Need to figure out new strategy

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We had an assignment due the first day of school (we were told in lab orientation). I did not have the money for the books until a couple days before and then I was working. Little did I realize the reading alone was 450 pages. There were three quizzes to take on the ATI testing site as well. I assumed this was because we were given a longer time to complete the material, sucked it up and stayed awake until 3:00 am. I was up at 6:00 for class and in class until 3:00 then the hour commute home. I sat down to read the next assignment expecting it to be easier.. Another 400 pages 2 ATI quizzes and a video to watch all due the next day. We have multiple orientation tests due next class period for the various facilities in addition to the reading. The assignments work out to about 400 pages each night. How am I going to understand the material at this rate and still somehow find time for NCLEX practice on top of it? Our tests are all NCLEX based so I feel like I need the help, and the study guide stuff I attempted I failed miserably at because I simply tried to read the material too fast. I feel like I'm drowning in textbooks right now, but I think we all feel the same way, and someone here has to be able to relate that has already survived this. So give me your hints. How am I going to process all this information? I'm a fast reader, but not that fast. That's like reading Gone With the Wind, and North and South both books in less than a week.

Specializes in Pediatrics and Med Surf Float.

I made it my goal to read the text at least once before each exam, more if it wasnt the best teacher.

I would try to read the book the weekend before the class, look at the powerpoint before the lecture started and then read the 'magic notes' on that lecture on the train ride home. If I didn't read the book by the next weekend, I read those chapters. Many times I would read a chapter before lecture, understand about 10%, then go to lecture and then 80% made sense from my readings. My books supplemented my lectures and notes, and my PP/notes supplemented my book. this system worked for me. the only time I read the book the night before was for a quiz and I needed to know every minute detail (med surg 2 quizzes were detailed q's on A&P but to the nth degree)

as previous posters said, its not possible to remember every detail if you just scan. if you can, read a little bit each day rather than the whole thing in one sitting it will be easier to digest

*a personal experience. one exam during med-surg 1, there was a question that came from left field. the teacher never said anything about it in her lecture, it was't in the PP for the lecture and I had read the book and didn't even remember SEEING the topic! we asked her where she had gotten that question and answer. she pulled out the textbook and pointed (I am not making this up) to an asterisked line on the bottom of a chart. to say the class was furious is an understatement. I believe we got those 2 points back. but she never tried that again

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Specializes in Cardiac/Neuro Stepdown.
*a personal experience. one exam during med-surg 1, there was a question that came from left field. the teacher never said anything about it in her lecture, it was't in the PP for the lecture and I had read the book and didn't even remember SEEING the topic! we asked her where she had gotten that question and answer. she pulled out the textbook and pointed (I am not making this up) to an asterisked line on the bottom of a chart. to say the class was furious is an understatement. I believe we got those 2 points back. but she never tried that again

Wow i wish we could have argued with our teachers, this kind of thing happened all the time, and the teachers ruled with an iron fist, backtalk=targeted. hence we read our 100's and 100's of pages :(

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I suggest reading every chapter assigned in the ATI book and doing the quiz at the end. They're short & sweet and ALL APPLICATION.....just like your exams. As for your fundamentals book, I suggest BURNING IT!!!!! But if your scared to do that, only read the information in the boxes. Other than that, all the Funds book is good for is a couple of cites and a reference on future papers.

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Specializes in ICU.

Yeah, I'm guessing 400 pages per night is a gross exaggeration. I'm looking at my thickest textbook right now (a full 2.5 inches thick) and it only has 1800 pages including all the intro pages, appendices, and index. I highly doubt your prof expects to go through an entire textbook in 4-5 days. I think you need to talk to your professor and clarify his/her expectations.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Congenital Heart Disease.

This was my basic strategy during nursing school - Most professors would post powerpoint versions of their lectures a few days (or at least the night before) class. I would print my ppt's to take notes on. The night before I would look over my ppts, and "target" my reading to material emphasized in the lectures. I'd make a little bullet point list on the lecture of things I wasn't 100% on, and then put a check-mark by it if I "got it" in lecture, or add more items to the list/leave it un-checked to go back and look things up after class. This process WAS very time-consuming, but I found it to be the most efficient way for me to prepare for class to actually be able to take in lectures and take effective notes.

The reading load is definitely intense. Keep your head up; it might be hard right now, but you will find a strategy that works best for you and you will hit your stride. Remember to "work smarter, not harder"!

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It was not a gross exaggeration. I wish it was. It was an assignment based out of two texts that added up to 450 pages. The next night was 3 texts that added to a little over 400 pages. We utilize multiple texts each class. And the last assignment was 257 pages in one text by the time you read the chapter. Add the other books and things add up. HOWEVER, I'm much happier to report that although the homework assignment took forever, since I've never done a nursing assessment before and had to keep using my cheat sheet haha, the reading was much less intense today at just shy of 200 pages. No lab work due tomorrow, so I actually feel caught up and like I can breathe again. Hopefully it's not that reading intensive again. I also discovered tonight that although I had two reading assignments from two books, each basically stated the same thing some could just skim the material in the second book. I hope it works out like that more often.

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Specializes in Med Surg, Specialty.

Reading a fun book for me I could do about 50 pages an hour. Reading a large, detailed, scientific text would drop that down to maybe 25 pages/hour. This would mean 8-16 hours of just purely reading for one day's assignment from only one class which doesn't make sense if it was all new material and all required. That is a full time job of reading for one class - it doesn't make sense.

I really think you are misunderstanding what the teacher wants by saying she expects all 400+ new pages to be read a night. I'd talk to her as soon as possible to get a clearer understanding of what she means. Usually there is one main text that you work from and the teacher may have supplemental reading suggestions if you have trouble understanding the concepts of the one main book.

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Specializes in ED.

There has to be something else going on because there is NO WAY to read that much material, and really retain anything. My program has a pretty much 100% NCLEX pass rate and I have never ever had to read anything even close to that.

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We used to have weekly readings like that. If say the first chapter was anatomy of the cardiovascular system, it wasn't something they really expected us to spend much time on b/c they are assuming you took this in Anatomy 101. I would try to arrange the info as dx, s/s, treatments, nursing interventions, etc. looking at like that I could break it down ans skim the rest. Good luck!

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I find this very hard to believe.....right now most accredited nursing BSN programs require the same text for fundamentals of Nursing which is 50chapters and like 3 to 4 inches thick(very intimidating) but chapters are only about 15 pages long but it is still a lot of info to cover...the fact that your professor said "that one didn't read the syllabus" means that you missed something...find out from your classmates...Good Luck

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Now that I have survived week one, it's starting to look a little more manageable. I'm thinking it was all the preliminary stuff we had to do. Still a lot, but not something I go cross eyed and start twitching over. I am also finding, although there are up to three texts per assignment, they are all repeating the same information. This simplifies things immensely. I guess I just panicked afraid this was going to be a daily occurrence. Now that I'm through all of that it's much smaller reading assignments.

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