MelindaSJ

Can you tell us what you have been doing to prepare? What has your testing experience been like? It is hard to give advice without knowing what the possible reasons you have been unsuccessful may be - for example, advice would be a lot different if you have an issue with content and knowledge application vs if you need some test taking strategies/critical thinking practice. I would definitely say that after 5 fails you should probably take some time to decompress and really take an honest, objective look at your methods for preparing to try to see where you might need to make some changes. If you share your experience a bit more you might get some better feedback. Best of luck to you.

Just to clarify, it sounds as though you stopped one step short of the "trick". The pearson vue site used to stop you from entering in your credit card info if you had passed, but it has changed. Now everyone, pass or fail, is able to go through the process to re-register, enter their card info, and make it to the payment screen. The "good pop up" will only happen when you put in all your info, go to the payment screen, and click the final SUBMIT, as if you were actually going to finalize your payment. Good pop up = a message comes up saying that you are unable to reschedule, a "bad pop up" = it accepts your final payment and actually re-registers you or tells you that your card has been declined d/t insufficient funds (aka it actually tried to process your payment to register you again). Congrats on passing :)

No, many people in the program didn't complete their previous degrees.

You get to rank placements in order of preference, but there are only a certain number of open spaces at each location so some students get put somewhere not ideal. This is the same at all nursing programs that I know of - I did a semester in Toronto and it was the same there. Sometimes you are unlucky.

No problem! I remember how nervous I felt before I started. I would say for online vs in person it depends on your learning style! If you are more of a self-starter, have good study and review habits and can keep to a schedule, and don't think you would miss the social aspect of lectures then online might work for you. Some people who know that they are more of the procrastinating type and like getting out of their room prefer to take on campus classes. Totally up to you. If you are a real keener, you could get started with learning about the basics of the body systems - anatomy, physiology, the normal functioning of different organs. I love Khan Academy: Human anatomy and physiology | Health and medicine | Khan Academy But my real, honest advice is just to TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF! Enjoy having some time off! You will have precious little of it once the program starts. Hang out with friends and family! And get into a good healthy eating/workout and positive mindset so you have some healthy habits to combat school stress with

Of course you are scared! The unknown is always scary. And people sometimes talk about nursing school as though it is a war from start to finish. But remember that everyone is a total beginner at the start of the program so you will be starting from the same spot as everyone else. You can be successful! Difficulty of courses really depends on your learning style. In the first few semesters the theory courses can seem really challenging because the concepts are more abstract, the marking is more subjective. Don't obsess over getting 90% on all of your assignments - the reality of EVERY university is that marking is often subjective, sometimes unfair - I have several very bright friends who have gotten lower marks then they deserved on assignments simply because they were randomly allocated to Marker #3 out of 4 or whatever. People complain a lot about essays in the first few semesters - remember, this is university! Getting a 90% on a university level essay is tough! It's supposed to be! But it doesn't matter - we are here to learn. If you get a low mark, make sure you learn where you went wrong. Ask questions. Faculty are there to help you. Anatomy and Physiology are of course challenging - there is a lot to memorize! Same with Patho, Pharm.. it's just a lot of new concepts in a short period of time. The second Winter semester is VERY challenging in terms of readings and assignments - the workload is very heavy. Many of us felt extremely stressed out this term. But I only know of a few people who have dropped out. Most people are successful. The program is designed to build each course off of the previous course - so start early, review often, and make sure you have a good understanding of the foundational concepts. The MOST important thing is to stay on top of your work! You will be successful if you do this. You will get yourself into trouble if you procrastinate, put things off, and then suddenly try to teach yourself 4+ weeks of material a week before you are tested on it. Also remember - there is SO MUCH nursing info out there online and readily available to you. If you feel like a prof hasn't taught a concept thoroughly enough for you to understand it, don't just complain about it - take some initiative and try to find the answer for yourself! Even Youtube has tons of great videos for review. The biggest tips I can give you are to be self-reliant and to manage your time well. The compressed program is set up with the expectation that you have the ability to manage your own learning needs appropriately. If you are struggling, acknowledge it and get some help! One great thing about Trent, is that you have access to all of your profs at all times - it's such a small faculty and a small campus. The faculty are very kind if you make an effort to get to know them. Make an appointment to talk to the prof about concepts that are confusing you. Reach out to classmates. Book extra lab time to practice! And try not to be afraid to ask questions - sometimes the best thing you can do is admit "I don't know!". Be aware of your stress levels. Make time to do things that make you happy. Also... KEEP ALL OF YOUR NOTES! You will use them over and over again in later courses.. and of course when you prep for the NCLEX eventually!

I'm sure you can book tours, check the Trent website.

