Question about A&P

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I heard that A&P is has a 50% pass rate and those whom have not had a science classs in the last 2-3 years will have problems.....how true is this? The reason I ask is I plan to take my pre reqs over a course of a year and a half, begining with English, Math, Medical Terminology, and Pysc......the plan is to start A&P 1 next fall along with Chemistry and a few other classes.......would I be better off to switch something around and take Chemistry this coming Spring before A&P1......I mean it's a form of science class???? Am I overthinking this? I took a less complex form of A&P in surgical tech class many years ago, although it was more anatomy than physiology, but I still did really well then....I'd love to hear what other people, have done or are doing.......do you wish youhad done anything differently?

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I think you should be fine especially because you have taken anatomy before. For my A & P class, our first exam was a review on chapters 1-3 and included some chemistry. So chemistry might be a good warm up class for anatomy. Good luck!

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Specializes in cardiac-telemetry, hospice, ICU.

Yes, I think you are over-thinking it. In my experience 50% do not fail A&P, and if you do, you can forget nursing school. You should shoot for an 'A' as in all your prereqs as it is very competitive to get into many schools. I took A&P and had not had a science course in like 30 years. I studied a lot and did very well. Don't psych yourself out, psych yourself up!

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Thanks ladies, I think I will do fine, but sometimes reading or listening to other peoples opinions can really make you second guess! I am totally ready for this!

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I am a 41yr old student in a BSN program at the University of South Florida. When I took A&P, yes there was a 50% fail rate for A&P 1 but then the dead weight had been weeded out for A&P 2. The pass/fail rate depended on the professor and my professor was awesome. And awesome to me means that you learned a ton in his class. He was tough on us but we knew what he expected from us. I received a B in A&P 1 and an A in A&P 2 and that was without having taken a science class in over 20 years. Doing well in A&P was a great bonus when I was in Pathophysiology because A&P is about 1/3 of the class.

Having seen students that have not succeeded in getting good grades in their pre-req's, usually they do not do what it takes to get the grades. A&P is a hard class.... period. There is no way of getting around spending a tremendous amount of time studying. If you study hard, then you will be successful in all of your pre-req's. I was able to get accepted into my university with a 3.9 GPA.

If you are committed to doing well then you should be fine!

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Thanks ladies, I feel better now! I am so excited for this and just want to do the best I can!!!

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I am also in my early 40's and have not had a college class in over 15 years! I got A's in both A&P I and II. I had my kids drill me on the anatomy part and my prof was very good at using analogies for the physiology. I recalled most of this stuff from high school! It's always easier the second time around, even 25 years later! Now I'm taking microbiology and the same is true: I don't remember WHEN I had this stuff, but it's familiar and that makes all the difference to me!

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I have a B.S. degree in criminology and want to get a 2 year degree in nursing, I am 55 now. Will my basic courses like math, english etc be credited you think? I also was a combat medic in the Navy in the 80's. What do I need to do to get into nursing school? Thanks

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As far as your basic being credited it really depends on your schools preference.....mine did not allow mine, that were from 2000....due to the fact that they were more than 5 years old.....sounds like you need to contact your school to get started in the right direction. But your transcripts will be handy anyway, so go ahead and dig those out!

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Specializes in OR.

I think the pass/fail rate in A&P is less about how recent your last science class was and more about your motivation as a student and willingness to prioritize studying above all else. As another older student, I hadn't had any classes in over 25 years, but was able to get A's in A&P I and II. Don't overthink things and psych yourself out. Instead, find the study method that works best for you and put lots of effort behind it.

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Thanks guys, I feel much better!

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Specializes in Hospitalist Medicine.

I don't agree that 50% fail. However, in some schools, Chem is a pre-req for A&P. Considering your first exam is usually a review of cell biology, Chem will come in handy.

Don't build up A&P to be a "scary" class. Is it easy? No, it's not. However, it's not the dreaded, fearful thing that it appears to be. If you put in the required time & effort to adequately study, memorize and learn the material, you will do just fine. I think a class is "tough" or "hard" because of perception. If you enjoy studying it (even if it's hard) and you find the material interesting, then you're going to get a lot out of it. You should enjoy A&P if you want to be a nurse :D

And don't worry about how long it is between classes. My last college course was 18 years ago and I jumped right in to my pre-req courses and got an A. You can do it!!! :D

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