Did you learn how to study during prerequisites?

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Apr 13, 2017

There are a number of study skills, note taking, and content videos on Youtube.

blackribbon · Apr 13, 2017

Studying for nursing class is completely different than studying for the prerequisites. Studying for the actual nursing class is really preparing for the NCLEX, at least at our school. Most schools do offer study habit classes through the library or student center.

jen.lu · Apr 13, 2017

Studying for nursing class is completely different than studying for the prerequisites. Studying for the actual nursing class is really preparing for the NCLEX, at least at our school. Most schools do offer study habit classes through the library or student center.

I agree! Studying for nursing school was different than any other studying I've ever done. You'll find your technique that works the best for you even if it takes a few trial of techniques to get there ! Good luck!

Skippy97 · Apr 13, 2017

Thank you everyone. I will check out my school once I start. I know I need to establish some new and lasting study skills for I will be in school for a while and it is necessary that I do well!

Armygirl7 · Apr 13, 2017

I am an ants in my pants kind of student, a leg-shaker...it is very hard for me to keep still in class. I did a lot of drawing during lectures, I had a fun set of colorful ink pens, and I would change the color every 15 minutes or so...my notes were therefore broken up so when I reviewed them it was not monotonous - I can remember many times when I was stuck during exams just stopping and closing my eyes and picturing my doodles and the colors and it would help me remember where on the page I had written that information down and it would trigger my memory of the correct information.

Drawing helped me a lot, naturally, in A&P. I drew everything I could. It really helped lock things into my mind. My drawings are not beautiful or anything, they are basic and clear and colorful...that helped me with all the memorization. Drawing a lot and using colorful pens kept me alert and engaged.

Also I pretty much took over the couch for all of nursing school - so I had my stack of books and reference material, my pens and notebooks all on the table next to the couch for 3 years. I was on that couch every night and every weekend! Those long study sessions of reading and taking notes and memorizing were hard on my get-up-and-go self so I would literally set a timer for 50 minutes. I would study for 50 then go down and out of my apartment and jog/walk around the block 1 time. Then back on the couch set the timer, study for 50, and then run around the block. So a quick 4 minute run and then more time on the couch, otherwise I would have lost my mind. I think it helped because naturally while I ran/walked for a few minutes I would be thinking about what I had just read or studied... I think this also allowed me to consume the large amount of chocolate and tea with milk that I needed as fuel/comfort to survive without gaining a million pounds!

You'll find your style. Some subjects I liked studying for hours on my couch. Others I liked to be in the study center at school. Like for the human skeleton it was useful to go to the study center and get the suitcase of bones with 1 or 2 other students and spend time putting the skeleton together.

I also went to every tutorial or supplemental lecture that was offered on a subject. I hadn't been in school in over a decade and anyway I had bad study habits in high school so I was very nervous and diligent. That fear I think gave me energy to just dive right in and stay with it.

Good luck - you'l be amazed how much you learn!

pro-student · Apr 13, 2017

Nursing classes are very different from prerequisites. There is a volume of information to not only understand but be able to apply and critically evaluate. The only way it is possible to make sense of all this knowledge is to have a scaffolding to hang it on. By that I mean you need to be able to relate nursing care, assessments, medical interventions, ect... to the underlying physiology and pathophysiology going on. There is just simply too much to memorize and keep straight. The best study skill you can start to foster in your prerequisite classes is trying to develop this skill. This works well in the science classes especially. Spending a little extra study time piecing the information together and making sense of it in the big picture will pay off exponentially later on.

As someone who has been out of school from some time, prepare by finding a note-taking system that works for you (you will spend all of nursing school taking voluminous notes), there are plenty of YouTube vids and websites that will give you different options. Check out Khan Academy for free videos of a class you will be taking your first semester like A&P. Practice your note-taking skills and hone them before day 1. Most of all, use the resources you have available to you. Best of luck!