Studying for nursing school

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Studying for nursing school, How do you study for nursing school? I will admit I'm not really a study person, it takes a lot lot of discipline to study, which is probably why I have a lot of B's and A's instead of straight A's LOL . Now I know in nursing school you could study till kingdom comes and still may land with a C or B. So how long do you study each day?

Even though I starting nursing school in the spring,I already took the practice NCLEX questions through the ATI website and I actually didn't have any problem, even though I didn't know have the stuff they were talking about but I still made good guesses. Lots ofmy pre - requisite classes had exam questions styles like that. Plus I schooled in a foreign county for part of my school and their exams questions were formatted in the same style as the NCLEX

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Specializes in L&D, infusion, urology.

Here's what works for me:

Make notecards of the stuff you're not clear on from the reading and lecture.

My instructors post the PowerPoints on the school's website, so I open those during lecture (on my laptop), and write my own notes on the Notes section for each slide. I review the PowerPoints and my notes before the exams in the days prior.

I carry my notecards EVERYWHERE. I'll pull them out any chance I have. I only keep the ones in rotation that require more review. Once I know the card, it goes out of rotation, but I've kept them all for review at the end as needed.

I put meds on these cards, too.

Stay on top of the reading, papers, etc. They can sneak up on you.

I downloaded the ATI books onto iBooks on my iPhone, so if I'm not reviewing notecards, I'm often reading ATI on my phone. Even over the break right now, I'm reading the books for next semester (luckily, community health and leadership are super short).

I try to take ATI tests fairly regularly, so I can keep brushed up on the style and material. I love the rationales, and I learn a lot from those.

Don't memorize. LEARN. Know the disease processes. Know the meds. Think things through- WHY are you doing things the way you are? Why, when X happens, do Y and Z happen? Why would med X have the side effects it does (think about how it's metabolized and how it affects the body)? It'll help make things stick better, and it'll make you a better nurse. :) It also helps you learn what to question, because nursing is still evolving, and there are always better ways to do things!

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How do you download the ati books to iBooks?!!!!

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Yes, how do you download the ATI books?

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Specializes in Neuroscience.

I study about 2 hours a night while in school. I read my textbook chapters that correspond with what we are doing and take notes, and I watch whatever videos I can find with the skills that I have to perform.

Regardless of whether you do well on tests or not, people will depend on your knowledge in both the clinical setting and when you are a registered nurse. It is important to understand everything, not just pass a test, and that should be your end goal :)

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My nursing class was great in that they gave us the schedule of the entire semester during orientation. I would read the related material a few days prior to the lecture and print out the PowerPoint that were provided. I would record the lecture and take as many notes on the PowerPoint as I could. After that I would barely even go back to the book for that lecture unless there was something that I really was not sure about.

It's best to review your notes in the first 24hrs after the lecture while it was still fresh (I found it hard to this sometimes though because I worked most days right after class) but if not, that is what the recording is for. Then everyday until the test at least glance through your notes and set some serious time every couple days to reread your notes and make additional notes as necessary.

But most importantly...do not cram! It will not work in nursing school because most questions on a test are the application of information and critical thinking not just definitions or factual things.

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Specializes in Case Management, ICU, Telemetry.

I used note cards for memorization stuff but the most helpful thing I found is to make sure that you're not just memorizing most things... Make sure you actually understand it. Good example is hemodynamics- it is much easier to understand hemodynamics if you understand how everything works rather than just trying to memorize numbers and what they mean. :)

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Yes how do you download the ATI books?[/quote']

I googled it and found the above video. I tried it and it was pretty easy (just make sure you allow pop-ups under 'Settings' for Safari, too), and I'm happy that now I can study ATI on the elliptical at the gym.

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I googled it and found the above video. I tried it and it was pretty easy (just make sure you allow pop-ups under 'Settings' for Safari, too), and I'm happy that now I can study ATI on the elliptical at the gym.

Thank You, Bunnysanford I appreciate it!

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