I struggle w/ studying for Gerontology semi-urgent

[cjprenurse]

I'm a first semester nursing student and I did not do so well on my first pharm and gerontology exams.

I know why I failed pharm, I didn't study so much as I should.

However...for Gerontology...

I rewrote my notes, do group studies every Sunday, do PrepU, go to office hours. I still got a 68 on the test. Everyone was surprised because I knew the material and i still didn't pass. I think I'm lacking a lot of critical thinking and did more memorizing.

I'm so nervous because my next gerontology exam is this Monday (2 days from now) I'm rewriting my notes and doing a lot of PREPU (a program where critical thinking tests) The thing is, the questions in PREPU is nothing like my teacher's exams. And it goes by units...not by chapters (my prof skips chapters).

I really don't know how else to study for this subject. Kinda ironic that i work in a nursing facility but I still didn't pass. Please help

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Have you taken a learning styles inventory? If you are not a Read/Write type of learner, rewriting your notes is not going to help you as that's just not the way you learn. If PrepU is not like your exam questions and includes questions that are not covered by the exam, is it really a valuable tool? Take a learning styles inventory like VARK and utilize the information you get from that to determine how best to study.

[cjprenurse]

I never heard of VARK, what is that?

[ilovebirds]

I'm a bit surprised y'all are taking gero in 1st semester!

For my gero class, I focused on thinking through how the aging process affects the nursing care that is being given.

Also important: things like physical assessment changes, medication differences (e.g. Beers criteria), nutrition/hydration needs (some of which will be impacted by said physical changes), chronic conditions and so on.

Definitely figure out your learning style as Rose_Queen suggested. That will definitely help you better apply the content you are studying.

Good luck! :)

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

I never heard of VARK, what is that?

One of several options for determining your learning style.

The VARK Questionnaire | VARK

[adventure_rn, MSN, NP]

If you truly do know the material and you are still struggling with the test, it sounds like you're having trouble with the NCLEX-style questions. Did you go through every question you got wrong on the last test and figure out why you missed it? Any common themes?

NCLEX-style questions are tough, and answering them is a learned skill. They require a lot of prioritization and critical thinking that isn't always intuitive. I really didn't get the hang of it until the end of my first semester, and my test scores increased throughout nursing school as a result.

Maybe you'd benefit from doing a bunch of practice questions and reading the rationales. I can't think of any specific prep books related to gero (gero is kind of integrated into med-surg), but your instructor might have some ideas.