Tips for Surviving the 1st Semester of Nursing School

[ArrowRN]

I can't believe I made it through finals week and my first semester of nursing school is done. I was totally exhausted with several days of 3 hours of sleep and 5 straight exams. Anyways I'm like a straight B student, that's not bad considering I have a family and lots of distractions at home...for me that not where I usually am, so I wanted to offer up some tips on how to survive the first semester of nursing school.

1. READ your books.

This is probably the most annoying thing especially for those like me who learn visually or auditory, so I ended up having to rewrite my notes ( because highlighting does not work for me), and reading out loud.

2. Buy an NCLEX book and start using it now!

Some might not like this idea, but nursing questions suck because all the answers are viable and getting an NCLEX book in your first semester will help you get past the shock phase of those crazy critical thinking questions for those who are more fact-based learners like myself.

3. Be outspoken.

I think it's no secret by now that almost all nursing instructors highly favor students who are extroverts and who talk a lot. Being an introvert did not help me out much. My clinical instructors said I'm too shy to be a nurse when I really have no problem talking in front crowds, I'm just quiet and that's how God made me. If you are quiet like me, make it a point to be extra loud and outspoken especially to your clinical instructor and always volunteer to be the first to try new skills...just trust me on this.

4. Get a good calendar.

Be it an online calendar or old fashioned one, it is needed cause you won't be able to remember all the dates and commitment you have for assignment deadlines.

5. Start projects early.

Go into each class schedule on the first day of class and find all your big papers and start drafting them. Do a little each week so you won't be overwhelmed especially with the time-consuming task of finding evidence-based research.

6. Nursing students Don't get sick.

Ok apparently nursing students are not allowed to get sick, I had a long sick weekend and missed a few assignment deadlines one week and missed 1 day of class for being sick...next thing I'm being called into the nursing office as they question my motives for being a nurse. Anyways...as long as you not in a casket...drag yourself to school, it's better for them to send you home than to call in sick.

7. Say goodbye to life as you know it.

The boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, husband, dog, cat and pet rats will need to understand that you are in nursing school. This means you basically don't have a life and won't be seeing much of them...ok they won't understand but they will try to. Just be patient with the transition of the school life, it is not easy and many relationships do not survive this test.

Finally good luck to those who will be entering their first semester in summer and Fall. I know it's an exciting time. Got some tips of your own? Please add them to this post, I need all the help I can get as I move into semester 2.

Get youtextbookok early and start reading

[stephanie.]

I use flash drives as a last resort now. What I have found that works is copying and pasting my work into a "draft" e-mail and saving that draft. That way, I know it is not going anywhere. I have had a couple of flash drives just up and stop working over the years and learned the hard way.

Yup! Great idea!

[Stephalump]

Dropbox is an absolute life saver. I have my stuff with me no matter where I am! And it makes group projects almost bearable

Once I emailed myself a 20 page care plan, went home, opened it up, and it was BLANK. I nearly cried.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

Dropbox is an absolute life saver. I have my stuff with me no matter where I am! And it makes group projects almost bearable

Once I emailed myself a 20 page care plan, went home, opened it up, and it was BLANK. I nearly cried.

Dropbox is an excellent resource for you to use. I save all of my nursing school related stuff to dropbox. There is plenty of storage space, so I do not have to worry about running out of room. This way I also have access to everything that I could possibly need from any place that has an Internet connection. This includes using my laptop through my wireless connection and my cell phone…

[AzOhana]

Man-nurse 2b, congrats on finishing the first semester. For me, it helps to hear from those who have experienced it and are honest about what to do and not to do, thank you.

Thank you for all the great tips. I start the program in a week and need all the advice I can get.

What are the most useful apps?

Great idea about Dropbox, I have one but never use it. I will now.

[RNitis]

I recommend getting all of your books used. Sometimes the school has a used book program (I preferred to shop online with the ISBN # from a reputable company-I don't believe I can advertise for them on AN;) Saved me a ton of money. Even though I got student loans, paying $75 for the book now rather than $150 plus interest for the same exact book, makes more sense. BUT, never ever get books that someone highlighted already and ensure the seller is reputable, also. Nothing sucks more than starting your class still waiting on your book!

