Tips on Nursing School

Okami_CCRN, BSN, RN · Feb 6, 2014

Congrats on coming this far!

I recommend completing all of your prerequisites before starting your core nursing classes, as these will drain your free/study time.

Tips/Tricks

1. Be Organized: Have a binder for lecture material and have a separate one for clinical paperwork. Make sure you read due dates and assigned readings

2. Take study breaks. There is no point in studying for 7932 hours straight. study for one hour blocks with a 10 minute break in between

3. Make time for family and friends. We tend to forget about those we love most during nursing school. Try to have some fun once in a while and don't burn out

4. Iron your damn uniform and keep your hair up and off your color. I cannot tell you how many times classmates have been sent home for a dirty/wrinkled uniform

5. Get a good stethoscope. I bought a Littmann Lightweight and hated it, couldn't hear a thing. I then bought the Cardiology III and it's perfect (can also use it for Peds)

BEST of LUCK!!!

RunBabyRN · Feb 6, 2014

Get a day planner, and plan out your days. It'll put everything in one place. This includes family stuff, not just assignments, but go through your syllabi and put every single assignment due date in there as well.

All of the classes are difficult and time consuming. What's difficult for each of us varies. I think there's a general consensus that the sheer volume of reading is one of the hardest parts. Take a textbook to work with you each day and read some on your breaks when possible. Is your program flexible enough for you to work full time?

Organization and stress management will take you far. I run to keep my stress down, and it helps immensely. Find something you can easily do that's flexible.

bdarden07 · Feb 7, 2014

Thanks for the tips. I will keeps those thing in mind while in the program. Do you mind giving me tips on passing the hesi,as well as an outlook on the classes I will take while in the program?

RunBabyRN · Feb 8, 2014

Check out the HESI forum- I took the TEAS, so I can't help with that one.

Look at the program itself to see what lies in store- most have the classes you'll take and when posted. Most programs go at breakneck speed, so it's really important to make the most of your time and stay on top of your assignments.

brillohead, ADN, RN · Feb 9, 2014

In nursing school, buy LOTS of practice NCLEX books / study guides. For me, the trick that works best is to figure out WHAT THE QUESTION IS ASKING and HOW THE INSTRUCTOR WANTS YOU TO ANSWER IT.

I was always a straight-A student before, but nursing school is totally different from any class you have ever taken. Get NCLEX books that not only tell you what the correct answer is, but WHY it is the right answer and WHY the others are the wrong answer.

I think this is the BIGGEST issue people have with nursing exams.... you often have a question and four correct answers from which to choose, but only the MOST CORRECT answer is the "right" answer. Figuring out how to read the exam questions to figure out what they want you to respond with is the key, and the NCLEX study guides will help you figure that out (while also reinforcing the actual memorization part, like what happens if potassium levels are too low, etc.).

As for the classes you will take, this should be spelled out in your college's program handbook. In my school, we took fundamentals, pharmacology, med-surg I, ob/peds, med-surg II, psych nursing, med-surg III, and leadership. There were other classes that had to be completed for the degree (but not pre-reqs for the program) that were not nursing-related, like a "global awareness" elective (I used a language class, could also have taken a history or politics class), creativity elective (I took children's literature b/c "art appreciation" or "music appreciation" would have bored me to tears), basic English/composition (I took the CLEP instead), developmental psychology, etc. Most people in my program got all of those extra classes out of the way while waiting to be accepted into the nursing program so they didn't have to take them at the same time as their nursing classes.

Another recommendation is to get at least one textbook version that is different than your required textbook for each class. (I liked to get my NCLEX books and other textbooks from betterworldbooks.com -- many of them are only $3.99 with free shipping!) When reading about a particular subject (say, renal diseases), you can read the corresponding chapter in a different textbook and maybe get a totally different perspective. I had one textbook that would just put me to sleep every single time (and I love to read!).... I would read a different book instead, and I learned the subject matter without passing out. Also, many instructors will take exam questions from other textbooks, so any time you can broaden your reading, you increase your chances of doing well on an exam! (Same goes for NCLEX study guides -- sometimes you'll see a question on an exam that you've already seen in a book.)

Hope this is helpful to you!

bdarden07 · Jul 3, 2015

Will I be able to work and attend nursing school?? Help please.

HisKids37 · Jul 3, 2015

Will I be able to work and attend nursing school?? Help please.

You might want to call the nursing program at your school and ask their advice on this. Mine highly recommends that you don't work at all during the program, but many work part-time, and there might be a couple working full-time. I really can't imagine working a full-time job and doing well in nursing school, but everyone is different.

NurseGirl525, ASN, RN · Jul 3, 2015

It depends on the job. If it's a Monday through Friday 9-5, then the answer is no. If it's a job where you can work maybe a couple of nights and weekends, then maybe. It depends on how organized you are and how much you need to study.

beekee · Jul 3, 2015

While taking the prerequisite courses, working full time isn't too bad. Once you hit the actual nursing courses, it gets much harder. In my first semester, most tried to keep working full time. By second semester, most had either quit or drastically reduced their hours. But there were a few who kept working full time. It depends on so many factors, such as how much time you need to study, how much help you have at home (laundry, meals, grocery shopping, etc), how much time you devote to your kids, etc.

bdarden07 · Jul 9, 2015

Well at the moment I'm working at a local transit company as a Customer Service Rep. I'm preparing to let this job go if it get in the way of school, or even go part-time. My only worries is that I'm a single mother of two small children. But as far as that stand my trust is in God.

ahosoda · Jul 9, 2015

Will I be able to work and attend nursing school?? Help please.

This depends on a lot of different factors:

1) Your school/clinical hours. During my prereqs, I always had the option of going to class in the morning, then working an evening shift (2pm-10pm). I was able to do most homework and studying between classes or after work. Unfortunately, most nursing schools don't give you the luxury of picking which hours you want. I laughed when my advisor and clinical instructor told me I should quit my job since I was able to manage it so easily during prereqs. I was not the one laughing a week later.

2) The stressfulness of your job. Don't wait until you're drowning before you save yourself. Nursing school is going to be stressful regardless, but that doesn't mean it has to be unmanageable. When I was working during nursing school, I would be mid-studying something like cardiac medications, for example, and I couldn't focus because all I could think about was "wow, ____ is such a bad manager" or "_____ patient was so sick yesterday, I wonder if they are ok." And it took me a couple weeks to realize... this is dangerous. What is going to happen when I graduate and I have to give a patient this cardiac drug? I won't know what to do. I wanted to give nursing school 100%, not just for me, but for my future patients whose lives are at risk. You can squeak by with the minimum passing grade in nursing school, but who are you really hurting? Your future patients.

3) Your support system. Do you have a lot of friends and family who will help you with your kids? Anyone who says "I'll cook dinner while you study" or offers to do your laundry. You can't do nursing school on your own.

Lots of other things too but those are the main things to consider. Some semesters will be easier than others. I went back to work during one of my semesters because to me, that semester was very easy and I felt like I had some free time on my hands.

To your original post:

My biggest tip would be to type all of your notes. Record lectures if you can (my school automatically records all lectures which is a lifesaver). Even a slow typer can get down more notes than a fast writer. And it is much easier to stay organized when it is all on a computer rather than 50 different binders. There are a lot of people in my class who are EXTREMELY intelligent but miss about 50% of what the professor is saying because they are scrambling to write down all of the notes. Also I weep for our earth and its scarce resources when I see them pull out their pathophysiology binders. The poor trees!

I also recommend talking to your professors if you are having trouble. I never had to do this during pre-reqs. Sometimes you gotta pick your nursing professor's brain a little, learn how they think. It is not about which answers are right. Its about which answer is the most right.

Good luck!