How many chapters?!?!

mrsboots87 · Jan 28, 2015

Dont actually read it all. There are very few nursing students who actually read every assigned chapter. I read maybe 1/5th of the required reading each semester. My instructors lecture well and give a lot of examples so I just used reading as a supplement to lecture. What I do is kind of skim through the chapters to see what we will be lecturing about. I may stop if I see something Ive never heard of before and read a little. Then I take really good notes during lecture and record. I then review to see what I dont understand well and go to just the parts of the chapters that explain what I am looking for more detail on. By actually reading all of those chapters, most people will stop focusing well and not really retain it after a couple chapters. Also, what you do read, space it out. Dont read for more than an hour or two at a time, then take a break for at least 15 minutes then get back to it. Hopefully your instructors lecture well because then you wont have to actually read much. I know students in my class who dont read at all and still pass the classes. How much the actually know is questionable, but our exams are pretty tough, so they must just retain the info from lecture really well. GL

imbatz, BSN, RN · Jan 28, 2015

Don't try to read it all. If your instructor gave you objectives, cover that information. In the assigned chapters, really know the information that is in the tables and pictures. It is usually a good breakdown of the information, and I know that our school pulls many (most) questions from that information. Also, figure out what they are really looking for. My first unit of Meg Surg covered SO much information. The chapters covered everything from labs to cancer, and all the professor was interested in was colonstomy bags. Same thing with the liver, and fluids/electrolytes, etc.

kidnurse07 · Jan 28, 2015

try to read as much as you can as often. when you start to read the same sentence over and over, that's when you need to take a break. my professor didn't do us any favors by telling us what to focus on and such. whatever was in the book was fair game.

RescueNinjaKy · Jan 28, 2015

Just a question, was the reading assigned with only a week's time ? I ask this because I have had to read almost half a book for a unit exam before but never in one week.

If you were procrastinating and fell behind in your reading, which has happened to me, I suggest that you read it all but power skim the irrelevant parts. Pay attention to "as a nurse you should" , nursing considerations, complications, cardinal signs/assessments, and main treatments. Don't worry too much about all that statistical nonsense or side bits that are interesting but really won't be tested on. Don't even bother taking notes at this point if you're a week away. Just get the content in the brain and pray for recognition to kick in during the exam.

If I remember correctly, the potter book is a fundamentals text book, so know your baselines, your nursing processes, priority and delegations. And a huge thing is to try to not fall behind in the reading because once you fall behind it gets harder and harder to catch up. Also you retain more info in class if you already read.

PoodleLover86 · Jan 28, 2015

That seems like a lot of chapters. I just had my first unit 1 exam on 14 chapters. I had about 2-3 weeks to read it all and study which was doable. If I had that much to read, I would definitely skim. Good luck to you!

venusnscrubs · Jan 28, 2015

I wonder if we are in the same program because those look identical to the chapters on my Unit 2 test.

I have been using the chapters essentially as reference to outline the unit objectives.

Then I go back and do the end of unit questions. After that I may truly read 2-3 chapters that cover the majority of the material from the objectives. Hope that helps!