if you could give 5 tips on how to ace nursing school what would they be?

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hi everyone its Firefly, I am recently enrolled in nursing school and need some tips on how to ace assignments and when the time comes clinicals!!!! Should I always ask questions in class, be a complete suckup (ha ha) or just keep to myself . What about when working among classmates? What about what not to do in nursing school. Some profs are very particular about certain things and I need to make sure I impress.

Specializes in Geri-psych Nursing.

The most helpful thing I heard was from a 4th semester nursing student who said: "C means continue".

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Specializes in Home Health, Psyc, OR.

Do not skip class unless there is an emergency, these are not going to be classes that you can show up just for the tests and still pass. You are going to learn more by reading and going to class than you will from just reading. Like someone else stated, get a day planner, it will be your best friend.

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I'm too tired to come up with five, so here's one that can make a big difference for you all the way through school. If your writing ability is anything less than proficient--spelling, grammar, usage, etc.--get help. Most campuses have some way to help students beef up their skills. Take advantage of that kind of assistance.

The same goes for math skills (hey, that makes two tips :D).

For too many students, it isn't the nursing aspects of the first year that gets them booted. It's a lack of writing and math skills that have them biffing written assignments or flunking drug calc quizzes.

It's far better to get remedial help before wasting time and money on that first semester than to have to drop out and start over after finding out that your high school education may not have prepared you for college level courses.

Not saying that is true of you, but going in for an evaluation can't hurt.

I wish you well.

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Specializes in Operating Room.

If you live a busy lifestyle try and cut the things out that dont matter. example: seeing your significant other EVERYDAY. going out with freinds. going to partys. just stop doing things that dont matter, this is going to be your career afterall. school is hard just like any other class but if you want to be a nurse it will be cake.

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Study is more effective than worry....

Get in a good study group....

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Specializes in M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.
Work at a hospital if you can - not full time unless you have to, but that helped me actually UNDERSTAND the material rather than memorize.

DO NOT stand around at clinical! We had a whole group of students one morning waiting around for the techs to finish with a dynamap so that they could do their vitals. Uh, hello?? There's a sphygomanometer in every room, grab a thermometer and get on with it! I also had a couple of them that I caught in our break room watching TV. How they expected to learn anything I will never know.

Don't tell a bunch of personal stories during lecture - every class has the person who says, "we had this pt at work who..." at least 3 times per class, and everyone hates that person!

Eat. Make sure you eat before clinical to avoid the whole "low blood sugar while watching a gross procedure" effect. Nobody likes to revive students who have passed out.

Get help if you don't understand something. It's not a bad thing if your instructors know you for working hard and being truly dedicated to learning.

We had a couple, maybe 3 girls, always the same ones, who had some relative who "went through just that" with every topic we went over in class.

They annoyed me to no end. My friends had to talk me out of saying things to make fun of them in class. One day I couldnt hold back anymore. We were on something about diabetics and here she goes raising her hand. She started talking about some uncle and his problems and I interupted "I cant wait to get to STDs or whatever subject it is going to take to not have to hear about your family. I hope we dont have psych. rotation together either, I already know your family way better than I want". Class laughed. Of course she was sooooo offended. The instructor was a supervisor at the hospital I worked as a CNA at though so she let it slide, told the girl she "had scolded me good". Truth was, she bought me lunch at the hospital and told me do it again if that girl raises her hand.

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No kidding about avoiding the drama!!!! If you read any of my previos posts...oh my.!!! I have been on the dean's list the whole time I have been in school. My school for some reason enforces that GPA is not evertyhing, etc. So a bunch of people who are barely making it, and when I say barely, are REALLY not making it. Know nothing about labs etc. I am trying my hardest to pull through in this last quarter and I have finally realized that this is for me. It seems that no one else cares and it SHOULDN'T matter!!! I am doing this for me...Just remember that, what you do is for you, if you are not doing it for yourself, it's not worth it.

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We had a couple, maybe 3 girls, always the same ones, who had some relative who "went through just that" with every topic we went over in class.

They annoyed me to no end. My friends had to talk me out of saying things to make fun of them in class. One day I couldnt hold back anymore. We were on something about diabetics and here she goes raising her hand. She started talking about some uncle and his problems and I interupted "I cant wait to get to STDs or whatever subject it is going to take to not have to hear about your family. I hope we dont have psych. rotation together either, I already know your family way better than I want". Class laughed. Of course she was sooooo offended. The instructor was a supervisor at the hospital I worked as a CNA at though so she let it slide, told the girl she "had scolded me good". Truth was, she bought me lunch at the hospital and told me do it again if that girl raises her hand.

HA! That's awesome.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.
hi everyone its Firefly, I am recently enrolled in nursing school and need some tips on how to ace assignments and when the time comes clinicals!!!! Should I always ask questions in class, be a complete suckup (ha ha) or just keep to myself . What about when working among classmates? What about what not to do in nursing school. Some profs are very particular about certain things and I need to make sure I impress.

1. Instructors will go out of thier way to weed out know-it-alls, wise-acers, lazy people, or kiss-ups. Keep your mouth shut and your ears and eyes open (this will help you get the GOOD attention you want).

2. Learn time management

3. Learn to say no to unnecessary time wasters, or especially NEGATIVE PEOPLE

4. Make time to rest; this is extremely important

5. study effectively, know what learning style helps you retain the best and use it. it's useless to study for hours and retain nothing.

6. build yourself a support system of family and friends. You'll need them now more than ever.

7. while you are in school, make friends. join study groups. these friends could very well be very important in your future as a nurse.

8. cheating is never a good thing. in this profession cheating costs lives. would you want someone's life on your conscious?

9. should you have trouble with academics, always find a tutor.

10 and last but not least, make sure you have fun! put the books away every once in awhile and just go out for a walk, to a movie, spend some quality time with your significant other.

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Specializes in Critical Care,Recovery, ED.

Don't be afraid to ask questions, no matter how dumb they seem. You are a student remember.

Don't be afraid to say you don't know or have never done this before.

Preparation, preparation and finally more preparation for class, clinicals and after graduation work.

Be honest in admitting mistakes, never try to cover them up or deny they happened.

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1. be prepared to work hard. Life seems like work, school, sleep, for a while but it WILL pay off.

2. Aim for A's but except C's. Don't let lower than desired grade get you down.

3. Learn the material.

4. Get an NCLEX book and do the questions in it from the chapter you are doing in school. (helps a lot on the tests and gets you nclex ready)

5. build good relationships with your classmates, you'll need them for help and support through all of school.

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Specializes in Making the Pt laugh..
oh and don't try to get A's in your classes.. C's pass and become nurses. (this i learned the hard way and tried to get A's .. it adds to the unnecessary stress)

As we said at my Uni, "P's (Pass) get Degrees" or in the case for you guys, "C's get Degrees"

Our highest ranking students were great at the academic stuff but often faltered when they started doing it for real. One of the best clinical nurses from my cohort scraped through on the skin of her butt, vomited before exams from fear and sweated bullets while waiting for results. At Uni she was a "C" student in the real world she is the jet!

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