Med Surg help- more efficiency in reading

[wannabeny]

Just curious;

how often does it take you to read? The background on my med surg class:

- not allowed to record

- basically, have to read before class. The whole lecture she spends most of her time calling randomly on people to ask questions if they did the reading..but doesn't really lecture on the whole chapter. But the whole chapter is fair game for the test.

- reading "what is important" doesn't help, because the tests are based off the reading list, and the reading list topics basically state every single topic in the chapter is important.

I'm just trying to figure out a more efficient way to study. I'm trying concept maps, but when it takes me 2 1/2-3 hours to read one chapter, I just sometimes don't have the time to do the concept maps.

instructor is very big on signs/symptoms, management, priority care, and case study type questions. (if anyone knows of anywhere to get NCLEX questions that are harder, please share. I tried Lippincott and Saunders NCLEX review and did well on those, but they weren't very helpful for the test questions.. ...too straightforward.)

[Meeshie]

I made sure to get all my books as ebooks and I had my e-reader read to me. It would read to me when I was driving, when I was cooking dinner, when I was in the shower, when I was working out, etc..et.. That way I could absorb the information while I was working on other things. My actual study time I would practice questions from various sources and figure out what I knew and what I didn't. The topics I did not do well on I'd reread and then I had study groups. I learn best by teaching so I would lecture my friends. By teaching others I'd have to really explain the 'why' behind things. In that way I learned the topic thoroughly.