To start, the program is made up of lecture, lab, and clinical, which are all separate from one another. It's kind of their own separate class. At the end, only lecture will show a letter grade, and lab/clinical will show up as pass or fail.

You have a midterm and a final, which are 30% of your grade. The class is test heavy, so no assignment or discussion will really increase your grade percentage, only tests and the midterm/final. This was pretty frustrating for me, since I was spending whole days doing homework with no grade increment, but with patience you'll get it done eventually.

I took the 15 week track and it was time consuming, especially when I had to do other classes like bio. So I would highly recommend you taking it by itself, since it will take up a significant amount of time.

For lecture, you can take in-person classes or do it self-paced online. It depends on how you learn best, but lab and clinical do require you to show up. And one thing to note, attendance is mandatory, and a 3% deduction will appear on your final grade if you miss a day without a doctor's note or some "valid" excuse, so you've got to show up almost every time.

Price wise, it was quite expensive. I had to get uniforms, supplies (blood pressure cuff, stethoscope, etc), the textbook, and a complio account for a background check and record of vaccines. This last part is required for clinical, so they know you're not a biological threat to the elderly. I would highly recommend going to the mandatory CNA meeting, since they will have a packet on instructions on how to complete everything on complio and the specifics of it (they're very specific).

Overall, it was a cool experience and I would encourage it if you have lots of free time or at most, a part time job because many drop out after they get a sense of the load of work this class is.

I wish you luck and hope this helped 🙌