Test Results Are In.....

Well, some of them, at least. Tonight I took my midterm practical. I won't have those results until sometime next week, thanks to my professor, who offered to email us our grades after the weekend. This is good news to me, who is a very impatient when waiting for exam grades.

Anyway, yesterday I had my lecture class and the grades for our second test was posted. I knew there were a few questions I absolutely made mistakes on once I walked out of class that day. I knew the right answers but second guessed some and I was careless. So there was at least 2-3 questions I knew I could have gotten correct but didn't. I ended up with an 86, which, is indeed a very decent score. I will probably complain about these types of scores because I really need an A in this class. As I have mentioned before, the program is getting more and more competitive and its based on GPA not a waiting list. If I were to get a B in this class, that may be the factor that earns me a denial email letter rather than an acceptance email letter.

Tonight after my midterm, we were given our quiz grades. I got a 43/48, which basically translates to a 90. I do feel that I did very well on the midterm, so I am excited to be getting that grade back soon.

Check back sometime next week to see if there is an update with my midterm grade. Otherwise, I am officially on Spring Break. No school until March 15th, which means no updates until after that.

After Spring Break, we will be studying the Lymphatic System and the Respiratory System in my lecture class. In my lab class, we will be starting the Digestive System.

Well, that's all for now, folks. I am pretty beat, and I have a lot to do for my Spring Break trip tomorrow!

Three Down, One To Go

Well, it's Monday, and I now only have one more test left to take on Thursday night. I almost feel like I am done because this will be the easiest of the 4 tests, at least I think. Its a big one, no doubt, but I do REALLY well on the mid-term and final practicals. There's just something about the models that I seem to just get. I pick up the parts easily, and then I'm pretty much just reviewing and reviewing over and over because I am scared I don't know it. Then I take my test, and I realized I knew it all along. So, I'm not nearly as stressed as I had been, but I gather come Thursday, I may feel a little stressed out. Just a little. Actually, I probably will feel incredibly stressed out, because on Friday, Ray and I are taking a little trip out to see his sister and her hubby for almost a week. With out the kids. Nice. Well, nice and not nice. We will miss them dearly, but I can say that after this week, I will definitely need a little vacation time.

Anyway, this blog it about school, and I'm not really talking about school, so I better get back on task. I had my A&P lecture exam today, and felt pretty bummed after taking it. I know that I passed. I'm pretty sure I did at least OK enough to snag myself a B. But I know that I made a couple of mistakes and it really got me down. How can I take a test where I have to think critically, and not answer the questions correctly and expect to pass nursing school where I am thinking critically ALL THE TIME?? My problem is I know the answers (well, some of the time) but I second and third guess myself, and I don't trust myself, and then I change my answers, only to find out that usually, the answers I changed were right the first time. Go figure.

I must take this time to share with you how incredibly wonderful my husband is. While I was expressing these same feelings and emotions with him on the phone after class, he told me how much he believes that I can do this and that I will do this, and it was so touching. He said that if he had any doubt whatsoever, I wouldn't even be in school right now, and that he knows I make it, and I will finish. Is that a great guy, or what? I am pretty lucky, huh?

But I still have my fears. I've never done anything like this before. I've never got all A's and B's in school before. I've never applied to a program that was pretty competitive to get into and that requires a pretty decent GPA. I can't believe I may be applying as early as a little over 2 months from now, and I'll tell you what, I'm scared. I'm afraid. I won't lie. But I know I'll get through it. Surely there have been others who have survived nursing school before, right?

(As of now, I do not know any results from 2 out of my 3 tests I've taken so far. I did get an 80 on my World Religion test, but it was my fault for not putting much time into studying, so I will definitely be putting more time in for the next test. I'll post the other results as soon as I get them).

