Really Frustrated

I have always had a very short attention span, and in high school I barely ever studied because I didn't need to- I still came out in the top 10%.

this became a huge problem for me when I started college and when I didnt study during my first year, I failed psychology. When I took psychology for the second time last semester, someone told me that writing notes on yellow and green paper helps you retain information.

so this might sound like a really childish thing to do, but its helped me through lvn school! I usually set aside 30 min to an hour a day (usually in the am after a huge cup of coffee) to turn off everything and just focus on studying, and I really go crazy with the highlighters. every color of the rainbow... but it works! Im serious! I cant sit there and stare at a bunch of words, but when i use different colored pens and highlighters and paper, it becomes somewhat less of a chore and really helps me retain the info.

- study in a place that you are comfortable but not too comfortable to want to nap (library, school or Nobles work great for me, even Starbucks)

- make a simple goals that you want to accomplish, what do you want to study? simply bullet point the subjects that you want to study.

- study what you don't know, what you are not grasping, then with the left over time it is OK to re-enforce learning.

- make sure you are eating right, and enough, make sure that you drink something while you are studying too, so that you keep hydrated!!!

- do not drink too much caffeine, but a little energy to kickstart it is ok.

- study 30 minutes, rest for 3 and when you finish the subject, go ahead and do a few questions on your textbook or an NCLEX book, to re-enforce that you learned

-find your test taking threshold, answer like 50 questions in a row, then go ahead and look at the pattern, when you started getting back to back question wrong, that should be a sign, that you should stop, stretch, take a deep breath and a sip of water (mine is every 16 questions)

- think positively like you are getting things done, not at how much you have left to do!

- don't overkill!!! 3 hours per day, tops 4 at the most should be a limit, (considering you had class as well on the same day) more than 3-4 hours it can make info come into not stick to your head, so then you waste time, patience, and get mad!

- chill.. just chill, just to think that you are not gonna pass, and that the class is hard takes about 5 minutes (at the same time you could have gotten 5 questions answered!!!!) plus, it takes you out of focus...

those are my tips, I am graduating with honors, next Monday is my last day of nursing school!

Thanks you guys! Keep the posts comming. I need all the advice I can get, not just for now, but for later on in the program!

P.s... Guys are so calm. lol

One of my biggest frustrations is having to get up for supplies (pen, highlighter, drug guide, review book, ect..) I bought a square plastic crate, and now before I start, I put everything I need in there, and keep my laptop close too. I've noticed that once everything is right where I need it, all the time, I get more done. I do better later at night, especially when I dont' have class the next day.

Study for an hour, then take a 10 minute break...repeat.

Reward yourself when you study like you want to!

I have this same problem. I am chronically tired and have a hard time concentrating. I find that it's better to break your study time into little chunks. I will refine my notes and just commit to going through them once a day and I do this over the coorifice of many days. Basically, I know I can't cram the night before the exam because I will get too distracted and I won't really study that much so I give myself extra days to make up for my wandering mind.

For me it's really hard to sit down and study as well. Here's what I do:

1) I make a reward schedule for myself when I accomplish my studying goals. I will say that if I study for at least 2 hours/day Monday - Thursday then I can go to the movies, watch Survivor, read a non-nursing related book, play on Allnurses.com, whatever will motivate you to accomplish your goal.

2) I leave my child at daycare throughout the week. I find it's much easier to study without him being here.

3) I set the timer on the stove and tell myself that I will study for only 15 minutes. By the time the timer on the stove goes off, I will be so into studying that I won't want to stop.

4) I do carry around flash cards but writing them out helps me more than flashing through them.

5) I am also a highlighter person....on HUGE papers that hang up in my living room. For instance, when we were studying adrenergic drugs, I drew out a nerve, receptors, etc so that I could map out what each class did. This really helped me UNDERSTAND and not just memorize what they did. I scored the top of my class in that test and can still recall the information.

6) I make up little rhymes to go with the information, this is especially helpful when trying to remember drug names.

Hope this helps you! Remember that when you get too stressed out, take a break, go out there and play with your kids and hit it again when they go to bed!

My exam for fundamentals was a couple of days ago and I still didn't get a good grade. I'm barely passing. I already took this class but because it didn't transfer I had to retake it. I had a "B" on it in my other school. I've been trying to get my BSN for the longest and me having to start over and seeing that my grades are not reflective of how much I know the material is very discouraging. I didn't cram for this exam, I did the questions that went along with the text book, I did NCLEX type questions from other books and still I have no results. I really don't understand how I'm suppose to pass nursing school. I'm at a low "C" right now and I have a comprehensive final in two weeks. What do I do? What am I doing wrong?....I'm seeing that it doesn't matter how much time I put into studying the book because I could know the book in and out and still not pass the test. What NCLEX books would you recommend??? I have Saunders and mosby's. What technique/ strategy do you use to answer test questions??? Please help.