Advice for Studying

[babudust]

No matter how much I study and put my all into school my grades don't seem to reflect it. Right now I seem to be failing and it hurts because I know I haven't slacked off the least bit. I have 5 weeks of school left and I have 2 quizzes, 2 unit exams, and 1 final to take. I listen to my lectures over and over again along side my powerpoints, I refer back to my texbooks for additional information, I've bought additional books to help me understand med-surg topics, I've bought a NCLEX book to help me out with text questions, and I've joined a study group and nothing seems to help. What am I doing wrong??? Any advice on what I can improve?

[redalert7777]

I can't offer any more helpful advice than what's already been given, but just to say that I totally agree with everyone's comments. I was in the same boat as you, studied like crazy but my grades didn't always reflect that. It is completely frustrating, to say the least. After hearing many people mention the NCLEX books, I finally decided to give them a try. That was the key for me, was learning HOW to test. It helped me that they would give the rationale behind WHY the answer was the answer more than another one. I would always be between the 2 "right" answers, and always seemed to pick the wrong one. Of course, I still do that, but not as much since these books teach you how to think through problems. Don't give up, once you figure out how to test, you will do better!

[cursedandblessed]

i did this in another thread, but i'll do it again.

for patho of diseases break the your notecards down into:

s/s

what went wrong

what makes it better-meds/surgery/treatments

common tests for dx

common nursing dx

common nursing interventions

when approaching the question what is it asking? what part of the nursing process is it asking about? assessment? look for an assessment answer, etc. (i still get wound up before the test and forget this part sometimes)

always, always remember the abc's: airway, breathing, circulation- come before anything else. difficulty breathing? raise the hob!!

**this ones from someone else, but true, always assess before you call the doc.