second semester and freaking out!

[nb17]

Hello all! I'm in a diploma program currently in my second of six semesters. My first semester was awesome I was not working and I was only taking Nursing 101 with a math calculations class with a 3.7 gpa overall. Over my winter break I decided to get myself a big girl job as a PCA at a local nursing home working 24 hours a week on third shift. My schedule this semester is jam packed, I have Micro and A&P 2 as well as my nursing 102 class and all three classes have labs! I'm slowly starting to set into panic mode because my course load is so full. I'm starting to get worried I won't be able to stay afloat in school while working. I'm not fully convinced my study techniques will work for this semester, I usually will type up my objectives for nursing and go through my power points typing up what goes with the objective. I start studying a week before my test and I will re-read my power points over and over again, sometimes making flash cards. I will go into my text books but only for the NCLEX questions at the end of the chapters. I'm not worried about anatomy or micro because the courses were set up almost identical to the way my classes were in the college I went to before. But since I only work 3 days a week I usually bring all my homework with me and do it on my shift since it's super quiet. I get all of my work done on my days off during the week and I find myself re-reading my notes on the other days.

It's only been 3 weeks since the start of the semester and my first test is on the 25th. I know many others have gone through nursing school working full times with kids and have done perfectly fine. I busted my butt last semester studying all the time, but since I was not working there was nothing else for me to do. I'm just worried it will be near impossible this semester since I am working and have a full course load! Any advice would be amazing and I hope I didn't confuse anyone!

[direw0lf, BSN]

Time management, time management, time management!

If you haven't yet..make a weekly schedule. Fill in when you wake up, classes, misc family stuff, dinner times, cleaning, work, and STUDY time! Permanent marker in study time! It really helps me to stick to the times. Studying imo has to be done every day not the week before a test. (I wouldn't be able to pass too well or at all if I did that..maybe others can).

I read the nursing books each night and take notes from them. I'll look over the notes I took on the ppt's during lecture and write them in my notebook so I have all my notes together.

Flash cards helped me the most for my science classes. After I took my notes in my notebook, I made flashcards from those notes.

I know it's a lot more time consuming but I've gotten almost all straight A's throughout college.

Just think summer break will be here before you know it..this will be worth it!

[nb17]

I just recently changed my work schedule so I wasn't able to study every day. Last semester I was re-reading my notes when I got home from class which I miss very much! But planning sounds like an awesome idea! I'm so sleep deprived and time management is a struggle BUT Because I know how important it is, I often find myself making more than one calendar. I have a huge one on my study desk, I have a student planner for homework, and then I have another one that plans out tests and work. I wish I had a summer break! We go for another 13 weeks for my spring semester, then I get a week off and jump right into a 10 week summer semester! But I feel as though this semester will be a rough one for me and if I can do it I can get through summer! Thank you for all of your help I really appreciate it!