For your first few placements - LTC, mat-child/mental health - you will have one shift a week, based on a set schedule your group is assigned. The program is planned out with times for your placement built into your schedule - usually Thursdays and Fridays. Those days will be "blocked out" in your schedule - they don't let you enroll in classes on either of those days, because you will be at placement for one of them. So, for example, all of your labs and classes will be set on Monday-Wednesday, and then you will attend placement on one of those other days, whenever you are assigned. Because of this, you tend to have some long days - for example, this semester we had all of our lectures from 10 am - 4 pm on Monday, and then had our seminars and lab Tuesday and Wednesday, and then our acute placement (which was 2 days a week) either Thursday and Friday or Saturday and Sunday on a rotating schedule. I think they are offering the research classes online now.. but most are in person. Placements are local - meaning the Peterborough area. That sometimes includes Oshawa, sometimes Whitby, Cobourg, Lindsay, Campbellford, etc. Most are in town. You do make your own travel arrangements - people tend to car pool, but Trent also offers a clinical "taxi pass" that you purchase at the start of the semester, and then a cab picks you up at a set time on campus and takes you to/from placement.

You absolutely will be able to go out of country, province, but you need to touch base with the placement coordinator well in advance and keep your marks up - there is a cut off. You won't be able to organize placements or contact people about them yourself, it's against policy and they don't. Of course nothing is guaranteed because it varies by what is available year to year. The program has no breaks apart from the chance of having a week between exams and next session - it is laid out as follows Fall 1 (Nurs 1000, 1001, Biol 1050, Biol-Chem 1550, +0.5 credit 3000 level elective) Winter 1 (Nurs 1020 Long-term care placement + labs, Nurs 1002, 2550, 2030, Biol 1051) Spring & Summer 1 (Nurs 2021 Mat/Child or Mental Health placement + labs, Nurs 2003, 2001) Fall 2 (Nurs 2020 Community placement, Nurs 2000, 3030, 3550, +0.5 credit 3000 elective) Winter 2 (Nurs 3020 Acute placement + labs, Nurs 3000, 3001, 3004, + forced choice elective) Spring 2 (Nurs 3021 Chronic placement + labs) Summer 2 (Nurs 4020 Pre-consolidation + online advanced topic) Fall 3 (Nurs 4021/4022 Consolidation + online advanced topic)

ckcat01: for all placements, you are expected to be able to work within the Peterborough region. You have a LTC placement, a mental health or mat-child unit placement over the first summer, a community placement, an acute care placement, and a chronic care placement. For these you rank possible choices in order of preference. You might have one or two options in Lindsay, an option in Oshawa, an option in Cobourg, and a few options in Peterborough city/county. I don't know how the algorithm works - I always seemed to get placed where I wanted, while friends from Oshawa would request the Oshawa placement and not receive it. All of my placement experiences have been very positive, but it very much depends on what type of clinical instructor you get, just like at every nursing school. You will have a lot of hands on practice in labs and simulations outside of placement. For your last 2 semesters (preconsolidation and consolidation), you will meet with the placement coordinator and indicate specific preferences (setting, institution, region, etc). You have the option of going anywhere - almost any setting, out of country, out of province, etc. Whether or not you get placed there depends on if the placement coordinator can successfully negotiate a spot for you. I know that St Mikes won't take Trent students because they have a partnership with U of T nursing school. I have friends in previous years of the program who were placed at Princess Margaret and Sunnybrook, their #1st choice requests.

A lot of my classmates commute - from Oshawa, Lindsay, other parts of the GTA. It's definitely doable but I think it does make things difficult at times. Keep in mind - Trent literally NEVER closes during snowy/icy weather haha! Yes, sometimes profs will cancel class over email or blackboard but a lot of the time things are mandatory attendance (weekly labs, clinical shifts) and missing them can be a headache. But if you are comfortable driving in poor conditions it might not matter to you as much as me! Chances are you won't have many "days off". I was lucky to have a couple of transfer credits, so my first semester I did have a lighter course load. And during the first summer (third semester), you take a lighter course load (I think my schedule was lectures on Mondays, seminars and lab on Tuesdays, and then a 12 hr clinical shift that rotated days). But since there are a lot of other things you have to do - for example educational/training days, simulations - I think your best bet is to assume a 5 day week most of the time.

Sorry to hear that some others have not had a great experience at Trent! I am currently in the compressed program as well, going into my pre-consolidation placement this summer and will wrap up with my consolidation from Sept-Dec. My experience has been great. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask!

I'm a compressed student at Trent - a lot of people in my class commute from the GTA, Oshawa, etc. It's definitely doable. Just keep in mind winter driving (Peterborough is pretty rough on road maintenence), and don't expect to get all of your clinical placements closer to your region - some people luck out and get the spot they request, but a lot of people wind up with Peterborough area placements even when they request the ones closer to home.