gisellev2012

My school: First semester: Lab simulator & Cardiac Arrest Unit Second semester: Psychiatry & Stroke Unit Third semester: Maternity & Pediatrics Fourth semester: Med Surg & ICU Fifth semester: Seminar & Community Wellness And then after that, I have no clue :) But I am planning after this year, to do an internship at a hospital!

I swear, I read this and it was like I was reading about myself. I feel the exact same way. I'm about to be 20, in a month and I really couldn't describe it any better. I didn't stay in my hometown, I actually moved out of the country. I go to school in Puerto Rico, and coming here was both the best/worst thing I've ever done in my entire life. I'm back to my roots, but I feel empty. Vine videos, YouTube, Grey's Anatomy and House have been great great friends to me. :) Let me know if you need any support :) You got a friend a few thousand miles away.

Hey y'all! I just finished my first year of college, and I seriously do not know how I managed to finish with a few C's and a bunch of A's and B's. My study skills are literally in the crapper. I can't focus, and I certainly can't read and highlight stuff for the life of me. High school really wasn't challenging me, but college is a hole 'nother thing. I would like to know what you guys do to study? I have a bunch of really important courses now, and I cannot afford a GPA below 3.5. Can y'all help me out? I will try anything and everything y'all throw at me! Take care & God bless

Alright, here we go! 1- Remember to breathe. I don't know how many times I freaked out and cried over the amount of things that kept piling up. I remember I had to encourage myself multiple times. 2- Study group- Find hardworking and dedicated people and make a study group. I found that if you find people with the same intelligence level as you, or higher, you'll end up debating while studying and that is the best tool while studying. You can prove your point, even show 'evidence' in the text book or class notes. I highly recommend this! 3- 'Repaso' before test- In Puerto Rico, they use the word 'repaso' for literally everything. It's a basic review. You make your own, and write anything and everything you want on it. Including keywords, processes, answers, tidbits, anything! You do this on either a word document, or if you're as visual as me, computer paper. Then if you and your study group are really close knit like I had, you can share and even divide parts of the chapters. (Lord knows that there are LOTS of chapters. Especially Biology!) 4- Don't slack off in labs- You may think that labs are super easy, but those babies can make or break you. Over here we only had 2 partial tests and the individual labs including lab write ups. And that's it. If you didn't understand it, then you'd be extremely screwed. 5- Enjoy the little things- Cancelled class, test moved to another date, professor doesn't feel like teaching, holidays, and weekends are definitely going to be your best friends. I'm not saying slack off the entire day, but take 2-3 hours of studying, then take that day and make it yours! Be collegy! But I don't recommend getting crazy.. 6- Calendar/planner/phone- Use anything you can to plan it out! You will need it! If not, random things are going to pop out of nowhere and they'll freak you out. 7- Study at least 1 week before an exam- I should probably take my own advice.. 8- Do not be afraid to ask questions- Professors can either be your best friends or your worst enemies when it comes to classes. I'm not saying suck up to them, but follow these rules. Be nice, courteous, on time to class, participate, ask questions, and I swear that they will help you out if you ever need that tiny tiny little point to curve your grade. 9- Essential supplies- Pens, notebooks, plastic cover sheet things, highlighters, sticky notes (like a billion), computer paper (I used 6 reams this year...), printer, binders, pencils, erasers, and anything creative you want to invest in! 10- Keep all material that you know you'll need later- Like 2nd semester of biology. Which consists of the human body! Psychology notes, and anything you may feel you need for future courses. Buy a big industrial size binder and just keep filling that baby up with good knowledge and reference material that you will use later on! 11- Be yourself and have FUN!- This is your time. This is what career you chose. Have fun :) I just finished my first year, and I know that there are a LOT more stuff that I forgot. But basically, enjoy yourself and cherish this beautiful journey that you are about to experience. I wish you all the best of luck and best wishes too! --

I think I'm going to keep it old school. With a laptop, you can't make yourself little side notes or little stars/asterisks/etc to remind you that 'HEY this is on the exam' or 'HEY you might wanna know this'. Plus, with pen and paper, you can use highlighters, different colored pens, markers, sticky notes, and basically anything and everything to help you retain information. I usually wrote all over the page and it looks like a rainbow by the time class is over. I don't know if I'm the only one but it is super helpful! Best wishes to all!

GPA in high school- 3.5 GPA before nursing school- 3.2 GPA during nursing school- I pray to God it's higher than what I got right now!