Overwhelmed First Level Nursing Student!!

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Hello! So this week has been awful! Last week, i failed my second tests of fundamentals and assessment! This week, I failed my med administration check off! Today, I talked to my professors! My assessment professor doesn't think I want to do nursing and doesn't think i will pass her class! My fundamentals professor didn't give me any advice! She only said, "you need to pull up your grades"! Like i don't freaking know that! She doesn't have any faith in me at all! I literally scuffled out there before I broke down! I barley have enough time to study and read my books! Its class Tuesday and Thursday! Clinicals on monday and wednesday! It takes me 2 hours to read one chapter! Im overwhelmed! Also, our school has the classes prereqs of each, so if you drop one class, you have to drop all of them! They also have a 3 unsastifactory = failing a course/clinical! I feel like they want people to fail!

Obviously. I see how much you want it from your post I must have read too much into it. Good luck on your med pass remediation! I'm sure you've got this.[/quote']

Thank you. I apologize for the smart comment.

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I recommend that you try to read only what is being talked about in class. It will help your readings become more focused and it is less overwhelming. So instead of reading all 52 pages of Chapter 8 Endocrine Disorders, you could just cover the section on Diabetes because that is all your teacher covered in lecture regarding that reading.

In addition, these are things you could try: concept maps, practicing NCLEX questions (I recommend Fundamentals Success by Patricia Nugent), writing out those objectives into your own study guide, recording the lecture & listening back to it or even watching videos on Youtube (especially for assessment).

I hope this helps!!! (I kid about the exclamation points :up:)

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Read the objectives first. Then, when you have a good idea of what they are asking, read what the instructor indicates is important text for you to understand. Skim. Don't read in depth.

Reach out and connect with your classmates. Find out what they are doing, and if they are doing well, adopt it! Find or start a study group. If applicable, sign up for tutoring.

Look into Loma Linda, it really helps for identifying why you are struggling with test taking and find ways to address and overcome the issues. One of my classmates discovered she was suffering from serious testing anxiety, and she did dramatically better after arranging alternative testing methods.

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I can relate to your struggle. Me and my classmates are talking about our SNA shirts should say "Nursing School...the struggle is real!"

I am first level and am sometimes overwhelmed, too. But then I have to take a deep breath and refocus on why i'm doing this.

I would start by getting organized, get a planner if you don't already have one and write everything in it, all due dates, assignments, study sessions, etc.

Ask your instructors how best to study for their exams. You may be studying the wrong things. My instructors test over the objectives on their syllabus and I am not afraid to ask if a particular topic will be on the test just in case. I then go back and write out all the answers to the objectives and study from there. It has worked for me as I have done very well on my tests so far.

Hang in there, if you want to do this, you have to put in the work.

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Specializes in Emergency.

Do the classes provide powerpoint slides? If so, focus on those and not so much the textbooks.

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Specializes in Med/ Surg/ Telemetry, Public Health.

Nursing school is hard, and the further you go the harder it gets. Each semester bulids on to what you have to know. Try and do a different study habit. I just started typing my notes and putting them in my own words, reading and highlighting key points in my book and adding them to my study guide. My grades improved I just recieved my first A in nursing school. Also do practice questions daily (I do questions from prep U, evolve, kaplan, the reviews & rationale books, success books, Nclex book). I hope things get better for you and wish you the best in nursing school.

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No one said nursing was going to be easy and that overwhelming feeling, get use to it because you will be overwhelmed every single semester. Reading does take a long time but it's important to focus on the important things in the chapter. What works for me is that I type up important parts of the reading which does consume more time but in the long run it's helpful for the final! I have really good time management skills and I don't procrastinate.

It is also helpful to go to study sessions and meet up with your classmates. They might be able to explain things to you in a way that makes more sense. Also when I talk to my classmates I feel like I remember the information more.

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Specializes in Hospice, Palliative Care.

Good day, BusyBSN:

There appears to be several "Fundamentals Success by Patricia Nugent." Do you have a specific link or ISBN?

Thank you.

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Specializes in Hospice, Palliative Care.

Thank you!!!

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Trauma.

The most important thing you can do is step back and try to figure out what made you fail the tests. If it was a lack of information, find a different way to study or add to ways you already study. If it was because of the format of nursing test questions, try some practice NCLEX questions.

I'm a first semester nursing student, and our Basic Care class requires us to do 50 NCLEX questions before every test. As time consuming as it is, I feel like it helps me a lot!

Everyone finds different ways to study successfully. What I do is read through each chapter once, making note of things that I don't already know. I add those notes into my powerpoints from lecture and then study just those. I know many people who make outlines combining the notes from powerpoints and textbook into one condensed form.

Hope this helps! (:

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