To those who did their PB online

[edardi1]

Hi all, 

I'm finishing up my prerequisites, and I'm doing it online.  Everything is open book/notes, which is great for me because I work full-time.  However, I fear this scenario will come back to haunt me in the sense that I'm not "truly" preparing myself for graduate school.  I do review my notes and read my chapters, however, I feel like I'm not absorbing it as much as I would be if I were taking a physical class.  I have taken a few prereqs at a university near me, and received all A's and B's, so I know I'm capable of getting good grades on my own.  I just want to know if there's anyone who had a similar experience and got into graduate school, but felt the open book/notes DID prepare them as well as someone who took classes in-person.  I know I'm learning and I'm trying my hardest to study and absorb everything as much as I can as if my quizzes and stuff weren't open book, but I fear important things, mostly A&P stuff, will soon be forgotten.  

Edited February 23, 2017 by edardi1

[SpeechLaedy]

It really sounds like you know a sufficient amount of stuff! If you got those grades I think you'll be fine. But I do understand your concern and it would be interesting to hear what others who did the same as you have to say. But if you're worried, maybe you can just brush up on the things you fear will slip away. Honestly, I know a bunch of things have gone out of my brain, and I learned in physical classrooms, asked all the questions, studied and went to the professors office hours until I properly understood the material. So I think forgetting the material happens to everyone. 

I have an interview next week. And I sure enough will be going back to my notes to brush up on the things my brain was happy to learn but even more happy it seems to push them out into the land of forgetfulness ? YouTube helped me a lot with the anatomy though. I think the YouTube channel was AnatomyZone or something like that. I used them the most. The visuals of the anatomic structures really helped the info stick when I was learning it 

Edited February 23, 2017 by SpeechLaedy

[ElKel87]

@edardi1 I'm in the same boat. I work full time so completed all my pre-reqs online and have been worrying about the same thing. However I felt like my online classes required a lot more writing assignments than they would have in a classroom setting, which really helped me synthesize the information. I'm also someone who struggles with memorization, so for Anatomy specifically, having the tests be open book took a lot of the pressure off which allowed me to focus more on the concepts and how everything worked together instead of cramming to memorize every muscle. So in the end I actually think the open book nature of the tests helped me remember more, or at least more of what's important, in the long run.

I'm also leaning towards attending the one graduate school I applied to that doesn't require SLP pre-reqs (other than the ASHA ones - stats, bio, etc.). At the open house they said that by the end of October of the first semester they can't tell the difference between the people who came into the program with a undergrad degree in SLP and those who did not. So, depending on the program, it may be more of a level playing field than we think.