[lizzyberry]

I was wondering if any nurses or nursing students have any detailed tips on doing well in nursing school other then good study habits. Like whats the hardest part of nursing school: the care plans? or what should we expect and try to really focus on?What do you remember to be the most important? Thanx all the tips will be greatly appreciated!!

[FutureNurse2005]

the hardest part for me is keeping up with school assignments/readings and my family! The actual content of the program is not difficult....
Round up a good group of people for a study group. This helps. Find a super great confidant/friend in your class. There is nothing better than having 1 person to talk to (or rant to!).
I'm sure the others will add more!!

[lizzyberry]

I have this one friend that will be with me in the program she is jamaican and I can understand her in person but not really over the phone. I love her shes the best person but I dont know if she'll make a good study buddy?

[Daytonite]

There are two students in my current coding class who do not speak very good English who have gravitated to me like a magnet. They come in early on class day because they know I am there early as well and they want to compare assignments. This week they were there to compare answers with me on a take home test. One of them really tries my patience because she skips from one thing to another before we have finished with it. I look at it as a challenge for me and a test of my tolerance. I love a good challenge. Are they good study buddies? No, not for me. My study buddy is there at the school a lot earlier and so am I. We have worked together and finished our important study work long before these other two students come in. If I want to avoid them I merely go somewhere else to study or don't come in early. One has my home phone number. If I ever don't feel like talking I just don't answer my phone. I control the time I have to give and I'm not beyond telling little white lies to protect that. I approach any time I am going to be spending with them almost as tutoring time. But, it also helps me too, because I am reinforcing the things I need to know for our upcoming tests. We are also working toward taking a national certification test. It's all that I and my study partner talk about. Any future prospects for a really good job depend on getting that certification. Quite honestly, I don't know if these two students are going to be able to get their certification. They might pass our class, but they can't even understand the instructions we are given for homework assignments. One was shocked to learn that one half of our big midterm exam next week was a take home test and all we had to do was log onto Blackboard and print it out. She can't remember her student ID to log on. I have been repeatedly telling her, in her own language, that for part of the class she needs to be logged on and accessing documents that the instructors have filed on the site. I just don't understand her. She is by no means dumb, just an airhead.

http://www.efn.org/~nurses/ - This is a website maintained by the nursing students at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon. For study and learning tips specific to nursing students click on "TIPS for learning" at the left side of this home page.

[sumthnspecial]

I am only in my first semester of nursing school so things may change down the road. So far I haven't found nursing school to hard, just time consuming.

Go into it with every intention on putting most of your time into school.

Being organized is probably one of the most important things for me.
Organize your notes, your time, your homework, anything that will make your life easier.

I answer all the objective questions for each chapter on index cards, so I bought those plastic index card holders and seperate all my notes by chapter. That way when a test comes around I just pull those chapters out and study from my note cards.

Stay on top of the work, you don't want to get behind.

I don't waste my time by reading everything in the chapters, I use the objectives provided by my teacher to pull out the most important stuff.
There is just too much material to try and cover every single thing.

I don't think care plans are hard, again, just time consuming. Plan ahead and make sure you allow yourself enough time to finish.

Good luck.

[lizzyberry]

Thanx for the tips so I think for me I try to read the whole chapter so I can get an A on the test but I heard in the nursing program you have like 16 chapters for one test so how do you guys just read the stuff that important right?

[sumthnspecial]

Like I said, my teacher gives us objectives for every chapter, so I concentrate on those. So far I have gotten an A on all 5 tests and the midterm(which was around 32 chapters) in Fundamentals. So it is working for me.

My Pharmacology and Gerry class test straight from the lecture notes.

[MBA2BRN]

Originally Posted by lizzyette

Thanx for the tips so I think for me I try to read the whole chapter so I can get an A on the test but I heard in the nursing program you have like 16 chapters for one test so how do you guys just read the stuff that important right?

No, you are to read all of the information related to the objectives, which means you read EVERY chapter covered and any related materials as well. At my school the instructors ensure that we study just about everything by choosing not to give study guides for the exams. Is that more challenging? Yep!... I like it that way!

[Bella Donna]

When you start your clinicals, are they always done during the day? Or do you also have them to do during the night as well?

[marilynmom]

Originally Posted by Bella Donna

When you start your clinicals, are they always done during the day? Or do you also have them to do during the night as well?

Clinicals at my school vary a *lot*. I have had 12 hour clinicals, 8 hour clinicals, days, evenings, nights. It just depends on the hospital and what they have open...other students from other schools are there as well.