Somethingcreative

Here's what I'd do. Make an organized timetable stating what you need to get done in one day and what can wait. Then you'll be able to see just how much time there is to study for your NCLEX.

Hehe it's crazy in CJ. You'd be surprised how much we have to read each week. The answer to how I get that all done is simple: I start a day or 2 before the actual reading is assigned and each day I read about 20-35 pages everyday (which takes 2-3 hours/day) and that is more than enough time for me to cover a 1 week span usually given for each exam and have an outline set up for my review. The key is not to read fast but to understand the material, I highlight materials I don't get so I can go back to it when I make my outlines. Or If I'm really really behind because I felt lazy I make up for it by waking up early at 6 to 7 Am then reading before I go to work or school at 9.

Thank you everyone. I agree with you all, sorry sometimes I think I'm Superman and think I can do everything at once. As rrkeni and traveler2bee have mentioned this is about ME right now. However, I still plan on doing everything I mentioned but ONLY if I have free time. Also, yes I will be applying to other schools too because wherever I end up I'll still have my enthusiasm and dedication to become a nurse. Nonetheless, I'd prefer if I could stay in this school because my goal is not just to become a nurse but to become a great nurse (someone who can adapt and do well at any kind of environment) and I believe this school can offer that to me based on my one semester experience and what a few head nurses have told me. P.S. I'm sorry to hear about what happened to you traveler2bee. I can't even imagine how that must have been. I'll pray that you get a second chance at nursing, it's a wonderful profession. Not many careers offer you the opportunity to go home everyday knowing that you've just helped save/change a life.

Here's what I do: 1. I read the chapter one time fully, making sure I understood the content. 2. I highlight information on the book that we went over on lecture and stuff that I think will be on the test.. think what if I was making this test what would I want my students to know. 3. I outline the all the highlighted information. This works! I'm able to downgrade memorizing and understanding 200+ pages of info into 20-25 pages of OUTLINED and SIMPLIFIED pages. Also this is the perfect way of studying for final exams!!! It sure beats out re-reading all the chapters. Instead of re-reading a billion pages for your finals just re-read the 75-100 pages of outlined notes. 4. I record all the lecture. Before the day of the exam and after reading all the chapters I listen to the recording and I pick out things that the teacher emphasizes on and things I didn't know. I write these things down on a piece of paper and look them up to make sure I understand. This has worked for me so far, though I am not a nursing student right now I imagine it's the same (I'm a Criminal Justice Major). My lowest grade so far is a 90%. Good luck, I realize this takes a lot of time but I always find that one week is more than enough for me to accomplish all this.

I feel for you. I know exactly what you are going through. Stay strong and don't loose sight of your goal. Don't give up now that you've gotten so far. Anytime I felt down and out I thought about the reasons why I am going through this and that was because of my family and my dream of becoming a nurse. Good luck you can do it! :)

Thank you everyone, I will take everyone's advice and apply to other schools also. I'm not too worried about them making me a target, I say BRING IT ON lol. The reason why I wanted to stay in this school is because I have family members in this school too and I want to help guide them throughout their school year because right now I'm tutoring them too. Also, I'm planning on applying to become a term leader so that I can help incoming students who might have the same problems that I did, a year and half ago.

Thank you so much Julz. Hopefully the dean has a heart like yours too, my teachers were cold they couldn't understand what you just said . You know when I told my teacher that I was having personal problems all she said was "well then you should have dropped out". I almost walked out on her, oh well the past is the past . If anything my experience that year made me that much more stronger and determined.

Hello everyone. First off I just want to thank everyone in advance for reading this. I'll try to make it short... A year and a half ago, I was dismissed from the nursing program (my first semester) because of 2 failing grades (79.4, 78%) 80% is passing. I failed partly because I was having personal problems and financial problems that semester. So bad that I wasn't even sure if I could attend nursing school next semester even if I did pass. Also, 2 of my family members became very sick and it just added more stress . And to be honest I didn't exactly know how to study for a nursing exam and how to handle the stress. I was doing pretty well until the midterm semester. In fact I was getting 92% and 84% on both subjects, I passed the mandatory ATI exam with flying colors, as well as the mandatory laboratory head to to exam and procedures exam... then everything happened at midterm. My exam grades sank faster than the titanic and I panicked, so bad that I started to get an average of 2 to 3 hours of sleep a day. I managed to get a 94% and 86% on my final exams and the 94% was enough to get me over the 80% mark for one of my subjects but I forgot to do my clinical paper (don't even ask me how) and that dropped me below the passing grade. I asked the teacher if I could turn it in 1 day late but she said "absolutely not", I guess I can't blame her but she was a bit heartless... Anyways, I went on appeals process. That was a complete complete complete disaster, I have no idea what I even said and all I remember is what I said didn't make sense at all probably because I couldn't sleep the night before and I was so nervous. Not surprisingly I was denied re-entrance... So I figured I have to prove myself again to the dean. In response: (1) I switched to another major... Criminal Justice Major at the same school and so far I have a 4.0 GPA for my current major. I chose criminal justice because I plan to become a paralegal nurse someday. (2) I spoke to one of the four vice presidents (a former dean herself) of the school and she said that she would let me back in the program but her powers are restricted only to letting people back into the University and not to specific programs. So what she did was write me a recommendation letter telling current dean that I have worked hard and asking her to reconsider the appeal boards advice. (3) I've also received the support of one of my former nursing teacher who said that she will write me a recommendation letter to get back into the program.. My academic adviser will also write me a letter. (4) I've also worked on all the topics that I had a problem with and I have documented it as proof which will be able to show to the dean. (5) I will be writing my own personal letter. Telling the dean why I feel I should get back into the program, How I've changed and what are the guarantees that the same thing will not happen again. Is there anything else I should include? So to make it short. What do you think my chances are of getting back into the program, would you accept me back? Does the 4.0 GPA for Criminal Justice even matter because it's not nursing? Also, is there anything else I should do? Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it. :loveya: