It's started with an apology... followed by advice

Can I just begin by apologizing at how much I let go of the blog! I'm truly sorry, this A&P class has taken over my life and I haven't blogged since. The course is/was 6 weeks, and has been so demanding that every spare second I had was spent studying for the course. I'm a little more than half way through considering that Monday is the last week of Lab and the following Wednesday is my final for the lecture. It's safe to say I've done well enough in the course, the last time I checked *this past Wednesday* I had a 85% in the lab, and an A in the lecture (she didn't give me the percent for that one). I'm hoping I can keep those, or make the 85% better when it comes time to finish the classes. I won't be stress free until I know what grades I got, but I will say this, there's nothing like taking a course, and feeling great through the whole course. I don't think I've ever studied for a class as much as I have for this class. 

If you want my advice, don't take anatomy until your last semester. People might say that's crazy, and you should always take easier classes towards the end, but I think that is bogus! When you start college you're transitioning from high school, and its a big change. You should start off with your basic core curriculum, and make your way up to the higher level, more intense courses. When I started college my first semester was ENC1101 or English Comp, MAC1105 or College Algebra, CHM1032 or General Chemisty (literally just the basics of chemistry), and HCP0001 or Health Careers Core Curriculum, which basically just taught us the basic in health care. How to put sterile gloves on, how to take vitals, how to wash your hands, etc. These classes were all the basic requirements in college, and I took them first, then I went on in my second semester, not knowing how difficult it was going to be, and took A&P 1. It's safe to say that I failed that class, and I can explain why. 

When you start college, your mentality is still the same as when you were in high school. You expect your professors to be as helpful as your high school ones, in that when you miss an assignment, they accept it late and they pretty much baby you. In college, you miss an assignment, then you've missed that assignment, unless you get one of those professor who really don't want to see you fail, and work with you. Regardless, you don't think about studying, and you don't think about working as hard. It really does take the few easy classes in the beginning of your college career to learn just how much you have to put in to school, and how much you have to study. 

The first time I took A&P, I wasn't spending that much time studying, I would go about college the same I did with high school, minimal effort, and to be honest, it worked with the few 'easy' core classes. When I took A&P I learned just how wrong I was about studying, and I had a lot to learn about how to study effectively. For me, it's important you learn that before you take the classes that will effect you in the long run, because you don't want those on the admission committee going through your application wondering, "Why did she get an F?" "Did they not put forth maximum effort?" "Do we want someone like this in our program?" 

It's not to say that you can't ever fail a class, hell I failed A&P with an F in the lecture and a WF (withdrawl fail; I stopped showing up) in the lab, and I'm still going to get in the program. I'm just saying you don't want that on your record because you don't want people to question you and keep a close watch on you. 

I'm retaking the class and hoping that I'm getting an A in the end. This way the nursing admissions committee can see how much I've grown and changed over the years, and they may give me a shot. But speaking from experience, you don't want to be scared about what's going to happen to you because of one grade, just listen to this advice, and when you've learned how to study effectively in college, start taking your more difficult classes. It'll help you so you can pass with flying colors! Trust me! 

I'm not expert, and I'm not a college adviser, but I'm speaking from personal experience! College isn't a joke, it's your future, and you should take responsibility in making sure you have a good experience, but you also have good grades.  

Study Tips

Today I purchased the books for my A&P class, well didn't purchase, but I put them in my cart to purchase in a few days. Of course purchasing books are pricey, but it's an affordable price this time. Doing this made me realize all the studying I need to do this semester, so I decided to do a post about studying,and tips for effective studying. 

• Get rid of every and any electronic device!

No that doesn't mean keep it at the table with you, nor does it mean to just put it on silent. It means GET RID OF IT! Sorry but keeping it near you is means for distraction! Now unless you need that electronic device for studying, there's no reason to keep it by you! I use my IPAD for studying because I take lecture notes on it. I have yet to find it as a distraction because I turn the wifi off! If I find it starting to cause distraction I tend to print those notes out and use them on paper as opposed to my ipad. If I make any new notes on it or change it I will scan it on my printer and add the document on my note taking app. I don't need my phone or computer for studying, that's what the book and lecture notes are for.

• Take quick and easy notes in class, change them later

Doing this will encourage you to go back and add information that your missing. For example, the professor goes over a definition in class and instead of writing down the definition because you know you can find that later, you write down the examples he gives. Professor that give examples are more likely to use those for the exam as opposed to just asking you to define a word. So write down what he says, and later go back to the book and look for whatever you're missing. Also using this method means you miss less of what he's saying by trying to write everything.

• Read the chapter twice

I know how odd that sounds, reading the chapter twice especially when you have tons to read and not enough time to read it. When I say read, I mean skim through the chapter. When you do this twice, you'll notice more things than before. Actually read each header, and while skimming through the paragraph in that area, find the main ideas. When I skim the first time I don't highlight nor write any notes. When I skim the second time, I highlight or make note of what I find important. I usually do this the second time, because I tend to notice that somethings are obvious which means I don't need to highlight or note those because if I know the main idea of the paragraph, I know the obvious facts. When I note the main ideas, I make bullet points to go with them and write my own facts and understandings of the lecture and chapter. It sounds like a lot of work but it helps to learn the topics of the class.

• Color Coding

Color code everything you write/read. Definitions in green, facts from the notes in purple, facts from the book in pink, facts from your own understanding in blue, etc. I hope you get the point, it just makes things easier to look for. Don't go and write everything in a different color if you don't want to. I write everything in black, but I make the bullet points color, or I write the specific topic in the corresponding color. I use highlighters on the headers of different sections depending on what information it belongs. I just add colors to make it call for more attention, and it helps remembering later because you use a different memory for the different writing methods. It also helps to find information on a fully written on sheet quickly. For example if the professor is asking me for a definition on an assignment, I'll grab the notes for that topic, look for the corresponding header, and look for the green writing or highlight. It makes it easier to look for.

That's all I can really think of right now, but I'm hoping to get some more tips out of my head. I'll write them on my phone as I remember, and update this post with them. I don't normally take pictures of my notes, and I don't really have any notes right now because classes don't start for another 2-3 weeks but I will post pictures of what my notes and stuff look like as soon as I start!

I hope that this helped, and if you want any more specific ideas for studying feel free to contact me; stacyh003@gmail.com!!

How do you study? What do you use? How do you take notes? Do you change it later? Tell me what you do to study, maybe we can collaborate and make a huge studying post! Don't be shy, comment below!

Ordering Transcripts

As most people may know in order to get in to a university, or even register for classes at a community college you must submit transcripts. Whether you're transferring or going straight from high school, they need to see your academic background. Since I'm transferring back to my community college in order to get the missing classes I need for the nursing program I had to order the transcripts from my university. I've order the transcripts 3 times in the span of 2 weeks, and the college has yet to receive them. I purposely ordered them electronic through F.A.S.T.E.R and they still haven't gotten them. I'm so annoyed about the whole situation because I made sure to do everything by my registration appointment so I would be able to pick up the class I wanted. Since my university keeps messing up the transcript delivery, I haven't been able to register for my class, and now the class I wanted to take is full. There are other options, but the time of the class I wanted is taken. I don't see how its fair to me to have to wait for some stupid university to take my classes. I'm frustrated, and completely annoyed with the school I am leaving, and just wish this transition went smoothly. That's why this morning I tweeted "When life throws you curveballs, you catch it and throw it right back" because this is slowing the process down for me to get in to nursing school. 

Honestly if I have to order those transcripts one more time, I'm going straight to the office on campus and giving them a piece of my mind! Isn't it enough that they screwed up some one my work before, now they have to screw up me leaving them too! 

I know I'm ranting, but someone from some university must see this and realize how frustrating they can be to students. I just want to make something of my life!

On another note, I've been doing a lot of practice questions for HESI A2 exam. If you don't know what the HESI is, its the entrance exam for the nursing school I want to go. I'm going to buy a book from elsevier.com to study for the exam and hopefully get an amazing passing score to impress the admission committee! Other than that there's nothing new to report! 

Hope everyone is having either a great semester, or a great summer break! Comment below and let me know if you ever had a problem with your college transcripts!  

Motivation Monday: Pictures

Pictures are worth a thousand words they say, and using them to your advantage as your motivation is highly recommended. I have a million pictures where I see how much I let my self go, and whenever I feel like letting go and going back to my old ways, I look at those pictures and I see why I started. You also have progress photos, taking a picture almost everyday is also highly recommended, because all in due time, you can put your pictures side by side and see the immense progress you've made. Something you can't see when you're just looking in the mirror. Measurements are also very motivating but I'll talk about that on next weeks motivation Monday. 

This is one of the first pictures I took that I saw how far I had let myself go, and if you follow my Instagram, you would see that I posted it, and wrote this message about it: "So this is the photo that actually made me change my ways. Seeing this made me realize the way I've let myself go. It made me super upset about the fact that I let myself get to this point. Many people might look at this picture and not see what I see but I see it and that's what counts. Everything I think about giving up or quitting because it gets too hard I will look back at this picture!" Seeing this made me realize that I just didn't care anymore. I've gotten very much over this picture based on the look, but the way that I felt in the picture, and the way I feel now are still important. In the picture, I'm exhausted constantly out of breath, and with constant heart burn. Now I don't suffer as much heart burn as before, I'm not always out of breath, and I'm more energized than ever before. 

There are more pictures that I look at and hate myself for letting me get to that point, but I won't share them all because I have to keep some things private. Use your pictures, take them everyday, it'll help you through I promise!

Is there any pictures you use? Would you like to share them? Comment below I would love to hear your story!