Did you read all of the assigned readings in nursing school ?

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Did anyone actually read the assigned readings in nursing school to study and how many chapters would you read each week?

The only way for me to study and actually grasp the information is reading from the book and taking notes, but this usually took up way too much of my time when I took A&P. So how did you manage all of the readings and did you find that it actually helped you to read the book?

Specializes in Med/Surg, LTACH, LTC, Home Health.

During my RN pursuit, I read so much literature that I ended up in LensCrafters...no joke, been going to them yearly ever since. For my BSN pursuit, I read some things that were assigned. But for the most part, especially with discussion posts and papers, I relied on my knowledge of nursing to guide the beginning of my discussion or paper, and used that knowledge to find supporting research for citation purposes (gotta maintain that APA format;) ). After all, if I knew it, someone must have already written about it somewhere.

During my LPN program, well, that was so long ago that all I remember from that is that we didn't have to use a slate and chalk to 'jot down' our work.:writing:

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I try to, but it never ends up that way - not before lecture, anyways!

I do learn the best from reading textbooks and taking notes, though - if the textbook explains the content well!

If this is the case, I usually skim, then focus on the nursing considerations - what will the RN need to do given x or y situation/medication/findings? This has worked quite well for most courses thus far. :)

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I read more during the RN program but for the RN-BSN program I only read the things I felt were worth reading. I ended up with 5 A's and 5 B's, not too bad for barely having time to read the material.

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Specializes in CVICU, CCRN.

Honestly no, and this is coming from a student who graduated 3.6 gpa, cum laude. I was like every other student and I listened on and off during class. Certain classes I felt needed to be listened to a bit more carefully than others. I usually read/skimmed by myself at home after lectures - listened moderately during class - then practiced questions over and over again. Those huge readings has so much unnecessarily fluff. Lectures will help focus the information on the important things on test. My opinion!

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I'm still in nursing school and I'm terrible at reading but wish I'd read more. Writing notes is time consuming so I have a recorder and I'll record myself saying the important info and play it throughout the day (at my desk at work or in the car) to help me remember. You can also go online to quizlet and search if anyone's made flashcards for the chapters you're reading. I also like watching videos on YouTube from RegisteredNurseRN and Osmosis to help me understand and absorb more material.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Dear God no. If you need to read to learn, try printing out your professor's power points in advance (if they offer that), and use those to guide your reading.

Otherwise, I highly recommend the ATI review books. They're all I read, they condensed 50 page chapters from my med-surg book into three pages of easy-to-understand outlines. They are the notes you wish you could take on your readings.

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Dear God no. If you need to read to learn, try printing out your professor's power points in advance (if they offer that), and use those to guide your reading.

Otherwise, I highly recommend the ATI review books. They're all I read, they condensed 50 page chapters from my med-surg book into three pages of easy-to-understand outlines. They are the notes you wish you could take on your readings.

Which review book do you recommend?

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Specializes in Cardiology and ER Nursing.

I read nothing. I showed up, turned in what assignments were required and that's about it.

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I LOVE using the ATI books! Its in clear English and you can understand it better than whats it the text books. I'm not sure if you have to be signed up to ATI online with your school but the practice tests help a lot also.

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Nope.... never even opened a textbook unless I was looking for sources or specific information. Last semester I didn't even buy any books on our list and got all A's :)

What worked for me was paying attention in class and making sure I understood the concept before the end of the class. I also payed attention to the powerpoints and read through them. Also, if your professor tends to speak with emphasis and spends a longer time on a certain concept, you can be pretty darn sure that it will be covered on your next exam. Also any hand-out or sheet work will most likely be covered on next exam. .... honestly, its all about systematic studying. I would never have learned nearly as much had read every chapter. It doesn't work for me that way.

I graduated Cum Laude and with small children at home.

A question. What was your schools grading scale? Example, 90-100% A, 80-90% B etc. Also what was considered failure, most schools it is at 75%, some are 80%. Just curious.

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In my program, an A is a 94-100, A- is 91-93. A 78 is failing.

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Im not exactly sure the range but 80 is passing at my school

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