How I survived 1st semester..

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About my program.. It's 4 semesters and I am finishing up first semester in just a few days.

I took fundamentals of nursing and pharmacology. Our grades are based on a point system. And if you fail 3 tests your automatically out. And if you fail your skills on the 3rd try your also out. (Pretty nerve racking).

We started out with 50 students are now we have 35.

How I survived:

1. I bombed the first test... I was not used to the style of questioning and I bombed what would have been the easiest test of the semester. I put it behind be and passed the rest with flying colors. I had to re teach myself how to take tests. You can be an amazing student in clinicals but if you fail at taking tests you can pretty much bet you'll get dropped.

2. My husband. He pretty much accepted the fact that I wouldn't have a huge amount of time to spend with him and he helped out with cooking... I know a ton of girls who say their husbands complain about not getting enough time with them or spending too much time studying. I could not take that extra pressure and it was nice that he was understanding.

3. My nursing family. You will soon find out (if your about to start NS) that your nursing friends will be family, I see them wayyyyyy more then I want to lol but we are really there for each other and we make sure we get together and study often and help one another with test material. I couldn't of done this without support of my nursing friends.

4. Margaritas. We have tests every Thursday and grades aren't posted right away (usually 4 hours later). It's really torture having to wait .. not knowing if your nursing career is going down the drain. My friend and I have a ritual. Every Thursday after test day we go to the Mexican restaurant for lunch and margs. We have to have 2 margs before we check to see if our grades are posted. It's silly but it's one way of dealing with the anxiety and not going crazy checking every 2 seconds for our grade.

5. Coffee. 5 hour energy. And caffeine in general:) I don't see how people don't drink coffee. It's really needed in other to stay awake for a 4 hour lecture and 8 hour clinicals!

6. Not working. I was fortunate enough to not have to work while going to school. I would have failed miserably. There really aren't enough hours in the day and if I had to work I honestly would not have been able to handle the pressure.

7. Car pooling. My friend and I live an hour away. We car pool and take turns driving. This really helped me on gas and the fact that I had someone to listen to the lectures with and quiz me while I drove. This seriously was a life savor esp. The mornings we had tests.

These are just some ways I survived the first semester. Every school is different and for those of you starting I would suggest that you start off on the right foot so your not struggling the whole semester to make up points. And to be there for your fellow students because you are all there for the same reason.. It's not a competition!:) ask and email your instructor a million times a day if you have questions (they really want you to do the best). And just think about how worth it all the stress, tears, and sleepless nights will be when your actually working as a nurse:)

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Congratulations. Keep it up!

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The margarita comment made me laugh. I would probably be drinking 5 before I felt confident enough to check. Congratulations on making it through nursing school!

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Thanks!!

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