Please share your tips for new students...

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So 2 more days...and I'll officially be a NEW student! I'm sooo excited!!! I haven't been in school since HS...only 7 yrs ago!

Please share your tips for studying, organization, procrastiantion and anything else you'd like to add!

Thanks!

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Specializes in med surg/tele.
Please share your tips for studying, organization, procrastiantion and anything else you'd like to add!

If you find yourself struggling at the beginning of your first semester, run, do not walk, to your school's nursing tutor. He/she can help you with A&P, dosage problems, skills, etc.

Also, please know that your instructors understand you're scared witless. They were nursing students once, too, and those Level 1 instructors are old hands at turning frightened nursing school newbies into seasoned graduates.

Find or form a study group. They'll not only help get you through the exam...they'll be a shoulder you can lean/cry on when the baby's sick and you can't make clinical, you fail a skills checkoff, have trouble with DH or your teenager, etc.

Thousands and thousands have graduated nursing school ahead of you. If they can do it, you absolutely can!

Best to everyone! :balloons:

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Congrats on going back to school!

The first thing I would recommend is to figure out your learning style. There are all sorts of free inventories online where you can answer some questions and they'll tell you your learning style and ways to maximize your study time.

The other general tip is to try to stay ahead, not just keep up....especially in your reading. If you do a search on your school's website for your Prof's name and the course number, often you can get a copy of their syllabus and start reading even before class starts. Reading ahead helps you in a bunch of ways; first and foremost, it exposes you to concepts before your teacher lectures on them. This allows you to understand more in class and prepares you to ask intelligent questions, but also when life happens during the term (as it inevitably will) and you start to fall behind a bit....you won't be behind, just caught up. :)

Good Luck!

Peace,

Cathie

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Specializes in Emergency.

Hello,

I started nursing school after being out of school since 1986...

I actually found that a little age and maturity really help for tough curriculums. I never could have done this fresh out of HS.

Some things I found helpful are:

1. Try to read the scheduled lecture before it is given.

2. Organize your handouts, etc by test.

3. Sometimes the textbooks are confusing so I looked for supplemental books to help me understand the subjects (the Prentice-Hall series on Nursing is a great resource.)

4. Get a good NCLEX review book to help you with answering test questions.

5. If you do well in group study, find a group who actually studies, and get together regularly.

6. For lab and practical skills, work with a group to practice.

7. I converted an extra bedroom in our home into an office so I could separate myself and concentrate.

8. Do not wait until the last minute to cram for tests!!!!

9. Make a schedule for yourself for studying, and stick to it.

10. Although school will take up most of your waking hours, ALWAYS set aside some time for yourself to spend with friends and family doing something fun. It will preserve your sanity.

11. Ask LOTS of questions. Schedule appointments with your instructors if you need help with a subject.

12. Remember that a "C" average is all you need to pass...Do NOT get hung up on making straight A's (GPA means nothing when you look for a job, only your posession of a degree/diploma).

Hope this helps!

Also, use this site...It's a great resource!

Amy

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Specializes in Cardiac Care.

This are my tips for what it's worth:

-Online classes and accelerated classes helped me get through my lower division faster.

-Use ratemyprofessor.com for advice on teachers.

-Keep your syllabus' you made them if you transfer and need to challenge a requirement.

-Setup time to study daily and then a study day to organize and prep for the coming week.

I agree with Amy regarding grades but only after you are accepted in to a program. I'm on a point system and GPA counts.

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Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.

If you were a successful student in high school, try to do the same things you did then that helped you be that way.

If you were NOT a successful student in HS, then do the opposite!! ;)

I know that sounds pretty simplistic, but I went back to school full-time and seriously when I was in my 30's. I had 3 kids ranging from elementary school age to high school. When I looked at my HS transcripts during that time, I about died -- I barely passed my junior and senior years. My parents must have been crushed but I don't remember that.

When I started toward a degree, I was in a different place mentally. I was serious about my education, willing to place priorities on what was important -- meaning that geeez, sometimes my social life took a backseat (something I NEVER would've done in high school!), and I thrived.

Stay on top of the homework and reading, and don't hesitate to seek out help. Your instructor, college labs, counselors, etc., are there to help you become the most successful college student you can be. You'll do great and probably find that you LOVE being on a campus again!!

Best wishes!!

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Hello everyone! I start my LPN program in less than two weeks. I was wondering what I should be studying to be ahead of the game when school starts.

