Study plans?

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Hi, I am still a little bit anxious for nursing school that starts in a few weeks… I just wanted to know how you guys maintained your personal life with nursing school? I wanna have equal amount of time to study and to be able clear my head,  so I don’t become mentally exhausted. Do you think a hour a day of studying is good enough or should I make more time for studying? What was your study plan?

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Specializes in pediatrics, ER, education.

I think you need to plan for multiple hours a day of study time.  The goal of nursing school is not to pass exams (like with prereqs), but to actually understand and learn the material.  It takes a tremendous amount of time to do that and you probably won't accomplish that in an hour a day.  

And your personal life will need to be less of a priority during nursing school and certainly during the first semester when you are trying to find best ways to study, how to manage time, and how to balance your course load.  

What courses do you have the first semester?  I suggest you find a weekly calendar to use.  I recommend the pad of weekly sheets so you can tear off that one week and keep it with you.  Plan out every part of your week and include class time, study times, and times to exercise or do something fun, errands.  Of course add work hours if you have a job.

Plan to study every course every day if you have multiple courses.  Study in chunks of time (like 45 minutes of studying and then a 15 minute break and keep repeating).  If 45 minutes is too long to focus, study for 20 minutes, take a 10 minute break and keep repeating.  Put your phone away when you are studying.  

Don't take a million notes but focus on understanding what you are learning.  Learn all of the whys of what happens in the body and why nurses do things a certain way.  

Find good resources to help you.  Look online and on Youtube for nursing school help.  Pick just one or two people/sites that you like and stick with those.  

Best of luck this semester!

amg

1
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23 minutes ago, amgRN said:

I think you need to plan for multiple hours a day of study time.  The goal of nursing school is not to pass exams (like with prereqs), but to actually understand and learn the material.  It takes a tremendous amount of time to do that and you probably won't accomplish that in an hour a day.  

And your personal life will need to be less of a priority during nursing school and certainly during the first semester when you are trying to find best ways to study, how to manage time, and how to balance your course load.  

What courses do you have the first semester?  I suggest you find a weekly calendar to use.  I recommend the pad of weekly sheets so you can tear off that one week and keep it with you.  Plan out every part of your week and include class time, study times, and times to exercise or do something fun, errands.  Of course add work hours if you have a job.

Plan to study every course every day if you have multiple courses.  Study in chunks of time (like 45 minutes of studying and then a 15 minute break and keep repeating).  If 45 minutes is too long to focus, study for 20 minutes, take a 10 minute break and keep repeating.  Put your phone away when you are studying.  

Don't take a million notes but focus on understanding what you are learning.  Learn all of the whys of what happens in the body and why nurses do things a certain way.  

Find good resources to help you.  Look online and on Youtube for nursing school help.  Pick just one or two people/sites that you like and stick with those.  

Best of luck this semester!

amg

Thank you!! I am taking pharmacology, & nursing Fundamentals 1. In my school we’re only allowed to take 2 courses per semester, which is kinda convenient for me due to me also working fulltime. 

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Specializes in pediatrics, ER, education.

If you are working full time and in school full time, social stuff will probably go out the window for a while.  It will be worth it in the end, but something will have to give.  ?  

In fundamentals, focus on the rationales of procedures and that will help things make more sense rather than just trying to memorize.  And make sure you spend lots of time on vocabulary because you can't answer a test question if you don't know what the words mean.  Just learn short definitions in your own words.  That will make them easier to remember.  

Pharmacology - Study this every day, over and over.  Repetition is the key to success.  Focus on learning the things that make one drug class stand out from another and focus on safety aspects of a drug.  For example, some drugs may not be taken with food, or some may make a patient's blood pressure drop, etc.  Know those things.  Concept maps are a great way to learn drugs.  Every day.  Multiple times a day.  Also, there are good online resources for learning drugs/drug classes.  Check out Youtube for nursing pharmacology help.  

Hope that helps!

?

~amg

1
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Specializes in oncology.

And when failing students have come for me for advice, they will admit they study in front of the TV or Youtube. Study alone, study hard and then navigate facebook, you tube Netflix.

1
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27 minutes ago, amgRN said:

If you are working full time and in school full time, social stuff will probably go out the window for a while.  It will be worth it in the end, but something will have to give.  ?  

In fundamentals, focus on the rationales of procedures and that will help things make more sense rather than just trying to memorize.  And make sure you spend lots of time on vocabulary because you can't answer a test question if you don't know what the words mean.  Just learn short definitions in your own words.  That will make them easier to remember.  

Pharmacology - Study this every day, over and over.  Repetition is the key to success.  Focus on learning the things that make one drug class stand out from another and focus on safety aspects of a drug.  For example, some drugs may not be taken with food, or some may make a patient's blood pressure drop, etc.  Know those things.  Concept maps are a great way to learn drugs.  Every day.  Multiple times a day.  Also, there are good online resources for learning drugs/drug classes.  Check out Youtube for nursing pharmacology help.  

Hope that helps!

?

~amg

Thank you so much! I truly appreciate this. I am extremely anxious because I know I only get on shot at this…. I will do as you stated! 

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23 minutes ago, londonflo said:

And when failing students have come for me for advice, they will admit they study in front of the TV or Youtube. Study alone, study hard and then navigate facebook, you tube Netflix.

So don't use Youtube? Im more of a person that learns from visualization… its hard to stay focus reading 30 pages in a textbook

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Specializes in pediatrics, ER, education.

I think this comment referred more to those people that watch Youtube like TV.  Certainly Youtube nursing videos can be very helpful for learners that are auditory and do better with those types of resources.  You may also find Picmonic helpful.  Those should be resources that support your learning, not your primary source of information.  

1
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Specializes in Case Management/Utilization Management.

Spend at least a couple hours a day, no matter who you are. Do it while on campus if possible, to limit distractions. Definitely let your close friends and family know that the next couple of years, they can't take anything personal when you are not able to make every holiday and celebration. Both you and they need to know that it's only temporary.

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Specializes in oncology.
On 1/6/2022 at 11:19 AM, Nelly134 said:

its hard to stay focus reading 30 pages in a textbook

If you are an auditory learner you may benefit from someone reading the texts. You said you are a visual learner but important topics cannot be explained with diagrams or videos. I am hoping you went to your student services department that will allow you accommodations for student groups and exams. Be an active learner and active test taker....your tests are going to be all reading. Wishing you the best!

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