Leslie
What people think of when they think about nursing school are clinicals, labs, hands on activities, however, before we can begin our core nursing classes during our junior year, everyone needs to complete a list of prerequisites. Though the list of mandatory courses might seem rather intimating they are necessary to provide us with a good basis before diving into our core classes.
As I am finishing the first semester of my sophomore year and approaching the end of my prerequisites, I am writing this blog post in hopes for providing those starting to take prerequisites or on the fence about them some clarity and to ease their minds on what these courses entail.
During the fall semester of my freshman year I took Chemistry 101, Psychology 111, Writing 111, Sociology 100. The chemistry, psychology and writing courses all fulfilled some prerequisite requirements for Decker; whilst sociology and writing (as it was a cross-listed course) fulfilled two general education requirements necessary for graduation. As it was my first semester in college I was unsure on how to study and was caught by surprise when I saw how many students were in each of my classes. I struggled, especially in chemistry since it was my first time encountering such a hard course during my academic career at that point. I used the resources I had to my advantage in both chemistry and psychology; going to office hours, review sessions and even getting my notes checked for effectiveness. By doing that I was able to achieve B's in both classes; and I can sincerely tell you I cried logging into BUBrain and seeing that.
I used what I learned the previous semester when taking, Chemistry 102, Psychology 220, Biology 113, and Modern Caribbean 202. My psychology classes were both with the same professor which made me happy since I really enjoyed how she taught her class. However, chemistry this time around was harder. It was organic chemistry, mixed with bio chemistry and I was again caught my surprise; but my teacher was very encouraging and there were the same resources that I used during the fall semester. I continued trying my best, attending classes daily and putting in effort and I received the grade I was looking for. During my sophomore year I still use this resources; and I am grateful that I learned from the past, and reevaluated how I studied in order to create a routine that works for me.
Though prerequisites can be hard they play a fundamental part into our education as nursing students and without them I'm sure I'd be completely and utterly lost next year. Time goes by so fast, the fact that I'm going into my spring semester of my SOPHOMORE year is crazy. I feel like one of the most important things to mention is do not get discouraged from one test score; in the future when you're a successful nurse no one and I mean no one will be asking you what score you got on your first chemistry exam. Take things slow and try your best, everything will work out!
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