Tell me about your study group/study sessions

[on eagles wings]

hi yall!

so i am starting my nursing program in 3 weeks and i have most of my books, plus study guides like fundies success. i've got most of my supplies and uniforms.

however, many of the students ahead of me mention study groups, and how essential they are to your success in nursing school, due to the high volume of info. so my question is, what are your study sessions like?

how do you break up the work? how do you plan before an exam? in fact, do you only meet before an exam and study alone the rest of the class, or do you meet every week throughout the program?

i actually like to study alone. in my pre-reqs i mostly studied alone. but every now and then, i would get with one other person. never liked having more than one person because there would always be that dodo that only met with us to mooch and not work. :)

so please, enlighten me with your wisdom!

[Crazed]

My experiences with groups and school go something like this:

Prof: Okay we're going to have a group project but like EVERYONE has to work and do their share. I'll grade you on the group effort and the individual effort. Here are your groups.

Me: Gets in group, waits 10 mins while group members vent/gossip until I finally bring up the subject at hand. Agree on topic and course of action, exchange information, go home. That night email group members to confirm what we had decided.

Next Day:

No answer.

Next Day:

No answer.

Next Day:

Email again and text.

Next Day:

No Answer.

Two days before project is due, no research, no communication, Crazed cares about her grade so ends up doing all the work (inc powerpoint) herself. Presents group work, honest about share of work.

Crazed gets 96 - other two "group" members receive a 92 and 88 respectively.

I hate group things.

[on eagles wings, ASN, RN]

My experiences with groups and school go something like this:

Prof: Okay we're going to have a group project but like EVERYONE has to work and do their share. I'll grade you on the group effort and the individual effort. Here are your groups.

Me: Gets in group, waits 10 mins while group members vent/gossip until I finally bring up the subject at hand. Agree on topic and course of action, exchange information, go home. That night email group members to confirm what we had decided.

Next Day:

No answer.

Next Day:

No answer.

Next Day:

Email again and text.

Next Day:

No Answer.

Two days before project is due, no research, no communication, Crazed cares about her grade so ends up doing all the work (inc powerpoint) herself. Presents group work, honest about share of work.

Crazed gets 96 - other two "group" members receive a 92 and 88 respectively.

I hate group things.

Shut. up. The same exact thing happened to me last semester for a psychology project. I think nothing makes me more upset than that People have such little work ethic nowadays! Amazing.

[Staragate, ADN, ASN, RN]

My clinical group was my study group. They were amazing and were as driven to study as I was. We would get together in pairs or 3s and at exam time, we would reserve a meeting room for a day and hammer out the exam unit by unit.

Pick out some areas that you are struggling with in your notes, and bring it up. Maybe someone else can explain it better.

Pick out some areas that you feel good about and ask if anybody needs clarity on it. On hard terms, I like to make it funny... say it weird, rhyme, associate it with something else. (Like the lacrimal bone in the skull sounds a little like Whack-A-Mole)

[BelleNscrubs04]

The key is to pick the right people for your study group. (unfortunately you often can't do this for group projects). If you are type A and want a serious group try to get people on the first and second rows. Did they bring their textbook to class? Do they answer teacher questions? Are they at class early? Do they have 2 pens out on top of the desk? Are they looking over their planner? What are they talking about before class? If it's how they read and took notes on the chapter the night before and they are going to ask the teacher to clarify this part because the notes say one thing but the book says the opposite ...All of these are signs you've found your type A brethren.

And it nevers hurts to begin by saying upfront "I want to form a serious study group for us type A'ers..."

[on eagles wings, ASN, RN]

The key is to pick the right people for your study group. (unfortunately you often can't do this for group projects). If you are type A and want a serious group try to get people on the first and second rows. Did they bring their textbook to class? Do they answer teacher questions? Are they at class early? Do they have 2 pens out on top of the desk? Are they looking over their planner? What are they talking about before class? If it's how they read and took notes on the chapter the night before and they are going to ask the teacher to clarify this part because the notes say one thing but the book says the opposite ...All of these are signs you've found your type A brethren.

