Advice for nursing school?

Nursing Students General Students

Published

Any & all advice you have!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Take pride in every assignment you turn in and try to get all the points you can because when it comes down to the end ONE point can keep you from getting the higher grade and can make you fail.

DONT procrastinate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Don't procrastinate. You are going to have a lot of tough assignments and tests to take. If you are on top of things you are a lot more likely to succeed.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Here's some thing I've learned in the past 2 years (I graduate in 58 days!!)

*Learn some relaxation techniques and how to destress. Nursing school is EXTREMELY stressful, and at times you will want to quit, you will break down in tears at least a few times, and with everything they require of you, you will feel overwhelmed at times. The best advice I can give is to learn techniques such as meditation, deep breathing, and how to reduce text anxiety (I say this as Even students who usually do well on tests will usually have at least 1 test in their student career that will test their patience and/or could determine whether they pass or fail nursing school, learning tips to relax during your test such as taking a deep breath after every question, bringing peppermint, wearing red on test day, and taking a break after every 10 questions to "reboot" can tremendously help you throughout your classes.)

*Read ahead if at all possible! It will better prepare you for lectures and that way if you have a question about something you can bring it up during the lecture on that subject rather than a frantic email the night before the test that you may not get a response to.

*Don't forget about taking a break and enjoying time with your family and friends! I know everyone says to forget having a social life and that nursing school will take up all of your time, and while that sometimes is true you need to take a break every now and again. Try to go to a movie, have a family dinner, or go out and have fun at least once a week or every 2 weeks. the old saying of "All work an no play makes jack a dull boy" really stands true in nursing school, you can't spend ALL of your time thinking about, stressing about or studying for nursing school, if you don't take a break every now and again, and try to spend time with your family and friends you will either become even more frustrated and stressed, or it can hurt your relationships with your friends/family. (I personally separated from my husband half way through, and although a very good decision, it was partly because of school and it just added to the stress and I almost failed because of it) Going out with friends (NOT nursing school friends, which is another point i'll make later) and not thinking about school for a few hours is one AWESOME way to relax and destress!

*Make at least a few friends with nursing students in your class! I know a lot of times those students may fail, or decide nursing isn't right for them, or they may switch schools...etc...but making friends with others who are going through the same thing as you is one of the best things you can do to help deal with the stresses of school and even help your grades. I'm not one to study in a group, I do much better by myself, but at least once a week I hang out with a few girls from my class, we study together or just hang out, and getting another persons view point on certain material, or seeing what they have pulled from the readings compared to what you have read has helped me immensely! I can't tell you how many times that simply hearing what someone else read (that I somehow missed or didn't understand) directly resulted in getting questions right on an exam and helped me pass multiple tests! Plus hearing the struggles they are going through and being able to vent to someone who KNOWS what you're going through is much more helpful than to a close friend or family member who doesn't understand the struggles of nursing school.

*Try NOT to make enemies in school! I left drama back in high school 6 years ago and never wanted to deal with it again, but putting a certain amount of students (who usually end up being mainly females) in one group for 2 years together, there is BOUND to be some sort of drama! I've seen students almost get thrown out of school because of petty differences, arguments that have resulted in getting "U's" (which in our school means "Unsatisfactory", 2 of those gets you thrown out of the program!) Even if there is someone you don't like or don't get along with, either try to be civil about it, or tell a teacher/adviser so maybe they can work something out with you and the other student.

*If you have a problem, whether it be with the material you need to learn, a question on a test you didn't understand, or just any frustration with a class, teacher, clinical instructor, etc...Talk to someone about it! The WORST thing you can do is keep it bottled up or try to figure it out on your own. The teachers are there to help you! Your advisers are there to help you! and other students are there to help you! You will become a family with the other students and teachers, 2 years of your life are going to be spent with them! I have one teacher who, when i had almost failed thanks to the separation from my husband, asked me to meet with her in her office one day and asked me if I was having any problems that I wanted to talk about, because I wasn't the kind of student who failed and usually did really well in classes. I pretty much broke down in front of her and told her what was going on, and she asked me if there was anything she could do, if I needed a place to stay, made sure I had money and then gave me study tips and helped me with the class so I wouldn't fail. She is one awesome teacher, and most of them are like that. She came to me noticing my struggles and it really made me feel important. So don't think they are not willing to help, they want to see you succeed just as much as you want to succeed! remember that!!

*The last thing I can really think of, is to practice NCLEX style questions, those are the same type of questions they are going to be giving you on all of your tests, as nursing school prepares you for the NCLEX...so any book/website/program you can find that you can get NCLEX style questions from...USE IT!! If your school offers a program/website for additional material USE IT!! (Our school has a website called Evolve (which is part of Elsevier) that gives us extra study material from our textbooks, practice questions related to the material and tons of other ways of helping us with our classes...so don't underestimate the resources your school provides for you!

oh...and don't forget...

You're good enough

You're smart enough

and You're going to be a nurse one day!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Family practice, emergency.

Record the lectures if your professor permits! In my experience they always take test material straight from the lectures, they explain it how they want you to know it and this can save you on multiple choice exams. I was in the accelerated program and had little time to study, this saved me! I listened to those lectures in the car wherever I went. Agree with previous posters on de-stressing!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Make a good impression with all instructors, especially clinical instructors, who may later be those letters of recommendation that land you the job. Seek opportunities in clinical for as many skills you can and show that eagerness to your clinical instructors. Don't be one of those students who stands around the nursing station (it happens ALL the time and the instructors notice!) Let your instructor see you offer help to the CNAs, nurses and your fellow classmates. Do a little extra research on a disease process of one of your patients, and share the info you learned with your clinical instructor by bringing it up casually and showing your interest. Again, it shows you stand out. He/she may remember you well enough to gladly write a letter of recommendation.

