Not sure what to do at this point, but I really dislike people in my cohort. We've all been told time and time again that a solid study group is what you need to succeed and I just haven't been able to find a group that I click with. Either nobody does any substantial amount of work/ can't keep track of what assignments are due and wants everything explained to them- contributing absolutely nothing. Or just want to sit around and talk about non class-related topics in the precious little time we have. Or we will all agree to have a certain amount of reading done before a meeting and then no one will have done the assignment other than me.
Fortunately, I've received 100% on every test/assignment in my classes so far so am doing OK without study buddies. But I'm worried about what's to come after first quarter. Anyone run into a similar problem?! Advice?!
Specializes in Former NP now Internal medicine PGY-3.
On 1/20/2022 at 12:05 AM, sadsacrum said:
Not sure what to do at this point, but I really dislike people in my cohort. We've all been told time and time again that a solid study group is what you need to succeed and I just haven't been able to find a group that I click with. Either nobody does any substantial amount of work/ can't keep track of what assignments are due and wants everything explained to them- contributing absolutely nothing. Or just want to sit around and talk about non class-related topics in the precious little time we have. Or we will all agree to have a certain amount of reading done before a meeting and then no one will have done the assignment other than me.
Fortunately, I've received 100% on every test/assignment in my classes so far so am doing OK without study buddies. But I'm worried about what's to come after first quarter. Anyone run into a similar problem?! Advice?!
don't study in groups? Id take what nursing instructors say as a grain of salt
Specializes in Trauma, ICU, Critical Care, Recovery.
See what you can get out of knowing at least one of the study group people one-on-one. They literally can't all be unlikable. If that is TRUE, you may have a hard time fitting in with different people in a work environment. There will be lazy, miserable, rude, quiet, chatty, immature, inappropriate, hard-working, friendly, weird, nurses in your work environment that you will have to count on and get along with for 12hours.
Those different personalities also applies to patients and visitors. How will you treat your unlikable patients and visitors?
Challenge yourself to be more introspective and less judgemental.
Specializes in Former NP now Internal medicine PGY-3.
3 hours ago, agencynurse_rn said:
See what you can get out of knowing at least one of the study group people one-on-one. They literally can't all be unlikable. If that is TRUE, you may have a hard time fitting in with different people in a work environment. There will be lazy, miserable, rude, quiet, chatty, immature, inappropriate, hard-working, friendly, weird, nurses in your work environment that you will have to count on and get along with for 12hours.
Those different personalities also applies to patients and visitors. How will you treat your unlikable patients and visitors?
Challenge yourself to be more introspective and less judgemental.
I think they were talking just about didactics in nursing school which isn't a team sport but unfortunately everything else is after that point... but yeah they may be part of the issue if they dislike everyone.
Those different personalities also applies to patients and visitors. How will you treat your unlikable patients and visitors?
I don't know why people love to make this leap. It isn't logical.
Surely you can see there is a difference between using a professional skill to accomplish work and be paid for it even when it involves difficult people, and being required to academically hang out with people who don't want to actually participate in/do the work of an academic group, essentially wasting what would otherwise be free time in which one could do the academic work on their own?
It isn't being judgmental to not enjoy people/a situation where there is a stated rationale for the required time together, but the people participating have various ways of not accomplishing it. Many times not even trying to accomplish it.
Was in a group once where, after hours of work on slides, someone in the group who fancied him/herself a real pro at slide presentations took everyone's slides, put them into a format with absolutely ginormous bold-faced font, and when all the words didn't fit because of that, just....erased words til everything fit on the slides. I assume this bright idea came about because his/her own slides were ridiculously devoid of even basic info and had only a few words. Hence, "make them bigger and bolder and it will look like more!" >> everyone else's slides were jacked. The person went right down to the wire getting done with this special slide magic, also.
Have participated in many other groups where reports, slides, sections of papers were directly copied and pasted from resources.
And I'm guessing these examples pale in comparison to some of the experiences people have had in groups like these.
Major fundamental difference between being paid to work, and paying for educational instruction that is (or isn't) meaningful.
Specializes in Former NP now Internal medicine PGY-3.
2 hours ago, JKL33 said:
I don't know why people love to make this leap. It isn't logical.
Surely you can see there is a difference between using a professional skill to accomplish work and be paid for it even when it involves difficult people, and being required to academically hang out with people who don't want to actually participate in/do the work of an academic group, essentially wasting what would otherwise be free time in which one could do the academic work on their own?
It isn't being judgmental to not enjoy people/a situation where there is a stated rationale for the required time together, but the people participating have various ways of not accomplishing it. Many times not even trying to accomplish it.
Was in a group once where, after hours of work on slides, someone in the group who fancied him/herself a real pro at slide presentations took everyone's slides, put them into a format with absolutely ginormous bold-faced font, and when all the words didn't fit because of that, just....erased words til everything fit on the slides. I assume this bright idea came about because his/her own slides were ridiculously devoid of even basic info and had only a few words. Hence, "make them bigger and bolder and it will look like more!" >> everyone else's slides were jacked. The person went right down to the wire getting done with this special slide magic, also.
Have participated in many other groups where reports, slides, sections of papers were directly copied and pasted from resources.
And I'm guessing these examples pale in comparison to some of the experiences people have had in groups like these.
Major fundamental difference between being paid to work, and paying for educational instruction that is (or isn't) meaningful.
Fortunately taking exams usually isn’t a team effort. They just gotta study pass and move on.
I attended zero study groups in nursing school. (For one thing, the students who wanted study groups tended to be the least bright.) I also made zero real friends, although I was friendly and got along well with almost everyone. Just do your work. Don’t talk bad about people or gossip to other students. Smile, help people who need it when you can, and be pleasant. Then you’ll graduate and move on.
