I sadly don't know any nursing students in real life, so I figured this would be a good place to ask what classes you took / are taking alongside A&P 1?
My professor has sworn up and down A&P is just not doable while working full time, especially with other classes, but what choice do students have? I found it absolutely ridiculous and so discouraging.
So in spite of everything she said, I am enrolled in A&P 1, English 1 and an online Intro to Psychology for next semester (10 credits). This is the most I could squeeze into a comfortable schedule that worked well with my work schedule.
Taking on too much? Too little? What was your experience like?
I don't remember what I took at the same time, but I never had less than 16 credit hours per semester. A&P was hard, probably one of the harder class I took, but it's definitely doable while taking other classes. Just be prepared to put in some major study time! Good luck to you!
(As a bit of a disclaimer, there were two A&P professors at my college. One was known for being "easy" but most students said you really didn't know much when you got some. The other was known as being tough. (Her nickname was Battle Axe - never to her face of course). She was tough but you knew your stuff after her class. I took A&P from her).
I will be taking A&P 1 this summer along with microbiology. Plus I will be working as a CNA. I think only you can determine whether your course load will be too much for you, because it's different for everyone. Some people could do just fine with 18 credit hours, and others struggle with 15. It just depends on you.
I took cellular biology with lab, the second portion of English, psychology, sociology, anthropology and library studies over the summer while working full time. I got A's in all of them (two A+'s, which they all should have technically been due to having over 98% in each of them) -- it can be doable, but my biggest advice would be to try to limit yourself to one single hard science. A&P with micro will be plenty difficult on their own and I wouldn't want to take both of them at once if I didn't have to.
English 1 isn't too bad if you recall the 5 paragraph essay format. Intro to Psych not too bad and it's an online course so you can usually work ahead. Working full time while going to school? Try to get your psych and English done on the weekends for the week to come so you can focus all of your time on A & P. My best advice is start studying on the bones as early as you can so that it is not so stressful when you get to the test. A & P 1 in case you haven't heard is the first half of the book and A & P 2 is the second half of the book. Still a lot of knowledge to learn, but the best advice I can give you is jump on the bones as early as you can and that will take a lot of stress out of the course.
DBtobeBSN
6 Posts
I will be taking A&P alone but I have three young children at home and have my doula business and haven't been in school in about 8 years.