Advice on BScN Program

[JHeron]

I am a 19 year old college student in the BScN course. The course is very overwhelming for me and cannot seem to get on the ball with all of the assignments and tests. I already failed one of my tests and am not doing all that great in the others. Should I give up? Maybe do the RPN course instead? I am very stressed and discouraged. In need of a pick-me up:)

[kristandrews]

nursing school's tough! i know students who had been failing all semester, and pulled out a passing grade in the end, and others who didn't have the same success. take a look at your schedule and your study habits to see if there is anything you could be doing differently, or if there are any open spaces in your schedule you could squeeze more studying into. talk to fellow classmates to see what they're doing as far as studying. figure out how you learn best, and maximize your study time. experiment with different study styles to see what works for you personally. some people hand-write/type up their notes again from class, others make sure that they've read every single word of the assigned chapters, some swear by doing hundreds of NCLEX-style practice questions before each test, some make notecards with all of the test material on them, some record class lectures on a voice recorder and listen to the important parts again later (whenever the teacher says something important, look at the recorder and write down the time the recorder says... at the end of the lecture, you'll have a list of important times to go back and listen to instead of re-listening to the entire lecture), some go through the assigned chapters and notes and make study guides for everyone to share, some people get together in study groups to discuss the material (after each group member has studied it on their own), some people cover each week's class material before class to get a head's-up, and some people do a little bit of everything! if you learn best by listening, amazon kindle lets you download textbooks and notes onto it & it will read them to you! there are also text-to-speech converters online that will read your notes to you (i'm trying this right now). look into buying study guide books. (i use prentice hall's reviews & rationales series because i like their summaries of all the important material) make sure you utilize every possible resource your school has provided you with (nursing books in the library, tutors, ATI books, nursing videos, etc). you can also talk to some of your instructors to see if they have any suggestions (some instructors can be really helpful). if you really want to become a nurse, and you really want to stay in the program you're in now, you can do this. it will take a tremendous amount of work, but i imagine it's possible!

[kristandrews]

nursing school's a really big adjustment. i forget sometimes how much i struggled first semester to stay on top of assignments and make it out of there and pass. i think it's normal to be overwhelmed at times (and maybe even lots of times!) your first semester. i even had an instructor sit me down early in the semester and ask me whether or not i really wanted to be a nurse because i was doing so poorly in skills lab (but i ended up buckling down and growing up and got an A!). i wonder if age makes a difference... i was 19 when i started, too! (the youngest person in my class!) and after that discussion with my teacher, i could seriously feel myself growing up more and more by the week! it was amazing. you can do this and you'll be so much better off in the long run for your struggles. hang in there! :)

Krista

[nurse2033, MSN, RN]

Decide you will succeed and then put your energy into HOW not IF. Best of luck!