New to nursing and need some help please...

UnicornRN · Apr 16, 2012

Congratulations on choosing nursing. I am graduating in a few weeks after making a career change as well. I finally feel like this is where I'm supposed to be, and I'm excited to get my career started!

Put away the NCLEX review book, for now. You won't need that until later, and until you get some time in nursing school under your belt it won't do you any good anyhow. Once you are in nursing school, I recommend the Saunders NCLEX review book. It will help you every semester.

The most important thing I learned in nursing school was time management. If you don't have it, you need to learn it. There's much to do, and often it feels like there's not enough time to do it in. The other thing I learned, is to READ the material. Amazingly, it shows up on tests, and if you don't have an understanding of the basic concepts it's much more difficult to understand the details of everything else.

Get involved in your Student Nurse Association if there is one. That has helped me land interviews where many of my classmates are not having any luck. I am not a straight A student. I'm a B student, but I was involved and I have real life experience. It matters.

Enjoy the journey. I learned so much about myself throughout my time in nursing school, I feel like I am coming out a better person. You can do it!

bernikitty · Apr 16, 2012

i'm a single mom of 3 currently in my 4th semester at the jefferson campus, i have a few bits of advice:

do all of your prerecs before starting the nursing program. the nursing program is very

tough when you are only doing nursing courses, i really don't know how people to that and

prerec courses. we've actually lost people in our class, because they did poorly on a prerec courses.

find out the modules you will be studying for the up coming semester, and try to do all the reading during the break. it's almost impossible to pass the exams without doing the reading, and during the semester it's almost impossible to find time to do the reading. it's much better to spend your time studying and learning the material.

the lipp. book you got is great. i have that one myself. after you have done your reading, and studying doing the questions for that module help you to start getting in that critical thinking mode.

nursing school is different in that your reading and lectures are on theory, the exams are on the critical thinking application of that theory. alot of people have a real problem with that.

best of luck to you

email me if you have any other questions.

almost forgot, get your hands on a "calculating with confidence" book and start working your way thru it at such a pace that you will have the book completed before starting your 1st semester. passing the calculation test is the first hoop you have to jump thru each semester. i did the whole book and was the only person out of over 50 who got a 100 on a practice test given at orientation. trust me, it's one less thing for you to worry about, and you will be happy for that!

jonathanrisko · Apr 16, 2012

Thank you both for the advice. Look forward to seeing you on campus

HM-8404, BSN, RN · Jun 7, 2012

The best advice I could offer is don't get your heart set on nursing school at Jeff State. What I mean is don't put all your eggs in one basket. When the time comes apply to several nursing programs to increase your chances of getting into one. Your chances of getting in will depend mostly on how competitive you are compared to others that have applied.

I agree with what was said earlier, put the NCLEX book away. That is like studying a book on passing the BAR exam while a pre-law student.

Good luck.

lass311al · Mar 27, 2013

I was just curious if you are in the Nursing program at Jeff State or have you applied yet. Looking for advice and information about the program.

Thanks