Surviving nursing school

Are you studying? If so, how much. Are you reviewing material after lectures? Do you minimize distractions during your study time? If you get a bad grade, do you see your professor and see where you went wrong and have her logically walk you through the right answer to see why you didn't get it?

Yes to all of those things. I think my biggest obstacle is test taking. I get such anxiety. My ability to reason is completely lost until about 3 hours after the test when answers seem completely obvious then. My instructor even agrees that is it all my test taking ability. Thank you for your response.

Trust me, you are not alone! I am also in my 3rd semester and I know exactly how you feel. It's a struggle, but you can do it! You don't have much longer. I Often feel the same way. Everyone else is so smart, they have it all figured out. But what you don't realize, that I FINALLY did, is that they all feel that w way to a degree and they probably look at you and think the same. Have you talked to any of your classmates about this? My clinical instructors used to make me so nervous and I always freaked out about failing exams. Even though I knew the info, my fear was that my anxiety would cause me to fail. I had panic attacks and cried everyday when I got home. However, I actually have severe anxiety. I just got on medication for it a couple of months ago and it has really helped. Have you considered that? I'm here if you need to talk.

Yes to all of those things. I think my biggest obstacle is test taking. I get such anxiety. My ability to reason is completely lost until about 3 hours after the test when answers seem completely obvious then. My instructor even agrees that is it all my test taking ability. Thank you for your response.

When you get your exam, don't open it right away. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and relax. It has helped me tremendously. Also don't flip around seeing how long or thick your exam is, just take it one little bite at a time, starting on page one, problem one. If you don't know the answer to a question, skip it! Your subconscious will grind away at it, and more then likely when you come back to it closer to the end, you will have "magically" figured out the answer. Take the WHOLE time given to you, re-check everything you have circled.

Best of luck

b747girl5

i wish I can give you advise based on my own personal experience, but I am not there yet.

I have started a journal to mark small accomplishments to remind me down the road how difficult each step was along the way. The only advice I can offer you is to sit and try to reflect back on the feeling you had upon taking and passing your Teas exam the feeling you had upon receiving the acceptance letter... Etc.

Sometimes remember the work we put nj to get us where we are makes it all worth while and might even give us that extra boost where you can honestly say to yourself, I CAN do it. I too have 2 children and know how difficult this can be, and I have only just begun. Stay positive. Remember you cannot change the past, just try to organize yourself in EVERY way, from home to school and don't lose faith in your self and your capabilities. You will be a great nurse one day. Not sure if you are religious at all, but nonetheless I will keep you in my daily prayers. Chin up butter cup. :0)

But you took tests the other 2 semesters and for your prereqs and did fine correct? I failed a test a couple of weeks ago and it shook me to the core. I was really upset. But I buckled down for the next test and got an A. I feel like everytime someone bombs a test they want to blame it on test anxiety and not take responsibility on themselves. Identify what you are doing wrong and fix it. The NCLEX is very much like your tests you are taking now. So fix it now so you can pass your boards in the future!!

The day before the exam you need to relax and get enough sleep. Limit yourself at most to 2 hours studying that day. It's more to review your notes because at that point if you don't know it, cramming ain't going to help you.

On the exam you need to focus on the exam not on what might happen after or anything else. Focus on the immediate, which should just be doing the exam.

While doing the exam, circle key words, like what is the diagnosis? Who is involved in the care? What are they asking you? Delegation? Priority? Assessment? Intervention?

Then write the rationale next to your choice so you can identify and solidify your answer. It becomes a systematic process. Example: delegation question: nope not a bc it's rn scope. Not b, lpn scope. Not c bc lpn scope. Ding it's d, a uap scope includes turning the patient.

Of course you don't want to write anything long, as you won't have the time.

