How Do You Study?!?!?!

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I just finished the first semester of four :monkeydance:. I ended up with a 83=C :icon_frown: ; that kind of bombed me out. I'm usually an A-B student. I was just wondering what are some of you guys study habits or how did you study. I didn't use flash cards I just read the chapter a couple of times, and took a few notes.

I think I will change my routine up for this coming up semester, since it will be Med-Surg :idea: .

Thnakto all of you who have helped answer this question on studying because I worked 76 hours a week in the last year and was an A & high B student but nursing school seems to require more time and how to study seems to be the kewy, I am cuttign down my hours this year since it is my last year & struggled the last semester. Thanks to you all

Specializes in Telemetry.

I haven't been accepted into a nursing program yet, but here is something I have found helpful regarding Power Points. I had the same teacher for A & P I & II, and she would go over the presentation in class then put it on our website when we completed the topic. I print out two copies in the 6-to-a-page handout style. When I am confident that I have learned everything in the box (a box constitutes 1 of the 6 slides per page), I mark it out so I know that I don't need to keep going over it. I continue studying & marking out boxes until there are none. Then, I pull out my clean copy to review the night before/day of the test.

Oh, and I'm a BIG fan of homemade flashcards. Also, check out Flashcards: The world's largest library of printable flash cards for a comprehensive list of college-level banks that others have completed for you. I just discovered this on winter break, so I missed it for A & P II but plan on making good use of it in micro this spring. I believe you have to pay to simply print them out already formatted, but they also have a function where, if you are willing to fight the formatting in Microsoft Word, etc yourself, they don't charge you. I haven't figured this part out, but if you need help, PM me & I'll be glad to tell you step by step what I'm doing.

Thanks & good luck to all of you!

Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.
Also, check out Flashcards: The world's largest library of printable flash cards for a comprehensive list of college-level banks that others have completed for you.

Wow....I only had a few minutes to look at this site, but it looks very cool!! Thanks for sharing this!

I have Saunders, Kaplan and Nclex 3500 to practice each area that I completed in class. Most of the times, the questions on the exams, would be very similar.

I use Saunders and NCLEX 3500, too. Lippincott's Review for NCLEX-RN is excellent, also. I highly recommend it if you don't have it already.

Excellent study suggestions, everyone! I'm in my last semester and have made all A's by using many of the techniques mentioned in this thread. For me, the most helpful is doing practice questions. They not only make you use your knowledge, but the rationales and strategies are very helpful.

Good luck to all!

Specializes in LDRP.

I'm going to change things a bit this semester since I missed A's in two classes by missing ONE test question each! AGH! I have two semesters left and they will be my hardest.

I learned to make good note cards mid semester and that helped my grades. No more retyping of notes or making study guides--that was a watse of time for me. Also, I am going to make flash cards and review my notes after EACH lecture. I used an NCLEX book at the very end and that helped me a lot grade wise. I want to move from 90-91% averages to 92-93% so I can slidify those A's. Coming up short really sucked and it screwed my GPA.

I am also going to ry to read soem before class--but only concepts that are difficult and hard to understand (like fluids and electrolytes). Some stuff in nursing is common sense and is picked up on the first pass--other stuff you have to go over 6 or 7 times to get.

Anyway, we will see if this helps me. I think I have it down now as my grades went up at the end of the semester because I figured out how to study.

Specializes in Adolescent Psych, PICU.

I make A's and some high B's in nursing school.

I try to read the textbook before class. While the instructor is lecturing I use only a blue highlighter and I highlight the things she goes over from the book...I also write notes directly in my books so I don't lose them. I then go back and re-read the text and highlight my own in a different color. I do the Saunders NCLEX book as well.

I sometimes do notecards....it does help with application type questions that we have in NS because there are certain things you have to know in order to apply the question and certain things just plain have to be memorized (lab values, etc).

Study groups are ok, but ONLY if the people in your group are serious about it and have actually done some studying before hand! I usually come away from a study group feeling like it was a waste of time because most of the people haven't even crack the book open and have nothing but confusion to contribute. IF everyone has studied before hand, study groups can be fantastic because there is always something someone else picked up that you didn't. So this next semester I have already made it the standard rule that you have to have at least read the textbook before coming to study group, I think that would just help everyone involved.

I also do fishbones for each disease process. What I do is take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle (that would be the spine of the fish). Then I draw 4 lines offshooting from that on each side. I label the top of the paper with the name of the disease and then each offshooting line with the following: Etiology/Risks, Pathophysiology, Nursing management, Medical management, Lab/diagnostics, Complications, Drugs used, and just whatever else I need. I don't write a lot, just something small to trigger my memory. For instance for Osteoporosis I would write for labs/diagnostics: Dexa scan (etc). Its just something I can look at easily.

What do you mean by PP notes?

I don't see the post you're referring to, but most likely it means Power Point notes.

4. Use NCLEX books. I love Saunders and Lippincott. Saunders offers chapter reviews (bullet points) and Lippincott is broken down by disease so it is easy to find what you are studying. The more you get in the habit of answering these type of questions the better you are. I also have the Illustrated guide for the NCLEX-Rn (I like that ) Mosby and kaplan (wouldnt waste my time) and Davis (ok)

Hi Melissa,

Can I get the title to the NCLEX books you used? I have the Saunders comprehensive review. I found practice questions help with exam and thought I can use more books to practice more questions. Thanks for your advice.

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