SN inbetween 25 & 35 LOL we need a spot to

Nursing Students General Students

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I see chats for all of you under 25 and those of you over 35. now those stuck in the middle have a room to..:chuckle

:-)

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Med-Surg.

Lisa, it's not just you. I'm taking Chemistry right now and it can suck my big toe! I feel like I have to study twice as hard as everyone else. I'm sure that's not true, but it's very frustrating. Anyone have some good studying tips?

Jill

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Jill,

How is Chem? I am going to take chem, AP 1, psych, & written comm2 in the fall. I found this study sheet. I will try to copy it here, but if you wnt I can attach it to email and send to you.

-Lisa

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I copied this from a web site I found, The site was called Student Nurses R us, but I can't seem to get to the page, says it was moved & new link does not work. I can send a better copy to anyone who wants it in email

Study Skills

It all starts with ATTITUDE.

COMMITMENT. While some students really, really, really want to be

a nurse, they are not prepared to give what it takes to succeed.

Success requires sacrifice--not a "send us your virgins" kind of

sacrifice, but a sacrifice of your time and the ways that you are

accustomed to spending that time. Nursing school requires many many

hours of studying, and a weekend of playing vs. studying will probably

be the difference of passing or failing your next exam. Often, this

means having to tell friends and family "NO" when they want to spend

time with you, which may make some of them feel angry. But don't

worry, your true friends will be patient. Your family doesn't really

matter because 1) they'll get over it, and 2) they are family...you

couldn't get rid of them if you tried.

RESPONSIBILITY. Ok...I am stepping up on my soapbox on this one. I

don't know how many times I have heard students complaining about

the instructors--their tests are too hard, they grade too harshly,

they don't like me, they don't lecture well, etc.--and I've heard them

make several excuses as to why they were late or missed class or

clinicals. STOP WHINING ALREADY!!! The majority of the class is

doing well enough to pass--follow their example. It is your

responsibility to get to class on time, to get help if there is something

you don't understand--and who cares if the instructor likes you or

not--get over yourself. There are times when you may have to miss

class or clinicals, but they are not excuses for you to not do well on

your exams--you should work twice as hard to make up that

time--getting notes from another student (or even a couple of them),

listen to tapes made by another student, get together and discuss

what was lectured about. OK--stepping down off my soapbox now...

DETERMINATION. It's no secret that nursing school is difficult and

stressful, and you have to be determined to get through it all. There

will be bad days, bad exams, embarrassing moments, family stress,

financial stress, you might get chewed out by your clinical instructor

once or twice, etc. But don't give up, and don't sweat the small stuff.

Put everything in perspective and take it day by day--each day brings

you one step closer toward graduating.

2. Getting the most out of lectures...

Show up for class. Believe it or not, actually showing up is conducive to

learning.

Outline the reading. Most instructors expect you to read the assigned

chapters before you go into lectures. While this is a wonderful idea in

theory, most of us never get past the previous chapters we are

studying for the exam given before the new lecture begins. I have a

shortened method that helps me out--I outline the chapters. To do

this, I skim the main sections of the reading and write down the main

points (skip over the details). This usually takes me about 10-20

minutes to do, depending on how many chapters are assigned. It gives

me an idea about what material we will be covering in lecture so that I

don't feel completely lost.

Bring a tape recorder. Most instructors do not mind you taping their

lectures, but you should ask them before you do. You'd be surprised

at some of the material you miss just taking written notes.

Recopy your notes. This may not be helpful to some people, but it

helps me immensely. Rewriting the material not only helps to organize

my notes for more effective studying, it also helps me to retain the

material better when I write it a second time.

Take note of information the instructor emphasizes or repeats. There

is a good chance you'll see this material on the exam. I often put

stars along side my notes that I feel might be good test questions.

This is partly intuition, but mostly it comes from careful listening.

3.Getting the most from your reading...

Use highlighters effectively. I've known several students who like to

highlight with a rainbow of colors, but the colors have no rhyme or

reason. While this makes your pages look pretty, it is not effective

for studying. When you do use different colors, make sure that each

color has a meaning. For example, highlight main concepts in yellow,

definitions in orange, statistics in green, etc. After a while, your eyes

become trained to the colors, and you can pick up information more

quickly.

Take notes as you read. This is probably the most time consuming task

for me, but it is well worth it come exam time. After I have

highlighted the chapter, I take notes (in my own words) on what I

highlighted. For those of you who are visual-tactile learners like me,

this is a wonderful way to get material to stick in your brain.

