New LPN student! What to expect

fwardlaw147 · Jun 16, 2009

Congrats on getting in. I am happy for you. For me, I heard about studying 3 hours a night. I even heard say goodbye to your family for the next year. I must admit I was completely blindsided by the break neck pace with which we are completing everything. We have two to three tests daily and skills checkoffs with every blink. You know what? I LOVE IT. I think you will be fine if you have three things. A geninuine desire to be a nurse and the discipline to stick to a routine. Also, yell for help at the first sign.

I am in my second month of class and have already seen a bit a students not make it to the next trimester. The reasons are varied from work committments, marital issues, did not want to give up the partying, etc.... The part that breaks my heart is seeing the ones leave who really wanted to be there, but could not establish a routine or find their study "niche" in order to be successful. More importantly, they did not ask for help at the first sign of trouble. Please never leave the class without fully understanding the material. Your teachers are there to support you and they want to see you succeed.

I'm going to stop rambling on now. I wish you well and hope you do awesome.

I am very excited to have just received my acceptance letter for Full time LPN student. :) What should I expect? How many hours a night for studying?
I started taking AP I and will be taking AP II during summer sessions. To prepare for possible RN in the future. Taking these classes in the summer is INTENSE, but I am maintaining a B average. I guess if I expect this intensity level I should be OK?!!
Thanks!

live&love&heal · Jun 16, 2009

Congrats on getting into LPN school! :yeah:

To keep up with all of your nursing material, try to keep a consistent study schedule to do school work. I dedicated 2-3 hours M-F to study. During midterms and finals, I added more study time and /or studied on the weekends.

I agree with the previous poster, always ask questions if you don't understand anything. If you don't know it now, you will defintely see it somewhere else be it on a test, clinicals, or NCLEX.

Also, expect that you you will not be there for every birthday, wedding, etc due to school committments. Make sure all of your family and friends know this so that they understand your situation. I was MIA for a few events when I was in nursing school but, my family and friends were extremely understanding and supported me 100%.

I wont lie, LPN school is a lot of work. Schools either set high standards or make classes difficult to weed out people depending on the program, simpley because, you are dealing with people's lives. However, if you have the love, passion, dedication, and drive for nursing and you STUDY, STUDY, STUDY, you will succeed.

Oh, and coffee will be your best friend!

onefrndlyghst · Jun 16, 2009

Congrats! I am also going to be a new LPN student. I start my program on 8/25/2009. To me, AP was a LOT of memorization. I am a hands on learner, so I bought a skeleton model and the AP coloring book. Those really helped me.

Good luck on your classes this summer :yeah:

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Jun 16, 2009

you definitely want to read this thread: https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-student/first-day-nursing-235170.html - first day of nursing school - which is a great post that chronicles an entire year of an lpns journey through lpn school from her first day through her graduation, taking her licensing exam and passing.

k3104 · Jun 18, 2009

Thanks for the advice and well-wishes!

Still maintaining a B during summer session (breakneck speed) AP I. I am so glad I am getting this out of the way before I start the LPN program in September. It gives me a jumpstart, and is getting the family used to the studying schedule. I have to put in at least 3 hours a day.. So back to studying, test tomorrow!!

thanks again! Kathy