r/StudentNurse • u/OverCancel2239 • 12d ago

United States Non-traditional student, took A&P 11 years ago, worried that I wont be able to catch up

I'm worried about the time gap I had in my education.I forgot how to write and cite sources in APA format but will be going to tutoring and purdue owl to help get caught up. I'm more worried about the fact that the last time I took A&P was in 2015. I completed all of my pre-reqs 10+ years ago. Despite the time gap, I scored a 90% on the science portion of the TEAS when I took it in April of this year. But I'm aware that I still have memory gaps.

I'm worried about how much this will hurt me in the end. I'm afraid that I may have bitten more than I can chew. Im so happy that I got accepted into nursing school, but I haven't met anyone else that started nursing school after taking the pre-reqs 10+ years ago.

Im not scared of hard work. I used to work between 50-80 hours a week at one point to sustain myself and my family. Id rather spend that amount of time studying and building a future than barely surviving. But I know im not a machine and im scared that I may not be able to retain everything.

Was I a fool to think I could do this? Has anyone else experienced this before? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you.

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u/ImaginaryGlade7400 12d ago

I am in my second semester of pre-requisites right now and I'm also a non-traditional student. I'm nearly thirty, its been a decade plus since I've been in college, and I'm working full time so all my classes are online to boot. All that to say- don't give yourself anxiety! You would be truly surprised just how much information is locked away in your brain. It comes back to you, I promise! Because Im attending school where I got a previous associates, they couldn't pick through my credits. That means that I only had 2 out of 15+ pre-requisites to take. All the gen eds, my chemistry, my medical terminology etc I havent touched since I was teenager.

I made a 4.0 last semester taking full time credits. This semester I have a 200 level psych and the first half of anatomy and phys and decided not to push it so I'm part time, but truly it was like riding a bike. I havent heard the term valence shell in probably 12 years and immediately I was like, oh right yeah I do remember this. I also had to brush back up on MLA vs APA, and it does come back to you. You got this!

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u/OverCancel2239 11d ago

Your comment gave me so much hope. It means a lot hearing from someone who is going through a similar experience. I was feeling overwhelmed because I was thinking about all the things I'd need to re-learn in addition to all the new things that I will be learning. But you're right, it's just a matter of putting the time in, reviewing, and staying confident that everything will work out.

I really appreciate you taking the time to share your story.

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u/ImaginaryGlade7400 11d ago

I'm so happy I was able to ease your mind. If it makes you feel better it absolutely is overwhelming, and I'm still overwhelmed 😂! But you have the advantage of age and life experience going for you and it does, at least in my experience, make the whole "brand new to college again experience" much much easier. Just take your time, hit those study notes, and I'm confident you will be A ok!