Studying long hours

CheesePotato, BSN, RN · Jul 13, 2012

I am going to post this and apologize now for any crazy typos, spelling errors, etc due to smart phone issues:

Do not cram for exams by denying yourself sleep. Seriously. There are studies available which prove that cramming for an exam and not allowing proper sleep actually decreases your ability to focus and recall. But why, you say? You've spent the last nineteen hours with your nose in a text book...how on Earth could the knowledge not be in there?

Simple. Your body, and in this scenario, your brain needs a boost from a little something called REM sleep. You know...the dream phase where amazing and sometimes terrifyingly bizarre (ever been chased through Vegas by rabid Hostess products? I have. Throwing quarters at them did nothing.) flutter through your mind's eye?

Don't get me wrong, nREM plays a role as well: specifically stage three sleep which has the most Delta waves and is sometimes referred to as "slow wave" sleep. Think of all the knowledge you collect during the course of your day as documents. In nREM, the brain compiles and sorts the documents in preparation for filing. Yay!

REM is the point of the night where the mind takes all the new data it collected and actually converts it from short term to long term memory, essentially filing it away for later use. Boo yeah.

So CheesePotato, when does REM sleep happen?

Funny you should ask. REM sleep doesn't typically happen until a person has been asleep for around 90 minutes. The first REM cycle is short, but it gets the job done.

The moral of the story? Go ahead and study...but unless you want all those lovely mental documents to flutter away on the breeze of a brain fart, I highly recommend catching at least a two hour nap.

Lecture concluded. Now back to your regularly scheduled broadcasting.

tothepointeLVN, LVN · Jul 13, 2012

Yup go to sleep and encode that information. Sometimes you'll actually dream about some of the answers.

Kendel.G · Jul 13, 2012

Yay for 19 units of pre-reqs this semester!

I think I may look like this very soon.

Goodbye sleep.

Goodbye social life.

Hello insane amounts of tea.

Hello the amazing feeling of being super glued to my desk...Yippeekaye

PennyWise · Jul 13, 2012

For me, the topic of good study habbits always returns to the same thing: discipline.

Not cramming, avoiding procrastination, getting sleep/eating well before classes/study periods and avoiding the obvious road blocks (not partying the night before an exam, playing games on the Playstation instead of studying, texting your BFF about the guy/girl you want to date during lecture)..............they all fall under the umbrella of discipline.

Seems easier than it sounds too. For me, the cramming is the one I trip on most often. Its not a matter of I put myself in a position where I have to cram because I've been avioding work. I work full time and go to school full time. Even if I manage my time well, I end up doing a good bit of cramming because I do a lot of my homework on my days off.

I have to force myself to put down the book I'm reading and take a break every so often. Otherwise, I'll just work straight on through, thinking I'm being diligent and well focused. Without the breaks though, my retention is pitiful.

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Jul 13, 2012

agree with above post. Also, whatever you cram goes in to short term memory and won't be there when you really need it. Not the same as "learning"

Cartoon was funny though because we have all had times when we thought we were nailed to a desk.

tothepointeLVN, LVN · Jul 13, 2012

19 units I did that once and never again.

What I don't get is the people who record a lecture and then play it back and retype it. Seems like a massive waste of time. Why not take notes as your hearing it and then spend the rest of the time studying what you don't know. It often seems the students that record the lecture don't get the best results but it maybe my person bias since recording lectures only recently became feasible so the couple of times I've done this I've found it to be of no value compared to my usual method.

DIVINELY FAVORED · Jul 13, 2012

I agree with all of the above posts. Your brain has to reload so eating good snacks, and sleep. Exercise really gets your blood flowing and helps my retention rate. Have confidence that you are understanding what your reading, and don't add any pressure. Once you start to get sleepy take a nap or just get up and move around and come back to it.

nursewithskills · Jul 14, 2012

Study as many nclex questions as possible.

Study them over and over and over again.

When you get to a question where even the

rationales don't help, google and/or youtube the subject.

I've found that some youtube videos is great for visual

learners like myself. There are some great videos

that break it down so simply.

Can't get away from the long study hours.

So many body systems, so many things that

can go wrong with them, you can't avoid the long

hours.

Cutting the hours down is studying nclex questions

Not reading textbooks for hours, in my opinion.

VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN · Jul 15, 2012

moderator's friendly reminder: please keep to the subject at hand and avoid derailing this thread with personal attacks, condescending remarks, rude comments, etc. remember the terms of service. debate the ideas that are presented, but do not attack the person. all such personal attacks and rude comments (and reference to the personal attacks) have been deleted or edited from this thread. thank you and carry on.

buttons93 · Jul 17, 2012

I MAKE myself not study for more than 2 hours at a time. I walk away, get a snack, maybe go to the gym, or take a nap, then come back, quickly review, then move on. It also helps me to study the things that I struggle with first. Then I quickly review the small things when I am in the drive-thru at Starbucks :)

buttons93 · Jul 17, 2012

Cutting the hours down is studying nclex questions
Not reading textbooks for hours, in my opinion.

YES!! This was very true in my EMT class. I studied NREMT prep-questions and when I came across a question about something that I didn't fully understand THEN, and only THEN, I cracked open the book. Other than that, I relied on what I already knew to help me answer questions.