smilelaugh

My deepest sympathies.....you are so brave and strong to have shared such a difficult story. Wishing you the best as you move forward. Hugs to you!

Congrats!!!!

It is easy to think the worst----the test is very difficult!!! You had the skill and determination to get through nursing school and it will get you successfully through the testing process as well. Hoping for results to come to you soon! There's nothing like actually seeing your name listed as. LPN. Hang in there! :)

Congrats!!!!!! I know you passed! No, I haven't heard of anyone getting the good pop up and not passing. It is so hard to wait for results, you feel like your entire life is hanging in the balance! Wishing you the best, please update when your official "passed" results are in!

Thank you!!!!!!

I believe we only lost 4 total since we started. I do know that nights lost significantly more than days but I don't have a number. I would tend to think that nights is harder on those with families and other obligations. I'm not sure of the reasons behind any of them---we would only know if a student chose to tell us the circumstances. We had 3 main instructors for classes on days. It is my understanding that there are many more for nights. A few more things I thought of: There will be a few projects that will be assigned.....don't procrastinate! Haha! Not that you would...but it's very easy to do. I watched classmates go through so much stress because they waited until the last minute. So do a little bit here and there and you will be fine. Try your best NOT to discuss grades. It gets very difficult and at least on days, everyone wants to know. But, it does cause hard feelings at times. If you run for a class officer position, make sure you have the time and energy to follow through and the ability to ask for help. If you need help in a subject/in lab/clinical, don't be afraid to ask, that is what they are there for. I'm sure I will come up with more info as I think back. Are you nervous yet? Lol.

You can do it!!!! It will be tough at times, but it's not impossible. The instructors are very willing to help, so that's great too. There isn't a lot of time to practice skills in "practice" lab---but you get out of it what you put into it. Most of your skills learned will be hands on at Lowell General or Saints. Mostly med surg, some Ortho patients. I still talk to several of the girls from my class on a regular basis. It seems as though about half of our class has taken the NCLEX so far and everyone has passed! Several of us are working. Everyone is working on getting jobs. Some students that were CNA's previously were offered jobs at their employer as nurses. They have someone on staff that helps with job placement if needed. She's great! And very helpful. I didn't need her help, but she has sent out several job openings via emails to us since we graduated. And, I believe she does some teaching in the night program at times. It's great that you want to help soon to be students after you graduate! I wish I had access to someone to answer my questions before I started. It wasn't easy!

Oops...forgot to answer the other question....Yes, I am working. At a home care company as a Care Mgr. I love it!!! I had worked for the company for a bit before school started as a CNA.

I did the day schedule. I know 3 hours was mentioned, I'm not going to say that I never studied more than 1-2 hours but that was the average. I never went to the "pre" classes either. I live over an hour away from school so I had a hard enough time just making it there!! Especially in winter. In term 2, there is a LOT of clinical paperwork that is handed in on the last day of clinical that week (at least for day schedules). You are in clinical 3 days per week versus 1 day a week in term 1. There is a lot more expected of you in Term 2. As far as difficulty of classes..... A&P and the Pharm classes seemed to give students the most trouble. It has the most info to learn in a short amount of time. if you are a flashcard learner (I am), I would say stock up on as many as you can!!!! My other big piece of advice is DON'T miss class. Especially clinicals----you will be making them up at the end of the year (after classes stop but before graduation) but trust me......You won't want to...Ask me how I know????

Oh Wow! You have some great experience that will help you. Don't worry about the pre-req's---I didn't have any either. Are you in the day or evening program? Last year, around this time, I was trying to work as much as possible, trying to enjoy a little bit of summer, and deep cleaning/organizing my house (closets, basement, attic, storage). The last thing I wanted to do was clean/organize after a long week of school/clinical/studying/working. It is true that there is a lot of studying. I personally studied 1-2 hours per day, some studied more, some studied less. It also depends on the grades you want to earn. Some students are happy with 77's or 80's.

Thank you!!!! Congrats to you too!!!!! Great job! If you feel ready, my advice is to go for it! It was tough having it "hanging over my head" for weeks.

So, I need 15 posts to be able to PM. Hopefully I can make that happen soon. First, Congrats to being accepted! That is a huge hurdle, they are VERY selective about who gets in and there are always many, many applicants. Great Job! Before I get into all the info, have you taken any nursing courses lately such as A&P, Microbiology, Pharmacology? I didn't but it will change the way I present info about the school, if that makes sense. Also, are you a CNA/MA/PCA? It's fine if not, I just want to be sure I am thorough. I can say that regardless....It is a tough program. It's not impossible, but it does take a lot of work/effort. Especially if you have a family/job and obligations. I'm excited to answer your questions!!!

Hi Deb! Absolutely! Please be patient with me though...I'm brand new to this site. I'm still learning. Lol.

Hi! I graduated from Greater Lowell in June and passed the NCLEX yesterday. If you have any questions about the program, I would be happy to help!

Hello, I promised myself I would post about my NCLEX experience if I passed and yesterday I did! I attended a 10 month/full time LPN program with 500+ hours of acute care clinical experience (mostly med surg/some ortho) in Massachusetts. I ended up with an 89.2 overall average (only because I slacked off the last few weeks, I was burnt out). I took the ATI predictor test and scored a 96% chance of passing the first time. I graduated on June 19th. I studied about an hour a day on average since I graduated. I used a Kaplan book and the FREE Nclex PN 3500 questions online. I know they are older, but it is still relevant and I had no extra money to spare. I went through every question I got wrong and went through the rationales. It was painful at first!!! Another thing I did was select 205 question "tests" while using the nclex 3500. That allowed me to see how much time it would take if I had to get through all questions when I took the Nclex. The test shut off at 85 questions and I knew I had passed right away. The test was very much on the easier side for me. That being said, if I didn't know my content....I wouldn't have passed. I got approximately 50+ questions that pertained to illnesses/ disease and best way to treat them. I was familiar with all of them in some way or another so I was able to get through. I kept telling myself for the past month that I could do this, that I was prepared, and that I would pass. I actually came out of the testing center with a huge smile on my face. The attendant commented that smiles are rare to see there. I did the pearson vue trick and got the "good" pop up. I took it at 2pm yesterday and my Board of Nursing had my name/license up at 9am this morning! Good luck to all! You CAN do this. We ALL can!