Daily Schedule?

britthohenbrink · May 27, 2014

It differs person to person. There are some students in my class who have kids and work 2 jobs while going to nursing school (which doesn't leave much study time) and do great. On the other hand there are people who study hours upon hours and are struggling to pass. Once classes begin you will be able to change your study schedule if necessary.

In my personal experience there were days I was exhausted and only studied for about an hour and then days that I spent 8+ hours studying. I'm married with 2 toddlers but have not had to work thus far.

Good luck to you and only time will tell. :)

jojo489 · May 27, 2014

Bank on more time for studying. Reading a chapter, highlighting it, taking notes and practicing NCLEX questions will take up your two hours there. Then on top of homework, there are small homework assignments from class, projects, and care plans to be made for clinicals which focus on one patient, developing a certain number of nursing diagnoses and coming up with like 4 or 5 nursing interventions.

There's a lot of outside of class work and you want to know the topics in and out because NCLEX questions are tough....there are two right answers and you have to pick the one that's the most right...it's all critical thinking. I personally had an NCLEX review book that I studied out of in addition to my nursing books during school.

It's so much work, but if you end up loving nursing, it will be worth it.

christina731 · May 27, 2014

I will be taking medsurg II (10 weeks) and an online leadership course which meets on occasional Fridays (15 weeks)

My schedule for the fall will probably be as follows:

Monday: study in the morning; go to hospital for preclinical in the afternoon and do clinical prep after

Tuesday: clinical 0645-1645; crash after

Wednesday: class 0800-1000; lunch/45 min commute; study 1200-1800 at home

Thursday: class 0800-1200; lunch/45 min commute; study 1400-1800 at home

Friday: if I have class it will be 0800-1200; lunch/45 min commute; study 1400-1800 at home

If I don't have class I will probably study 0800-1600 at home

Sat/sun: work/studying/hang with my family

I do not study well during all hours of the night which is why I try to study in the morning/afternoon. If I have a test my whole schedule will probably change. Who knows :)

In November I will finish medsurg II and start preceptorship for 5 weeks so who knows what my schedule will be. I will probably just study for NCLEX on my days off. I don't think I will work during that time.

RubySlippers06 · May 28, 2014

This is the schedule I have put together. I'm a mom of two kids and my husband is in the military, so I cannot really count on him being there to help

Mon: 5-630am:workout/kids to school. 730-1:study/HW. 120-330:Lecture. 330-430:Study 5-730:family 8-9: prep for next day

Tues: Clinical from 8-4. Fit other things around it

Wed: Clinical 9-4

Thurs: 745-1030:Lecture. 11-1:study 120-230:lecture

Fri: no class, so catching up on HW, grocery shopping, misc mom appts, etc.

All-in-all, I am giving myself about 20 hours per week to study and do HW. I hope that is enough and I am hoping even more that I will not need that much time! This is my first semester. Before now, I have never studied that much!!

notnursezelda · May 29, 2014

thank you guys for the replies, very helpful :)

sparky605 · May 29, 2014

I think you are very smart to plan a schedule like this- it may need some tweaking once you get going but you are on the right track. When are you going to eat?

RunBabyRN · May 29, 2014

I agree that having this schedule as a general framework is smart. Be flexible, as there will, of course be weeks with heavier courseloads than others. Also, if you have a lighter week, try to take one whole day off. Opportunities are rare, so take them when you can. One of our instructors was like, "Take one whole day off each week." We were all like, FU. It felt so condescending, because it wasn't even a little realistic! But take those days where you can get them. Be sure to do something fun for Spring Break, summer, and winter break.

You may find you need more time than this on weekdays, as assignments are due through the week, and depending on your clinicals and when assignments are due, you'll need more time to work on clinical write ups. I found that clinical days were generally too exhausting to write anything upon getting home (except for my preceptorship, when I did it as soon as I got home, because I had to do it every day). Be sure to plan for what works for you as you figure that out.

notnursezelda · May 31, 2014

How many hours do you guys generally study or think you should be studying daily/weekly?

Episteme · May 31, 2014

Here is the rule of thumb. Nursing school is a full time job. You should be spending 3 hours/week per credit hour for each theory course. You should spend 1 hour a week for each credit hour of labs. You should spend 1 hour for every 3 hours you have in clinical. So when you start a medsurg class that has 4 credit hours of theory, 3 hours of lab and 12 hours of clinical, that comes to 12+3+4 or 19 hours per week studying for that class (including the hours you're actually at school.)

This is, as I said, a rule of thumb. If you think you're an above average learner... you may be able to do it in less time. If you are a person who struggles but gets it done, you may need to schedule more time for study.

Also: You don't have time to waste studying superfluous stuff. Stick with the learning objectives in your syllabi.

Summer Days · Jun 1, 2014

I work and school full time. I put in 30 hours of study per week. It means in the short term I have minimal social life.