Academic Probation

Editorial Team / Admin · Jan 11, 2015

I ended up on academic probation after my first semester of college. The change of environment was just a little overwhelming to me.

Some tips that helped me:

1. Know your learning style. This can help you choose how to study. One such resource is http://vark-learn.com/the-vark-questionnaire/

2. Know what helps you study. I find complete silence distracting. I actually retained information better if I studied while listening to soft music in the background.

3. Take advantage of any study group sessions that the instructor offers. It enables feedback directly from the instructor and also bouncing ideas off fellow students.

4. Form a study group with other students. Sometimes, other students can be better teachers.

caliotter3 · Jan 11, 2015

Many people find the accelerated programs to be overwhelming and they are successful when they transfer to a traditional program.

mw1815 · Jan 12, 2015

Thanks Rose_Queen. The study question says I'm an auditory and a visual learner. So I'm trying my best to figure out the adjustment I need to make. I feel like I can do this I just wasn't doing it the right way before. However I do not want to get dismissed from the program.

I haven't found too many people that I benefited from studying with but I'lol keep searching.

mw1815 · Jan 12, 2015

Thanks caliotter3. I don't want to give up on this program just yet. I feel like I can do it I just need to tweak my approach, study and test taking skills.

LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN · Jan 12, 2015

Do you have review books to help practice and give you a comfort zone in picking answers?

If not, looking into reviews such as The Success Series and others that are specific to the subjects (Med Surg, Peds, Pharm, etc.).

mw1815 · Jan 12, 2015

Thanks LadyFree28. I'll look into the success series. I have very limited amounts of questions. Doing more questions would definitely help.

mw1815 · Jan 15, 2015

LadyFree28 I love the success series! I purchased the pharmacology and test success books. Thanks the suggestion!

Rndahe · Dec 1, 2015

Hey I saw that you attended pace. I'm about to start my first semester, any advice or feedback?

AceOfHearts<3 · Dec 1, 2015

Def. look into the Success series of books. I did an accelerated program and loved those books. Also, we used Elsevier (not sure what publishing/editing company your school uses), but we were able to go online to their website and get free questions at the end of every chapter for every book we used- even if you didn't actually buy the book. So that was another great resource for questions (sometimes exam questions were really similar to those questions).

Also, if you are an auditory and visual learner I would suggest looking into the website SimpleNursing.com. It's not a free resource, but it may be worth the price for you. You can search youtube for some free ones that they've uploaded to get an idea on what it is. The guy in the videos covers so many different topics and sometimes hearing things phrased/explained differently can make a huge difference. I found some of the ones on youtube extremely helpful.

Another resource that is worth the $30 is the NCLEX RN mastery app. It was recommended to us by one of my professors and everyone loved it. You can load it onto your phone, tablet, etc. When standing in line waiting to checkout or just find you have a few extra minutes you can pull it up and answer questions. There are also some mnemonics and little aids that they give you with it. The app was super convenient for me to use on my hour long train ride to class.

A lot of people really like Hogans Reviews and Rationales and you can get them for pretty much all subjects. I used them some, but I honestly preferred to read an actual textbook if I needed anything more than just a cursory review of material. I used the Success series a lot more than the R&Rs, but that's just me.

Good luck!