One Down, Three To Go

The hectic week has arrived. Last night was the first of 4 tests I have this week. Ironically, the one I am most worried about is the one I have tomorrow morning in my World Religion class. I guess mostly it's due the the "fear of the unknown." I haven't had a test in this class before, so I don't know what to expect on the test. I'm sure that after tomorrow, I will be fine, but I am a worry wort and I can't help it. I have a test on Monday and my last test is my midterm practical exam on Thursday. After that, I will go on vacation with Ray for a week, and man, will I need it! I'll post test score updates as I get them. I don't know when I will get tomorrow's grade since I don't have class again until March 14th in that class. My midterm I will get about 2 weeks later- the week after we don't have class due to Spring Break, so I have to wait until the week after when I have class again, unless my professor is gracious enough to email it to me.

That's all for now. Must. Go. Study!

Test/Quiz Update

Well it's Monday and I have now received both my lab quiz and my lecture test grades. On Thursday night I had lab and we got our quizzes back. I got a 44 out of 48, which is an A. It's actually my lowest quiz grade I've had from A&P1, but hey, its still an A, so I am definitely NOT complaining. Today, I had lecture class and I wasn't sure how the grades would be given in this class since it is my first time taking this professor AND it was our first test. She puts the grades on a sheet of paper and you are identified by the last 4 numbers of your school student ID (which is NOT your social security number). Those numbers are put in numerical order. I got an A, but not just any A, it is the highest A I got in an A&P lecture class (last semester, I believe my highest grade was a 92, and all the rest were B's). So I was excited. Not only that, from looking at the grades, there were only 3 A's out of 40 people: Me with a 96, and 2 94's (one of them happened to belong to a friend of mine). The rest of the class did fairly well, I think, from what I could see. It looked like there were a lot of B's. I felt I had done well, thinking I had at least a B, so I was very happy to get an A. I REALLY REALLY need an A in this class. The nursing program is getting to be so competitive to get into at my school, so I don't want to mess around with my GPA. I think the cutoff for the last round of applications was anywhere from 3.2-3.4 and as long as I end up with an A in both my lecture and lab this semester, I will have a 3.57. The GPA they look at is the pre-requisite classes ONLY, so that is where I will stand with just the pre-reqs. I think my GPA will be slightly higher overall, but they don't look at that. They only look at general education classes if you are involved in a tie. Then they first look to see what general education classes you've completed, then they look at your GPA in those classes if need be.

I am almost done with my health core class I am taking online. I have to do one more powerpoint presentation on Domestic Violence and take that test, and I have to write two short essays on Elder Abuse and Child Abuse. Then I will be done with all the lessons/tests, and then I will be able to take the final exam, and I just have to go in on Friday to practice CPR and do my skills test, and I am done. Yay. I will be glad to have this under my belt.

I am glad to have this out of the way, really. And all the classes I am taking that are wrapped up into this one online course would have cost me more than another $370 for classes and books on top of what I paid. And the best thing is that this class was cheaper than just the health core class was ALONE, with OUT the books needed for that class. Crazy. I will have to update some parts of this course every two years (Domestic Violence, Prevention of Medical Errors, etc) but I can do that at places that offer continuing education courses failrly cheaply, plus at my school it is not that expensive for those courses either.

Next test is a little over a week away. Then its crazy test time here in the land of the wannabe nurse.

Almost BLS Certified

I say "almost" because I passed the written exam and just have to pass the skills exam. I have to go to a skills practice class next Friday and then at the end of that class I will be tested by showing my skills off! Then I will be BLS certified. I will know CPR, I will know how to stop people from choking, and I will know how to use an AED (Automated External Defibrillator). Yay.

I had my first test in my lecture class yesterday. It seemed to go well, but I won't find out for sure until Monday. Tonight, I have my lab class, and I will find out the results of my quiz from last week. I can't believe that in three weeks I will have my mid-term practical already! Anyway, I'm always so anxious to find out my test scores. I hate waiting on them. Good thing I have my lecture twice a week, so I will never have to wait a whole week to find out my test scores in that class.

I have a very busy test schedule at the end of this month, right before spring break. In the span of a week's time, I will have to take 4 tests in 3 classes!! I have a quiz in my lab class on 2/19, then I have a World Religion's test on 2/21, then a test in my lecture class on 2/23, then my mid-term practical on 2/26, then I leave for Cali on 2/27. I am REALLY going to need that break, ha ha!

Stay tuned....