How to get good grades in nursing school?

Study your hiney off. I'm not kidding. I have many classmates who are more interested in playing angles, passing tests and getting their license than actually learning the material. From my experience, learning the material is how you get good grades. I have a 4.0 in nursing school, 1/2 way thru my program.

One thing I found out in 1st semester of nursing school is my learning style - are you a visual, auditory, kinesthetic or combination learner? I found out I have a kinesthetic learning style (big surprise to me), body position and feeling/emotion play a lot into my studying habits. I found I prefer to relax in a big comfy chair with my feet up when I'm reading or writing stuff, but if I need to really study hardcore I have to sit up at a table. Even better, I go to the bookstore - the "study" atmosphere + coffee really help. I always have to sit in the same seat in class when I take my test. I rewrite all of my notes before a test - this is very time consuming but always seems to get me A's.

I have classmates who are auditory, they're the ones with the tape recorders - that was never me. I'm somewhat visual too, I can picture charts and things but mostly ones I've written myself and where I wrote them on a page (kinesthetic again).

Also, many folks swear by study groups but I find them a distraction - people often get sidetracked onto social subjects. Don't feel like you can't do without them. I'm getting all A's, the most regular study group in my class is not (once again, they've become more a social club than a study group).

Stay positive, the more you worry about the worse you make it for yourself. Just focus on the material and ask questions if it's not clear.

RHP, that schedule is pretty hardcore. I thought I had it bad. My first semester I got two C's and one B. I was disappointed but was working a fulltime job and I also have joint custody of my 2.5 year old. Just finished my 2nd semster with a 3.4 average. Not bad but it's going to get tougher to get a high GPA as I start moving into critical care. Wish us luck.

Why do you have to work full-time? The reason I ask is because I am a single parent living on my own and I don't work. All I do is study, go to class, study, study, and study some more. Then I pick my daughter up from school, spend time with her, out her to bed and then study dome more. The reason I can do this is because I live in low-income housing while I'm in school. My apartment is actually quite nice and I only pay $43 a month in rent. (I live off of $450/month in child support.) If I didn't live in low-income housing I wouldn't be able to make it through school with decent grades. Is that something that may work for you?

WOW! $43 a month?!!!! Where did you find this price? I live in South CT and the cheapest appartment over here would be $800 in a very bad neighborhood.

Most nursing school and pre nursing program grades are inflated,,, thus the 90= an A. In no other professional education program would this be tolerated. And guess what? A 90 is not an A in most anesthesia programs, as a matter of fact a C= an F. So the ONLY solution is to STUDY HARDER. If you want warm hugs and inflated grades just get an nonanesthsia MSN or NP education. But do NOT bother to enroll in a program that puts SRNAs and NP students in the same class. They cannot curve any test scores.
Unplug the TV and the internet and hit the books.

I live in Wyoming so an expensive apartment here is probably $900 a month or so. But low income housing generally works the same almost everywhere. Your rent is usually 30% of your income. But I have no income so they just go off of child support payments. (Her dad is actually good about paying.) I am soon going to be moving to Phoenix and I got into the same type of housing down there. They are nice apartments and it is about 2 blocks from the ASU campus.

I know CT is expensive. My dads side of the family lives in Middlebury and Waterbury mostly. Even in the bad neighborhoods of Waterbury it can be expensive.

Here is a trick...and it forces you to be honest with yourself. It is VERY time consuming. Instead of rewriting your notes (or in addition to rewriting your notes), turn every single note into a question, either multiple choice or fill in the blank. My tests could end up being 400 or 500 questions/answers long...but I knew exactly where I was weak and where I needed to study. I could also predict with very good accuracy how well I would do on a test. It worked every time....EVERY TIME. I finished my BSN with a 4.0 overall.

I only participated in study groups as an additional learning tool for myself, because I ended up "teaching" the group what I had learned. It was a chance for me to refine.

I start CRNA school in August and intend to study exactly the same way. I don't think I will have time for study groups though.