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Discussion

Study/note taking tips

I was wondering if anyone has some good study/note taking tips. I am starting nursing school this fall and I really want to succeed. I know that nursing school is going to be a lot harder than the pre-req courses so I would like to be as prepared as humanly possible. I am not a horrible studier but I could use improvement. I was just wondering what you did to study and take notes and how well did it seem to work for you?

Thanks everyone!

Featured Replies

my nursing instructors actually gave us handouts of the PPT, and we just added on to that while she lectured, what kind of a learner are ya? bc tht will help determine how to take notes. if ur an audio, take a tape recorder and set it nxt to ur instructor, if ur a visual watch the PPTs if u have any, which u probably will, and reading in advance helps a lot too

  • Author

I'm a hands on learner. That's why I'm a little paranoid about nursing school. I expect that I will do good in clinicals and lab but maybe not so well in the classroom. I am not a good listener because I tend to drift off. I try so hard not to but I still do. I am going to have to record my lectures or I guarantee I will miss a lot. I am a good reader but I often find that I need things explained to me in a more simplified manner. Know what I mean? Science can be so complicated and hard to understand but when someone explains it to me in the "dummy" version, I grasp the information better.

I'm a hands on learner. That's why I'm a little paranoid about nursing school. I expect that I will do good in clinicals and lab but maybe not so well in the classroom. I am not a good listener because I tend to drift off. I try so hard not to but I still do. I am going to have to record my lectures or I guarantee I will miss a lot. I am a good reader but I often find that I need things explained to me in a more simplified manner. Know what I mean? Science can be so complicated and hard to understand but when someone explains it to me in the "dummy" version, I grasp the information better.

I'm a hands on learner as well. I learn very well in the lab/clinical setting. I also have issues with the reading and lecture. My suggestion is write things down while your reading. For me, if I actually write them out, it helps a lot! Also, flashcards. I made up flashcards (I didn't type them out last semester, someone else did for me, but I'll be doing it this semester). Writing them out myself usually helps me remember and then repetition is HUGE! I went through those cards over and over and that really helped me a lot - I remembered a lot that way. We had lists of vocab, so that made it easy to know what we should focus on. Also, I bought a photo box to keep my cards in order and it was perfect! Then I could go back to any section I needed to!

But for things non-vocab, just take notes as your reading. I bet that will work well for you!

Best of luck!

I would definitely say re-writing, and re-organizing, notes is a good thing for a hands-on learner. When i re-organize the lecture notes into my own version of an outline, or a diagram of relationships, or however it makes sense to me, it makes the material "mine" instead of the book's or the instructor's.

Also, explain it to someone else. For a hands-on learner, having to explain aloud to someone how the blood flows through the heart and valves, or how the acid-base balance in the body is maintained, can really solidify the concepts. Again, using diagrams to keep track of the relationships (i connect boxes with lines and arrows to show relationships) is one way. Write them out yourself....don't use someone else's diagram and just keep referencing back to it. Even if you like the way the outline is, re-write it yourself......

repetition will make you very familiar with the material, so you can concentrate on becoming analytical/critical towards it instead.

  • Author
repetition will make you very familiar with the material, so you can concentrate on becoming analytical/critical towards it instead.

I agree that repetition is really good. Hopefully I can do it without confusing myself. :o)

  • Experts

you are getting advice from someone who has been in school off and on for many years:

  • the first thing i do is put a course syllabus into a protective plastic sheath and put it in the front of the 3-ring notebook for that course where i can always find it.
  • i follow the reading assignments listed on the syllabus. if there is a question about them, i ask what is going to be covered in the next class meeting and make sure i've read the material by the time the next class meets
  • if a question comes up while i'm reading i write it down immediately. a lot of times i end up finding the answer myself, but sometimes i don't and i have it ready to ask in class.
  • before class and after reading i check the class objectives that we were given at the beginning of the course (if we got them) to see if any apply to the material to see if i can answer them. if there is any question or confusion, it goes on my question list to ask in class.
  • when i was reading my nursing textbooks i kept my copy of taber's cyclopedic medical dictionary at my side and immediately looked up any medical term i did not know. taking a medical terminology course is not a guarantee that you are going to recognize or know medical terms in your nursing textbooks. you might need a regular dictionary too!
  • if there was any written homework, i did it before class. any that i couldn't answer went on my question list.
  • i always sit with my textbook open as well as a notebook. i make notations in the margins of the textbook or mark sections of the textbook that the lecturer covers if i can find it fast enough during the lecture. since i read the material already, i'll recognize subjects that i read in the textbook and can tell if the instructor is adding more or just reviewing what the textbook said.
  • i always review all my notes for the class at least weekly. this keeps them fresh in my mind and eliminates a lot of intensive study for final exams.
  • by the same token, i periodically review the syllabus. occasionally, you will get an instructor or professor who is an sob, and i don't mean short of breath. they will require a project or paper and never remind the class of the due date and have no problem whatsoever giving out "f" or "0" grades for those who don't do the assignment on time. they cannot be persuaded to extend the due date either. they aren't even sympathetic about it. that's because they are sobs.
  • i had two professors over the years who wrote the textbooks that we used. one of them was an aforementioned sob. he stated at the beginning of the course that the tests were based on the textbook. he gave the class one chance at the beginning of class to ask questions about what was in the assigned reading in the book before moving on to what he wanted to waste class time talking about. half the class flunked; the tests were, as he promised, exclusively based on his textbook. by the time students figured out that he was true to his word, their grades were already in the toilet and too low to bring up to passing.
  • in my second year of nursing school i was part of a study group which was a huge help in dividing up the massive amount of information we had to look up and learn.
  • check the critical thinking flow sheet for nursing students link at the bottom of my post to see if might be helpful to you as you get into med/surg nursing
  • see

  • Author

Wow Daytonite! That is some great advice! You may be the reason I (hopefully) pass nursing school! ;) Thank you very much!

Daytonite, it's always nice to read your explicit explanations about various topics and this is one of them. Like someone had mentioned, you are indeed like a guardian angel to all the students. Thanks for all your help.

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