study habits

driving85 · Oct 14, 2008

When I was in school, I would take notes in lecture. Then, after lecture, I would do something called "whipping" my notes. I would sit down for an hour after lecture and review everything we had just talked about. I did that every week.

Then, a week or so before the test, I would begin to re-write my notes into a typed (because I'm anal-retentive like that) study guide. I learn best by writing, so this gave me a chance to really review my notes and see what I didn't necessarily get. I would also incorporate the end-of-chapter bullet points from my text books into my study guide.

The weekend before the test, I had a study group that met for breakfast and reviewed. That way, the studying wasn't all about seriousness. We were able to get together and commisserate about what was going on in our lives. I loved care plans, and no one else really did, so I would often come early to help people with their care plans. After care plan time, we would spend about 2 hours just reviewing our notes, identifying problem areas, and talking about ways that we had learned to remember things.

KEaFutureRNHopefully · Oct 14, 2008

I just started but what has worked well for me so far has been taking notes along with the powerpoint and reading all those little tables in my books.

I make flashcards for most tables such as clinical manifestations and I usually carry them around.

With study guides I make 2 versions.. In one version I type up the answers, compare with a few buddies and add info or tweak if their answers are better. With the other I keep it blank and try to handwrite the answers to it. It's the repetition of writing the answer that works out for my study style. For me, when I'm writing the answers over and over it gets to the point where I don't need to write the entire answer.. all I need to write is a few letters from an entire paragraph and the rest I have memorized.

Other study tips:

**Make a care map for diseases you need to know

**Form study groups (Play a nursing style Jeopardy whoever wins gets a water, whoever loses gets to keep practicing! ) I'm the teaching type, I learn by teaching other people

**A bunch of my classmates do this and I think I will pretty soon.. Tape your lectures on a digital voice recorder or what have you and burn it onto a CD or put it on your MP3 player and listen to it during your drive, when you're studying or whatev'.. I'm sure it helps.

**Study somewhere different. Like a library, park or coffee shop. (Library=>quiet, Park=>Sun=>Vit D, Coffee shops=>Coffee)

**Keep positive!

***** Learned this the hard way.. When/If you split a study guide.. Make sure you review their info too... Just because your friend did it does not mean that it's complete or correct. Leave enough space b/w finishing the study guide and the test to check your friend's answers.

**

jtksmith31 · Oct 15, 2008

Thanks, I will try all of those options, the only one I cannot do is tape the lecture, we are not allowed(imagine that) maybe they do not want to know if they tell us something wrong or indifferent, and believe me we were told wrong info on more than one occasion.

driving85 · Oct 15, 2008

We weren't allowed to tape lecture either. The instructors' rationale was that when students were allowed to tape lectures, some groups of friends would take turns coming to class and taping lectures for those who chose not to come. With the no taping rule, if you want to hear the lecture, you have no choice but to show.

jtksmith31 · Oct 15, 2008

That would be unwise not to come to class, I know all the money I spend to go to nursing school I would not miss a class unless I had a fever of 105.There are to many questions to be asked during class. If people do that they obviously do not want to become a good nurse.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Oct 15, 2008

see the study tips on these websites:

those websites are posted along with others on this sticky thread:

https://allnurses.com/forums/f205/study-strategies-254733.html - study strategies

something i have discovered with computers is that i can utilize them so much to study. i copy notes directly into a open file from my books as i am reading. i can save and print it out later if i want--and it's legible and spell-checked! i have created my own flashcards which i use on the computer and seldom print out anymore. i found a way to hide and reveal the information on flashcards in files. and i have the coolest flashdrive/portable memory on a lanyard around my neck that goes with me everywhere it has a copy of my files so i can plug into any computer anywhere and i'm in business. it also has music and a couple of movies stored on it. in my him classes which are in computer labs, if an interesting document is presented on screen it is easy to merely save a copy of it to the flashdrive and i have it forever. i was one of the original purchasers of the apple ii back in the early 80s. i love computers.

spongebob6286, BSN, RN · Oct 15, 2008

when I was studying, I would just listen to the lectures of professors, take down some important notes. when I get home, I read those notes.then I really read books because you really need to go back to the book. what were presented in the slides were summarized already. and I used atleast 3 references.

TeleRN44 · Oct 16, 2008

I'm in my first semester...what they call the "Honeymoon semester"...but next semester, regardless of whatever the policy is on recording lectures, I plan on recording my lectures. I'll be taking foundations in nursing, pharmacology, nutrition and pathophysiology.

I can't come up with a perfectly good reason why I can't record ME reading MY notes so I can listen to them on the 30 minute drive to school and then the 30 minute drive home again. Seems like a waste of a perfectly good hour...and it'll save me some money too! Out of boredom, I've been calling everyone I can think of and went WAY over my minutes on my cell phone.