And it nevers hurts to begin by saying upfront "I want to form a serious study group for us type A'ers..."

LOL That sounds like me in school... but in "real life" I am a type B.

So maybe I am a Type AB

All joking aside, I am going to scan the classroom the first few days of class and then pounce on them like a lion. I definitely need someone like the above to study with. I have a really short attention-span, so if I have a walky-talky for a study partner, I am doomed.

Thanks for the advise!

[Pneumothorax, BSN, RN]

i usually just study by myself..then like a day or 2 before the test or right before the test ill meet up with one of the groups and see if they hit on any info i may have missed. that has been working pretty well for me!

[Lil-Dragon]

For A & P, two of my classmates and I got together usually the day before exams and reviewed and quizzed each other. We found that we had different strengths and weaknesses and working together improved retention and overall exam scores.

I'll be starting a nursing program in a few weeks and through AN I met some terrific ppl who will be starting w/ me. We created a thread here on AN and a yahoo group to provide support for one another and we are hoping to have weekly study groups.

Study groups aren't for everyone, but for myself it was a rewarding experience to receive and offer assistance to fellow students. With the rigorous semester ahead, it's comforting to have a group of ppl joining together.

[Isabellah]

I am not into the group thing. I have a really busy life and don't have time for groups and I do just fine. Most of the groups I have come across have way too much drama going on for me. I use Memory Notebook of Nurses and the Davis Success series. Also I use the companion CDs that come with my nursing book. I am a very serious studier and unfortunately come off as a know it all. I tried a study group but found out that the talked about me behind my back about how I thought I was so much smarter than them. No, I have never thought that. I just read and study constantly cause it is such a financial strain for me to go to school. I can't afford to fail. Sorry for the vent but this is something that might help. Take the Vark quiz and see what type of learner you are.

[on eagles wings, ASN, RN]

I am not into the group thing. I have a really busy life and don't have time for groups and I do just fine. Most of the groups I have come across have way too much drama going on for me. I use Memory Notebook of Nurses and the Davis Success series. Also I use the companion CDs that come with my nursing book. I am a very serious studier and unfortunately come off as a know it all. I tried a study group but found out that the talked about me behind my back about how I thought I was so much smarter than them. No, I have never thought that. I just read and study constantly cause it is such a financial strain for me to go to school. I can't afford to fail. Sorry for the vent but this is something that might help. Take the Vark quiz and see what type of learner you are.

I know how you feel. A similar thing happened to me when I was taking my anatomy lab. This girl I sat next to would always mock me about how much I studied. I'd work hard in that class because I genuinely enjoyed it. I was also good friends with the professor and she hated that. It is sad to say but she did pretty nasty in that class. In the end, she ended up seeing I wasn't arrogant and wasn't into competition.

Some people are just frustrated with themselves and their own performance, so they bring others down. I'm also broke and can't afford to fail. I refuse to take out loans too.

Good luck in your program & thanks for your advice :) Keep at it and just ignore the negativity. We can't please everyone! :heartbeat

[piscesgrl389]

i was always the type of person who studied alone even throughout my 1st bachelors degree, i rather study by myself because in study groups i end up being the teacher instead of grasping anything out of it... imo study groups only work when EVERYONE in the group has already studied the material and you are meeting up to review and reinforce what you are learning is correct, if your confused about something, of course we can still go over it but if you didnt study at all.. then its a problem. i call them the leechers because they want to be spoonfed what you learned.

Nursing school was they 1st time i really did study groups often. It helps only because i only do study groups with people i know already studied and we just review and make sure we got the material down. Ofcourse we do our occasional off tangent topics.. but for the most part we are pretty much on topic. But we only really do it when exams are close...so 75% of the time I am by myself.

[JLA]

I'm getting some great ideas on ways to study here. I start an ADN progrm in January and am researching things that can help me study better. I want to do well!! :)