How not to get overwhelmed?

Are you serious? 40 pages? Did you develop it yourself or were given by your instructor? Are you in a generic or accelerated program? But to answer your question, honestly, I do not know. But thinking 40 pages is way too much. I guess just prioritize and trust your gut. Sometimes there is no choice but cut corners.

Forty pages is way too much study material. Take each lecture that's being covered on the test and break it down into a 1-2 page study guide OUTLINE with only the absolutely most important information on it. Study that and you'll be fine.

Not sure how your professor operates. Also, not sure where you are in your program. If you are in fundamentals, this tip may not work. But, Id suggest getting Saunders Comprehensive Nclex review and learning the material from there. Go through it slowly, look up what you don't know, and do a lot of questions, write down in a notebook the things you don't know and review that once in a while. I'm not saying this method is foolproof, but my stress level dropped when I stopped reading the book. The other tip would be to read through the charts in your text. You can't know it all. What you can do is be smart about how you are learning and what you are using your energy on.

Keep in mind - the number of people who have been successful in your program. It is highly unlikely that they were all smarter than you. If they could do it, so can you. Rinse & Repeat as needed.

Talk to a few people in your class who seem to be doing OK. What are they doing that you're not?

You can do this.

After 9 years of uni (two degrees, I was a keener) some of the best advice I got from a prof was to focus on anything with a diagram. Diagrams and pictures are expensive to publish. So anything with a diagram or a picture is important.

Also, different profs have a different style. Pay attention and you'll notice their style. Do they only ask questions on info discussed in class? Do they like sneak-attack questions on material found only in the readings? You'll get it. Breathe. And take frequent cap naps as study breaks. That was my personal trick. Whatever you remember when you wake up, you'll remember for the exam.

Just memorize the basic concepts and do a bunch of practice questions.

That's it? 40 pages? We get 100+ each week and that doesn't include the book material which is often chapters long. If only ours was just 40 pages.

*Edited to say..I'm in grad school so I guess that's par for the course.

I deal with it by practicing NCLEX style questions instead of repeatedly trying to memorize every word on my notes. It helps with application and helps me focus on what I should really be reviewing. I use Evolve and Saunders for NCLEX style questions.