Give me all you got!

[BH1126]

Hello all! I'm a pre-nursing student in Texas. I intend to apply to the 2 year program at my school in Spring 2018 and hopefully start that Fall. So, my questions to you all are: what are some supplies you found most helpful while in nursing school? Text books vs ebook, which worked best for you? My school currently offers both. I'm more of a hard copy person however the ebook only option is nearly half the price and I wouldn't have to roll around loads of heavy books. I'm not interested in nursing solely for the pay however if you don't mind sharing your starting pay at your first job I'd appreciate the intel. ANY and all advice/information is grately appreciated, thank you!

[NICUismylife, ADN, BSN, RN]

Hard copy book all the way, although I do tend to be old school. But reading from a screen for too long hurts my eyes. And starting out in first semester, our reading lists were insane. Read 20 chapters one week, 19 the next, then 17, 22, etc. There is a LOT of reading. My eyes probably would've burned out of my head, lol. With a hard copy you also don't have to worry about keeping electronics charged. I will say most of the time, I haven't needed to take my books to class. They were more of an at-home reference. Or I'd take them with me if I was going somewhere where there would be down time to study and then I'd just take 1.

[BH1126]

Thank you! I'm a little old school too... not your typical 18-22 year old student. I didn't even stop to think how looking at my tablet for that long would feel. I already intend to type the notes on my laptop and I know my eyes will need a break. I only thought about the cost and how I could save but I know spending the extra will help the more I think about it. I am saving so by that time I'll have the funds for the books. :)

[BrendanO, MSN, RN]

Look and see if you can get an unbound (3-hole punch) edition of your texts. I did that for A&P and Microbio. It's typically cheaper and you can just carry around the chapters that you need at the time. If you are required to buy online access codes for homework and such, many also come with an electronic version of the text, too.

For physical textbooks, I like getting the multi-colored post-it flags, to mark the pages that have critically important content, good graphics/tables/charts, or things that I think I need to review after my first read-through of the material.