I know how you feel and I am also in my 4th semester also taking med surge 2. I often feel like I am the last weed that needs to be picked from the flower garden. I have been struggling since the 2nd semester. I study daily from 8am until 2:30 and then at night when my baby goes to bed. I could tell you what closed angle glaucoma is vs. open angle and tell you all of the surgeries and meds etc. I study each thing the same way. No matter how I try to change it up it seems that I always get caught up in the "common sense" questions. I am amazingly (at the end of the semester :) ) starting to realize that I have been spending too much time studying. I think that I focus so much on these things and I think by the time I get to my test little things throw me off because I am so caught up in what I know and not what a nurse should do. I focus to much on the facts and the test. I studied only two days for my last test and made a 93% where as when I study 5 to 6 days I am usually luck to make a 78. I do know how you feel and I hope that things get better for you! You have made it this far and I am sure you can do it. I know how hard it is to see other people make A's when you may only make a C but in the end as long as you have truly learned the material I think that's what matters.

It seems as though we have the same study schedule. I study more than aenyone else in my class and have the lowest grades. I am sure I am not studying the most efficient way. Next week is my cardiac exam, that will be the deciding factor for me. Not to say all hope is lost, there is still the final but the final exams are the toughest exams. Fingers crossed.

I know how you feel and I am also in my 4th semester also taking med surge 2. I often feel like I am the last weed that needs to be picked from the flower garden. I have been struggling since the 2nd semester. I study daily from 8am until 2:30 and then at night when my baby goes to bed. I could tell you what closed angle glaucoma is vs. open angle and tell you all of the surgeries and meds etc. I study each thing the same way. No matter how I try to change it up it seems that I always get caught up in the "common sense" questions. I am amazingly (at the end of the semester :) ) starting to realize that I have been spending too much time studying. I think that I focus so much on these things and I think by the time I get to my test little things throw me off because I am so caught up in what I know and not what a nurse should do. I focus to much on the facts and the test. I studied only two days for my last test and made a 93% where as when I study 5 to 6 days I am usually luck to make a 78. I do know how you feel and I hope that things get better for you! You have made it this far and I am sure you can do it. I know how hard it is to see other people make A's when you may only make a C but in the end as long as you have truly learned the material I think that's what matters.

You just took the words out of my mouth: I failed the first semester in nursing program( 1.5 points behind), because I did not know how to study! I used to spend hours in readings( which if you do not what to select in order to read you end up wasting so much time for nothing!) and was not capable to take the tests, while my classmates used to spend not even half of the time I spent and had high grades. I was so frustrated, I felt I was the most idiot one ever. I did not know about this forum to read and to understand how to approach the study, because at school, trust me, most of the classmates played genies, and I needed just a hint how to make it. Thank God I found this forum and started to read every day people's testimony and made a plan how to approach the nursing school again! First, I collected all reviews about the tests books and then purchased them. Then I started doing hundreds of questions in advance, even not reading the material, but I did that only to develop that" sense" necessary to chose the answers they look for. This was my weakest part, because my knowledge came in conflict with the type of the answers they were seeking for. And I started from 42%, 45%. I continued to take tests, again without reading any material, and now I am doing 65%,68% . I hope, when the material if lectured and the information is given, to be able to sort out easier what is important from what is not and I hope that all this journey through so many questions would have boosted my "test taker" ability!

@b747girl5 I have three kids, too. The youngest is only 2. By the time I was accepted in the program He was almost one year and I was still nursing him. I always been a serious student, my grades were high, thanks to science, but failed the first semester in nursing. Not to mention English is my third language learned, so my vocabulary is far behind of a native speaker. But I was in your shoes: 40 years old by the time in the program. From my experience, doing questions, thousands of questions in advance is much, much smarter than readings, because you learn a lot from rationals as well as it really boosts the " test taker" skills. I used to spend too much time in readings and ended up a failure. And I just hate to hear/ read the same annoying sentence:" you have to understand the material". I would like to see how those genies are defining the "understanding". Most of them even do not admit they are working a lot doing questions, just to seem " so smart". I even do not waist my time to read such "advices" and posts, because they have as a consequence even putting you more down. I would sincerely advise you to do as many questions as possible, because after that you process different the information and they pump up easily, without hours and hours of readings( which they like so much to make you read hundreds of pages, from the books they force you to buy!)