How many hours did you honesty spend studying in nursing school?

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Hello,

I've been wanting to ask those who graduated nursing school, how many hours did you honestly spend studying? I heard people studying for about 5-6 hours a day which to me sounds like too much. But then I also heard people studying about 1-2 hours a day which sounds fair. And also, when clinicals start, do you study less or more than you did in the beginning of nursing school?

Thanks

And you are only in second semester and not done with second semester yet. Classes get harder. So, like I said, good luck with the NCLEX. Also, even if you do pass the NCLEX I personally wouldn't want a nurse taking care of me who didn't care to put any time into learning how to care for me. Book smart does not translate to good nursing and your attitude of not needing to try is setting you up for failure before you even begin

I don't formally study but I am constantly chopping it up and talking shop with critical care and rapid response nurses. If you look at some of my past posts you can get an idea of where I am mentally and what I am referring to; and how I have made my nursing school experience so stress free. I have lots of tips and tricks to make it fun and not scary. I know it can sounds offensive that I don't "study" and I will make a bad nurse because I "don't care" but that is quite far from my the reality.

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Noctor_Durse is an extraordinary individual who is passionate about learning and has made a concentrated effort to educate himself through a variety of avenues prior to, and in addition to, nursing school. In order to have the same experience, I think one would have to be as inquisitive and motivated as he has been *beforehand*.

To me, this question is a lot like asking us "how much do you weigh"? You will get a huge variety of answers, and they are all dependent on so many individual factors.

My approach has been to imagine and prepare for the worst. Wrap your head around nursing school taking 100% of everything you have, because it very well could. If you get there and find that things come a little easier to you than others, if you have a little more free time -- great. But certainly don't count on it, because that is not the reality for many.

Where you see extraordinary I see arrogant, something I have found in a lot of EMTs turned nurses. Like I said, you can be book smart all day, but arrogance and lack of desire to try in nursing school are going to turn into bad patient care down the line.

To answer OP's question, I study an average of 2-3 hours on weekdays and 6 hours on weekends (with days off here and there depending on exams), but I am in an accelerated program so it does move a bit quicker. Also, studying varies greatly from person to person and it is more important to look at quality of studying over quantity. Remember you are studying to take care of sick people someday, not just to get As or pass the NCLEX.

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Noctor_Durse is an extraordinary individual who is passionate about learning and has made a concentrated effort to educate himself through a variety of avenues prior to, and in addition to, nursing school. In order to have the same experience, I think one would have to be as inquisitive and motivated as he has been *beforehand*.

To me, this question is a lot like asking us "how much do you weigh"? You will get a huge variety of answers, and they are all dependent on so many individual factors.

My approach has been to imagine and prepare for the worst. Wrap your head around nursing school taking 100% of everything you have, because it very well could. If you get there and find that things come a little easier to you than others, if you have a little more free time -- great. But certainly don't count on it, because that is not the reality for many.

Thank you for the kind words and I agree with you completely. It really depends on the individual.

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Where you see extraordinary I see arrogant, something I have found in a lot of EMTs turned nurses. Like I said, you can be book smart all day, but arrogance and lack of desire to try in nursing school are going to turn into bad patient care down the line.

To answer OP's question, I study an average of 2-3 hours on weekdays and 6 hours on weekends (with days off here and there depending on exams), but I am in an accelerated program so it does move a bit quicker. Also, studying varies greatly from person to person and it is more important to look at quality of studying over quantity. Remember you are studying to take care of sick people someday, not just to get As or pass the NCLEX.

Amcdade- I know it can be difficult to relay sentiment across the internet but please understand I hands down have some of the best pt. care in my cohort and it is simply due to my prior experience. I am very frequently told how amazing of a nurse i'm going to be by 20+ year veteran nurses. I have 10+ nurse mentors with well over 100+ of combined years nursing experience That have taken me under their wing. I just have a knack for caring for people and I really love it. I don't say these things to toot my own horn as a matter of fact I do not mention this to anyone, only online due to the anonymity; and honestly it really doesn't matter what so ever but I'm on a roll so might as well explain myself. I WILL be an amazing nurse and I am super excited to continue on my journey. Nothing will stop my drive and enthusiasm! I like to speak words of truth into my life and I believe in the law of attraction so I will say this: I will make an EXCELLENT, caring, inquisitive, compassionate, sharp nurse.

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Specializes in LTC.
Where you see extraordinary I see arrogant, something I have found in a lot of EMTs turned nurses. Like I said, you can be book smart all day, but arrogance and lack of desire to try in nursing school are going to turn into bad patient care down the line.

And where you see arrogant, I see confident. Have you read through any of his previous posts? There is a wealth of information, right there for all of us to benefit from. If he didn't care and wasn't passionate about nursing, he certainly wouldn't spend his time here sharing his (numerous, lengthy) study tips and resources.

I do think, ND, your original post has been misunderstood ... perhaps coming across as flippant. I'm happy for you that things are going so well -- I'm sure you're happy for you, too! But I wanted to offer clarification for those out there who may just take it at face value and think, "hey, this guy says nursing school is a breeze!" ...Come on now. You know that's not the reality for most of the people in your class, or for the majority of people who will come through this forum.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

Learning is a process. The time it takes for one to learn, or master a concept or subject matter, will differ from person to person.

In my opinion, studying consists of two parts:

1) Learn how to learn the content (ie. Does this subject require constant quizzing, use of mind maps, repetition... This process takes the longest

2) Applying the groundwork for learning the content (ie. I will complete 3 practice quizzes q night)... This step takes the least time.

