Help I cant rememeber anything I read!!!

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Do I have some kind of problem? Any studying advice will help

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Specializes in Emergency Room.

Tune out all distraction. Highlight as you read and reread the highlighted areas immediately. Know all your tables and diagrams. Reread it all the next day to reinforce what you read. Then read over all your highlighted areas another day. Do the chapter reviews and look at an NCLEX review book on the subject matter you're studying.

Good luck. It might just be initial stress that's causing you to panic and not retain information.

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It would help to know what you are doing :D

What time of day are you reading, for how long, where are you, how much are you reading, when are you reading (before you go over it in class or after)

For me,

  • I skim the chapters before class (reading the opening and closing of each chapter as well as things in bold - to get the basics of what we will be going over in class.
  • I take really good notes during class
  • If there is anything I do not get from class or something from my notes I do not understand, I go into the book and read these areas. (In a perfect world I would read the chapters completely at this point but I don't have time usually)
  • I would then rewrite my notes neatly, adding in things I do not know (like define unfamiliar words) maiking the notes organized with bullets.

- The best way to retain information IMO is repetition in your learning style. (reading over and over, writing over and over, reciting, notecards)

- It also will help if you make sure you understand what you are reading. If it doesnt make sense to you, you probably will not remember it. In other words, if you come to a word you do not know, look it up right then and there. Whatever it is, if you don't understand it, don't move forward until you do.

- I learn by rewriting my notes after class, then when studying I write things I still do not remember in a random notebook (I never actually go back and read these, it just helps me to write it) Sometimes I write notes 3-4 times before an exam.

- I also find that doing NCLEX questions in a book like Saunders (if you are in Med-surg) or fundamentals success for fundamentals, really really helped. I learned so much by doing this!

Another good book is Test Success by FADavis. It helped me tremendously in my first semester of nursing school. It is a strategy book for begining nursing students.

Anyway, as you can see from my long post, my coffee has kicked in, so I better get motivated myself, GOOD LUCK! I hope some fellow allnurses members give you some great advice that will help you.

Do I have some kind of problem? Any studying advice will help

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

http://www.accd.edu/sac/history/keller/accditg/ssindex.htm - strategies for success

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that site is great! thanks for the information.

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Specializes in NICU.

I think we've all had that problem from time to time. As other posters have said, writing out neat notes does make a difference and highlighting is always a good idea.

I think the best piece of advice I ever got, was to make posters of things I found especially hard to remember, whether that be drugs, calculations or anatomy diagrams and to put them on the refrigerator door or similar places.

I found it really helped me, especially with learning drug groups. Good luck with your studies! :)

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