Nursing School- Reading & Math

HumptyDumpty · Aug 12, 2009

I don't read anything at night, there is no point. Wait for when your professor gives you a study guide or a blue print for an upcoming test, and just study that stuff a few days before a test. Or even better, wait for someone to make a study guide and just use that. Personally, I haven't bought a book in 2 semesters. As far as dosage math, again, when a dosage calculation test is coming, study and brush up on it if you need to.

That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Aug 12, 2009

I try to not read my textbooks at night. I read regular books to help unwind and relax. I get all my studying and what not done during the day. Now if a test is coming up, well thats a whole nother story.

macizu, BSN, RN · Aug 13, 2009

I can definitely relate to what humpty is saying. It is almost impossible to get all the assigned readings done! Just impossible. You have to sort of extrapolate from the assigned reading what you think the professors want you to know or concentrate on. However, weekly quizzes sort of force you to keep up with readings, so that’s that. Definitely brush up before tests!

Also blueprints for tests I’ve found are sort of fifty-fifty, hit or miss. Some professors are really specific about what they want you to concentrate on and some are very vague, like “study chapter 48.” And you come to find that chapter 48 is like 40 or 50 pages long!

As far as math is concerned, yes there is math but very little of it. Dosage calculations and IV flow rates. Knowing your conversions is a must. I would say that there are around 2 or 3 questions dealing with a math problem like dosage calculation out of a total of about 50 questions on a test.

Hope this helps.

Birdbr · Jan 7, 2012

Thanks for your comments everyone. They are super helful and make me more excited to get into my actual program.

NCRNMDM, ASN, RN · Jan 7, 2012

No, you don't do a lot of math. In my program we don't have homework, and the only grades that count are the unit exams and final. The clinical papers, and our performance in clinical are pass/fail. We have one pharmacology/math test per semester, and we have to make at least an 86 on it, but it doesn't count towards our grade. Because of this, we don't do math homework, you just have to make sure you can do medical math prior to the exam date. As for reading, yes I do my reading at night. I generally skim the reading prior to lecture, then go home that night and do a comprehensive reading. Sometimes it doesn't work out that way, but that's what I try to do. The length of the reading varies. Some sections are two or three pages, some are one hundred pages. It all just depends on what the section is, and how complicated the material is.