Study help

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Hey everyone,

So I'm entering my fourth and final semester and I STILL do not have a solid study technique. I guess I've gotten this far (with pretty decent grades, somehow) on God's will and what little I've soaked up from lecture and my current haphazard study habits. I worry about this because this is only the first small step in my plan to become a nurse practitioner; I'm not so naive to think ill be able to make it any further without developing a concrete study method. Granted, I know that everyone studies differently as there are different types of learners but, I thought maybe if quite a few people bounce their habits off one another I could possibly put together a style of my own. So far, I've gathered that I need to first understand the anatomy/normal physiology of the system of the body being discussed THEN focus on what has gone wrong to cause this illness. After I understand these two things, I can then add in nursing dx, medications, interventions, procedures, etc. What can you all tell me from here? Is this along the same lines as what you are doing? Anything to add or even something you do totally different? All responses appreciated.

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Specializes in Hospice, Palliative Care.

Good day:

See https://allnurses.com/pre-nursing-student/advice-how-study-844227-page2.html#post7434647 for what I shared recently; granted it covers my overall study habits.

I'm not as far along as you in your classes, so I'm not sure what else I would add. It reads like you are doing well in terms of understanding physiology and the system first.

Thank you.

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You know, I have just finished up nursing school. I find it is much easier to understand basic body physiology. Hurst and Feuer explained it clearly so I could understand what was happening.

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Good day:

See https://allnurses.com/pre-nursing-student/advice-how-study-844227-page2.html#post7434647 for what I shared recently; granted it covers my overall study habits.

I'm not as far along as you in your classes, so I'm not sure what else I would add. It reads like you are doing well in terms of understanding physiology and the system first.

Thank you.

Thank you, you're very kind for sharing your information.

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You know I have just finished up nursing school. I find it is much easier to understand basic body physiology. Hurst and Feuer explained it clearly so I could understand what was happening.[/quote']

I took my first hurst review in May, I love those guys! They break thinks down in such simple terms.

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The thing is - you are the best judge about how to study in school. You know your abilities and what is expected in your program.

I studied a little differently for each term in school. Some content areas were rote memorization before you could apply concepts (ex: you have to know normals for lab values before interpreting them makes sense). I read or at minimum skimmed before classes, paid attention to charts and images. I went to lecture, absorbed everything (literally) and what I didn't understand in lecture was the stuff I worked on. I spent my junior and senior year leading our study group. It was kind of helpful to talk through concepts with classmates. Doesn't work for everyone, or every topic.

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The thing is - you are the best judge about how to study in school. You know your abilities and what is expected in your program.

I studied a little differently for each term in school. Some content areas were rote memorization before you could apply concepts (ex: you have to know normals for lab values before interpreting them makes sense). I read or at minimum skimmed before classes, paid attention to charts and images. I went to lecture, absorbed everything (literally) and what I didn't understand in lecture was the stuff I worked on. I spent my junior and senior year leading our study group. It was kind of helpful to talk through concepts with classmates. Doesn't work for everyone, or every topic.

Thank you, there's a study group of about 6-7 people in my class (I'm not a part of it). I've tried studying with them before but all they do is NCLEX questions, they don't seem to focus on the material. Needless to say, they lost 3 from their group last semester and the others barely made it. I wish I could form a study group between those of us that know taking the material seriously is key but we all just seem to be loners when it comes to studying. I'm going to make a better effort at making this happen this semester. Thanks for your help.

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Thank you, there's a study group of about 6-7 people in my class (I'm not a part of it). I've tried studying with them before but all they do is NCLEX questions, they don't seem to focus on the material. Needless to say, they lost 3 from their group last semester and the others barely made it. I wish I could form a study group between those of us that know taking the material seriously is key but we all just seem to be loners when it comes to studying. I'm going to make a better effort at making this happen this semester. Thanks for your help.

For them, doing NCLEX questions may be what works. Sometimes it's appropriate. I know, depending on what class we were in, many of our test/exam questions were so very similar to questions in NCLEX books including the one it was *highly suggested* we buy.

I didn't voluntarily "lead" the study group of my friends. We planned to study together and many times they defaulted to me because they felt I had the most thorough notes from lecture or "just understood" things. This (the just understanding things) was noted one day, when our school let us out of lecture early because of inclement weather. We were faced with having to teach ourselves the subject matter and chose to go to the library and hang out. A friend stated she didn't understand something, I think it may have been ABG interpretation. Without looking at my notes at all, I was able to explain it a million times more clearly than the instructor we'd had in lecture.

It is important to have a good understanding and take subject matter seriously. But you have to be able to apply it and conceptualize it. In real life, basically nothing is how a textbook would describe anything. Good orientation once you're licensed and employed will help tremendously with that though. There's plenty of ridiculous stuff we had to memorize throughout school. Most of the stuff I had to memorize in school, I don't routinely use.

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A great study group could help a lot. It takes a lot of time to meet, and when people are late it wastes time. Virtual meets save time.

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How does your school test? My program uses NCLEX style questions on all our exams to prepare us for the NCLEX. All the questions are situational and applies the information we learn in class to a patient and asks us what our priority is. Because of our exam format, studying NCLEX questions is helpful for the mindset of assessing a situation and responding appropriately based on all the information provided. I use the lippincott apps for nclex review which gives you questions. We also study the material, mostly what was presented in the powerpoint lecture to make sure we have the basic knowledge about disease processes to work with the patient who has them.

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How does your school test? My program uses NCLEX style questions on all our exams to prepare us for the NCLEX. All the questions are situational and applies the information we learn in class to a patient and asks us what our priority is. Because of our exam format studying NCLEX questions is helpful for the mindset of assessing a situation and responding appropriately based on all the information provided. I use the lippincott apps for nclex review which gives you questions. We also study the material, mostly what was presented in the powerpoint lecture to make sure we have the basic knowledge about disease processes to work with the patient who has them.[/quote']

My school uses NCLEX style questions also. I do a lot of practice with NCLEX books, about 200 practice questions for every 50 question test. I feel like I can't touch the practice questions until I understand the material though.

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I like to use the socratic method to know about disease processes and basic information. I take a topic, hyponatremia for example and think of everything I can about that; normal lab value (approx), signs and symptoms, physiological process, how sodium relates to potassium and water, priorities for treatment, etc. After I think of everything I can, I look at my notes to see what I've forgotten. I try to make time every week to study that weeks material which helps learn things as I go. Also, I really like the Lippincott "made incredibly easy" series. It explains everything really well, using pictures and mnemonics Highly recommended. Good luck!

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