Compare notes. Compare your reading notes and your lecture notes,

and write down any discrepancies between them or anything you do

not understand, and then ask about it. If a classmate can't help you

clear it up, go to the instructor. Most instructors welcome students to

call or visit their office during assigned hours--take advantage of

this.

4. Start a study group

Limit four per group. More than four in a group is way too busy for

effective studying.

A committed group. All members of the group should be committed to

studying. This should not be a social event. It's really easy to want to

use this time as a stress release and a time just to hang out with your

friends, but this isn't productive.

Be focused. Have a plan for the study group--then split up the

material evenly among the group. You'd be surprised how differently

people see and interpret things and even how one person catches

something that another person totally missed. It is a great

opportunity to discuss and get a better understanding of the material.

5. Don't sweat the small stuff...

Give up an emaculate house. This boils down to priorities. Would you

rather do well on the test, or have clean baseboards. Though, this

shouldn't be an excuse to live like a slob either. My best advice is to

do a ten minute clean up each day... and then DELEGATE, DELEGATE,

DELEGATE. (that is, if there is someone in your house to delegate

to!).

Take a break from the books. You know that saying, "All work and no

play makes Jack a dull boy." This may be true, but more than that, it

can make Jack go crackers...excuse me, I should be more politically

correct: It can make Jack mentally ill, or is it reality challenged?

Anyway, give yourself a break.

Bad day. If you have a bad day, brush yourself off and start anew the

next day. Holding on to anger, frustration or embarrassment is really

counter productive. It really is as easy as making a conscious decision

to start over tomorrow.

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Shanzo89: Wow!! I'm all the way from Canada and I'm glad to know we are using the same manuals, with the exception that mine is the sixth edition.

Lisa1970: I couldn't of said it better myself. Although the only course I seemed to lack in was my Chemistry class.

And I blame his teaching methods....he would write and explain chemistry at his level instead of ours then tell us 15 minutes later that we didn't need to know this because it was too advanced.

Talk about confusing.....so to turn that B into an A I just found some extra excercises and reading materials to supplement my class. It worked.

I'm 28, married with 3 children aged 9,7 & 4.

I already completed my first semester of Pre-Health last year but am seriously thinking of redoing because I missed my finals last year and my GPA took a dive. Good news is I still passed it thanks to all A's that I had before my finals came along!!

Sue

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Someone mentioned that the book Math smart by princeton review would help with my algebra. I just wanted to say thanks. I just started it, but already I have learned something......:-)

Thanks again,

Lisa

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I also wanted to put my two cents in!!! I am 32 and I have been married 13 1/2 years with 5 children. I have 3 boys ages 12, 11 and 5 and two girls ages 8 and 20 months. My husband is a police officer and has totally supported me going back to school. I SUFFERED AND ENDURED for 7 years while he got his degree and now he says it is my turn.

He is just so awesome, sorry to brag but he is. Whenever I need to study, he just takes over. Now granted his cleaning abilities are somewhat lacking but I guess I can deal with that. Well, not really but I am trying to learn.

I just started my first nursing class last week (with two others from this board - but I still didn't get a chance to meet you guys! Send me a note!) and it is so amazing and exciting to finally be getting somewhere. We have 8 chapters plus pharmacology math calculations on an exam this Wed. Can you believe that? Just three classes and already an exam....at least it'll be over soon.

Good luck everyone!:roll

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Med-Surg.

Lisa, Thanks for the refreshing and encouraging post!! I haven't had Chem since junior high. The class I'm taking is an accelerated course and I'm scraping my nails along the rails of a wild ride. I've found a couple of study buddies and my roommate, who is very good at Chem, has offered to host "Chemistry Jeopary" for us before the midterm and final.

Thanks again ~ I'd love to find that site! I coped the test of your post, in the meantime and am going to print it out to put on my wall.

Jill :-)

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Jill,

I will look through my nursing sites & look for the web site for you.

Lisa

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Med-Surg.

Lisa ~ Wonderful guidelines!! Thanks for the encouragement :kiss

I copied the text from your post and am going to print it out and put it on my wall! I'd love to find that site too ~ let me know if you come across it again.

I've found a couple people in my class to study with. The class is accelerated and I'm digging my rails into the rails while riding on the ride.

Thanks!!

Jill

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https://allnurses.com/jump.cgi?ID=1240 This is the student nurses R us website. Some of the links still work, but some don't. I think the guidelines are great. I printed them have them on the wall.

Does anyone else have any good informative nursing sites that they use & would like to share?

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