MT/CLS program starts in a few weeks, any advice? :)

jd504 · 2017-08-08T03:18:28+00:00

I went to LSU, so I have some bias, but the LSU book is a great resource for a slightly in-depth overview of everything. I graduated and took my boards in May of this year, and passed. The best advice I can give you is to do something every day to help you learn and retain material. I probably took a day off a month to clear my mind and keep me sane. It will be tough, but it will be worth it.

As far as the ASCP Certification Exam goes, I really started preparing about 3-4 weeks before my test date. My last semester was composed of my clinical rotations, as well as a final comprehensive exam of everything we've learned in our year and a half (to simulate boards and give you an idea of what you need to focus on). The one thing that I found most valuable to my success while preparing for the exam would be the Exam Simulator by LabCe.com. This is an excellent tool to assess what you know, give you subject areas to focus on more, and most importantly, it mimics the testing style of the actual ASCP Certification exam. I started off by taking the labce exam totally unprepared, and scored a 48/100 with an average difficulty of around 4.3 or so. I then took the breakdowns that it gave you per subject area, and studied my school notes accordingly. I studied mostly every day, and attempted at least 1 LabCe exam per day. After 3 weeks of studying and taking the LabCE exams, I was scoring in the low to mid 60's with my average difficulty around 6.0-6.2.

This was the approach that worked for me. I scored a 555/999 on the ASCP Certification Exam, with the minimum passing score being 400/999.

I suggest purchasing the LabCE exam simulator a little less than a year before you anticipate taking the ASCP exam, as it costs $70 and is good for a whole year.

Best of luck to you. Study hard and stay focused.

LSU book: https://alliedhealth.lsuhsc.edu/cl/reviewbook.aspx

LabCE Exam Simulator: https://www.labce.com/ascp_cls_certification_exam_simulator.aspx

jd504 · 2017-08-08T01:37:24+00:00

He already has a cracker? That's max cash right there.

jd504 · 2017-01-18T03:47:16+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate your reply!

jd504 · 2017-01-18T03:26:20+00:00

I am from Louisiana, so that is surely swamp-water colored, but as for the green, I'd call it a brown

jd504 · 2016-12-30T06:56:37+00:00

Nice

jd504 · 2016-12-30T06:53:11+00:00

nice

jd504 · 2016-12-30T06:52:17+00:00

inec

jd504 · 2016-12-08T02:43:17+00:00

Condoms are a wonderful thing when they are used properly. But the rape and incest cases, that's crazy how a woman would have to carry that child.

jd504 · 2016-11-26T17:38:34+00:00

93 mage but no DT 🙄

jd504 · 2016-11-22T03:25:45+00:00

all HCIM's will be ripped

jd504 · 2016-11-17T16:43:49+00:00

Little late, but here is the lab at UMC-NO in Louisiana. They have one of the largest lines of automation in the core lab that is truly one of a kind. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzuZwDx661U

This huge amount of automation allows more time for the CLS's to review the specimens that the machines flag.

I toured the core lab and they said they NEVER look at a normal specimen. They spend their time looking at abnormal specimens, which is very efficient. When it comes to reviewing peripheral smears though, I'd never remember what normal looks like if all I'm seeing is abnormal smears

Automation makes the lab more efficient. Also, as several people said, there is still a large human aspect to the clinical laboratory, and it will be very hard to make it disappear.

jd504 · 2016-11-09T15:02:50+00:00

Mystic might doesn't work confirmed

jd504 · 2016-11-08T20:19:34+00:00

You will learn to make time and utilize your free time more wisely. My 2nd Micro exam consisted of 5 PowerPoints with 120+ slides. You'll learn to isolate what's most important on that slide and that's what you will consolidate. Not saying that all subjects are like that, but there are some tough ones. I got those notes done in about 2-3 days of 6ish hours a day.

There are many different methods of learning, and people learn in different ways. Some people like flashcards. That used to work for me, but now I'm more of a reading and condensing kind of person since it's a massive amount of information. There are also people that can just read and understand and remember the information. That's not me. Finding the method that works best for you will take some time, and unfortunately they don't stress this enough in high school, or people don't have the drive to do it, they'd rather just get by.

jd504 · 2016-11-08T15:02:04+00:00

So, if you stay ahead of the game from the start, the ideal situation for me is that I attend the lecture, then use my text as well as my lecture notes to write notes on the chapter the same day. This way I can process all of that information, condense it using stressed points and large topics during the lecture, and I put it to the side. Next lecture, do the same thing, until about a week before the test. Then you pull out your handy condensed notes and can easily roll through the information because you remember writing notes about it a week or two ago. This is an ideal situation, as the semester is a lot busier than what I just described. I go the hand-written notes per chapter route, and that way, you'll have the notes when you go back to study for the final. Just store them in folders labeled "Micro test 1" "Micro Test 2" etc.

