The first semester of Nursing school is considered the "shocker" courses, because that is exactly what it is, a shocker. However, with adequate rest, creating good study habits at the beginning of the semester, you will be able to succeed. I found that I was struggling for a while, until I finally realized what I was doing wrong. My advice for all first semester Nursing students is to remember that you are not alone in this, and a lot of people are going to be feeling the same way you are. Just relax, and don't worry about hearing about the horrors of Nursing school. Just look at my advice for the first semester, and to "Just Keep it Moving!"
NursesAnnouncementsArchiveArticle
I am going to give a little advice and maybe it will help me, and future nursing students...
First
When they say you don't have to read all the chapters, you should really read the chapters. Just try to put things in your own words so you can understand it better. Buy some little help books such as Nursing fundamentals Demystified ! My teacher always had outlined the power pts with the chapters, so I would write a few more notes than usual.
Second
Do the practice NCLEX style questions at the end of the chapters, so you have somewhat a feel of what the questions are like.
Third
DO not I repeat DO NOT over analyze the questions. They are going to be tough, and a lot of them are not the answers you really think they are. I had a lot of questions on my exams where I also changed my answer, and the first answer I had was right...And you guessed it, my second answer was wrong!
Fourth
Record your lectures if you are able to! There may be an incident where you may accidentally dose of in your class and you may of missed an important part your teacher may of said and you missed it on your exam!
Fifth
Don't miss any EXAMS! Make-up tests are a lot harder than they should be, but if you can, don't miss one. I had to do two make-up exams, and it was 10x harder than the regular one. If a circumstance calls for you to miss one, just be sure that you know you are in for a rough ride, like I am.
Sixth
Ask your teacher any questions you may have problems with, I did, and she did explain it a lot better, but I still struggled. I was doing better in the end.
Seventh
Study hard, outline the chapters as much as you can in your own words to the best of your knowledge. A lot of things that are in the book may not make any sense, and you may be able to learn better if they are in your own words. For example, Right-Sided heart failure--Can cause edema in the lower extremities.
Eighth
Be prepared to read, a lot. Don't try to memorize everything that are in your textbooks, because a lot of it isn't necessary. That's why I said record your teachers lectures and try and note anything she had said that was important.
Ninth
Try and join study groups, some may be helpful, some may be not so much. I found I study better by myself and I get the information better.
Tenth
Don't over analyze your care plans! Get a nursing diagnoses book! Your medical diagnoses has almost nothing to do with your nursing diagnoses. Learn how to do care plans, they get easy towards the end. Trust me, care plan writing can be tough, but I got it almost down to a tee, it only took a few tries.
Eleventh
Get plenty of rest when you can, you may feel like you are not getting a lot of rest, and trust me nursing school IS exhausting. Try and relax, don't stress out, you are not the only one out there that is going through this, Make friends in your classroom and have your own little support group!
Good luck!
I hope to be another first semester nursing student in the fall, and do it right the second time around, I know I am not alone!
