Study Skills Question

[Eppersonar]

Hello! I'm finishing up my pre-reqs with hopes to apply to an RN program in January for a Fall 2019 start. I'm working through my bio classes now. I got a B in AP1 and a C in an AP2 summer course that I just finished. I'm retaking AP2 in the fall because OUCH, a C is a no go!! I'm a 30 year old mother of 2 and I'm realizing that a lot of the problem is my study skills. So, I'm asking for help and suggestions!

Here are some things that I do that work well, but if you think there's a more efficient way, point it out, please!

-I print out power points before class and read through them.

-I print out learning objectives prior to class, but I just scan them and use them later.

-I take in class notes ON the printed lecture slides using color coded high lighting and jotting down important supporting information that the professor mentions.

I sit down after class and start working through the chapter learning objectives and make flash cards as I go for things that I think need them. This is where things get wishy washy for me. I don't really know what to do afterwards, because there's only one day before the next class, where I start all over again.

Does anyone have a tried and true schedule? Because I feel like it starts to pile up this way. Monday goes well but then Wednesday I'm doing the same thing over again and before you know it, I spend all my time MAKING study materials and very little time interacting with them!

[FutureNurseInfo]

I think the things that you already do are a great start! I took AP 1 last summer and AP2 during fall semester, and I am so glad I did take it in the fall! I think taking AP2 in the fall will allow you more time to process and internalize the information.

As far as study skills, here is what I did:

1. I did as well print out the slides and took whatever important notes on them. My prof was very visual and he liked drawing schemes, diagrams of organ systems, processes etc. I sketched those as well. If you are a visual person like myself, try sketching important concepts as well. For example, AP of the kidney and its nephrons were tricky, so I sketched the filtration process and it helped me understand it better.

2. I never did flashcards because, in my opinion, it is a waste of time.

3. To get a better grade it is very important to actually understand how things work, rather than just memorize and then forget. You need to understand how A connects to B and how A and B affect C.

4. Another aspect of success, I think, is being able to master the skill of test-taking. At times we may study hard, but when we see the test in front of us, all we can think is "Holly s#$$!" When this happens, it is important to know how to tackle each test question. For example, what I do is, I read the question very carefully and think of it as a real-life word problem/story. I visualize the question and ask myself: what is being asked? Then I read through the answer choices and get rid of the ones that do not make sense. Then, I narrow down to the best two. Then I think and ask myself, which answer choice applies in a way that when I plug it into the problem, the problem becomes clear/a big picture? If one of the remaining two choices does not perfectly fit into the problem, then it is most likely incorrect.

I am sure others will contribute more, but this is all I can think as of right now. I hope it helps!

[luffy1q]

I definitely agree with FutureNurseInfo, you really do have good study habits. I'll just share the methods that I used to not only find A&P easy but I fell in love with it too ^_^.

1) If given permission, I'd highly recommend you audio record your lectures. By recording your lectures, you can replay the lecture while looking at the powerpoint slides. The best way to approach this method is as soon as the lecture is over, listen to the recording while reading the slides. The beauty of this is that you can essentially have the same lecture on the same topic as many times as you want. I guarantee you'll have a hard time forgetting what your professor said if you listen to it multiple times.

2) Utilize some online resources. What really cemented my love for A&P and how I now find it easy is due to many YT channels that I watch, especially one in particular. This professor on YT goes by the name Professor Fink. He has over 100s of videos explaining the most complex topics into actual language that anyone can easily understand. Whatever is being discussed in your lecture, he'll explain it in a much more comprehensible way. I'll also recommend Wendy Riggs. She brings lots of comedy to her teachings. Crash Course is good too, but I usually watch their content before an exam. I mean, they're called Crash Course for a reason lol. And the website Khan Academy is a must.

3) And for my third piece of advice, I'll just echo what FutureNurseInfo said. Rather than just memorize something, try to actually understand the process of it and what could go wrong during that process. You'll save yourself a lot of time writing stuff down that just makes sense once you think about it for a bit.

I hope this helps you and good luck on your journey

[EmDash]

I echo trying to understand and rationalize the information rather than just memorize it. If you can get how something works, you can always reason out the rest, such as the side effects and what might influence it. It'll help you to make more informed guesses too, if it's just something you can't remember. I definitely used a lot of videos to really get down the concepts in A&P (plus sometimes seeing how the process works helps a lot).

I will say though that I find flash cards to be helpful if used on top of listening to videos, etc. For me, flash cards are a good way to consolidate and organize the information. The process of making them helps me to make connections and forces me to summarize, and it's good to be able to review those rationalizations later, especially if there's just something really critical that I don't want to lose. (I imagine you could probably achieve something similar with diagrams though, if that's more your cup of tea.) I also used online flash cards extensively for any of the anatomy portions because I could add pictures in the "definition" portion on Quizlet and then test myself on the anatomy via pictures.

[Wiggly Litchi]

You have good study methods, but it might be how you're utilizing the information (or not utilizing it) that is hurting your progress.

I do a few things to make the material stick:

• Find the same information from a different source - khan academy and Kyle Sorensen on youtube are amazing. I probably spend more time listening to Kyles patho lectures in a given week than I'd really like to admit.
  
• I use flashcards - good for some, not so great for others; treat them like your own personal question bank that you've built from your slides and your notes. If you use the quizlet app on your phone, you can carry your cards with you always.
  
• Take notes, but draw diagrams too if you're more of a visual type of learner. For me, diagrams with plenty of arrows really helps me to mentally process what's going on. If I can 'see' it working, I can understand it.
  
• Shorter study sessions, but more of them may be more beneficial to you - test yourself over the material you covered in a previous study session if you can (this is where quizlet is nice because you can write your own questions in one study session and answer them in another)
  

When I take my classes, I have to eat, breathe, sleep the sciences so I can really make it stick. I know it's hard when you're trying to raise a household and study too. The previous posters here have given some excellent advice! I wish you the best~