Take all the opportunity you have time for to practice in skills lab.

Don't try to read the entire text. Focus on the nursing process when studying the disease processes of each body system. Questions on exams may say, pt has such and such symptoms (those are your assessments) The question may ask what is your highest priority intervention. It may ask what test is usef. These tend to be in nice boxes in your text.

Find a good supplementary book. A nurse recommended it to me, and I am forever passing along the advice. Prentice Hall's Reviews and Rationales: Med-Surg. It is concise, takes out all the fluff. I'll be honest there were times when I simply didn't have time to read the text, and I got A's and B's by reading the content area the test covered in my Prentice Hall book alone. For example, say under Addidon's Disease: It gives you the assessments, signs and symptoms, treatment, nursing interventions, tests performed, nursing diagnoses many of these patients may have and expected outcomes. In bullet point. VERY concise. Don't get me wrong. Dont just memorize.

Understand WHY you will see these symptoms, why you order these tests, why you give this treatment such as a drug and how and WHY it works. That is where you draw from your A&P knowledge you already possess. Saunders NCLEX is very good. It goes by body systems as well and with the CD, there are thousands of questions with rationales. Start preparing for NCLEX now. LIPPINCOTT's NCLEX Q&A, Prentice hall (specifically the med-surge, and Saunders Nclex are my absolute. The Lippincott book has in the book, tons and tons of questions, decided by class (OB, PEDS, MENTAL HEALTH, MED- SURG, and the tests are broken down by class, then body systems, then the individual tests are broken down even further. It also has a CD with tons of questions that are harder than Saunders. Every question has the answer in the back with amazing rationales for why the answer is right, and for while the answers were wrong. Don't feel overwhelmed. 1 test in one body part may be 180 questions. While in school you can answer say just 20 questions for each topic you are learning in class in oner week or whatever goal you have

Maybe just 5 questions within each subcategory. When I did poorly on questions on categories, I knew it was time for me to turn to my text or supplemental book to read up on the topic again. Then answer more similar questions when you feel you've studied enough. DONT BE DISCOURAGED if you get a lot of answers wrong. They are HARDER than Saunders. Saunders questions gave me a false since of security while answering the questions, but its still great, and great to study from. A MUST HAVE. (Both Lippincott and Saunders.) The rationales alone taught me so much

Take advantage of instructors class hours for any confusion. Be mindful of questions you ask in class. Ask yourself: is this a question I can answer on my own by looking it up? Is this a question where I'm totally lost and it would be more beneficial to come to office ho:urs instead of wasting valuable time in class. If its a question that can be cleared up quickly and allow you to then understand the rest of the lecture better, by all means ask your teacher questions. Ignore rolled eyes by classmates. It happens. That's why you should be mindful of the questions you ask.

DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT engage in gossip. Those that ggossip or bad mouth in front of you or to you, and it is a recurrent thing are the same ones gossiping about you to someone else.

Start learning insulins now. I made a pretty paper out of it and listed the onset, peak and duration all the insulins have by category, then I taped it next to my wall for me to glance at all the time and memorize them. If you gave patient A a specific insulin, you know when to check on that pt for his most reasonable time he may become hypoglycemia because you know the peak!

Last for now, I know this is long lol, I RECOMMEND (its up to you) to be vague on how you did on exams when asked, besides a close friend you may have developed a friendship with. They ask how you did: "I did better/ worse than I thought I would" or "I'm satisfied with my grade, now on to the next!" In my experience, some people can be haters when hearing someone is doing well, and gossip hating on you, making it trying to seem like their lives are harder and can't study as much as you. I only say this because I've had personal experience with it, and have seen it done to others, so take it or leave it.

You have had tons of awesome advice from those here. I recommend compiling them into a word document and print out to keep reminding you.

Goof luck!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Duplicate

Up Vote Up Vote ×

SleeepyRN, you are awesome. I saved all of that advice!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thanks for starting this thread and awesome advice from you guys !!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

SleepyRN THANK YOU for all the advice! Especially about supplemental books. I have not taken med surg yet, next year. I think I am most worried about, as ive heard from other students, the powerpoints being too vague (1-3 sentences a slide) b/c they come from the textbook? Was this something you came across yourself? Btw how do you study? (mainly in terms of understanding the bigger concepts/nursing thinking); I still question my study habits. Ironically, I am learning about glucose tolerance and insulin, as I type, for patho! The insulins are very confusing. An excellent idea to post on your room wall a list of insulins - i might just do that myself. Soo true about people asking grades ive learned. I still don't feel comfortable when people ask me that and frankly its quite annoying. And it can get to you, with a group of Type A girls. Sometimes ill say "I did pretty decent, hbu?" And that usually ends the conversation. Definitely compiling a list!! Thank you for making my list great!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

GamerGirL337,

All great social advice, thank you so much. Definitely still developing good habits, it's hard. And nice to hear Im definitely not the only one struggling and it's possible! And congrats on getting your RN almost there! Thank you for suggesting the additional resources, Im starting to learn how valuable evolve is and developing NCLEX style learning.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

We got a calendar for each class giving dates of when exams were scheduled that would end up being a total mess unless they were all put onto one master calendar. So if you get calendars too, be sure to merge everything onto one.

Also, along with the testing calendar, I made a "To Do" calendar. I went through all the syllabi and made sure I knew when everything was due and what exactly was due. Then I planned out when I would do EVERYTHING and wrote it on that "To Do" calendar. Even down to when I would read what.

So, in class, when other's were freaking totally out over things they had forgotten (because do NOT count on the instructors to remind you....they won't) I was completely ready and had done it/typed it/read it or whatever, weeks ago. Plan, plan and then plan somemore. That, in my opinion, is how to make it through nursing school.

Good luck!!!!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment