I'll Take My Sunshine Where I Can Get It
Just when I've started to despair that we are going to give spring a miss and head straight into the Florida summer, I found a bright spot in my week to counteract these winter blahs. . .
Actually, the story starts out on a grumpy note because it all started when commiserating about this stinkin' Pharmacology and Pathophysiology course. Seems a medical student I bumped into in an online message board has been feeling very low because he failed his mid-terms. Badly. I have whined in detail about the fact that AHIMA's course utilizes what may be the most uninspiring texts possible (and don't even get me started on the fact that they require TWO texts--the second of which is used very little, for a handful of math problems that could easily have been provided as online course materials for free). As much as I loved their Anatomy and Physiology course, I despise this one. It's only challenging in that it's deadly dull. Perhaps if it had some accompanying interactive exercises, it would engage the student more, but there's nothing. Just a big book and a lot of text. The A&P had tons of flash games and quizzes, plus Elsevier's great online supplements, also interactive--most pretty primitive in terms of design, but they made you think and process the information in a way that sticks. (This text is also put out by Elsevier, but lacks the bells and whistles I loved in the other course.) Honestly, when I got so bogged down in family crises one after another, it completely sucked my will to continue to a whisper. But here was someone in a similar course--and in an actual college setting--suffering from the same angst and equally bored and discouraged. I took some solace in that fact. It's not just me! The material really IS that dull!
I was starting to wonder about other CTR courses and whether they would be presented in a more do-able format. Additionally, as I am now having to face the fact that the requirements to test for the CTR have now changed and I need to be thinking about an actual degree in addition to completing this course, I've been pondering my options. I actually have over three years of college credits and may well have everything I need to get an AA, but then I have to consider whether these prerequisite courses I'm taking will actually transfer and factor in. I was sorely disappointed to learn that AHIMA's A&P course would not provide credits anywhere else. When I started requesting transcripts via the ACE website (American College Education, which for our purposes as students, provides a transcript to certify college credits earned), I found that the last time AHIMA's A&P qualified for credit was in 1999. I was out of luck. I wrote to ACE and AHIMA to whine and was told sorry, too bad, but maybe they'll accredit the course eventually.
Which is where my ray of sunshine comes in. I have to question why AHIMA would not automatically inform people there's been a change, but after rummaging around both websites for information, I found that they finally have added the current course to the list and it is retroactive to when I completed the course. Just a few clicks and I have successfully added four credits to my transcript. Hooray!
Honestly, in the face of this current boondoggle with the never-ending pharmacology course, I wasn't confident I could face having to repeat the A&P course again. That is still the hardest course I've ever taken and I worked incredibly hard for that A. If you also took this course, you might make a point of adding the credits to your transcript, too. Even if you don't need them now, you've earned them.
For now, I guess I will slog ahead and stick to my original plan as this is my only remaining requisite course and I think once I get into the actual CTR classes, it's going to get fun again.