How much reading is required?

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Specializes in Med-Surg, ICU.

I am (hopefully) going to start nursing school this fall. :eek: I plan to do the evening/weekend class as I need to continue working at my full time job. I was just wondering how much actual reading is required on average, as in chapters per week, chapters per test etc... Along with that how much time on avg. is spent on other homework assignments. Obviously you can only speak to your experience, just trying to get an overall picture of how single my poor husband is going to feel. :redbeathe

Thank you, Relysh

I was told that at my school, a community college, there is a 700 page reading assignment the first week and it doesn't let up for two solid years.

Specializes in Telemetry, OB, NICU.

Mine was like 4-5 chapters per week plus the handouts they gave us. I could never get enough reading done; I just did my best went through nursing school with B's.

a lot but its manageable. I usually read everything in 2-3 days. For me I take my time when I read, make some flashcards as I go of things that seem like they will be on a test, and reflect. As Victor Hugo said, "reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting"

We have a test pretty much every week. Here's exactly what I had to read this week and its pretty typical:

233-244 chapter 14

695-707 chapter 31

908-935 chapter 36

1301-1313 chapter 48

1316-1319 chapter 48

1187-1228 chapter 46

1080-1100 chapter 43

as you can see we jump around a lot! Its basically 3 whole chapters and bits of a few others.

127 pages...sounds like nothing lol

Specializes in Med-Surg, ICU.

Thanks for the replies

. If the 127 pages read like a novel I could have it knocked out in an afternoon. :lol2: Too bad it won't. Guess its like they say- How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

It's not uncommon for us to be responsible for 10 - 12 chapters per week.

Specializes in Geriatrics.

The first few weeks of my first semester were insane, with up to 8-10 assigned chapter per day. The first semester was a lot of reading, as the first semester was pretty much set to give us a basic understanding to build off of, so there was a lot of reading involved. The second semester was much like the 1st, or sometimes worse, simply because of the fact that aside from nursing, we also have pharmacology which has its own reading assignments. Though in second semester it was usually laid out for us, such as "Read pages 885-892 of chapter 12."

Keep in mind that each school differs, and your school may or may not have more reading than everyone else has. The best possible advice I can give that applies to large amount of reading or a small amount is to read when you can and keep up on your assigned reading. If you have 30 minutes to kill while you're waiting for the laundry, read a chapter. It really helps when you come into the final week before your exam.

Best of luck to you!

There is a ton of assigned reading. A ton. 10-12 chapters+ a week is probably a pretty good guesstimate. However, there are ppl passing with a/b's just by watching the power points, and going over the lecture notes. This is just fundies though, and I have a feeling that is gonna bite some ppl in the hiney before all is said and done.

Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

And...you need to learn WHAT to read!

Look at the syllabus of the course, read the parts that answer the objectives of the course.

I can't comprehend nor remember 700 pages/week. Yes, that was on the assignment, but it did me little good to read that if I couldn't remember it.

Learn how to skim and what to hone in on. Look at the objectives of the course, the info to be covered in the next test, etc..

Specializes in Cardiac.

Most textbooks are also very verbose. It may take 1 or 2 pages to explain a concept that can be summarized in a few words.

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