Really struggling in Med-Surg 2/Critical Care..How to study?

[jkim414]

I'm struggling in this class. I am passing (75%), but if I do not pull it up to a B- (79.5)...I'm gonna be put in a tough position with the academic progressions reviewing my status.

Anyway, I studied my tail off for my last quiz. I still did poorly, even though I felt like I knew the material very well. I even did 200+ practice questions from Saunders and NCLEX made easy. I can confidently say that I score above 90% in those questions. It was almost too easy and straightforward. My school's exam are not straight forward at all. I panicked and ran out of time. I don't have time to critically think through 25 questions in 30 minutes. I am not blaming the professors at all. There's no point in that--I need to do my best and focus.

I know that I have the material memorized. Now it's time to really think critically and prioritize. I already gave myself a pity day as I usually do after feeling so defeated--a feeling I am very used to by now from this whole nursing school journey. But I refuse to give up.

I've heard that KAPLAN has harder questions than Saunders. Does anyone have advice, practice exam q-banks...anything? I have two weeks to study for my comprehensive final (35%) of my grade. Any advice would be awesome and prayers are welcomed too.

Thanks,

A typical nursing student trying to stay strong...

[DisneyNurseGal, BSN, RN]

I know that I have the material memorized. Now it's time to really think critically and prioritize. I already gave myself a pity day as I usually do after feeling so defeated--a feeling I am very used to by now from this whole nursing school journey. But I refuse to give up.

My experience, in nursing school, is memorizing is NEVER the answer. You need to have complete understanding of a topic and what effect it has on everything else. Concept Maps are a great way to organize thoughts and you can see them visually. For example, if you are studying Diabetes, you need to be able to explain what effect on the endocrine system diabetes will have. You teacher may not have ever mentioned this in class, you just need to either understand it from your reading or can critical think through it. I know it is easier said than done, but this is what was explained to us day one in orientation. They told us the only thing we have to memorize are are some lab values.

Don't give up, hang in there!

[jkim414]

I am really coming to terms with the fact that memorization is okay. But I really need to focus on getting comfortable with nclex questions and going in to the exam confident.

[smatrang001]

I agree with the previous post. I had a classmate who is also my good friend, struggling in class too. I decided to help her study and realized that she knew the information, memorizing it. She could spit it out better than I could. But then I realized she didn't understand WHY the disease happens or why it effected other parts of the body and why symptoms occur. So drawing a concept map and then writing why each occurs will help you greatly in applying the knowledge you have to a situation in a question. Good luck.