HELP! Pharm 2 final exam in 1.5 weeks...

bgxyrnf, MSN, RN · Dec 7, 2017

I don't have any specific recommendations for how to make up lost ground in the last week or so before your final but I do want to make two general comments:

1) Going forward, whether it's in a repeat of this class or if you should encounter another one which is a challenge for you, I'd strongly encourage you to seek help EARLY.

Two or three lives ago, I worked as a tutor while I was in university. I recall two BSN hopefuls who came in the second week of school asking for help. They came in two times per week, every week without fail, and followed through on what I told them. Both of them struggled but were successful in earning solid grades. I also encountered a number of students, nursing and pre-med, who would show up late in the semester and give me nothing to work with because they were so far behind. I used the analogy of cancer... if you don't get help early, there's nothing that the heme-onc folks can do besides help you die peacefully.

2) My second comment is more specific to your case: You need to prioritize. If you think your grades and knowledge in your other classes make those secure, I would live and breathe pharm for the next week. Study every hour of the day... not for the whole hour necessarily but steep yourself in it. Be brutal about passing on the things that you basically know and aggressively go after the places that you struggle (I've seen this regularly and struggled with it myself... it 'hurts' to struggle with the unfamiliar stuff so our lazy brains guide us to what's easy and we feel good because we are, in fact, studying... just not the right stuff). Review while sitting on the john; review while standing in line; review before you get out of bed in the morning and before you fall asleep in bed at night; even when you're not reviewing with materials, think about the topic and review in your mind (you do know, I imagine, that Einstein's foundational concepts were formulated through "thought experiments," not at the test bench or chalkboard). Write out little tests for yourself with the textbook next to you but closed and bookmarked... as soon as you hit a stumbling block, do a quick mini-review, and move on.

You've got a long way to go... and a short time to get there... you're finals bound, you'd better start run.