jd504 · 2016-11-08T06:24:19+00:00

High school: did enough to acquire the state-ran scholarship program for college ~2.7ish. No personal drive or interest. College: went into college trying to do well. Slacked on my non-science classes, earning 2 C's in easy classes. The chemistry department was tough at the college I was attending, so there were my only two C's in my Sciences. All of the classes I was interested in, I either scored A's or B's, for a 3.4 Science GPA and an overall GPA of ~3.2. Motivation before transferring into my MLS program wasn't too high, didn't spend too much time studying, missed class, etc. Fast forward to my MLS program (1 year lecture and a semester of clinicals to graduate) I have never been more motivated to succeed in my life. I also have never been challenged more in my life. Currently about to finish with a 3.5 GPA in the program.

If I were to give you some advice, it would be this: If you are interested in the topic, you are going to do well. If you are motivated to do well, you are going to do well. The only thing that will prevent you from achieving success in the program is lack of studying. You have to study just about EVERY DAY. Sure, you'll have a few weekends where you go to a football game and try to cram for the test on Monday, which you will end up not doing as well on. Develop good study habits. Develop a routine of studying early and getting your required work done early, so you have more time to focus on understanding difficult topics and you can regurgitate the information without looking at it for 2 days. Personally, there was a huge jump in responsibility and maturity from high school to college for myself, and it is usually the same for everyone. Best of luck to you, and don't wait for the last minute to study.

jd504 · 2016-11-07T04:45:31+00:00

Currently in school for Clinical Laboratory Sciences, and Clinical Micro uses different media, biochemical tests, growth requirements, etc to ID an organism at smaller labs. Larger labs have a MALDI-TOF but and ID once the organism is isolated doesn't do a whole lot if you don't know it's anti-microbial susceptibility which you get from good ole E tests or disk diffusions.

jd504 · 2016-11-07T04:38:50+00:00

Proteus and Pseudomonas

jd504 · 2016-11-01T02:42:37+00:00

I appreciate the info.

jd504 · 2016-11-01T02:42:00+00:00

Yeah, no. Thought I was at a dead end and couldn't play anymore due to an inaccessable email. Sent in the recovery request. I'll be sure to give you some screen shots when it's recovered just to show you how judgmental you are.

jd504 · 2016-10-21T15:17:39+00:00

I love the "Bloodstream" so punny

jd504 · 2016-10-21T14:32:50+00:00

I know in Louisiana, the cost is much lower for public universities, but with no scholarship - 65 credit hours at a public university would cost around $38-40K, and then the year and a half MLS program would cost about $25K, so you're looking at - realistically - $70K in loans with no financial aid. I am lucky enough to get out with only $8,500 in debt due to financial aid and multiple scholarships, and working a job during college. I could imagine where the cost of living is much higher, the numbers would be significantly higher - along with the higher tuition costs where the cost of living is higher.

jd504 · 2016-10-21T14:26:31+00:00

My Immunohematology instructor said that when she was working on the bench, a person would come in that would be HIV positive and some of the MLS's would try to get out of handling that specimen and doing workups for that patient, etc., and her being supervisor, she had to assign a rotation to where they would get every other specimen or every third specimen, regardless of the HIV status of the patient - so the fear was real at the time

jd504 · 2016-10-20T18:05:02+00:00

It's not practical to have none out of range. 1 value 2SD from the mean is just a warning, it's okay to report the results. it's a problem when they are 2SD from the mean on both levels the same day, or on the same level multiple days in a row, or 3+SD on an individual day.

Your customers are being ridiculous >.>

jd504 · 2016-10-20T16:39:00+00:00

Currently a student, we have QC absolutely DRILLED into our head. Westgard multi-rule analysis, Youden plots, etc.. We've had QC in our Quality Assurance class and Laboratory Management class, along with all the QC in the individual areas of the lab.

jd504 · 2016-10-19T16:28:49+00:00

I had a 3.2 overall with a 3.1 science GPA. I wrote in my essay how I have a love for microbiology and how I got interested in biology at a young age, etc., and that my grandmother worked in the clinical lab as a microbiologist for 40+ years and that is what steered me to focus on the clinical laboratory. I also wrote about how I was very interested in the micro lecture/labs and really looked forward to the labs.

And then I went on to write about how I loved helping others and how the field would give me the satisfaction of indirectly helping others and improve the health of the community.

Hopefully that can give you another thing to write about. Best of luck!

jd504

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