How do you handle all the reading?

[Elizabeth Renee]

Let me start off by saying that for as long as I could remember, I have never depended on reading textbooks. Many times I've been successful in classes where I don't use the book other than to make flashcards from boldface terms and big concepts (or I just wouldn't use it at all). Additionally, I would just go over the lecture power points (I tried taking audio recordings of lecture notes in the past and it didn't work well for me).

However, I kind of had it in my head that for nursing school, that all changes and that you can't escape reading thoroughly. So that is what I've been doing. I read for around 3 hours or so (that time doesn't include breaks), until my brain gets so tired of looking at words for a day that I need to call it a night and I still don't get all the assigned reading done.

I think that I need to learn how to skim, and yet it worries me because I fear that I may not be reading enough, or that I will miss test material entirely. However, by doing all this reading, I feel like it's taking my energy and focus away from the big stuff that matters, putting me in a bad position when quizzes/tests come around. Because I learn best by writing, I thought that I could take notes as I read. However, that added a significant amount of extra time to my studying.

I guess I'm trying to find that magic formula that you eventually find in nursing school - the one where you figure out how/what to study in the most efficient way without spending day in, day out in your chair doing nothing else but reading. To be honest, a lot of it seems like "fluff" and redundant. As I spend hours with my nose in the books, I keep thinking, "There has to be a better way...but I don't know what that is yet!"

How do you manage the reading? Do you read everything you're assigned, or do you skim? Take notes as you go along? Does what you're doing help you or hinder you? Would love some feedback. :)

* I guess I should note that I'm just finishing up my first week of nursing school. However, I want to try and get a handle on this now before it turns beastly and out of control on me in a blink of an eye.

[bfree1001]

I read all the assigned reading before the lecture. At this point I don't expect to understand the material completely. I also don't try and skim what's important because I usually don't know until lecture. All I'm trying to do at this point is give my brain a base knowledge to work around during lecture. It's easier to understand and gain clarity at lecture if I have a basic understanding.

At lecture I do not print power points. I take written notes, I will usually make it clear when the professor stressed something in their lecture as well. After lecture I look at my PowerPoint along with my book. I highlight what the PowerPoint covers in my book. (This will usually statements that the prof pulled from the book. Or concepts that I need more info on).

Then I will do review questions from he book and the fundamentals success book at my school. By time I do those I know where I need to focus my last bit of studying for a test.

Oh yeah. My school really stresses nursing process. Especially assessment and implementation. So if I'm in a super time crunch I will read those two sections thoroughly. (My fundamentals book has the chapters set up where they'll give you a base knowledge and then apply it to the nursing process.

[4boysmama]

I don't read the entire chapter(s) assigned for each module, but I will go in and read specific parts that I think I need more in-depth after lecture (for example, we just finished up a respiratory unit, so I read the sections on ARDS and COPD. We're in a f/e unit now, and I just finished reading on all the surgical treatments for BPH)

[THELIVINGWORST, ASN, RN]

Nuff said

[caughtbuckinoff]

Nuff said

Lol, love it.

The more I read, the worse that I do. I end up getting hung up on knowing the pathology of the diseases, EVERY obscure damn detail, then couldn't tell you how to handle a nosebleed. I am a big fan of he scientific aspects.

I LOVE my book "Lippincotts Manuel of Nursing Practice". It's not a required textbook but it streamlines everything and in such an easy to read and easy to compartmentalize in your brain way. Between that and the questions in the back of the textbook, I usually do well. We all get our butts handed to us a time or two through nursing school. Can't win 'em all!

[christina731]

Nuff said

Lol! That's how I feel about damn near everything in nursing school.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

I focused on learning the vocabulary terms at the beginning/end of each chapter. Doing that meant I covered most of the important information in the reading.

[SC APRN, DNP, APRN, NP]

I break it up into sections and never do more than 2 hours at once. I skip the stuff I already know. I am taking Nursing Assessment for RN-BSN 95% of it is stuff I learned in my ASN program and have read over and over already. I skim the fluff, after a while you start to know the "fluff" from the important content.

[swansonplace]

I would study based on the teachers history, how they test, grade, etc. We also had an end of semester ATI exam that was required so I studied nclex material also. I liked the Davis Success books. They were a pretty good questions for fundamentals, and reviews and rationales books for fundamentals. You get a quick overview of whats important with reviews and rationales, and you can test yourself for basic knowledge with both books. I also like videos to learn from. I enjoy watching videos on what I am studying it's faster, and it helps with basic understanding before I go to class.

[crgallardo]

I read the objectives in the front of the chapters, the vocab and the chapter summaries and my teachers power points...we get way too much reading and it's impossible to do it all...and I've gotten A's on my first two midterms so it's working out so far! Hope it helps!