Please Share Your 5 Most Effective Study Strategies

Nursing Students General Students

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I'm starting a 12-month ABSN program in January 2010 and I would like to know what works best for studying in nursing school. In my pre-requisites I have found that reading the book is pretty ineffective and that I learn the material much better by actively engaging with it (study group, flashcarding, watching educational videos on CD, using practice study figures...you get the idea). All ideas appreciated!

1)Read the chapter and highlight important points. Then re-read and take notes. Think about the concepts as you read about them.

2) Ditto to the recommendations to practicing N-CLEX questions (especially by Med-Surg 2.)

3) Don't fall behind. I set weekly goals of what I need to get done by the end of the week and hang a list on my bulletin board that I can check off.

4) Get a good care plan book/books.

5) In our program, we are required to fill out a medication grid for each care plan that includes several types of information about the meds we are giving to a particular patient: name, action, class, side effects, nursing considerations, dosage etc. Some patients are on 20-30 meds! Doing this grid can take hours to complete. SO:

If you are computer savvy, start a master list of meds that you can cut and paste. It will save you time.

Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

1. Study every single day, even if it's just for a few minutes.

2. Take advantage of 5/10/15 minute bits of time to study, as they can add up to hours at the end of the day. Have flashcards, notes, recordings of lectures, etc. handy.

3. Learn the vocabulary terms from each chapter.

4. Get NCLEX books, look up the subject you're currently covering in class, and do all the practice questions you can.

5. NEVER cram the night before a test--more often that not it doesn't work.

I have a lot more than those but you only asked for 5 ;) But other replies have covered most of them so it's all good

1. Flashcards are huge. You can't critical think if you don't know concepts and terms. I use Iflipr and put the flashcards on my ipod touch and take theme everywhere.

2. Study groups. Small works better for me. One of my instructors put it great. When your teaching someone else the material you are learning also. They also motivate you when you don't feel like studying

3. Read before class. Just the powerpoints didn't work for me, we have instructors who were good for testing on material from one of those little boxes in the chapter that wasn't mentioned anywhere on the powerpoints.

4. NCLEX or my nursing lab questions.

5. Take notes as you read.

I was barely passing after the first three exams. After I got my study routine down..... My average shot up. You really have to find what works and stick to it...

Specializes in School Nursing.

1. Learn the steps to the nursing process and know the ABC's of assessment. Just those two things will give you the right answer on many test questions even if you have no idea about the subject.

2. Be neurotic about organization. Make your own study guides and file them in a neat, orgranized manner where you can easily find them when it is time for the final, or to cross-reference in other classes (example, my pharm instructor gave a wonderful diagram to explain the autonomic nervous system. I referred back to it for Med/Surg when we were learning cardiac and also in psych for the psych drugs).

3. As others have said, nclex prep books and flashcards are your friends. I also like the Memory Notebook of Nursing series if you can get your hands on them. They are illustrated and very handy if you are a visual learner.

4. Make an effort to learn the material, not just memorize facts for the test. You need to know this stuff many many years from now. It is not like History or something you can memorize for the test and forget immediately after. As hard as it is, you gotta learn it!

5. Make sure you are taking care of yourself. Eat right, SLEEP, and get some fresh air and exercise. Nursing school is not the time to start a new workout regime or crash diet, but you do have to take care of yourself. Think of it as nurturing your brain. Make sleep a priority and protect it like a mama bear protecting her cubs. Let no one or nothing interfere with your rest. Take one day per week to not even look at or think about nursing and try to hang with people other than classmates on that day.

Oooo I forgot something that was helpful for organization.

As other people have mentioned, keeping track of everything that's do can be more overwhelming than the assignments themselves. One of my classmates combined all the assignments in the syllabi and put them together on a chart- one week per page. I copied her idea and it was really helpful in keeping track of things and since I was only looking at one week at a time I didn't get too overwhelmed. Tests and quizes were in bold, readings were in a separate column from projects and assignments.

Also, MODS: Can we sticky this?

Specializes in Med surg, Public Health, School Nursing.

1. Study small portions of notes at a time. Don't take all the notes from one lecture and study it all at once. You won't remember it. I study a bit one day. The next day I go over the stuff I studied the day before and then I go a bit further. Eventually I've looked at everything at least 5 times. If I can't remember the stuff I looked over the previous day I have another chance to review it. Repetition is your friend.

2. Don't wait until the last minute to study. It's too much material.

3. I come up with study questions from the notes/powerpoints. I go through the notes when I get them and write questions about the information. I set that aside while I'm studying. When I think I'm done I try to answer the questions to gauge how much I've retained. If I can't remember the answer to a question I know I need to look at that part again.

4. Making charts helped me. Our professor suggested it and it really works. Instead of reading everything on the powerpoint over and over I separate the information into charts so it's spread out and makes more sense. I'm a visual learner so when I'm taking the test I can visualize where the information was on the chart and hopefully remember the answer.

