Help Needed!

Hello

Well today was only my second day of class and I already feel as if I'm behind. Our first examination is on Sept. 19th and covers 17 Chapters. Our instructors pretty much just gives us handouts with outlines of the entire chapter and then reads from the book. I have already done the readings and just want to know the pertenent. When the instructors are asked if they can be more narrative on key points so that we know the area of study the tell us to "Know all of it."

The chapters in our book has key points and terms at the beginning and end of the chapter. Is it best to focus on these and just read over the rest? We were lectured for an hour the first day on Florence Nightengale, and when I asked my friend who is in her second year, she told me that there has never been a question on the test about her. It would be really helpful if someone could give me hints on how to narrow or weed out the less important stuff. Thanks, sorry so long.

[gwenith, BSN, RN]

Do your lecturers have objectives for each lesson??? The objectives SHOULD (in an ideal world) be linked to the examination content. Look at your objectives and they should give you a better idea of what is expected.

[tonicareer]

Learn to skim and highlight. Also I took speed reading decades ago and learned to read very fast. Buy cheap 3 by 5 inch cards and put info on those to study. Study those quickly in between classes and often. Learn how to analyze tests, typically one answer is way off base, two are close and one is right. Don't dwell on stuff you don't know come back to it latter. Get sleep the night before a test and think positive. Lucky you for being accepted into a program! Good luck!

[Jen2]

Gwenith, thank you so much. I just looked at my outline again and there is a sheet on chapter objectives. You just helped me narrow about 30 pages down to about 15-20 paragraphs. This helps out so much. Whew!!!! I know that memorization is not an option in nursing, so it really does help to know how to weed out. Thanks again.

[colleen10]

Hi Jen,

My program is a bit easier than yours as we have an exam every 2 weeks or so and thus it only covers about 7-8 chapters compared to your whopping 17!

What I do is I type up my notes on my lap top. Usually I will read the chapter and then go back and take notes according to the objectives for each chapter specified in the Syllabus. I also type up all definitions/ key terms.

We had our first exam earlier this week and I was happy to see that our instructors didn't try to trick us and only asked questions related to the objectives from the syllabus.

Hope this helps!

[Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN]

Skim and highlight the chapters, include key terms, if there are objectives in the front and questions in the back, i'd highlight the answers to those too.

[Jen2]

Thanks so much for responding everyone. Newbie nursing student here, so I'm having a little difficulty trying to figure out whats important and what they are just torturing us with. Thanks again everyones comments has helped me narrow down alot. 17 Chapters seems like alot, but I guess it's welcome to being a nursing student. How many chapters do all of you usually cover per exam?

[shyne]

Our first test which is in a couple of weeks is going to cover 5 chapters. Our instructors give us powerpoints and go through them during lecture. I basically just go back and read in my book about whatever she covers on the sheets and then type all of the definitions. They also tell us a few questions that will be on the exam too. I guess I'll see how it works out in a couple of weeks.