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So 2 more days...and I'll officially be a NEW student! I'm sooo excited!!! I haven't been in school since HS...only 7 yrs ago!

Please share your tips for studying, organization, procrastiantion and anything else you'd like to add!

Thanks!

I too am a non-traditional student. I graduated in '91. My first 2 classes in college were AP I and II, OUCH. I found that taking notes, anything instructor repeats or writes on the board went into my notes. I also found that after our first test I gathered what I found to be the best test takers and started a study group. Keep the group small so you don't feel overwhelmed or like you can't ask questions. NO MATTER HOW SILLY you think a question is that rises in your head, ASK IT. Chances are if you are thinking it, so is someone else who might be too frightened to ask. My final piece of advice is relax. The more stressed you get the less you will retain. Treat yourself to some type of treat each week you are in school. Even if it is just going to a coffee shop and reading a book, unrelated to school. Take care of yourself and you will see it will get you A LONG way through all this.

GOOD LUCK>

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Good luck you guys!!! I am in my 2nd and last year for my degree.. a few things I have learned along the way are these...

1) Be nice to your group.. I don't care if you think she is stuck up/dumb/mean ect.. Help each other.. you will need each other!! See someone trying to do a lift on there own, and your in the hall? JUMP IN

2) thank your nurses and instructors.. you might not think so.. but sometimes them taking "just a minute" to explain something to you takes more time then they have.. with that said..

FEED THEM! Easiest way into the floors heart. if you have clinicals 2x a week and there are 10 of you each of you take a week, on the last day of the week bring in food for the nurses and for you guys for your post-conf. Even if it is just a veggie tray or chips.. it shows you know they are helping you.

3) Get away from your house! I can't study at my place... and guess what, most people study better anywhere else too.. you stop "just for a min" to pay your bills, wash your dishes, ect. Tell yourself I am going to the library/coffee house/ect for 2 hours then do it.

4) Use all of your resources.. yeah your books have Cd's in them.. pull them out.. I know that more than 1/2 my class of 120 didn't (so they could sell the book back) but guess what? Some times as many as 10 of the questions on our test were from them!!!

With that being said.. Good luck! Enjoy yourselves. Be open to new opportunities! Jump in! And hey, be proud of being a beginner! Never inserted a Foley? Try! Don't be afraid to look inexperienced or foolish! Just remember: Professionals built the Titanic, an amateur built the Ark!

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2) thank your nurses and instructors.. you might not think so.. but sometimes them taking "just a minute" to explain something to you takes more time then they have.. with that said..

I don't agree to thanking instructors as to help out the way things are in clinical. I find it more challenging to occur when communicating more toward the instructor than to slightly communicate as necessary.

Here's a scenario: You inserted a foley cath to a patient at date/time and procedure was done correctly once check pt ID, order, and documentation 10cc luer lock, sterile gloves, foley kit, foley french size/consistency/color/amt after procedure. Assess the site

You did all of the above, say, you did all correctly. Kept your sterile field sterile.

However, you didn't communicate with the patient through the procedure because communication to you means, "HERE's what has been ordered, here's what were going to do, here's what you have to help me with during this procedure, and here's what you have to know during the procedure." Simple plain and straight to the point, however, since your instructor don't see that was good enough, she just told your weakness was you didn't communicate very well.

You had just tried to have the pt family to step up of the room without thinking consciously that it might be rude.

I'm sorry, but, the operative word here is "MIGHT BE RUDE." I don't care how rude "IT MIGHT BE." I'm not trying to please the patient and his family.

At the end of the day you were evaluated for the foley insertion, she just told you that you didn't communicate well, and you could have argued, but chooses NOT to would be the best and appropriate action rather than to say thank you!

The point: In the end of the day, to say thank you might not be appropriate at all. I think the instructor should learn that some students DO try their best and they DO NOT plan to mess things up. Students will communicate nicely if they have to, and they will do whatever it takes to get the clinical points. I don't think THANK YOUs would do any favor in this case.

I think rather than plain THANK YOU, also use nursing judgment. Not EVERYTHING instructor have us done is appropriate subject toward helping us to success. Most of them are trying to weed out the bad weed, so the school will have passing rate of 100% which will increase reputation of the school.

Before next time you say thank you, think about what you have thanked for. Instructors aren't all nice enough to thank us, so what are they trying to pull from hearing good things from us? That's just inappropriate. You wouldn't thank your mother if she constantly seek to find some guilt from you, would you?

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