Starting my 1st Semester of Nursing School tomorrow

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:yes: And finally I begin my journey...I am so excited and finally ready to start this chapter of my life. I am going for my AAS and hopefully will transfer RN-BSN after graduation. Anyone can tell me what to expect on the first day of class?? Or better yet First semester, what is it like, how hard is it really? will I breathe eat and sleep nursing books? Ok Enough!! I'm excited ;)
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Specializes in critical care.
:yes: And finally I begin my journey...I am so excited and finally ready to start this chapter of my life. I am going for my AAS and hopefully will transfer RN-BSN after graduation. Anyone can tell me what to expect on the first day of class?? Or better yet First semester what is it like, how hard is it really? will I breathe eat and sleep nursing books? Ok Enough!! I'm excited ;)[/quote']

Your first day will feel incredibly overwhelming. Probably, You'll be given schedules for everything over the semester, and hear about what is required of you. If you'd like to minimize the overwhelmed feeling, bring your calendar. If you're able to do this ahead of time, put your schedule in it before your first day, so if you're a visual learner, you can see how it all fits together. By the end of your first day, you'll likely have more questions than you arrived with. Don't let this overwhelm you. Everyone else will, too.

For your first semester, you'll feel a bit all over the place. You'll probably feel a bit unsure of yourself. You'll probably feel like you'll never get it. Your care plans will start with the worst grades ever. You probably aren't used to getting less than As, but you'll start to feel desperate for Bs. More than once, you'll get something wrong that you just KNOW was right. You'll never feel more thankful for spring break in your life. You'll be terrified of breaking your patients. You'll get quizzed before passing a med, and you'll feel defeated for not knowing all of the answers. You'll feel like you'll never actually feel confident in anything nursing, ever.

Still excited? lol

The good news? Second semester things will feel routine. You'll be slammed still, but your time will feel organized. You won't care about grades as much as you care about understanding, which will get better. You'll still get things wrong that you know are right, but you won't get quite as irritated by it because that's just the way it is sometimes, and frankly both answers were probably right - the one they pick is just MORE right. You'll still feel pretty desperate for a break, and thanksgiving break comes WAY too late, but guess what? Only 2 weeks left to winter break! You won't break your patients. In fact, you'll do more invasive stuff, which will scare you, but you'll know you're going to survive it, and so will they. You'll know what details to brush up on before getting quizzed for a med pass and you'll feel like a rock star when you know your stuff. You will know that your confidence is stronger, but also that there is a lot to learn.

Just remember that there will be a point when you feel that this is all building on already learned concepts. When you reach this point, you will know you'll be okay. Before that point, it's scary. It's stressful. But I do promise you that point will come, as long as you are doing your part to succeed.

Best wishes to you, love.

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Wow I'm in my second week of my first semester and just ready to take the first exam so I can adjust my study plans accordingly.

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Specializes in critical care.
Wow I'm in my second week of my first semester and just ready to take the first exam so I can adjust my study plans accordingly.

I'll be in my first week of my last semester next week and I have an exam on the first day. So much for winter "break"!

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I'll be in my first week of my last semester next week and I have an exam on the first day. So much for winter "break"!

Haha that's cruel, I'm sorry :(

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Specializes in critical care.
Haha that's cruel I'm sorry :([/quote']

It really is!!!!!!!! Total BS! lol In all fairness, it's stuff we should already know, but you know they always sneak in questions from the fine print that you missed the first 8 times you read the stuff.

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Specializes in Hospice.

First semester nearly killed me. I think 2nd semester will finish the job. ;) Just kidding. You'll have fun and mental and emotional trauma but it's par for the course. If it's any consolation, I haven't shed one tear yet.

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Hey guys thanks for the response!! I had my first day of class yesterday and it sure was a lot of information!! I am mostly afraid of the testing style. They continue to reiterate how different it is, and how memorization alone will not get you through the tests, and how all the answers are right, but u have to pick the most right!! Ughhhhh I'm scared!@ lol but I'm ready!

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First semester for me was super exciting, but you definetly feel like at any moment your head will explode. I'm my worst critic so I always wanted to do the best. I had a rough semester...just remember life doesn't stop when your in nursing school and you just have to plug along you can do it! But you make friends for life i start my second semester in a couple weeks and am going to breakfast with my girls from nursing....best tip ever make friends they save your life!!

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I recently graduated, you will learn how to think like a nurse. For me, the F.A. Davis "Success" series was helpful. Practicing questions and reading the rationales until I learned how to choose the "Best" answer. Later in my studies, I would attend lecture and do test questions from the FA DAVIS SUCCESS that corresponded to the lecture material rather than reading hundreds of pages of texts as my time was more limited and I just couldn't read all the assigned reading. I would only go back to the assigned text if there was a part of the lecture I needed to understand better. In the beginning though, I would recommend reading all assigned material BEFORE the lecture so you can ask questions if you need to and forming a study group was also very helpful. Often my friend would ask me to explain something, I was able to explain to her and it also retain the information I might not have been thinking about when I studied. I know she saved my butt more than once when we studied together when I was focused on XYZ for the test and she reminded me ABC was just as important to review.

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Hey guys thanks for the response!! I had my first day of class yesterday and it sure was a lot of information!! I am mostly afraid of the testing style. They continue to reiterate how different it is and how memorization alone will not get you through the tests, and how all the answers are right, but u have to pick the most right!! Ughhhhh I'm scared!@ lol but I'm ready![/quote']

What helped me the most with the question format was, when I did the NCLEX-style practice questions (in books or on the ATI phone app), I looked at ALL the rationales given for each answer, right or wrong. It helped just as much to know why an answer was wrong, and really got me into the habit of finding the "most right" answer. There are also frequently guide words in the question: "What response from the patient indicates a need for further teaching?" (Read: which thing is wrong here?) "What is the nurse's priority action?" (Read: what do you do FIRST?)

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pc2801 can you recommend a specific fa davis book or product for a 1st semester nursing student? I looked on amazon and saw a lot of options.

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