Should I retake microbiology? How important is micro in nursing school?

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Hello everyone!

I'm currently taking my prerequisites for the nursing program at my community college.

I will be taking my microbiology final in less than 3 days and I definitely don't feel very confident about it.

I have worked hard for this class but since I'm taking other classes, including A&PII, I feel that I haven't done as well as I'd like to. If the class was to finish today, I would have probably ended up with a B+. Since our final is worth 25% of our grade, I feel like I might end up with a C as my final grade if I don't flunk the final.

So why am I not that prepared for the final? Even though most of our grade is based on our tests,and I never had a test lower than a 85, I never realized how it would all come back to hunt me. Due to snow days and missing a few classes, the teacher decided that we should cover our last 5 chapters on our own. These chapters are based on viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites along with their s/s, diseases, treatments etc. I don't feel too confident on this material and it turns out that most of the final is based on clinical cases.

My question is then, should I retake microbiology next semester? I was thinking of simply auditing for the class to relearn the things I already know and concentrate and the things I missed out on. I just feel that I don't know enough to maybe move onto the nursing program. How could not knowing this material that well affect my performance in nursing school?

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Specializes in Hospitalist Medicine.

We had a lot of Micro when we did Pharmacology, especially when we hit antibiotics and antivirals. I'm not sure how competitive your program is to get into. If you don't think a B+ or C will hurt you, just do your best and push through. If your program is highly competitive, you might want to consider re-taking it to boost your GPA. Just keep in mind that some schools only allow re-takes if you earn below a certain grade. Some admissions policies take re-takes into consideration on nursing school applications, some don't.

So, speaking with an academic or nursing admissions advisor would be your best bet to get the answer to your question. Good luck!

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Specializes in CNA.

Your knowledge of the material will not completely affect your time in nursing school. The important thing is your ending grade! I'd say just do your very best on that final and if you receive a C or lower, I'd consider retaking it. It also depends on how your school weighs the GPA. At my school, if I retake a class, the 2nd better grade is the one considered, which is what I'd want after retaking a class. But many Universities will look at an overall cumulative GPA, so retaking one class will not increase it by a whole lot. Good luck, micro is tough :-)

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Specializes in ICU.

I took it last semester and got a B. I am not retaking it. Towards the end of the semester, I realized I needed an A in A&P II for my grades for nursing school and so I let micro take a back seat while I made A&P II my priority. My micro professor loved the lab portion so we did a lot of that while the lecturing took a back seat. She tried to cram so much lecture into the last 3 classes and it just went all over my head. Plus she never posted the correct study guide until the day before so it was futile. You will use micro. I am using a lot of it in advanced physiology this semester. I retained more than I thought out of that class so don't worry it's in there.

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hi, thanks for your reply.

I'm not too worried about getting a "C" and not being able to get into the program, I'm more worried about getting a "C" and not being able to do well once in the program. Getting a "C" wouldn't affect my chances of getting in because I have gotten pretty much A's and B's in my other prerequisites. I just don't feel that I've learned a lot from this class and I'm worried that it would come back to hunt me in the nursing program.

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Your knowledge of the material will not completely affect your time in nursing school. The important thing is your ending grade! I'd say just do your very best on that final and if you receive a C or lower, I'd consider retaking it. It also depends on how your school weighs the GPA. At my school, if I retake a class, the 2nd better grade is the one considered, which is what I'd want after retaking a class. But many Universities will look at an overall cumulative GPA, so retaking one class will not increase it by a whole lot. Good luck, micro is tough :-)

hi there, thanks for the comment.

What makes you think that not knowing my microbiology material will not affect me once in nursing school? would really appreciate your thoughts on this. I'm not too worried about not getting into nursing school, my worry is all about moving into the program and not being well prepared to face the classes due to my lack of mastering microbiology.

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I took it last semester and got a B. I am not retaking it. Towards the end of the semester, I realized I needed an A in A&P II for my grades for nursing school and so I let micro take a back seat while I made A&P II my priority. My micro professor loved the lab portion so we did a lot of that while the lecturing took a back seat. She tried to cram so much lecture into the last 3 classes and it just went all over my head. Plus she never posted the correct study guide until the day before so it was futile. You will use micro. I am using a lot of it in advanced physiology this semester. I retained more than I thought out of that class so don't worry it's in there.

How did you feel about the microorganisms ( bacteria, virus, fungi) and the s/s, treatment, diagnosis etc? This is the part I haven't entirely mastered and this is the part I'm afraid to face once in the program. Thanks for the comment.

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Specializes in ICU.

I feel like I have a handle on the bacteria and fungi and viruses. The part I had problems with was DNA replication. Like transduction and transcription. I also had some issues on metabolism. I understand the process but did have some issues on the test. But as far as the difference in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells I have that down and I pretty much know the diseases. I missed one lecture the week they did the bacteria that infect that gastrointestional tract so there are a few things there I don't know. My son had mono last October, November, and December and I missed a couple of classes because he was so sick. I think I ended up with an 87 on the final which I totally didn't expect to do that well but those couple of tests I screwed up hurt my grade. But I think if there is anything you not quite sure of research it. I love medline website. There is a lot of useful info in there and it explains things well. I use it all the time for my physiology class. As a matter of fact we have a Case Study due on Monday on helicobacter pylori which I immediately knew was a stomach ulcer. Pretty neat huh?

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Specializes in CNA.

Well, if you were a microbiology major and did not understand intro to microbiology, then yes, that would affect your preparation. Being a nursing major, however, is different. The way to prep for nursing school, in my opinion, is gaining CNA experience and mainly understanding intro chem, and A&P. Much of that material will be revisited in nursing school. Microbiology is also important, don't get me wrong. But if you don't completely understand something in that class, it will probably be better understood once in nursing school. Make sense?

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Specializes in CNA.

In nursing school, the professors/instructors don't just say, "Here's the material, learn it on your own, and you have an exam in 2 days." They present material in lectures and explain it in great detail. You aren't tested on things that you learned in the past. You are tested on your understanding of material learned at that time in a class.

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Specializes in Public Health, Women's Health.

I took Microbiology after getting my ADN and beginning my first nursing position I felt it was so much easier through learning it on the job (for example, I give vaccines and have taken training on the diseases, I work with STD's so I knew the organism and treatment, etc). I think you will do fine in the program, eventually you will get it.

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