The truth in this!
We are about halfway through the quarter now and I have more or less distanced myself from my group. But I still have a couple people who regularly text me asking me to walk them through old concepts when we are already onto a new chapter (I’m sure I won’t need to tell any of you how fast-paced these classes are. 1 week ago= old material). It’s not that I mind helping other kids once in awhile, but when it’s consistent and I have new material to plow through every week- I really don’t have the time to be making sure you understand what’s going on. That and I’m not getting anything out of the interaction. Last week, a girl in my group called me crying bc she couldn’t figure out a concept. I helped her out bc I felt bad that she was so upset but also had my eye on the clock bc it was eating away at my study time. Normally, I would’ve just said no but didn’t want to piss anyone off so early into the program. Plus one particular prof absolutely makes a HUGE deal about how important these groups are/to help your group members and I don’t want to piss her off either and not be seen as a team player. Wish we could all just be responsible for ourselves. I mean- I get that they want to prepare us for a team building workplace but this is school- not a real job
We are about halfway through the quarter now and I have more or less distanced myself from my group. But I still have a couple people who regularly text me asking me to walk them through old concepts when we are already onto a new chapter (I’m sure I won’t need to tell any of you how fast-paced these classes are. 1 week ago= old material). It’s not that I mind helping other kids once in awhile, but when it’s consistent and I have new material to plow through every week- I really don’t have the time to be making sure you understand what’s going on. That and I’m not getting anything out of the interaction. Last week, a girl in my group called me crying bc she couldn’t figure out a concept. I helped her out bc I felt bad that she was so upset but also had my eye on the clock bc it was eating away at my study time. Normally, I would’ve just said no but didn’t want to piss anyone off so early into the program. Plus one particular prof absolutely makes a HUGE deal about how important these groups are/to help your group members and I don’t want to piss her off either and not be seen as a team player. Wish we could all just be responsible for ourselves. I mean- I get that they want to prepare us for a team building workplace but this is school- not a real job
That is really amazing that the professor is hitting so hard on that! I feel like she needs to stay in her lane. My instructors didn’t care how we chose to study, and I can’t imagine why she thinks that’s critical to your success.
Sounds like you’re finding a good balance of helping people out occasionally but trying to draw boundaries. When somebody texts you (or calls crying) you can also say “Hey I’m [at work or other excuse] right now. I’ll have some time tomorrow afternoon, can I call you then?” They’re likely to solve their own problem in that amount of time, and it will send a message that you’re not their private tutor.
Specializes in LPN 10 years LTC experience, Current ADN student.
I was able to get through LPN school without a study group but this time around going through the LPN to ADN bridge program I thought maybe it would be a good idea and the instructors stressed how much it's recommended. So, I did join a small study, I figured that shouldn't be bad, not too many different opinions, I tried it for the first semester and it was absolutely no help to me. I felt as though one wanted to be fed info that we spent time looking up, another wanted to teach everyone. I slowly backed out of this group and concentrated on studying on my own and my grades the second semester were so much better, just barely missed having an A for the semester. I think groups may be good for some but it is clearly not helpful to many of us, so do what you think is best for you as you are the one that will be responsible for your grades.
As other posters pointed out, this is not a type of work(learning/studying) that needs teamwork. I don't mind helping if I can do it or am able to do so. Some of them were older than me, so it was difficult to call them out of their bluff. I thought people mature as they age. I also felt uncomfortable when some students gossip about our instructors and classmates during our session. It was nice to know how some people study. I couldn't function in their world. I have my theory or textbooks. In general, I can find answers to my questions.
I'm not suggesting kissing our instructors' rear. I'll give you examples how some students turned me off. How about having some respect for our instructors who try to build us up by passing their knowledge? Some students, who happened to be clueless, said, "She needs a psych evaluation. She is losing it!" They weren't close to their diagnosis. They needed to learn how to read and recheck. Their inspiration, they want to be ER, NICU, or ICU nurses. I'm not judgmental, but I had enough time to observe them. They need to focus and serious. Some of our instructors said that they didn't feel comfortable with these crops to do some real work. They shouldn't gossip about students who can demonstrate. The instructions were basic.
You are in your first semester/ term. You do not like one person in your entire cohort. You are getting 100% on your nursing exams? Also, all of the others are disorganized and wasting time.
It sounds like you may think that you are smarter than everyone else and everyone else is beneath you. I used to think this way. It’s great to be smart but other people can be smart too, even if they don’t behave exactly like we do.
If you are getting good grades and don’t like your peers, it’s perfectly alright to study alone. However I can’t say that I’ve met even one nursing school graduate, that I know of, that successfully finished a program the first time around without peer support.
Perhaps try meeting people where they are and accepting them for who they are and understand that we aren’t inherently “better” than other people just because they don’t do things the way we would. This is an important attribute to develop as a clinician. Best wishes on your nursing journey?.
I literally don't like being around people much, so I legit did not do study groups. I also hate studying with people. I like to do things on my own time and how I like to do it. Anytime I did partake in a study group I felt like I didn't really get to concentrate and go over what I needed to. (I am also a person that just needs to read the chapter and understand whats being said) I do think its great to have a few classmates who you can run to if you have a quick question or want to get someone else's viewpoint/understanding of an assignment but I don't think it's necessary to have a study group. It's nice to have people you can split the work up with and discuss with but honestly you'll be fine. Just do your reading and your studying. I think you should rely most on yourself anyway. It's better to trust in yourself and your own judgment. When you're on the floor you'll need to do that a lot anyways. Good luck & keep pushing!
Tegridy
583 Posts
don't study in groups? Id take what nursing instructors say as a grain of salt