Any Miracle Techniques?

NurseyBaby'05, BSN, RN · May 1, 2006

Know when to take a break or when to just walk away. Seriously. If you're starting to get overwhelmed or frazzled, you aren't goint to think straight. Your retention will be subpar, if not zero. It's much easier to learn when you're refreshed. The ten hour, day before the exam cram does more harm than good. You really know more than you think. When everything starts to run together, you start to second guess yourself. Just my experience and two cents for what they're worth. :nurse:

LoriAlabamaRN · May 1, 2006

I always found that if I wrote facts out, they stuck in my head better. Seriously. So what I would do is make bajillions of notecards, each with a term or question on it and the answer on back. I'd go through these to study, putting the ones I got right into one pile and the wrong ones in another. Then I would shuffle the wrong ones and go through them again, adding them to the "right" pile as I got more right and repeating until I had gotten all of them right, then reshuffle the stack and start over until I could go through the whole pile and get them all right. Sounds silly, but this technique got me through RN school. Try it maybe?

bsugaRN2b · May 1, 2006

I always found that if I wrote facts out, they stuck in my head better. Seriously. So what I would do is make bajillions of notecards, each with a term or question on it and the answer on back. I'd go through these to study, putting the ones I got right into one pile and the wrong ones in another. Then I would shuffle the wrong ones and go through them again, adding them to the "right" pile as I got more right and repeating until I had gotten all of them right, then reshuffle the stack and start over until I could go through the whole pile and get them all right. Sounds silly, but this technique got me through RN school. Try it maybe?

Ditto that! For a twist, retyping notes is another option (which is what I do instead of rewriting, as my hand starts to hurt - whereas I can type 60 words/min when I'm trying...it's faster! )

Daye · May 1, 2006

there is a book out that is especially geared for nursing students called you are smarter than you think! it is pretty good to narrow down very specific techniques depending on the individual regarding visual, auditory and so forth... it is much better than others i have looked into, the cool thing is you only have to use the parts of the book that apply to you, so it's not like a whole other book to read, it gets right to the point for each person individually, it helped me a lot. i also did the index cards and there were so helpful for me too, especially for anything that requires memorizing like labs values, terminology, anything knowledge based

MIA-RN1, RN · May 1, 2006

I like to type out my notes and use fun fonts and colors for each different unit. I also use mnemonics whenever I can think of them and there is a great series of books called Memory Notebook of Nursing that has lots of great and funny drawings and ways to remember stuff.

RNSuzq1, RN · May 2, 2006

Hi Julie, First, I'm sorry you're having problems, hope it gets better soon. I was curious why your Doc thought you had ADHD?? Did you always have trouble concentrating or is this a new thing?

Nursing school is hard, stresses most of us out, so perhaps everything that's going on has all been brought on by stress. Also, something else to think agout - I noticed your age (same as me) - have you considered that the sudden mood changes, tears, etc. might be due to early menopause? From what we learned about menopause - the early symptoms are a lot like early pregnancy - mood changes, tears for no reason, trouble concentrating (all from hormonal changes)... Maybe you could talk to your GYN..

As far as studying and making things "stick" - I think everyone does it differently. Some like study groups, I have to be totally alone in a quiet room - read everything in my text books before going to my notes, power points, etc. The night before a test when I'm done studying, I always get out my NCLEX Review books and take the sample tests (for whatever subject we're going over). It works for me, but like I said - everyone is different. Hope this helps..

Nurse-o-Matic · May 2, 2006

Have a ton of textbook reading? Read the first and last sentences of a paragraph. The first, the topic sentence, tells you what the paragraph is about and the last summarizes the important stuff that was discussed in the paragraph. Pay attention to any italicised or bold words.

Then move onto the final pages of a chapter where things are further summarized-usually in a concise organized fashion. Do the little quiz questions at the end of the chapter.

I guarantee if you do the above that you will know at least 80% of the material pretty well in a short time. Then you can move onto your notes for further study. Good Luck!

DenaInWyo · May 2, 2006

I am one of those people who can be reading the words of a book, and thinking about something entirely different..I have to go back and reread because I wasn't "listening"!

I have one study buddy, and what we do is take turns reading aloud. When we've covered a topic or even just a paragraph sometimes, we stop and say "okay, now what does that mean"? This has worked really well for me, and I even do it on my own sometimes. It's a lot harder to drift off if you are having to read the words out loud.

Deana

Daye · May 2, 2006

julielpn i too feel for you, i think i may have some idea what you are going through, and i really think susan nc is on to something regarding perimenopause, i had some very similar experiences and felt frustrated when i couldn't control the tears. my poor family didn't quite know what to do with me, after a very emotional outburst one sunday while singing in the choir, i had to leave b/c nothing i did to try to stop the crying worked. my dh followed me out and asked what was wrong, i told him i really needed to call my gyno, with a shocked look on his face he asked "what does he have to do with this" lol i didn't realize it at the time but i entered into perimonopause.

let us know how you are doing ok

(((((((((hugs))))))))))))))))))