First semester test next week

Shorty11, BSN, RN · Jan 25, 2013

I know you said you are in first semester, but what class in particular?

First, make sure you read all the chapters/assigned reading that the exam covers. Then, read your lecture notes. Once you have read everything and identified trouble areas, re-read those sections or things you find more difficult. I am a big fan of giving "fake lectures". I have a dry erase board and I use it to teach the material to an imaginary audience. I pick a topic, write down a couple of main points on my dry erase board. I use the main points as a guide as I talk out loud about each topic. Drawing the information from memory and speaking out loud help me remember it better. If I come to a topic that I'm having a hard time "teaching", thats my cue that I need to go back and go over that section again. I also walk around my house repeating over and over those things that I must absolutely know for the test, like lab values. I use a lot of pneumonic devices and little sketches. It helps if you know what kind of learning style you prefer also. (there are many websites that have quizzes that you can take to figure out what learning style you prefer with suggestions of ways to study for each type.) I am more of a visual learner so I make sure I pay particular attention to any diagrams, etc. Making little cartoon type pictures or picturing steps, actions, diagrams, etc in my head help me a lot when it comes to test time.

mightymouse7 · Jan 25, 2013

They told us the test included lecture, lab, and communications. Thanks for the "fake lecture" idea! I will def try out that.