Newbie Needs Advice

ChasingRain · Apr 22, 2010

I'm starting school in May, so really I'm a newbie too. While I can't offer you much advice, I wanted to congratulate you on going into nursing :nurse: .

I haven't been to school in 10 years myself so I brushed up on my math and reading skills since I know nursing school requires a lot of both. I also googled a lot of anatomy stuff just to brush over the basics. Basically, I recommend making sure you have your basics down and then relaxing until school starts because once it does it will be full force ahead and there won't be a lot of time for relaxing;) Good luck :redbeathe

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Apr 22, 2010

I was out of school MUCH longer than 11 years and was nervous about whether or not I could keep up. You really cannot "study ahead" because you do not know what updated material (we hope) will be covered in class. You can subscribe to RN or Nursing Week or some such periodical to get the feel of what is going on in nursing. If you can get hold of textbooks that MIGHT help, but I doubt it since, again, you might be learning all the wrong stuff. My advice is to clear your calendar, create good study habits and jump in with both feet when school starts. Good luck.

milobust · Apr 23, 2010

What helped start making A's was to determine what class you will be taking right after a break (summer, holiday, spring break) and read a seperate study guide pertaining to that subject. There are tons of study guides for each specific course which will go over all the information that will be covered in class. Critical Care made Incredibly Easy was the book I read over the summer which helped me ace the course. The key is being prepared and never getting behind because the pace is frantic and you may never catch up.

Muffy5 · Apr 23, 2010

Congrats on getting accepted and going back! The best way I found to study for anatomy was flashcards and those cute coloring books. If I could not name something, I would highlight that and go back to review it. Anatomy is just a bunch of memorization. A good way that I reviewed while in school was to buy an NCLEX review book and study each subject we were covering. I did the same as mentioned before, by highlighting what I got wrong and going back to review. It is very important to learn how to study effectively, which will help you all through the program. Plain old memorization doesn't work in nursing school, you some how have to find a way to test yourself on the material you are covering, because you're going to need it! Good luck to you! :yeah:

DogWmn · Apr 23, 2010

First congrats on going back to school. I went to nursing school when dinosaurs walked the earth;). One of our pre-req's was a reading and study skills course. This course bumped up my speed, my comprehension and taught me to develop and enhance my study habits. I took this course almost 40 years ago, over the years I find I use those skills almost every day and it still works for me today. Last week I graduated from a 6 week Phlebotomy Technician course with a 91% and passed the national exam with a 90% yesterday. I will turn 60 this year and my classmates are young enough to be my grandchildren and are struggling to pass. Find a course that will help you hone your reading comprehension and study skills - in the long run it will be worth every penny. Good luck!

teatree13 · Apr 23, 2010

I agree with MILOBUST, it's incredibly important to stay ahead, look at the syllabus and get familiar with the information.

For A&P: Mostly memorization. It helps if you have a diagram that you can look at while you study (one that's on your wall)

Chemistry: It's hard, but not impossible to do while doing A&P.

All of the Davis's books tittled "success" are amazing! Some come with cd's and are really easy to read and follow. From the start of your nursing classes, get yourself an NCLEX study book (again NCLEX success by Davis, is my fav! I used it and passed my boards on the first try, mainly because I used it from nursing 1-6, and did 100-200 NCLEX questions a day from it's CD)

The hardest class your going to take is probably chemistry, because it's so complex. But tell you what, once you have done your hardest class, nursing school wont seem UN-doable. From the beginning of nursing school, you'll find that your thinking is going to be challenged, chemistry and A&P are mainly memorization, but nursing is completely different. You need commonsense and an open mind. Not only that, you need to think critically and follow your intuition.

I'm sure that you're going to do great! In my graduating class there were two women over 50 that did it! I wish you the best of luck, and if you need any books, I'm selling mine!

jennm11 · Apr 23, 2010

Thank you so much for your input and words of encouragement!

Does anyone know what would be the best chemistry study guide. I looked up chemistry books and there are so many to chose from. Chemistry for Dummies perhaps? Because I'm feeling pretty dumb right about now!