Good Study Tips

brittney140 · Jul 25, 2008

There have been a couple threads with people wondering how to study so, I thought it would be good to make one thread where people can give their best tips.

The best piece of advice I can give to an incoming student is to NOT study over the summer. It will just make you burnt out and you probably won't understand what you're studying anyway. Also, you never know what you're going to learn the first semester, so you may end up reading/studying chapters that won't be covered.

Anyway, I understand everybody's schedule is different but, this is how I study:

I have class Mon-Thurs from 4-10, with test and a lecture on Monday, lecture and a skills eval (if we have one) on Tuesday and clinical on Wednesday and Thursday.

My teacher breaks it down in sections with what chapter(s) covers each section. I read the chapter before class that day. My teacher hands out a power point before the presentation that I take notes on.

I make note cards on every power point, as I find I learn things while rewriting them. Don't do this if the topic is too big because you'll just end up spending way too much valuable study time making note cards.

I try to study 1 1/2 each day. 1 hour before class, and then 30 minutes when I get home Tue-Thurs. Since I have nothing to do on Fridays, I study 3 hours, but broken down into 1 hour blocks. I do this on Saturdays also. Sunday is the day I work so, I may study an hour and I may not. It depends on how tired I am. Then Monday, before the test, I get up early and study for 3-4 hours. I also go in early to study with classmates because just hearing people reading information out loud helps me absorb stuff before the test.

I'll probably also skim the chapter one more time before the test. ALWAYS READ THE CHAPTER. I got an "A" on almost every test, while other people were failing. The difference? I read the chapters and they didn't.

Also, people that you can't just memorize facts in nursing school. but honestly you have to memorize the hard facts because you can use your critical thinking (i.e. electrolye rangers, s/s of MI etc.)

I'e love to hear how you guys study!