How much reading is a lot of reading?

JenniferSews · May 6, 2010

Literally hundreds of pages a week in my school. More if you wanted to use several sources (a must in my school to pass.) But reading it is not enough, you have to fully understand it, which takes much longer than just reading it like you'd read a novel.

ohcomeon · May 6, 2010

Well, the test I just took tonight was over 13 chapters. Six from our fundamentals book and seven from our pharmacology book. The pharmacology chapters are usually less than 15 pages each, but the fundamentals chapters are loooong! So yes, a lot of reading. Hundreds of pages for sure!

That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B · May 6, 2010

Lets see over the summer i have 2 textbooks to read plus fully understand EKG's before fall semester. SO yeah kinda alot

CrunchyMama, ASN, RN · May 7, 2010

Congrats on being accepted! I agree with everyone else. It's a lot!!!! It'll be tough if you plan on dedicating time to read while staying home. I recommend going somewhere quiet. Go read in your car or go to a park if needed. For me personally, I have to read out loud. Anyway....good luck!

Armygirl7 · May 7, 2010

Yes hundreds of pages a week!

I personally need peace and quiet when I study. I set myself up on my couch with my 3 giant stacks of Nursing textbooks next to me and all my highlighters/pens/glass of water etc.... I spend hours on that damn couch....day after day, night after night!!!

I am a big reader of books (or WAS I don't read anything now but Nursing stuff)...but this amount of reading, which requires attention and note-taking for me - has been very different.

Good luck and congrats. Nursing school is the hardest thing I've ever done - but I am loving it and my brain has grown a thousand-fold!

AG

dudette10, MSN, RN · May 7, 2010

It's a LOT of reading, but you can cut it down--focus it--after your first test. The first test shows you what the teacher considers important for nursing students to know.

I had one teacher who insisted that we read the book and study chapter outlines (similar to notes that I would take myself), but after the first test, I realized that just the chapter outlines were what I needed.

Another teacher taught only the nursing process for selected disease states. I could fly right through the patho and med management sections of the chapters--after all, we had already taken patho--and concentrate on the nursing management.

Another teacher liked to focus on commonly-seen abnormalities, unless she specifically put it on the "topics to review" for the exam. We could safely skip the less common abnormalities.

JenniferSews · May 7, 2010

It's a LOT of reading, but you can cut it down--focus it--after your first test. The first test shows you what the teacher considers important for nursing students to know.
I had one teacher who insisted that we read the book and study chapter outlines (similar to notes that I would take myself), but after the first test, I realized that just the chapter outlines were what I needed.
Another teacher taught only the nursing process for selected disease states. I could fly right through the patho and med management sections of the chapters--after all, we had already taken patho--and concentrate on the nursing management.
Another teacher liked to focus on commonly-seen abnormalities, unless she specifically put it on the "topics to review" for the exam. We could safely skip the less common abnormalities.

In my program this wouldn't have worked. Skip something less common and they knew they could test you on it to prove you didn't do the reading. :rolleyes:

I thought I'd mention I did nursing school with a newborn plus 2 other kids under the age of 4. Everyone told me to go to the library but I couldn't leave my kids. The noise was fine, I just learned to tune out the "playing" sounds and pick up on the "fighting" sounds. But even if you live at home and can't focus, lots of my fellow students lived in the library from open to close! :lol2:

Roberta88 · May 7, 2010

Wow thanks everyone! That helps me have an idea of what it will be like. I guess this means I'll either go to the school that costs more but that is more peaceful or just hole up in the library or my car. I'm taking pretty easy classes this semester but I'm having trouble just getting this reading done. It seems like everytime I'm close to finishing something my sister tells me she wants the light off. And who knew that teenagers couldn't exist without music playing 24/7? Lol We try to give her headphones but she breaks every pair.

dudette10, MSN, RN · May 7, 2010

In my program this wouldn't have worked. Skip something less common and they knew they could test you on it to prove you didn't do the reading.
I thought I'd mention I did nursing school with a newborn plus 2 other kids under the age of 4. Everyone told me to go to the library but I couldn't leave my kids. The noise was fine, I just learned to tune out the "playing" sounds and pick up on the "fighting" sounds. But even if you live at home and can't focus, lots of my fellow students lived in the library from open to close!

:lol2: :lol2: To your first paragraph....as for your second paragraph, you are MY HERO! Congrats on successfully completing nursing school while having three little ones. :up:

JSlice., ASN, RN · May 7, 2010

What's a lot of reading? A lot of reading is when you read about GI problems during lunch, or reading about EKG's for a bedtime story, or reading about burn therapy while sitting on the toilet, or reading about mental health in the tub. Basically a lot of reading is when those who enjoy reading, no longer enjoy reading. Haha.

Elle_Guerira · May 7, 2010

I think it's subjective to say what can be considered lengthy reading. My Med-Surg book probably had 8pt font & I usually read one chapter a day...maybe two depending upon how many pages were in each chapter. The absolute max I would read is 30 pages, rarely 40 pages if I still had that drive to continue reading. If I read more than that, my brain turns to sludge. There were content that were easier to retain & a pleasure to read, & others that weren't i.e. FLUIDS & ELECTROLYTES.

Here's a tip: If you're a speed reader like myself, focus on the first few sentences of a paragraph; usually the first few sentences provide a brief summary of that paragraph.