required). At the end of the semester we still had 2 chapters that we didn't have enough time to cover in class so I pretty much had to teach myself the material. I ended up watching a LOT of youtube and Khan Academy videos and it really helped. I also went to the campus tutor twice a week and he was amazing. Good Luck!! You'll do just fine.

So I'm 5 days away from starting my Anatomy class. I was feeling really confidant about the whole dissection thing until today. My university uses cadavers and I'm starting to freak out a little over it. I don't want to be the person that faints or pukes at the site. So do any of you have any tips or tricks to get over the initial shock of dissecting what used to be a living, breathing person?

I will be working on cadavers. My school is very fortunate to have quite a few donors for us to work on. Is it weird that I'm super excited to get my hands in there?

Good luck to you too!!! I start Anatomy on the 27th and I am so excited! I know come the 28th after I have seen my syllabus my feelings will be completely different, but I'm going to enjoy the excitement while it lasts!

As much as I love quizlet, I much prefer making my own flashcards. The more I hand write something, the more it sinks in and sticks. I do mine in different colors. Here how: -Bold Terms (blue) -Practice/review questions (Purple) -Concepts (red) -Etymology (orange) -Obselete/slang (green) -anything else important.. dates, people, etc (black) Color coding them really helps me out, but everyone's different.

We aren't allowed to do this at my school. Our phones have to be turned off, logged by a lab assistant that it is in fact OFF completely, and then stored in a room outside of the lab. I'm a very visual learner so this might put me at a bit of a disadvantage. I might just bring my tent and camp outside the open lab for the next 4 months so I can spend all my free time in the open lab with the models.

I'm in Utah and applying for Fall '14 for the BSN program! I'm so excited I already have my application filled out, just need to take the TEAS and finish my last 3 pre-req's!!

All I can say is WOW. You guys are amazing. Ever single post had some really good advice, and I thank you for that. My husband does support me and he has faith that I will succeed, however, he is having a really hard time understanding why I have to put so much time into. In order for him to get certifications for his job he has to take timed, open-book tests. They are pretty much testing his ability to look up and find a building code, so he doesn't actually have to memorize an entire book. He puts a monetary value on his time with everything he does and he thinks I should do the same thing with my time. The way I look at it is, if I love something it doesn't matter how much time I put into it. A very wise old German neighbor of mine once told me "The day a woman gets married is the day she has her first child." And this could not be more true... seriously. When I've been studying for hours on end, he will come into whatever room I'm in and start making obnoxious noises or sing really loud to get my attention. I tend to tune him out because acting like a child isn't going to get him anywhere. If he were to say, hey take a break for 20 minutes to sit with me and watch TV or something I would be much more willing to take a break. I guess I'm going to try to have a sit down talk with him and come up with some sort of schedule/rules for when I'm engrossed in schoolwork. THANK YOU AGAIN for all the words of wisdom.

Not until the 27th, but be happy that you got your syllabus. My anatomy professor doesn't give them out until the first day of class. So I'm just reading the first few chapters in hopes that he actually starts from the beginning of the book. Good luck in your class!

I was in a similar boat. I as well graduate HS in '03 but I did attend college right after in something completely unrelated to nursing. I wasn't able to do my senior year because of financial reasons and dropped out of school. Then life happened. I moved across the country, got married, and had a baby in Sept 2010. When I decided to go back to school I was a nervous wreck. I'm going into my second year of pre-req's. i decided to split them up into 5 semesters so I can devote a lot of time to the two or three classes I took at a time. Here's what I did: -Developed a good relationship with my advisor. When ever I have a question I email him, call him or set up an appointment. I visit him at least twice during each semester to make sure everything is on track and to see if there have been any changes in the application process that I need to be aware about. -If your school has a "Writing Lab" and "Math Lab" (it's basically free tutoring on campus with an honors student or someone very proficient in the subject) go there and get help with your papers and math homework. -Utilize professor office hours. You know the old saying "There is no such thing as a dumb question. Except one that isn't asked." Nothing can be truer in college. If you can't make it to office hours send them an email. Most are more than happy to help you out. Believe it or not they don't want to watch you struggle and fail. They are on your side. -YouTube... 'Nuff said. -KhanAcademy.org - It has fantastic videos, especially math related, that have saved my butt on more than on occasion. Plus, it's FREE. It also has practice problems that are really great. Keep in mind you are not alone! You will most likely NOT be the oldest person in your class. From my personal experience, try to get a study group of people that are close in age to you. I find that us old farts in the class tend to have a different out look on school than the 18 year olds. **No offense to all you young bloods out there... it's just what I have experienced. College is a whole different beast when you have kids, a family, and a house to look after.** Anyway, GOOD LUCK. Stay positive. It won't be that bad... I promise!

I wonder if the OP is being misunderstood. I could be totally off base but maybe the class is being taught LIKE a master's level course.

So let me start off by saying that my husband is a great guy. He would move heaven and Earth to make sure I'm happy but he just doesn't get it when it comes to school. He has never been to college and works in the construction world as a building inspector. When I tell him what my classes are like and how hard something is going to be he acts like I'm over reacting. For example, this semester I'm taking anatomy. My advisor and several friends that have taken the class tell me that this class at my school is hell on wheels. 3 hours of lecture, 3 hours of lab, and an average of 40-50 hours a week of studying/open lab/quizzes (which are done in the testing center on campus on your own time). Last semester an A was a 33% based off the curve. They pretty much HAVE to grade on a curve because this class is so beyond hard. When I told him everything about the class from the above paragraph he, and my father-in-law, both said "Well that's got to be illegal. They can't MAKE you study for 50 hours a week." ...DUH, but to get an A it's what I have to do. I don't want to just pass, I want to work my hardest and get the best possible grade I can. When I showed him my FOUR text books (about 800 pages each) he shrugged it off. When I tell him that he's going to have to play Mr.Mom this semester so I can really focus because to keep my GPA at a 3.8 I HAVE to get an A he acts like you'll be fine to be full time mom, full time student, full time home keeper-upper, AND keep your grades up. And yes I know, some people do that and they deserve all the credit in the world., but I just don't know if I have it in me. When I showed him the 120 page final review packet (that a friend gave me from a few semesters ago) he told me "I don't see what the big deal is, all you have to do is memorize something for a test and then forget it." Right, cause what I want when I'm at the hospital is a nurse that doesn't know my ears from my toes. So I guess to make this long story short... How would you talk to your spouse if they weren't supportive or didn't understand just how hard school can be. Classes start in just over a week and I need to convey to him that I really need some support this semester.