Pre-test anxiety or just disorganized?

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Hi! I'm on my second semester of nursing school which is divided into 2 eight week sessions. This session I'm taking mental health and next session I have med-surg. Just had my first clinical at a mental health hospital this week and it was both interesting and disturbing, but I like it. All things mental health are fascinating to me, I think it's very interesting how the brain works and how we are affected by our environment. Problem is... I can relate to the anxiety.

I'm off on Mondays, clinical all day Tuesdays, lecture (all day same topic) Wednesdays, I'm off every Thursday, and we have an exam every Friday. As you might imagine, everything covered on Wednesdays is game for the Friday exam, so that doesn't leave much time to study. When you consider that after 8 hours of lecture one is already burnt-out well... that leaves just one day... today... to study. Of course, it's not just one chapter, it's aprox 5-6 chapters and all corresponding meds and therapeautic communication, psychotherapies that apply, etc...

My problem is... I drop off the kids at school in the morning and come home, start the coffee pot and say to myself I will start to study by 8 am. I then end up having pain everywhere and diarrhea... shoulders, back, stomach, head... everything hurts. I can't seem to pull myself together. I start looking for lectures on youtube, practicing nclex questions on the subject, or just simply "getting organized" to study . Well... it's already 10 am and I haven't done anything. Don't get me wrong, I have my notes all nice and neat, and started re-reading and reviewing last night. But I feel I have wasted so much time already. Then I start feeling anxious and guilty about not having started earlier. I can't seem to get comfortable anywhere.

I need help! Is it just me, is something wrong with me or is this normal? Does anyone have any advice? I was never like this at work (totally different field) and my grades are up there, the old "I was a 4.0 student until I started nursing school", still I usually get As and Bs but I end up having to stay up all night to study and make up for lost time, then I nap an hour or two, and then get up to go to school and it's driving me nuts, I will go insane before I finish nursing school.

Please share your comments and advice with me, it will really help this anxious newby nursing student. Oh... and I can't do study groups, because... I don't know... I just can't. I feel that nothing gets accomplished. I don't know, maybe I've been with the wrong crowd. Half my classmates last semester didn't make it to second semester :-(

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

I used to go to the library to study. I found being at home to distracting.At least you have a whole day off to study. What about the weekends? I worked 7 days a week and went to school nights so I didn't have the luxury of an entire day to do nothing but study.

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I know, we didn't have whole days to study last semester either. I guess that's a good thing. I've thought about going to the library but at school there's too much people and noise, and at the public library I guess I'm just concerned of what I'll do if I suddenly need to rush to the bathroom :-(

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You're disorganized. Better learn how to study or you might fail NS.

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Yeah, when it comes to sitting down to read and study I'm afraid you may be right, not sure what to do.

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Does your public library not have a bathroom?

You really just need to buckle down and study. That's about the only way to get through it. I was part of a study group and that helped tremendously but it's not for everyone. It depends on your learning style.

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Now is the perfect time for you to learn how to study efficiently! This doesn't come naturally for a lot of people, including myself. It took me several years to get good at this and it may also take you some time to figure out what is best for you. I think you should ask the students who are in the top 10% of your class and see what works for them and then you can pick and choose what works for you. BTW, those students who don't really need to study to get good grades; ignore them since they're naturally gifted. I guarantee they're not the only ones in the top 10% of your class.

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I would say you have pre-test anxiety because you are disorganized ;) One of the things that stood out the most in your set was that you have from lecture Wednesday until test on Friday to absorb multiple chapters. The material you cover on Wednesday you should have already read prior to that particular lecture. I (personal opinion here) think the key to nursing classes (or any classes for that matter) is being AHEAD on the reading...you shouldn't be reading at the pace of the lecturing. Reading ahead allows you to know what areas you don't understand or are fuzzy on, and if those areas aren't adequately covered in lecture, you have time to ask questions and get the material down pat. This was a difficult concept for me when I started back to school, trust me!! But it makes a world of difference :D As far as how you spend your study time, that's something you need to figure out for yourself...everyone is different in how they best study and utilize that time. And don't be so hard on yourself...you're working yourself up into a tizzy and it's affecting what you need to get done! You'll figure it out :) Good luck to you!!

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Ha ha yes they do... but not pleasant to be in a public place when you have sort of ibs.

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Great advice, thank you

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Specializes in L&D, infusion, urology.

Keep everything physically in one place. I find it best to leave the house- I tend to start doing laundry, washing dishes, etc when I study at home. If I'm at Starbucks or the library or something, I'll ask someone to keep an eye on my stuff while I use the restroom if necessary (never had any problems leaving my stuff, but I take my purse and generally my laptop with me).

I keep a written planner with every single assignment written in it. I plan out what I need to work on each day. I also have everything else that's happening in my family (husband's doctor's appointments, son's school events, workouts, etc), so I have a good sense of what's happening in life.

You have more than one day to study- you have the weekends and Mondays at your disposal as well. If you try to cram it all in in one day, you'll set yourself up for failure.

If your kids have sports or something, you can take a textbook with you to do some reading (when they're not actively in the game). I carry a textbook with me almost everywhere, and get in a few pages here, a few pages there. It all adds up.

You should be doing the reading for the next week over the weekend and Monday so that you're ready to go before lecture and clinicals. That will help get you a leg up, and you'll feel more prepared for class. You also won't be trying to study all new material Thursday for Friday's exam. It'll help you focus on what was new, and you can do a quick review of the reading.

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Sounds like the consensus is that you should read the material before lecture. I agree, this helped me know before hand what I was having trouble understanding. If I still didn't understand it after lecture, I'd ask the professor to clarify something. You have a lot of work to do!

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