Study tips?

[NOLAgirl2]

First off, I am in my OB/Peds semester.

Okay. My first semester, was easy. I highlighted my notes so much that I called it "coloring" and I did pretty good on the tests so I stuck with it.

My second semester, I did the same thing and it worked out for me, even though I passed with a C.

My third semester is when the problems started. I used the same thing and I failed my first test. It took the rest of my 4 tests to being my grade up to a certain point and even then, i was making low C's. I realized that I was memorizing it rather than understanding it. Toward the end of the semester, I learned how to study again, still by highlighting my notes and writing extra notes from my teachers and the book.

Now this semester is killing me in BOTH OB and Peds! I've made notecards, I've highlighted, ive read the book (Some of it.. and some chapters) and I've also done many NCLEX questions from prepu. I'm still having problems just BARELY passing my tests! I don't know what else to do! I thought I was understanding it.. rather than memorizing it. I'm writing the notes from the book and the teacher.

I'm at a loss. Any tips?

[zoe92]

Hope this helps... Look at Daytonite's post: https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-student/ob-and-peds-196453.html

[NOLAgirl2]

Thanks!

[hodgieRN]

This was from another post , but these were some of the things I did to help me study better.....

-Always review your notes right after class, even if it's for 30 minutes. If you are taught something and then review it that day, you will retain so much more information b/c it's still fresh. If you just review it before a test, you have to re-learn it for the first time. Reviewing right after class causes the info to embed in your long-term memory vs studying the day before, which goes into the short term.

- Learn the latin terminology of the each word, not the whole title itself. Most people know what meningitis is. Maybe a brain infection? Well, -itis means inflammation and mening- refers to the meninges of the central nervous system. So meningitis is inflammation of the meninges....which is caused by an infection that can not only affect the brain, but the spinal cord, etc. Encephalitis - enceph(al) means brain...encephalitis is brain inflammation. Thorax means chest, lung and pneumo mean air, gas...pneumothorax means air in thorax aka collased lung. Based on this, I bet you can guess what a pneumocephalus is.; So, trying to learn that hydrocephalus (which is an overcollection of fluid to due an obstruction (CSF) in the brain... b/c hydro means water,fluid) is impossible to just memorize b/c there are thousands and thousands of terms. But if you know hydro.....and cephalus...then you know it. If you see a new word, only look at it in parts. Never try and memorize it.

(Although the above was from a patho post, understanding the terminology is big one in my opinion. Terms used in peds/OB are the same in all areas of medicine. Laryngitis, pharyngitis, pyloric stenosis are very specific terms that describe wear they occur and what entails it. Pyloric (pylorus in stomach( and stenosis (narrowing)... is better to understand than memorizing the term. Congenital aganglionic megacolon - Congenital (born with), a- (not, without), ganglion (nerve cell body), megacolon (large, distended colon). It is a defect in infants that are born without nerve cell bodies in the colon which results in colonic distention. Learning the base words can help with your reading.

-One thing I hated about Peds is that every freaking disease or syndrome has a nickname that matches the last name of the practitioner that discovered it. Congenital aganglionic megacolon is also named Hirschsprung Disease b/c some guy names Dr. Hirschsprung thought it would be cool to name it after him. So, make flash cards that have the medical term along with the nickname. Pedi exams love referring to the nicknames...b/c using the medical term would be too easy. Sure, I am going to remember what Wiskott-Aldrich is....

****And the last thing I am going to mention is the best study tip I can give anyone*****

On top of normal studying, dedicate every Sunday to studying your notes (for the week) as if you are taking an exam. Even though my next exam was 4 weeks away, I would have a mock cram section for the week. So when I had to take the real exam, I had already engrained it in my head 3 weeks ago. Then, I would constantly go back and review the same thing over and over until it was redundant.

I swore by the Sunday Cram!

Good luck!

[mkatts19]

If you really know your information, you should be able to explain it or write it out. If you have a good friend or a study group going, then see if they'll study with you in this way: Explain to them the different topics you're covering. If you can't explain it, then are you really understanding it? Also listening to them explain something helps you study and when you're filling in what they missed, it's helping you as well. When you study a section, see how much information you can explain to yourself or write out on a blank piece of paper. It's not necessarily all about reading, highlighting and looking over notes though those play big parts. But ultimately, being able to start from scratch and tell everything you know to yourself or someone, is a good evaluator on how much you really do know for those tests and for the future.