5. Actively reading the textbook. Reading page after page doesn't work. At least not for me. While I read I take notes either on the powerpoint page that goes along with the information or on a seperate sheet of paper. If you take notes while you're reading you won't have to keep reopening your book to clear up information on the powerpoint/notes.

6. Know you asked for 5, but I've learned that reading information out loud and hearing it read back to me helps me remember it more. Grab a family member and ask them to simply read the information to you or ask you questions. It works if you're an auditory learner as well, which I guess I am.

I took my last final for the semester yesterday (made a B!!!!). Will start my last semester of Nursing School in Jan!!!!!!!

This is what helps me the most......rewrite the notes/power points... "Make you notes your own!!!" If you don't understand a concept read about it, write it out and draw pictures...we just finished Endocrine and I had Pituitary glands,thyroid and adrenal glands ALL OVER my notes to help me understand Primary/Secondary disorders!!!

Also...buy a white board..whatever size and dry erase markers.... you can draw pics to help each other understand concepts in study groups!!!!!! Also it's good for Dose/Cal..do a problem, erase it and do another one!!!! Also for ABG's!!!!!

I hope some of my tips can help someone!!!!!! HAPPY STUDYING!!!!! :yeah:

Specializes in ER, ICU, Education.

Not a student anymore, but these are the tips my students say they have found most helpful:

Auditory learners: download or buy an audio book. For example, the Prentice Hall Reviews and Rationales series can be found on itunes in this format. Also, record lectures if allowed by your professor and play back later. Also, read the key points of the book into a recorder, and save that as an mp3 to play back on commutes or while exercising, etc. Make up a silly song about interventions or a disease process to a popular tune. Check out itunes and itunes U for great podcasts in nursing. You never know when a subject you've had difficulty with will make sense hearing it presented in a different manner.

Visual learners: Make a chart for each disease process or study area with the key areas that NCLEX tests on. Consider using a book like Lippincott's visual atlas or anything with funny pictures, or draw your own. View a lot of Youtube videos (also try youtube for educators). Look at the website for your textbook resources, many have great pictures or video.

Kinesthetic learners: if possible, picture a patient you have had with this disorder, or picture how a patient would appear. What procedures/skills would you expect to use in caring for this patient? Act out the steps, preferably using the equipment.

Everyone: as mentioned, NCLEX review questions, flashcards or studystacks. DO NOT cram. It doesn't help your retention, and nursing information is so different. It takes time to assimilate and process it fully. This has already been mentioned, but if you can teach a concept to someone else, then you truly understand it. Have a good understanding of pathophysiology. Without that, you are really just memorizng and not truly understanding.

Good organization is really key. I love Microsoft OneNote for this purpose. You can organize by lecture, even importing any key links, powerpoint slides, audio, etc. You can organize by class also.

Especially important for seniors: start practicing for NCLEX. Start small, with a half hour of question practice, building up to taking at least 265 questions by the time you graduate. Then, if you only get 75, it will seem so much easier when you've already practiced for the worst.

Specializes in acute rehab, med surg, LTC, peds, home c.

1. Flashcards-read them out loud repeatedly.

2. Take good notes and study them while making flash cards of the important stuff.

3. Read the key points at the end of the chapter and all the tables in the chapter.

4. Concentrate on the things that covered in both #2 & 3.

5. Read your notes out loud while you are studying.

Specializes in CVICU/ER.

Nothing personal, but I can't do flash cards. They waste my time and I don't get any use out of them.

Read to learn, not to read. You have to read and actively engage in the material. I can't memorize to save my life, but if I understand how something works, I never forget it. Nursing school is application of theory. For instance, if you look at a heart, it's a pump. Remember the anatomy of the heart, what the function is and when you think about a certain side of heart failure, without memorizing you can figure out what is going on.

Study groups? Find people you can study with. I started out with a bunch my first term of nursing school. I had to cut a lot of dead weight. You can't let others drag you down in class. If it works for you to study with somebody that is great. If you can't study with them or don't study alike or they are keeping you back while wasting time, cut the weight. I studied with one guy all 3 semesters so far. We learn and study alike and it just works. When I study with others, I don't learn as much. You will find out who studies the same way and who doesn't.

Lastly, in clinical jump right in. Make sure even if you don't know how to do something, have somebody show you with YOU doing it. It makes the instructor like the fact that you are motivated and want to learn as well as teach you something in the process. When you are scared to do something, that is when you make mistakes.

Good luck to you.

Specializes in Ortho, Neuro, Surgical, Renal, Oncology.

In the margin of the book, rephrase and/or write the summary of what you read. This helps with retention.

This is what helps me:

1) NCLEX review questions (Saunders is a good one 4th edition)

2) Read chapters before attending class

3) Be very attentive during lectures because teachers tend to highlight the key info needed for the exam.

4) Study group (large study groups dont seem to help me, try to limit to just a few people)

5) Reviews (my teachers offered reviews which was just NCLEX questions focused on the material we covered the previous week in class) Definitely helps!

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