[truckinusa, BSN, LPN, RN]

1. Drink lots of alcohol on the weekends to relieve anxiety

2. Never read your textbook(waste of time)

3. tell your teachers what they want to hear. Nursing instructors will trash your grades if they don't like you.

4. pretend like you are interested in things that you are not(great for clinical grades)

5. definitely buy a NCLEX book! My number one suggestion. I bought nclex 10,000 and the Brunner and Suddarth's prepu software from LWW.com

[NYCRN16]

The best advice I can give besides what is already mentioned is DON'T SLACK OFF AND DON'T CRAM!! There is just too much material to keep putting studying off, before you know it you will have an avalanche of information that you will have to learn. We lost a lot of people first semester because of this. I don't care how smart you are, nobody will make it through nursing school if they study everything at the last minute.

[1hopefulnurse]

Thanks for the advice this was great

[kailss]

Thanks for posting this. I find these threads to be very helpful. :)

[mclennan, BSN, RN]

I definitely agree with #7. I was a successful student for a lot of reasons, but looking back, I know a big part of it was the fact I didn't have kids or pets, only worked VERY part time, (a few shifts a month) and generally accepted the fact the nursing school was my "life." I watched many classmates who tried to work, who had children, who got married & had weddings to plan, who got pregnant, who had drama going on in their personal lives or were always partying FAIL.

I'm not saying it can't be done if you have family obligations or a job but it's 100000X harder. Too many people (especially females) are led to believe we're supposed to be SUPERWOMEN who must be 100% successful at everything and overachieving perfectionists every minute. There is no better recipe for failure than believing that. Just set your life up so you can focus exclusively on nursing school. Don't whine about it, because it is what it is.

Also, figure out what works for YOU. Lots of people say don't cram, don't procrastinate. Well, some of my best A grade papers were written all night before the 8am deadline, smashed on vodka & Red Bull. Cramming worked for me. Figure out your quirks and don't always follow the rules.

[NICUmiiki, DNP, NP]

I'm a crammer and a procrastinator, but I still managed to do better than most of my classmates. I'm not advocating that cramming and waiting last minute are good study habits though. Just get everything done that needs to be done.

I do recommend getting full nights rest. I feel like I'm less stressed and relaxed than almost all of my classmates because of it. Actually, nothing much gets in the way of me sleeping, including studying, except needing to be somewhere like class or work.

[ArrowRN, BSN, RN]

Thanks for the comments guys, just to be more specific on what and how to read, I started going to the books website first, listen to the audio summary or read the summary of the chapter. Then skim through the chapter to gather key points, and then read it. You will have a clearer understanding of it. Different people learn differently, but once you find something that works for you just stick at it and pay special attention to the rationales and normals and abnormal in your texts.

Another Tip! Looking back, I also realized that because I like things structured and organized, I wasted lots of time trying to figure out how to actually get my course work organized. The first couple of weeks I tried many methods that were not working for me. I wanted a way to quickly see my class assignments, be able to view the schedule and modules, without logging into the computer every time and to now what class numbers are for what subject. The method I ended up using was buying a couple of 2 inch binders and I got a 8 pack of color separators with tabs and with pre-made holes to divide the subjects and then I got a 50 pack of clear sleeves. So I would have say a purple separator labelled NUR1234-Health assessment on the tab (remember all the classes would have the same NUR prefix so putting the actual class name on the tab is important), followed by the schedule in a clear sleeve, and the modules. The clear sleeves are great because you don't have to be punching holes in your prints outs, they are cheap and you can use them to keep your print outs in sections of schedules, or assignments and even if you print our modules and power-points and notes, they will stay in your binder better and last longer, in addition no more torn pages in your binder when you are looking for something, then you got to reprint it. A 2 inch binder can probably hold 2 subjects of information for a semester...I wish someone told me this when I started, because it took me a while to figure out how to get organized.