how do you get As in RN school?

RedCell · Mar 2, 2009

Ask the students who are making A's what they do, it sounds like you are trying to do too much..

**LaurelRN, MSN · Mar 2, 2009

you don't....nursing school is not about making a's...and even if you used to be an a student, unless you have absolutely nothing else to do (and even then you still might not make them) you just have to strive to do the best you can. the biggest thing is to understand what you're learning. why you are doing what you are, be able to apply it in clinical practice.

to be honest with you...i was not an a student in nursing school. but i have to say i am a good nurse and it is because i made it a point to understand what i was learning, why, and how to apply it.

but here's a hint to help improve grades....study groups are a god send!!

.........just my :twocents:

p.s. there is a study that was done....if you study before you go to sleep...it was found that you retain more..

Multicollinearity, BSN, RN · Mar 2, 2009

Ask yourself "Why?" for everything you learn. When you constantly ask why you begin to understand large themes and trends, similarities and differences.

SweetLemon · Mar 2, 2009

This is going to sound like completely crazy advice but it truly did work for me.....

While you are going through the piles and piles of reading you have to do for each rotation try focusing on the things that interest you most, ask yourself questions, and find the answers (even if they are not in your book). If you have a little background information and find the topic you are studying to be interesting and worth while you are much more likely to retain it (and retain some of your sanity while you are wading through piles of books and papers). Some of the best nursing exams I took where the ones where I just sat back with my book, complied a list of things I wanted to know *that I also needed to know for my exam* and figured them out. Remember the end is in sight and you are not doing any of this for a grade... its for the patients you will someday encounter that depend on you to know this information. Have fun and never forget the day you got your acceptance letter into nursing school and the ecstatic high that probably gave you.

*** Note to anyone who uses this advice... while getting a little off topic to make your studies richer and more indepth may help keep your interest and all you to retain information don't let yourself wander too far... in the end you are still reponsible for what's in your syllabus. I had trouble with this at times :imbar

Good Luck!

Manda

VIXEN007 · Mar 2, 2009

Ditto on the above post. I usually make A's. Not because I try to. I ask lots of questions when I am reading. I try to relate it to something that I know about. It is really important to understand the concepts. Are you able to explain it to someone? When you can teach it, you really know it. Are you having fun? Learning should be fun not drudgery.

Do you draw little pictures and diagrams to help you understand how things work? Are you finding 30 minutes a day for yourself? Sometimes just going for a walk will allow you to clear your head. Suddenly a difficult concept makes sense.

iluvivt, BSN, RN · Mar 2, 2009

Somewhere in my first year of nursing school (and I was just 18 yrs old at the time) I realized that I really needed to learn and retain the material as it was not learning just for a grades sake but for a real life career that would impact someones life. I was always in the top of my classes and expected no less of myself and I delivered and graduated first in my class. Do not get me wrong....I studied hard b/c I realized that I needed to know and apply what I was learning and this was in a time when we did not have all the cool technology we have now. I had to comb through text books.nursing journals and lectures. I spent a lot of time in the library and even worked in the medical library b/c I got so good at locating information for students RNs and MDs. I spent hours photocopying every article listed in our syllabus. I was an independent studier and only worked in a group if it was mandatory as i found groups held me back,but i am all for it if that is what works for you....you need to find out what kind of learning works best for you and that might take some trial and error. i used a lot of visualization techniques and for list of s/sx used a lot of mnemonics. I can give you a big tip with regards to studying pathopysiology....you can not understand abnormal unless you know what normal is. I used to carry around Guytons Human physiology book around with me and refer to it often....if you know normal.you usually can figure out the answer on things even if you did not study them well. Plan to put a lot of hard work in....do not give up and do some research on how you specifically learn and apply that knowledge. Always have a study plan and stick with it...try not to cram...read and study an X amount of time every day and start the next study session with a review of the last days material....do not proceed if you are stuck on a concept.....do not proceed if you do not know the definition of a word...stop and look it up.....make friends with good students and pick their brains for study ideas....give yourself little rewards for a job well done...this is hard work...do not give up...tell yourself others have done this and so can I....take one step at a time and one day at a time......DO NOT let yourself feel overwhelmed when you see all the work you have to do...this includes avoiding those students that get all worked up and stressed out (that was my secret weapon. I especailly stayed away from those types just before a test. hang in there it does get easier as you add more and more knowledge.

