How I Survived Nursing School! 15 Tips that could help you!

[Jskinne1]

Congrats on making it into nursing school! It's a very exciting time in your life. I know when I first started nursing school it was for me! As a graduate of nursing school I'd thought I reach out to those who are trying to get through and give you 15 tips on how I survived nursing school.

1) I trusted in God and leaned on my higher being for strength.

2) I never listened to negative people. There are a lot of negative people in nursing school and you have to separate yourself from that thought process.

3) I never accepted failure or settled for less. In nursing school you'll find out that you won't always pass every exam the first time or get an A the first time, but what counts is that you do even better the next time.

4) I never procrastinated. When you do things ahead it creates less stress.

5) Work as a team with your classmates. There will be some people you probably won't get along with, but you need each other to make it through. It's a team effort.

6) I always was humble and remembered why I was becoming a nurse. Going to Clinical helped me to remember why I wanted to be a nurse.

7) Make time for yourself!!!! I had an outlet, which helped me to refuel my fire to persevere.

8) Find out ways to study that work for YOU!!! (most crucial). I mainly studied by myself initially, then I would get with classmates just to see if I missed anything from class notes.

9) Try to get good rest and eat a good breakfast before class. I'm a morning person, so I would wake up early before class eat a light breakfast. When you do this, you are giving your brain what it needs to receive new information.

10) On big test days I would take time before the test to rest my mind. We used ATI Proctored exams and before my exams I would always workout, eat and rest. You don't want to be tired mentally.

11) Learn your weak test taking areas and work on them. It took until my junior year to pin point my weak areas. Once you find out what you are weak in, such as: not reading the question all the way or reading too much into the question, work on it.

12) Know that nursing exams aren't always what you know, it's how you use what you know. Study hard and relate topics to each other. Concept mapping is what I used to relate topics.

13)Seek help if your not getting a certain topic. It's best to seek help from the instructor. It's better to be truthful that you don't know something,then to fake like you do and fail or God forbid endanger a patient. Seek to learn something new.

14) Be confident in what you know! No one wants you taking care of them if your scared to do things. As a nurse you have to just do it! I always wanted the most challenging simulations or patient's so I could learn. Go for what your afraid of!!!

15) Last but not least, Know that you can do it! Never settle for less, but the best!!!! If you work hard consistently, you will yield results!!

I know you all can do it!!!!

God Bless!

[Happy_RN123]

Very well said! Amen

[damrcngrl95]

I'm currently in the Respiratory program and would like to make a copy of this. It really applies to our class too. I really like the parts about teamwork and staying humble. We are not in competition with each other and it's not about who's the best. When one fails, we all suffer a loss.

[angelfocusbroken]

Thank you! I will be applying this as I start my first semester in the ADN program!! :)

[HappyWife77, BSN, RN]

Love all the suggestions! Thank you for sharing!

[violets13]

Thanks for posting! I am excited to start and this definitely eases my anxieties :)

[stewartfamily2010]

Excellent advice! Especially the highlighted portions. Thanks for posting. :)

[futurenursegirl14]

This is wonderful! Thank you for the great advice!