Nursing student in need of improved study tips

classicdame, MSN, EdD · May 8, 2012

have you tried studying with others? Even one other person could be a sounding board where the two of you recite the information. DO NOT get distracted with other topics.

Been there,done that, ASN, RN · May 8, 2012

I found that if I wrote down the basics , in the areas I had a hard time leaning or memorizing.. it would get it through my thick skull!

The very act of writing it down.. somehow reinforced what I needed to learn.

I graduated Magna Cum Laude, so I guess it could work. Good luck, Keep us posted.

theoj7 · May 8, 2012

I haven't tried a group yet I don't think it will work out. I'm the only man in the class and our idea of productive work dont seem to mesh well

theoj7 · May 8, 2012

I write the information down and it leaves the theory and ideas in my mind but for some reason I don't test well on it my brain understands the material well but my test sometimes show different

margritamix · May 10, 2012

Being a person who needs ample time to proces what I'm learning, I have found that by recording my class lectures and then playing it back when I get home, I am able to make sense of everything that we have talked about in class. Listening again to my professor's lectures also helps me pick apart what they have said in class that I may not have picked up on earlier because I was in too much of a hurry writing down notes or whatever.

After I am done with my reading and listening to the lectures on my ipod, I then "teach" these concepts to my "students" (pets at home, since they're the only ones who aren't busy doing something else in my house). I find that if I can go back and explain concepts to others, then I have gotten the gist of what I need to learn for class.

Hope this helps!

piinkk · May 13, 2012

Reading to yourself outloud and asking yourself questions about what you read and self answering them; also, 2-3 days before exams get with your study group and ask each other questions and quiz each other.

IndyElmer · May 13, 2012

If you feel like you have a solid grip on the facts, but you're not testing well, perhaps try to integrated a little more time for doing practice NCLEX questions (that include explanations of why the good answer options are not the BEST answer option). The Saunders NCLEX review book has practice questions divided by topic and has at least a few practice questions for a broad range of nursing topics. The Pearson (formerly Prentice Hall) Reviews & Rationales series by Mary Ann Hogan and the Davis Success series have a book of NCLEX style questions for nearly every nursing topic (fundamentals, med surg, OB/peds, etc.). Whether or not these books are helpful seems to depend very much on the individual doing the studying, so you might want to see if you can use the appropriate text from the library or look at some questions at Barnes & Noble.

I'm not sure how much any of the NCLEX practice question books can help if the "fact" part isn't already in your brain. I've seen some students get crazy stressed when they started doing practice questions before they knew enough material to benefit from the questions. I've also seen students who were having trouble focusing really buckle down after trying a few practice questions and bombing them. Depends on your personality/learning style.

**NOTE: In case you've never seen them in person... if you decide to buy an R&R book, keep in mind that each chapter has 20 questions printed in the book and 30 additional questions on the supplemental CD so a used copy without the CD isn't worth nearly as much as a used copy with the CD.

dancehallradio · May 15, 2012

I also did flashcards(so...so many flashcards), but I have always found it is the only way to drill information into my brain because it is a constant quiz, just reading information/writing it down doesn't work for myself. After I went through a chapter making flash cards/then reviewing the flash cards, I'd take practice nclex quizzes. However many I felt I needed to do, to be confident! It worked for me.. planning on keeping to it for the nclex this summer.

IndyElmer · May 15, 2012

An alternative to flashcards are computerized "flashtables" that you create. I often create them when I'm reading over my notes to make sure I understand all the material, even if I don't have it memorized.

TO CREATE FLASHTABLES

Open the word processor of your choice. Insert a table with 2 columns. Column 1 will be your questions (what would normally be the front of your flashcard). Column 2 will be the answers (what would normally be the back of your flashcards). I sometimes even add figures from images I find on google that are similar to my text images -- or if I find a particularly good image in my text, I'll scan it to add to the table (or add a reference to it in the 2nd column -- same goes for if I've drawn an elaborate "big picture" memory guide that helps me answer several questions at once).

WHY I PREFER FLASHTABLES OVER FLASHCARDS

(1) I never lose any cards (back up yoru files!)

(2) they are easily searchable -- both on your computer and within an individual file

(3) you can keep them forever with minimal worries of losing them (back up your files!) and without them taking up space When I took pathophysiology, I went back to old physiology flashtables for refreshers on some things rather than trying to recreate the wheel. (When my physiology class covered blood types, I just copied the questions from my micro flashtable that had covered it the term before.) As I proceed through the program, I'm sure there will be more copy & pasting for relevant info that I need refreshed.

(4) shareable -- far more shareable with classmates/friends.

(5) easily convertible to web-based flashcards if that's your thing. Most web-based systems have an "import" feature that lets you easily import info from a 2-column table format.

HOW CAN THIS WORK LIKE A FLASHCARD?

You have 2 ways you can study from this: (1) print then fold paper in half so its like a long, multi-question flashcard or (2) shrink your computer screen window so that you can only see the question column.

I WANT TO REVIEW ONLY THE QUESTIONS I GOT WRONG.

With flashcards, I like to set the ones I know in one pile and the ones I don't know in another pile so I can do the problem ones over and over until I know them. There are many ways to mark the flashtables so that you don't keep repeating questions that you know. On the printed version, you can use pencil or black pen check marks in the margin for the ones you don't need to repeat. You can mark the ones that need repeating with varying marker colors. I do something like this: Pass #1 - no checks at all, Pass #2 - check off those that I don't think I need to continue repeating, Pass #3 - add additional checks, Pass #4 - yellow highlighter for those that I want to draw my eye to for further study, Pass #5 focus on the yellow highlights. Mark wrong ones with a different color. Pass #6 focus on the new color. When I'm getting close to what I think will be my last studying on a particular set, I mark the real bugger questions with red. Sometimes, I will cut/paste those questions to a special document that will have all the "hell" questions from all chapters on the test.

You can do the same sort of thing if you choose to use the flashtable electronically. Just highlight the questions you need to review by changing the font color, the highlight color or the color of the lines around the question/answer pairs that you need to repeat.

MY FAVORITE WAY TO DO THESE -- DRY ERASE BOARD!

I prefer to use the flashtables with a dry erase board. I answer a few questions in a row (writing AND speaking as a write) -- as many as I can fit on my mini-portable board or as many as I think won't get jumbled in my brain if I'm using a huge dry erase board. THEN I check the answers. I correct the answers in a different pen color. Erase, repeat. I learn SO much faster from not just thinking the answers. Even more so if I'm explaining to someone else why the answers are the answers.

I prefer to do multiple questions at once so that I don't accidentally see the next answers. That is the main downside that I have found with flashtables. You can accidentally think you know the info when really you saw the answer just below the question you just did. I limit this by using a coversheet when checking printed answers or by regulating the window on the digital version.

SummitRN, BSN, RN · May 15, 2012

I drove a lot. I wrote up my final notes in my own words. Then I put it into the text-to-speech on my computer and listened to my notes while I drove. It worked very well!