CdaleJekyll · Mar 2, 2009

Get your books for the next quarter now. Don't bother trying to memorize things now, just read them and do questions at the end of chapters. Make notes of important terms and topics. If something doesn't make sense don't dwell on it. Make note of it and Google it later, Wikipedia's explanation might be clearer. Next quarter you won't just be cramming your short term memory from test to test. Much of the the the lesson will be well organized in your long term memory by test day. I've also found several mistakes in the books while casually reading ahead. Teacher's love it if I point out mistakes before we do those chapters in class. It saves the teacher the embarrassment of teaching the book's mistake to the class, or worse yet, using it as a test question.

You have the right attitude, good luck

nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN · Mar 2, 2009

Rather than making yourself crazy, whether you are reading about COPD or CHF or signs and symptoms of imminent childbirth, focus on the "why." For example, a person with COPD often has elevted hemoglobin. Rather than just put this random fact into your brain, ask "why?" Stop, think. Okay, COPD means they have chronic (greater than 6 month) obstruction of the pulmonary system. What happens when you obstruct breathing? Hypoxia. Since this is chronic, not acute, the body's going to adjust to low oxygen as a norm. So what does it do? It makes extra red blood cells to carry around the oxygen that CAN get into the bloodstream.

Take it to the next step. You have a person who has COPD, and they're going to have elevated hemoglobin as a baseline. So, what's the difference between two GI bleed patients, both with a hgb of 9.0, but one's a COPDer and one's not? The COPDer is sicker! They've actually had to loose MORE blood to reach the same low hgb. They have a higher risk of going into respiratory failure, even though their hgb is the same as the other patient. BTW, I had a patient with a Hgb of 5.4!!! -- they had cancer. Now, why was their hgb so low? What does chemotherapy/radiation do, and why would that give a person with breast cancer a GI bleed? Don't concentrate on the "what" so much as the "why."

Think of knowledge as "tools" -- your tools are knowing your core lab values, your pathology, your A&P. Know the baseline inside and out, and try to figure out why an alteration in TSH would make someone's eyes "bug out" -- don't just learn that it does, figure out WHY.

It's serving me well. My grades this quarter have been a 98, a 96, a 100, and two 94s. It's not because of the crappy textbook. It's because I never stop asking WHY.

HeartsOpenWide, RN · Mar 2, 2009

This is something my friend suggested and it sounds like a good idea. Read about a disease or condition the night before clinicals and then try and find a patient with the condition you read about the night before.

mashamontago · Mar 2, 2009

Rather than making yourself crazy, whether you are reading about COPD or CHF or signs and symptoms of imminent childbirth, focus on the "why." For example, a person with COPD often has elevted hemoglobin. Rather than just put this random fact into your brain, ask "why?" Stop, think. Okay, COPD means they have chronic (greater than 6 month) obstruction of the pulmonary system. What happens when you obstruct breathing? Hypoxia. Since this is chronic, not acute, the body's going to adjust to low oxygen as a norm. So what does it do? It makes extra red blood cells to carry around the oxygen that CAN get into the bloodstream.
Take it to the next step. You have a person who has COPD, and they're going to have elevated hemoglobin as a baseline. So, what's the difference between two GI bleed patients, both with a hgb of 9.0, but one's a COPDer and one's not? The COPDer is sicker! They've actually had to loose MORE blood to reach the same low hgb. They have a higher risk of going into respiratory failure, even though their hgb is the same as the other patient. BTW, I had a patient with a Hgb of 5.4!!! -- they had cancer. Now, why was their hgb so low? What does chemotherapy/radiation do, and why would that give a person with breast cancer a GI bleed? Don't concentrate on the "what" so much as the "why."
Think of knowledge as "tools" -- your tools are knowing your core lab values, your pathology, your A&P. Know the baseline inside and out, and try to figure out why an alteration in TSH would make someone's eyes "bug out" -- don't just learn that it does, figure out WHY.
It's serving me well. My grades this quarter have been a 98, a 96, a 100, and two 94s. It's not because of the crappy textbook. It's because I never stop asking WHY.

WOW how do you study? do you take notes? outlines? cornell notes? draw pictures? record lectures? there has to be something else you're doing.. it can't just be asking why to get such high grades!! what semester are you in nursing school?

Babs0512 · Mar 2, 2009

I got A's, and I had to work for every A I got. These grades did not come naturally to me - I studied, double check my work, etc... I also joined a work study group, which afforded me the opportunity to "teach" in our discussions, this worked for me. I learn best when I am "teaching" the subject matter to someone else. Best of luck to you.

Blessings