Super stressed about my future career as a Nurse

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I'm super stressed about my future career as a Nurse.

Most of you nursing students may know that the main science classes include Anatomy, Microbiology, and Physiology. Well the grade policy at the college I attend, is that you need a certain overall gpa of 2.5 between those 3 classes. Meaning you'd need at least A's and B's, or maybe 2 C's and an A. Another thing is you can only repeat one of those classes once.

Well I've done Microbiology, took it twice. Got a D the first time, a C the second. Now I'm in Anatomy, half way through, I don't think I'll make it with a C. Okay :crying2:... now, I absolutely don't know what to do to achieve my dreams of being a Nurse, most importantly.. as soon as possible. I suppose it's my fault for not doing what I'm suppose to do, but how do I get around this and be able to achieve my goals? All suggestions, comments, advice is highly appreciated. I really need guidance. I got no one else to go to for this kind of advice so I'm asking all of you Nursing people worldwide lol... :)

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Specializes in Operating Room.

Let me start and say don't give up on your dreams. You can make it happen.

However... I'll need to know some more details. WHY do you think you are getting these grades? Is it the test? The material? The way the class is taught? How are you studying for it?

Science classes are difficult, but they are certainly do-able. Personally I didn't think it was too bad, just lots of studying and persistance. All the information I learned APPLIES to nursing school and thats the most important part. That is why those classes are prereqs to nursing school.

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Specializes in EMT-P.

I think you need to decide just how serious you are about passing these classes and adjust your behavior accordingly. There is no magic pill here that will act as an elixir to your GPA deficiency. As you have already stated, it is you that must take charge of this problem whether it be in study time or method. Only you can correct these areas. Perhaps a discussion with an instructor that you like might offer tips and suggestions on improving your grades.

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Specializes in Cardiac, Rehab.

Wow, thats a tough one and I don't have a straight answer. I took micro last fall along with the second A&P, and it was a good amount of work. I ended up with a C in micro (I just cant look through a scope and differentiate one bug from another or remember all the arcane stuff about lab procedures) but it got me through the requirement. On the other hand, I got A's in both A&P classes.

Out of the two, A&P is much more germane to Nursing then Micro. Not to say that some of the concepts in Micro aren't important, but you probably wont see anything nearly as nit picky as what shows up on a Micro or Micro lab test. As Michael mentioned, you need to re-focus and get past Anatomy. I would talk to one of the counselors at your school and explore what your absolute bottom line is grade-wise. Also keep in mind that Nursing classes are no picnic either. My school has an 80 grade as the minimum. Below that is fail. That keeps it real.

That's as much advice as I can muster, good luck and I hope you get through.

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

You may wish to visit the advisor for the nursing program you want to get into and see if they have any words of wisdom for you. Now that you cannot repeat those classes, it is hard to say what your options may be, but they may have other avenues. Perhaps if there are unusual life circumstances that affected your grades you may be able to retake the courses and then apply yourself in such a way as to do better. It is hard to tell by your post, but it sounds from your tone like you are acknowledging you didn't do what you needed to do, not that you didn't understand the course material?

I am sorry for your frustration. I hope you are able to find a way to reapply yourself and earn this dream. I mean nothing ugly by this, but you should not be able to "get around" the requirements. You should have to earn it, like everyone else. If you are smart enough to recognize where you lacked, you are smart enough to earn the grades you need to achieve this. Keep in mind, the grade policy is a 2.5...but if it is not a lottery system for selection, a 2.5 is the minimum for acceptance, and that most applicants have well above that. Good luck!

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I'm super stressed about my future career as a Nurse.

Most of you nursing students may know that the main science classes include Anatomy, Microbiology, and Physiology. Well the grade policy at the college I attend, is that you need a certain overall gpa of 2.5 between those 3 classes. Meaning you'd need at least A's and B's, or maybe 2 C's and an A. Another thing is you can only repeat one of those classes once.

Well I've done Microbiology, took it twice. Got a D the first time, a C the second. Now I'm in Anatomy, half way through, I don't think I'll make it with a C. Okay :crying2:... now, I absolutely don't know what to do to achieve my dreams of being a Nurse, most importantly.. as soon as possible. I suppose it's my fault for not doing what I'm suppose to do, but how do I get around this and be able to achieve my goals? All suggestions, comments, advice is highly appreciated. I really need guidance. I got no one else to go to for this kind of advice so I'm asking all of you Nursing people worldwide lol... :)

Are you working or taking other classes with this A and P course? Do the teachers provide outlines for each chapter? Do you take notes or highlight important things in your reading?

Sometimes reading is boring, and even if it interesting, it gets tiring to see all those words. Buying A and P flashcards, looking online for ways to know where the body parts are and things like that can also help you to remember. There are many types of learners, visual, kinesthetic, read-write, auditory, so knowing what kind of learner you are can help you tremendously.

Check out these websites. i am in nursing school, and quite honestly, these sites are great to refer to when i have a question and rather look up the answers myself.

http://www.lyceumbooks.com/pdf/HowToTeachEffectively_TypesofLearners.pdf

http://kidshealth.org/kid/

http://www.nsna.org/Portals/0/Skins/NSNA/pdf/Imprint_SeptOct08_BTS_StudyTips.pdf

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/patient-education-materials/atlas-of-human-body.shtml

http://www.getbodysmart.com/index.htm

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I'm in my 2nd semester of nursing school, so I've taken the A&Ps already. I'll be taking mirco this summer so I can't speak on that but I must say now that I'm in nursing, I actually miss A&P, lol. A&P was tough and I ended with a "B" in both however nursing is much harder. Everyone learns differently, you just have to find out what works best for you. I read chapters twice, do the online quizzes and with A&P I rewrote my notes. It's tough but worth it...good luck!

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I second the suggestions of online resources - we all learn differently: hearing something, reading something or repeating, etc.

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A&P classes can be very different from class to class to begin with. He's a weird example. I was taking A&P at a local community college. The satellite location I was taking it at was too hard to get to due to traffic around rush hour so I transferred to another branch of the community college. The course was taught by another prof with an entirely different instruction style and concentrated on entirely different focal points of the course. Half way through the course this guy DIES! He is then replaced with another A&P instructor with yet another completely different style. In this class we didn't have a text book to speak of. He used this homemade workbook that you filled out as the class went on so if you missed a class or an important thought you were pretty much left out in the cold. Keep in mind I've also had to purchase different A&P books and lab books for the first two instructors. So after spending close to $400 in books for one class now I'm left to have to write my own. A&P is a weird monster!

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THAT is a crazy story!

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Worse comes to worse you can always go the lpn route and bridge over to RN

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My college is even worse than that. Atleast they take a average, my college states you have to get a minimum of atleast a B- in all natural science courses in order to get into the core Nursing classes, so if you get a C or C-, guess what, your retaking that class!

My A & P text came with a CD that had chapter quizzes, flashcards, and anatomy charts for labeling on a website. I studied those religiously. I made copies of diagrams in my text whiting out the identifications so I could re-label them over and over. Take advantage of any open lab hours to study models in person. Labeling parts of the body on paper is alot different than having to identify them in person. If your A & P teacher is like mine, he may give lab exams where you have models in front of you and you have to identify that way. Use cell phones to take pictures of models for studying at home.

Get a audio recorder and tape your lectures, then re-type your notes, and do any end of chapter quizzes that are in your text to reinforce the information. There are no tricks to passing these classes. You have to put in the time and effort. I cant tell you the number of people in my class that joke around and dont really put any effort into their studies, then complain when they get 20's on their exams. Hope this help. Study hard, you will be fine.

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