Study help

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Specializes in Hospice & geriatrics.

hello!

i am in my last semester of nursing school:confused:, and am freaking out. somewhere along the road in all these years of classes i feel like i lost my "studyskills". so what i am looking for here is advice, tips, weblinks, and posts on how you study. one of my problems is when i read the text, i highlight everything, i cannot pick out the important stuff, because it all seems important. how do you take notes from what you read and put it into "your own terms" ? how do you formulate questions to putm on flashcards? these are just a couple questions i have been asking of how others study, any help appreciated! btw the classes i will be in this semester are psych, advanced med-surg, and community nursing. thanks much- beckster:nurse:

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got about text reading and highlighting was this: Use two colors. One color is for what you will SEE - assessment data, diagnostic test results, etc. The other color is for what you will DO ABOUT IT - which pretty much outlines your nursing interventions. Since doing this my grades have improved greatly and tests are much less stressful.

I don't do notecards. I do use a spiral to make my own drug cards and review them often. I also use apps on my iPhone that let me answer NCLEX style questions on specific topics (purchase the ones that go with what you are studying this semester) and has the rationales etc.

Good luck!

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there's nothing to make you learn a subject like teaching it. that's why i always had my students teach one post conference a quarter. if your program doesn't offer you this opportunity, put together a study group of four or five and sign up to teach each other something. i promise you that 1) you will learn it well; 2) your classmates will learn from you really well; and 3) you'll learn whatever they teach really well too.

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Specializes in Hospice & geriatrics.

Thank you for the tips!I do hope to be in a study group, and will also try the two highlighter thing!

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This is a really boring and tedious way to study, but it really works for me! (This isn't the only way I study, but some of the others have already been mentioned above) I just write information that I need to know/memorize over and over. Even if it's pages and pages of notes. Typing works well, too, but I think it just sticks better if I handwrite something. Like I said, not exactly the funnest, but it gets the job done! :)

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

I have done that too and for certain things it definitely works. Normal lab values. Conversions. Excellent for those types of things.

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