As you begin your first semester of nursing school, it can be TERRIFYING and OVERWHELMING with information thrown at you. I am a third-semester nursing student and tutor first and second-semester nursing students. While tutoring, I have noticed a few things. So let me give you some advice on how to be successful in your first semester and remaining semesters thereafter.
Buy a planner or use the planner on your phone.
This will help you stay organized with all the assignments and exams you'll have.
Record your lectures.
I have found that recording lecture is very helpful and it allows you to go back to the class to fill in things you may have missed. *tip* glance at your recorder when starting a new page or topic so that you can write down the time and quickly reference that part of the lecture later.
Take good notes and read your textbook.
This is not high school or your pre-requisites anymore. You need to read and think outside the box, make yourself critically think throughout the material. Do NOT just try to memorize, this will come back to haunt you later when you're in the second semester and the professor assumes you already know the basics.
Join/Form a study group.
This will help you tremendously. Study groups should be small (5 people at the most) and they should be treated like class. Don't invite people who are distracting or people that will slow you down.
Use your book resources.
Do the online practice questions that come with your textbook, they will help you get a feel for how the professor may present questions on your exam.
Have fun and make new friends.
Don't stick to yourself and be a loner. Nursing school is tough, and you and your classmates will need each other. Trust me.
Review your test.
This will allow you to see what you missed on the exam and will help you guide your focus for your cumulative finals.
Learn your pathophysiology!
Learn your pathophysiology! Learn it! Understand it thoroughly! Whatever you do, do NOT slack in this class. It is the foundation for every other class you'll have and doing well will help you so much when you're in MedSurg and you are trying to learn interventions. It just makes everything easier, to understand the disease process.
These are things I've noticed students slack on or didn't do their first semester and now ultimately they struggle in the semesters thereafter. Read your book, study every day and you'll do great. Do not expect the professor to teach you every little detail, because there's not enough time in class for that. Hold yourself accountable and learn as much as you can! Good luck. Hope this helps someone!
I think it would be most beneficial to refresh on the major body systems such as; Cardiac, Respiratory, Neuro, Endocrine, Hepatic, and then if you feel it's necessary do other systems as well. I certainly wouldn't refresh on all the different land marks of the bones and stuff like that. But definitely the aforementioned. For example, review the blood flow through the heart and how the heart works, like what occurs during systole and diastole, or the electrical conduction of the heart. I mean I wouldn't stress myself out about it, because your professor's will briefly review some of the basics your first semester BUT I will say, having a decent understanding of the Anatomy going into your first semester will help you TREMENDOUSLY. Honestly, you'll get out of it, what you put in. You're already taking the initiative by asking how to prepare.
As far as mental math honestly, it will just come to you after a while. For my school, if there are math questions on the exam, they give us a calculator to do them. I promise, the math you'll learn in nursing school isn't very difficult. An example of a math question; "calculate the flow rate for the following order, Rx:100mL of Normal Saline infused over 2 hours." All you need to do in order to solve this question is divide your given amount (100mL) by the allotted time (2 hours). So your flow rate would be 50mL/hr. There are more difficult type questions, but they aren't even that bad. You can Google "practice dosage calculation questions for nurses" or "practice math questions for nursing students" and you'll find numerous websites with practice questions.
Depending on how well you did in your A&P class, I'd suggest reviewing some of that. Just general things such as the different body systems and how things function. This will help you a lot, when you're in health assessment and pathophysiology. Most importantly, enjoy your free time before you start and take care of things around the house or other errands because when you start the program, there's not much free time to do those things. Best of luck to you!
I thought as much. I took A&P a while ago, so I definitely need to review. I've been relying on Khan academy videos for now. Thanks for your post!
Thank you so much for this post. I'm going to bookmark it and reread it from time to time. I'm also going to peruse the comments to get some more advice.
I want to especially thank you for this:
6. Have fun and make new friends. Don't stick to yourself and be a loner. Nursing school is tough, and you and your classmates will need each other . Trust me.
I'm not a "traditional" student. I'm 45 years old and this will be a 2nd career for me. I've worked at home for quite a few years and (I'm embarrassed to say) for many reasons I fell out of the habit of making new friends. I've stuck to myself and have become a loner although it's not my default personality to be one. Now, at this advanced age, I find myself trying to reach out and start building friendships. I know this will be an important part of nursing school when I start this fall. I've got to keep this in mind and keep working at it. Thank you for the reminder.
I may even reach out to a few of y'all around these parts via private messaging. It's important to try to support one another.
Thank you so much for this post. I'm going to bookmark it and reread it from time to time. I'm also going to peruse the comments to get some more advice.
I want to especially thank you for this:
I'm not a "traditional" student. I'm 45 years old and this will be a 2nd career for me. I've worked at home for quite a few years and (I'm embarrassed to say) for many reasons I fell out of the habit of making new friends. I've stuck to myself and have become a loner although it's not my default personality to be one. Now, at this advanced age, I find myself trying to reach out and start building friendships. I know this will be an important part of nursing school when I start this fall. I've got to keep this in mind and keep working at it. Thank you for the reminder.
I may even reach out to a few of y'all around these parts via private messaging. It's important to try to support one another.
Thank you again.
Firstly, don't feel embarrassed about your age at all. In my program, which is a "traditional" program, there is a good amount of people in their 30s and 40s. There's even one lady who is in her 60s. You'll do great, just be friendly and you'll make friends no problem! Good luck to you!
I too would like to second the thought about not worrying about your age. I am graduating in May and will be 43 in July. I have made friends across the age spectrum from 20's to 50's. My closest 3 friends are all within 5 years of me +\- . I thought my age was going to be a hindrance when I started but I think my age and maturity was a definite help in helping me stay focused.
Firstly, don't feel embarrassed about your age at all. In my program, which is a "traditional" program, there is a good amount of people in their 30s and 40s. There's even one lady who is in her 60s. You'll do great, just be friendly and you'll make friends no problem! Good luck to you!
I too would like to second the thought about not worrying about your age. I am graduating in May and will be 43 in July. I have made friends across the age spectrum from 20's to 50's. My closest 3 friends are all within 5 years of me +\- . I thought my age was going to be a hindrance when I started but I think my age and maturity was a definite help in helping me stay focused.
Thank you so much. I admit I'm feeling very self conscious about my age. I'm going to try to start looking at it as a positive and hope that my life experience gives me a little boost.
Today is my 56th birthday. I will begin the nursing program this fall. My only deep concern is my ability to physically keep up (strength and stamina and sleep) with the younger pack, but plan to really work hard on improving my health and abilities over the summer. I would just say don't let age hold you back. A LOT of the people in my A&P classes were SO young and had no real life experiences, lacked confidence and really made me feel better about my journeys over the years. I suppose it is different for every person, but I am going for it and plan on integrating the BSN program classes at the same time.
Read about neuroplasticity and how your brain can grow awesome new connections with new experiences. It will boost your confidence.
sokrys
79 Posts
very helpful!!!! thank you!