Pre-test anxiety or just disorganized?

[maracuya]

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 :-(

[stuart2994]

study a week or two earlier thats what i do i tend to procrastinate a lot so i give myself a lot of time

[SopranoKris, MSN, RN, NP]

Make your timer your best friend. Set it for 30 minutes and study. When the timer goes off, take a 15 minute break, throw some laundry in the wash and then study for another 30 minutes. Keep doing this until you're done with your study time. I find breaking up studying into manageable chunks makes it much easier to get through a lot of chapters.

Good luck to you! :)

[Vallywillis]

I think everyone is different and you have to find what works for you. Though, I would recommend you find a way to keep yourself super organized. I did charts for all of my studying and kept them organized by chapter and color coded (but that is just me). I never did my reading before lecture (I read at my own pace) and I finished nursing school with a 4.0, but then again, I didn't have an exam every week, so if that had been the case it is possible I would have been ahead on my reading. What always worked for me was to work at my own pace, and to not listen to what other people were doing or how far ahead they were because this would cause me anxiety, but I learned pretty early on what worked for me. As for your test anxiety, I think that is normal. I had anxiety before every exam. If you are passing and doing relatively well, I say just tweak a couple things (like being more organized) and continue on...if you are failing or bordering failing, then maybe it is time to reassess your studying tactics.

Good Luck!