How to study for an exam while sick?

[ScrappinSpidey]

This is our last semester of Nursing School. Tests are very close together with very little lecture time. Unfortunately since there is little time, everyone has come to school sick and I now have it. Had it most of the weekend and we have a test this week. Im not retaining anything with all this head congestion. I have very little energy. I need to study for the test but am not physically or mentally able to do the kind of studying I need. Does anyone have suggestions? I have read the chapters but that is as far as I got before coming down with this nastiness. I am taking medications but they make me sleepy so it makes it hard to concentrate. They will not excuse me from the test, nor do I want them to as that will put me behind. Usually I outline the chapters and work with the powerpoints making my own notes etc. But I just don't have the energy to sit up that long right now. Does anyone have any ideas??

Lynn/BW

[OCD_Mom]

I think Airborne (and the generics alike) work well to 1. hydrate and 2. add need vitamins to your immune system. I know many people don't think it works but we use it here OFTEN and have avoided the REALLY bad cases i nthe last few years.

[caliotter3]

I've often had your problem, and usually have ended up going to the test unprepared and doing poorly. I'm sorry but I can't offer any advice because I never found a solution to this problem other than to miss the test with whatever consequences ensued.

[Adams_Mama_07]

Well the only thing I know to do is prepare for the test. If you can only concentrate for a short period maybe try and study for 15 minutes, relax/recuperate twenty, study fifteen, relax twenty, or however you want to do it. Do not move on to new material until you've retained and know the material you're studying, it's much better to know 70% of the exam REALLY well than all of it barely at all. If you find yourself reading/studying and not paying attention because you're sick, stop and recuperate and begin again later--don't waste precious time reading and not retaining. Even if it takes you three days to do it, this is what I would do. Definitely work on getting better though and don't overwhelm yourself. Being sick on test day will only serve as a disadvantage. Do what you can and hope for the best.

[CeilingCat, ASN, RN]

It may be too late for this advice, but my plan is to study all along. I never know if something crazy is going to happen in the days before an exam, so I cannot wait until 2 days before to really dig in. 7-10 days before the exam I get serious. Our last big exam was about 5 big chapters, so I made myself do a chapter a night: read, outline it, make flashcards of any/all words I didn't know, etc. Then on day 2, I'd do the second chapter plus review and flashcards I still was fuzzy on from the previous night.

If you're not feeling well, try to break things down into really easy tasks. For example, when I have trouble concentrating from a bad headache, I'd be no good for pondering meanings & developing understanding. But what I can do is to write things, either making up flashcards or simply writing things over-and-over-and-over. Keep mental energy up by trying to add interesting things. For example, use colored markers to make the flashcards more fun. For my drug flashcards I had a whole coloring system, and later I'd try to remember drug types by what colors the lettering was. I personally have trouble memorizing names, so I'll think of something the name reminds me of and I'll doodle that all around where I wrote the concept; at test time sometimes those doodles come back to me and I think "aha, it was so-and-so who did this". If you have videos, maybe you can learn some of it just by playing the video over and over until the script is second-nature to you. It's not the perfect way to study, but the more keywords and lists I can remember, the better my chances of guessing what they want on the test.