The more emphasis you place on worrying about how you will remember the content or apply it in daily life, the more time you are taking away from actually understanding it.

Tips:

-Do not sweat memorizing; understanding, most times, will trump memorization. Often times understanding of one subject will intercept with the understanding of another.

-Study in chunks.

-Organize the material in a way that best suits you (I call this the data mining stage)

-Studying can be fun.

-Develop such an in depth understanding of something to the point where you can have a 2 hour conversation with someone simply taking about, for example, hip fractures.

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And where you see arrogant, I see confident. Have you read through any of his previous posts? There is a wealth of information, right there for all of us to benefit from. If he didn't care and wasn't passionate about nursing, he certainly wouldn't spend his time here sharing his (numerous, lengthy) study tips and resources.

I do think, ND, your original post has been misunderstood ... perhaps coming across as flippant. I'm happy for you that things are going so well -- I'm sure you're happy for you, too! But I wanted to offer clarification for those out there who may just take it at face value and think, "hey, this guy says nursing school is a breeze!" ...Come on now. You know that's not the reality for most of the people in your class, or for the majority of people who will come through this forum.

Clicking on the first thread which was all about how he didn't see anyone else of an "elite knowledge" in his classes apart from himself, on top of his response that he "hands down" has the best patient care in his cohort gave me enough answer as to how arrogant he is. Arrogance will not ever pay off long term.

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Specializes in PACU, pre/postoperative, ortho.

Most of my studying was limited to reviewing the power points. I reviewed them before lecture & looked up anything I wasn't already familiar with (14 yrs experience in healthcare setting at that time). Made notes in the margins during lecture & highlighted anything that was given extra emphasis by the instructor. I don't think I ever studied more than an hour at a time & didn't study every day. We had NCLEX prep books & an online NCLEX study site which I used the day or 2 before a test to quiz myself with questions according to the subject matter & review rationales. If you understand the what, why, & how of the material presented, being successful in nursing school is not so daunting.

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Specializes in Medical/Surgical/Telemetry RN.

I study as much as I can. I either study my notes and power points and use the book as a reference if I need an in depth explanation on a certain concept. What helps me is breaking each concept up onto a little sheet of paper and writing the major concepts on it. Then study that for a couple of hours and then move onto the next major concept on the sheet. You have to group things together because it makes your mind understand what information goes with what body system. I am in pathophysiology right now and I spend a good 15+ hours studying for my quizzes (pretty damn hard) on mondays. Then if its an exam I will spend a week or more studying because I break the studying up chapter by chapter or concept by concept. That is just for pathophysiology. The rotation I am in right now is mental health and I spend probably 10 hours of studying per week on that just to get it down cold so I can walk into the exams and not worry about what questions I receive. Don't forget 24 hours-32 hours of clinical per week. Honestly, you gotta study because if you don't your going to fall behind and most likely not understand the material. I will tell you that nursing school will kick your ass one way or another if you don't have a passion for it. You need to study because lives depend on it. Your patients look up to you and are counting on you to save their life...its a big responsibility. Personally I wouldn't put the question on how much you study because every one is different. My friends study less than me but I don't care cause I want to be the best nurse I can be. If you don't study...good luck cause you will miss soo much critical information that you have to nail down. Don't skimp on studying either actually lock yourself in your room or wherever and go over the material over and over and over again before you consciously can say that the professor can give me any question on this exam and I will nail it. That is when you know that you understand the material. My best advice is to study like your patients life depends on it. We are going over ABGs right now and literally if you don't know those how are you ever going to connect the values to the patients signs and symptoms. Its concepts like this that you really need to work on. Yes it may seem basic at the time but when the doc, nurse, family member or whoever asks you what is going on with the patient you better damn well know what is going on. If you look like an idiot on the floor you are gonna get overwhelmed and burn out. Never quit because its too hard...that is a ******** answer and that is the answer of someone who didn't put in the hard hours studying everyday. It is your job to save life...study like it. At the end of the day you want the best damn nurse taking care of your life. Peace.

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Specializes in Neonatal Nurse Practitioner.

Probably less time than I spent in class plus a little cramming right before the test.

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Specializes in IDD, and private duty.

I studied about 3 hours a day most days of the week. Ditto during clinical. This was an LPN program, so maybe RN even more, but I have been told that many of the LPN programs can be tougher. Not because the material is tougher but because it's so jam packed, there isn't much time and you move very quickly. We were doing multiple subjects at once, and would have a test on one subject or another every day, so you were always studying for a test. That said, I was a bit nerdy and read every word of the reading assignments given. At the start, I was really surprised with the difficulty. I had a previous bachelor's in Child Development from a 4 year university, but this was MUCH harder. Not saying that I would have failed had I studied less, but less than an 82% in any class was failing, so I was terrified lol. I did however, graduate #2 in my class and only had 85 questions on my NCLEX.

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Studying is just different for everyone. It depends on so many factors:

how vigorous is your program?

what are your personal strengths and weaknesses of academia, and do you KNOW them in order to take advantage or improve on them?

can you adapt to different teaching styles?

It isn't really about comparing who studies more than someone else. If it takes someones those 5 hrs/day to learn the material but they KNOW that material, that's just as good as someone who studies 2 hrs/day and doesn't have to put any effort into studying. What matters is if you can apply that knowledge base to a real scenario. People learn differently, and at different paces. There isn't a right or wrong answer, so long as at the end of it, you're able to use that knowledge and apply it effectively and safely.

and to answer your question...depends on the topics I'm studying & what my school/work/life schedule looks like, but I'll spend anywhere from 1-5 hrs/day. My program strongly encourages 4hrs/day at minimum.

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