Organization Advice Needed...

[daisyfleur70]

Hello, everyone!

I am in need of advice/input/tips/feedback, etc!

I am in my 2nd semester of my BSN. Our program started us off pretty light with only one nursing class our first semester, but this semester they jumped up to 3... one of them being pathophysiology. I am maintaining a B average in all of my classes thus far, but admittedly it has been a struggle.

The problem I am having is time management, to an extent. I have so much reading to do, and in patho, there's always either a quiz or a homework assignment due, sometimes both together, every class day. I am finding it difficult to completely read through the material more than one time, and retention is also tricky. I am a slow reader, unfortunately.

To make things more difficult, I have an 11 year old daughter who also requires my attention, especially now that she is entering a difficult stage of growth (female puberty, oy vey! LOL).

I don't have trouble understanding the material, but it's just so much to get through. And I feel like I have been giving my other classes (Health assessment/promotion and professional foundations) short shrift because of all the time I spend on patho. As I said, I am managing a B in all my classes so far, although the patho B is by my fingernails.

Next semester is going to be harder, with pharmacology, fundamentals of nursing 2, adult health/med surg clinical, and mental health lecture and clinical. 4 classes total... I don't want to get completely lost and behind and lose momentum.

Those of you who are doing this and juggling the role of student/wife/mom/and even working... and doing well, my hats off to you!!! Can you please share any tips or suggestions with me on how you manage it all and stay on top of it??

I am feeling a bit overwhelmed, and also a bit discouraged... worrying that I wont' be able to keep this up! LOL

I have worked too hard to get into nursing school, and I'm too far in debt to not finish and graduate!

Thanks in advance. Hope this doesn't sound whiny!

Happy Thanksgiving! :)

[Butterfliesnroses]

Have you tried study groups? I was strugging one of the quarters and so I got w/a group of girls. We would get together for 8 hours the day before the test and go over ALL the info covered. It really improved my test scores and helped solidify things. I have a 3 yr old and worked part time during NS so I know how you feel having alot on your plate.

[RN9742]

I have found the best thing for me is utilizing the Microsoft Outlook calendar on my computer, which I can sync with my phone when I need to. I schedule nearly everything, yes I am a bit anal about it at times, but it has helped a lot. I struggle a lot of the reading, and procrastination. ADD is on my back constantly, and it has only been in the last year I truly realized this was an issue for me!

Keeping the calendar is good, because I can look at it, and immediately see what needs to be done, and by when, along with all the activities my kids have (I have 4 of them ages 17-5). The downside to it, I realized how much time I spend wasting time as well! LOL More than I care to mention, if I could learn how to stay focused, and not procrastinate, I'd be making straight A's!

To-do lists are my best friend as well, I make a list each morning of all the things that need to get accomplished! It really helps me from letting time just fly by and forgetting some things.

There is one thing I have tried, and it worked out ok too... I set a timer for 20mins, most things you can spend 20mins doing and accomplish more than you think, if I need more than 20mins I just hit the restart/reset button until I am done with that task and can move to my next task.