How do YOU prepare for a new semester of nursing school?

VivaLaVespaGirl, BSN, MSN · Jan 9, 2015

I have always find the beginning of every semester to be the most overwhelming - becoming familiar with the schedule, regular due dates, books for each class, etc. I take a few hours before the beginning of each semester and update my calendars (my handwritten calendar and my outlook/iCal) with all the class times, due dates, projects, exams, etc. This makes me feel significantly less stressed at the beginning and less fearful of forgetting something important. Have a great semester!

PaulBaxter · Jan 9, 2015

Shoot, if the most stressful part was the beginning of the semester I'd trade places with you in a heart beat. All you can do at the beginning is try to arrange your schedule and look things over. Maybe read your chapters for the first week or two if you know what they are.

RookieRoo · Jan 10, 2015

snuggle deep, deep into my comforter and pretend that it isn't the last day of vacation....

guest769224 · Jan 10, 2015

I asked each of my upcoming instructors for the next term if I could complete my homework over the break. A few of them said yes!

While it's fantastic to sleep like a bear over the break, I feel so ahead of the game now that my homework is done for the approaching semester.

Consider it!

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Jan 10, 2015

Probably the one thing I did most before starting a new semester of nursing school was organize things. By that I mean that I would print out the calendar that the school provided us, I would put the basic schedule into Google's Calendar, I would color the exam days or other notable days differently, and the like. I made sure that I knew what the reading assignment was supposed to be and made sure that I did those. I would ensure that I had all the usual paperwork stuff filled out and ready to go, that I'd done any online orientation modules that were required, and so on. Was I busy during the break? Not really... I just made sure that I got stuff done so that when I walked into class that first day, all I had to do was find a power outlet so that I could plug my laptop into it so I could do my work, sign on to the campus wifi network, and review the pertinent powerpoints and/or other notes they wanted us to go over.

Now then I did this 6 times... so by the time I was entering my final semester (I was bounced back 2 semesters) I was very comfortable and ready for whatever the semester would throw at me.

The worst part of the whole deal was ensuring that I had all the time off or schedules rearranged at work so that I could go to school. Being that I worked full-time during full-time school, that was actually quite stressful. While I wouldn't recommend doing this, if you must, hopefully you're able to mesh the two without too much difficulty. Fortunately my employer was generally accommodating and some of my coworkers made some accommodations as well and I'm very grateful for what they all have done to allow me to get to where I am today.

Sizzline · Jan 10, 2015

This is my first semester coming up, but my professor posted our syllabus this past week. I wrote all assignments, reading, tests, skills evaluations, etc in my planner. I have 6 chapters of reading due by the first lecture on the 20th, so I am getting started on that this weekend.