Who's taken Bio156 online at Rio Salado

1stloveistobeanurse · Jan 3, 2009

I also start Bio 156 at Rio Salado, this is my 1st time taking it as well. I order my book early and I was reading here as well that they require allot of essay, also study your chapter review in the book and online. I ordered my book early just to do this and I am going back to the site to see if I can get the online site to see if they have access to the chapter review online without the book sometime you can luck out. I start 1/12/09 what about you

aawilwcb · Jan 3, 2009

Yes, I start jan 12th too, I don't have my book yet though. I read through Biology for dummies and watched some animated videos on you tube about cell division, DNA reproduction, meiosis, mitosis, ect. Those really helped!! I have heard good and bad about rio online, I am hoping I have a good experience, since online is my only option this term.

1stloveistobeanurse · Jan 5, 2009

I wish us both luck, it seems we are in the same boat. If we are in the same class and there is anything I can do to help you just shoot me post.

tabby99 · Jan 5, 2009

Hey Guys-

Just wanted to say, I took Bio 156 at Rio a year ago.... I got an A, but it is a HARD class. I am an excellent student and think I'm pretty smart, but it took seriously 20 hours a week for me b/c I had not had Bio since high school, and didn't really learn it then, so everything was new, and there was SOOOO much info. I think bio for dummies is good. Mainly, it was good for all the SYL essays you have to do. It was a great resource for different explanations besides the book which you can use in your essays, also on the essays you have to say how the topic you are writing about relates to your future career in health care (blah blah... jeez, sooo dumb!!!) and the bio for dummies was a good ref. for that too.

Any questions you can email me!

tabby99 · Jan 5, 2009

Sorry-

Just wanted to say, you CAN do it!! It is a lot of work and you really have to be dedicated. If you can, I would highly recommend taking it in person with someone. The problem with the class is that you have to figure it all out yourself and that takes forever. If someone is up there teaching it to you it will still be challenging but much easier than figuring it all out yourself. I was a stressed out freak b/c I was working full time and taking one other class (math, in person, easy class). It seems I spent every hour I wasn't working on my ass in front of the computer for Bio. That said, I did learn a lot :).... but it sucked.

1stloveistobeanurse · Jan 5, 2009

hey thanks tabby, I wish I could take this class in person but unfornately I am not. I will definately get this book you are speaking of. Do you have any tips for someone like since I am new to RIO. I would like to get a A in this class as well. What did you do to obtain that A? Was the essays easy or hard?

aawilwcb · Jan 5, 2009

Thanks Tabby99 for your response, did you take the 8 wk course or the 16 wk course? What were some of these first things you studied?

tabby99 · Jan 6, 2009

The book is called "Biology for Dummies" and I recommend it even though it does not cover everything in the bio book, it does talk about a lot of it. To get an A in the class, I read every chapter, spent a lot of time on the SYL essays and made them long, detailed, and made sure I followed all the requirements. For the quizzes, they are online so you can use your book, but they take a while to do b/c some questions are tricky. I used the internet a LOT, both the sites given for the online lessons and other sites that I found on my own to help with my understanding. The midterm and final have essays, and the best thing is to answer all the questions with the lessons that they give you, including all the SYL essay questions you did not have to turn in b/c those are what you have to know for the midterm/final. Also, for the SYL essays, you have to do research to find out how you would use your knowledge from the essay in your future healthcare career, and for that I usually looked up something such as a disease relating to the topic and said I would use my knowledge to counsel people with such and such disease blah blah. Since I was so thorough, it is hard to know if I went way overboard for the SYL's b/c I didn't get feedback from my instructor but I do know that one week I decided to do just a little less, and I lost some points

This will all make a little more sense once you start the class.

Above all, KEEP UP with the work every week b/c there is so much that you won't recover if you get behind!!

Good luck!

tabby99 · Jan 6, 2009

I took the 16 week. There is no way I would recommend the 8 wk. unless you are really familiar w/ the material already. It's a crazy amt of work! As I recall, we started with the ecosystem, organ systems , cells, atoms, etc then onto the organelles next. I don't have the books anymore, but you do go through like 1/2 of one and 1/2 of the other.

aawilwcb · Jan 14, 2009

1stloveistobeanurse, how's BIO156 going?

1stloveistobeanurse · Jan 15, 2009

:typing:typing:typing This is what I have been doing since I started this course. I will say though my professor for this course is a whole lot helpful then I thought they would be from reading some of the comments on this board. She sent us handouts on what they are looking for in the essay's. I don't know if this is because of past experiences or what.

We have two essay's to submit, and it is nothing but critical thinking, but I will say this is what makes a nursing student sucessful, so I figure after these two courses and the remaining of my pre reqs I should be good to go with my nursing core as far as critical thinking is concern :up: .

I am making sure I stay on top of my work, and study, study, study, as long as you stay focus you, one should be ok.

thanks for asking:wink2: