Mbro5

Thank you so much, joihaylock. I will definitely start using those tips. I need to start getting through my chapters earlier so I have more time to review. That's been my main problem is taking too much time getting through the info and writing notes because there is just so much info thrown at us! Thank you again and I will implement the tips you gave me, good luck with your 3rd semester! You're going to kill it!

I definitely wouldn't say that "nursing school is almost impossible to pass" because it's definitely not. You don't need to be a genius to pass or do well for that matter. A lot of people drop out or fail out because they 1) Don't have the passion to be a nurse for the right reasons and 2) They don't put in the hard work that is needed everyday 100% of the time. As you know, the higher the credit count for a course, the more it counts towards your GPA. I'm sure it is different for some nursing schools, but for mine, A&P was worth 4 credits whereas the main nursing course I am taking is worth 8 credits so getting a B in the nursing class will lower or raise your GPA double that of a B in A&P. So just make sure you are putting your all into your pre-reqs because come nursing school you will need that high GPA because chances are it will drop.

My pleasure. That's great that you already know what works best for you. Reading it, writing it, and verbalizing it are great because you are using 3 different parts of the brain!

I would highly recommend you try different studying styles to see what works best for you. I learned that the hard way.. I was so used to sitting down studying for an A&P exam and just reading lines over and over to memorize, that was a mistake. Memorizing will do nothing if you can't retain it. I found myself in my first week of nursing school struggling to find what worked best for me. To retain information, repetition repetition repetition.. studying a little every day will help you retain that information, not just sitting down for a small session and studying large chunks of information. So you should definitely find what studying style works best for you and use it through the last of your pre-reqs so when nursing school comes around, you will be ready. But enough procrastinating from me and back to studying..

Nursing school requires more hard work and critical thinking than pure book smarts. You'll often see people who worked hard to get a B in their pre-reqs do better in nursing school than the people who got straight As in their pre-reqs. Don't beat yourself down for getting a B on your first exam, just keep studying hard and do better on your next one. I always enjoy telling people one of my favorite quotes... "Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard"... It doesn't help just being naturally smart if you don't put the work in. A hard work ethic is so important in life. Like I said, continue to work hard and it will pay off, trust me. Good luck.

Very good tip, never thought of it like that, thank you.

Thank you very much for that first tip. Didn't even think of that possibility. And another good point, I need to start doing that. I always take notes and get distracted because of it, thank you.

Thank you, I will start reviewing every day.

Thank you for the reply. By repetition do you mean reading/saying it out loud over and over? Because that's how I use memorization, but ofcourse after a certain time that info is gone out of my mind.

Let me start off by saying I should be studying right now but instead I'm using this as a way to procrastinate and for help.. .. and please forgive me for this long paragraph I am about to write.. I am in my first semester and second week of nursing school. I am currently very overwhelmed with all this studying and reading that needs to be done but that's a given. Here in my second week, I am already struggling to keep up with all this reading/studying and not sure what I can do different. I was worried starting nursing school hearing about how 4.0 pre-nursing students often fail out because you need more than just book-smarts. My pre-reqs were a breeze for me, microbiology and A&P were not very difficult for me because I have very good memorization so I basically just studied and memorized everything I needed to know for tests, which ofcourse I have mostly forgotten at this point because I didn't technically "learn" it so to speak. I have never had a lot of common sense and have always had awful critical thinking skills which is one major reason I am worried for what's to come. For an A&P test, all I had to do was memorize 2-3 chapters of information to get an easy A. 2 weeks in I have already been assigned 17 chapters across 4 different books and my first exam will be based off of 35 chapters from 5 different books. The reason I have been struggling is because the past week I have found myself going through the chapters highlighting what's important, then writing down notes and BAM it's the second week and I haven't even done any actual studying of those chapters because all my time has been spent on reading and taking notes. I feel like I've been doing it as fast as I can but still find that I have no time left to actually study. I don't read every sentence, because I was told to skim through the chapters and only highlight what's important to save time. I feel like the third week will come when it's test time and here I am 3 weeks in without any studying because every minute of my time has been spent on reading/writing notes rather than studying. One question I have is how to study effectively for nursing school? Like I said I am so used to just saying lines out loud a few times to memorize it, and I know that won't cut it now because questions on these tests will force you to use critical thinking. I honestly cannot even think of another way to study/learn this mass of information besides the only way I know how.. memorizing. I am sorry for this long rant of complaining/venting. I am just worried and confused on how to make my time better and properly study. Thank you if you have taken the time to read all of this, any tips are greatly appreciated, thank you!

You make a very good point. Thank you for your input

Hello all. I am currently taking my pre-requisites and will hopefully get into the nursing program at my school next fall of 2015. Now, this may be a stupid question, but what is the difference in getting an ADN, then BSN rather than going straight for a BSN? This is my current plan. I go to a community college so the nursing program here is 2 years for the ADN. I've never really looked into any 4 year nursing programs since I changed my major to pre-nursing 2 years into going to this community college. I do 100% plan on going for my BSN. So is it pointless and a waste of time to go through with this 2 year nursing program, then 2 more years at 4 year college for my BSN, or should I go straight for a 4 year nursing program at a 4 year college? Since either way will take 4 years, that's why I'm confused on how it all works lol . Sorry for the long paragraph, thank you for your time to anyone who replies!