How much of your books do you actually read?

Nursing Students General Students

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Specializes in Gynecology/Oncology.

When you're swamped with reading assignments, how do you keep up? Do you read everything, or just skim over the important things? Just curious as to how everyone manages.

I try to read it all, but sometimes, like you said, we are swamped with material and simply can't!

Then skimming comes in. Not very helpful and certainly not very useful for retaining information, but at least I get the gist of the idea.

I try to read everything but I also learn where individual instructors tend to get their test questions. Some get many questions from the reading and in those classes I make sure I read everything. Some instructors seem to take most if not all of their questions from the class lecture and if I am swamped I will just skim the readings in their classes.

Specializes in Adult Med-Surg, Rehab, and Ambulatory Care.

I read it all. Whenever I skim I seem to miss something that shows up on a quiz or test and I kick myself for it later.

I read it all. Granted, it might not get read in time for the lecture, but it does get read. I found that the bulk of test material comes from lectures. So, if faced with having to make a choice between reading the textbook and the lecture notes, I go with the lecture notes.

I have to admit, until this semester, I never read anything but the med surg. book(Lemone). It was like my nursing bible, still is. I have found that the other books provide reinforcement, but typically have the same information. If I have trouble comprehending the med surg material, I seek clarification in the others. This semester, my instructor is not a wealth of information so I TRY to read everything.

I read what I can, but there just aren't enough hours in the day so I skim, skim, skim! I also type up study guides for myself, which has become an invaluable way of studying for me. I learn while I type, then read those before the exam. :)

I skim before the lecture and then read all and well before the test. I try to really concentrate on what was in the lecture, but they do throw in something that was in the chapter that they maybe just lightly mentioned or maybe not at all in lecture on the test

Rhonda

I read what I could. I had a toddler while attending nursing school. My advice- bring a mini cassette recorder to class & ask the instructor if you can tape the class. Most of what you are tested on, is what the instructor teaches you. The instructors stress the important points that you will need throughout your career. And, if you are working in a health facility- ask the nurses if you can observe them performing procedures, unfortuneatly, clinicals do not provide everything, and experienced nurses have alot to teach too.....good luck

I'll be honest. I only read what I have to. If something is not clear, I will look it up. But, if I have a grasp of it or the notes are clear, I will just go off of that. I also use a few classmates as study partners and hearing them explain it helps me.

And, yes, I get good grades!

I do about 75% of the reading (and get about 85% of the stuff right on tests!). The other 25% seems to just be things that were thoroughly covered in the lecture portion.

Specializes in Emergency Dept, M/S.

I'm taking an intensive A&P course now, with a test on a full chapter every 3 days. I'm doing a lot of skimming, but..........what I do is the homework portion first - about 15-20 multiple choice and then 15 essay questions. After that is done I do the lab, then go and read the chapter. It gives me a good idea how the test will go and what will be on it.

This is the only course I've done it for though. I took Human Bio last semester, and wouldn't be taking this A&P course now if I hadn't, and read everything completely 3 or 4 times, but we also had a week to do it in. Big difference!

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