WANTED: Nursing student tidbits of advice

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hey guys,

I start this fall in my nursing program and Im extremely anxious!!! Im looking for any advice that will help me in school. Whats the thing you can NOT live w/o during nursing school? What was the best study method for you? Index cards, recorders, palm pilots? What should I take to clinicals? I know you all were anxious when u started!!!

thanks guys

p.s. ....im hoping this will end up being a HUGE thread that other anxious students can read

I wouldn't start studying for the NCLEX yet! Relax and enjoy this time!

If I had been reading up on meds or whatever before even starting school, I can't imagine I would've understood, much less retained, much of anything! The reviews work best when they're just that -- reviews of what you've learned. Most are geared toward people who already have a least a basic understanding of the subjects, which you will get over the course of your education.

My school recommended the Illustrated Study Guide for the NCLEX-RN by Mosby ... I've used it to review subjects like cardiac and respiratory before those exams and I like it pretty well. We also use MedsPub, an online program, which I like and have heard is helpful. MedsPub access is expensive but is included in our tuition, so I wouldn't buy it yet! I've heard good things about Pearl's Review, but never used it myself.

Like I said, though, relax this summer. Your school will be preparing you for the NCLEX over the next few years. Good luck!

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I also would suggest relaxing and enjoying this summer. If you're motivated enough to even think about studying before school starts, then you're ahead of the curve. Enjoy this time to see friends and family, maybe take a mini vacay if you can swing it and generally getting yourself into a relaxed and happy lifestyle. I didn't study anything before I started school. I just graduated with high honors.

These books are usually for use after you're all done with your classes and getting ready to take NCLEX in a couple months time (you have to get approval from the State Board to take NCLEX and this happens a few weeks after your graduation). You'll learn the content as well as test-taking strategies during the course of nursing school.

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Organize your time!! Set aside definite hours every day for study....stick to it. Find a study partner for a specific difficult subject. ....share....and pray .

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Congratulations. Nursing school sure is exciting. I am going into my 3rd of 4 years. I was like you when I started - wanted to study everything beforehand, get PERFECTLY organized, and all of that. The best advice I can give you is not to waste so much time trying to get it all right before you have started. That time is far better spent on actual studies and with your family and other commitments. If you don't figure it out now, then nursing school will just discourage you because you will never be able to get everything "right" and you will end up falling behind. The second piece of advice is not to fall prey to purchasing every single help that is available. You will end up wasting too much money. I have A&P cards, and 2 boxes of drug cards I will likely not use again - and I spent enough money on them to wish I had it back now. Try to take it easy and allow yourself a couple of weeks to get into the groove of classes and clinicals - you will have a better idea what you will need by then, what your finances look like and how much time you have to invest. Know yourself and use your strengths to help you decide what supplies to purchase, how to study, etc. Your excitement and enthusiasm will help keep you motivated when things get rough. :twocents:

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Specializes in Public Health Nurse.

MADNURSE, I love your post. I am having the I am not sure I can make it feeling now. On my first medsurge and I love the class but did so bad on the first test and I am not sure I can do any better on the second one coming up, though I am trying. For us in the part time program is hard as if one fails a class we must wait a whole year to re-take it.

Buy the digital recorder, is an investment that for the first time I am making for medsurge and it does help. I usually burn the lectures then to a CD and listen to them in the car on they way from and to work since I work full time and school is part time. I do not have enough time to spare. I have yet to find the best way to study for this class yet.

I love coffee, does nothing for me though, it just does not keep me awake or more alert, but I love the taste of it. I have noticed that I am eating more junk food now since I have no time to cannot clean, cook, do laundry, do the shopping and all that jazz. I have my cat who is my sanity at times.

Keep the humor MadNurse, I love it, and we in the program now, need a laugh now and then.

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Specializes in med/surg, rehab and home health since'00.

First you might want to think about how you learn. by reading, writing, listening etc. And use that knowledge to your advantage. Second no matter how you learn and what the ppt in class is about you have to read your book!!! It is not fun but is necessary!

Hint, look at the objectives in the sylabus and make sure you know them

Cograts and good luck!!!!:yeah:

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While I agree that doing NCLEX questions before starting school might be to hard and confusing, I do not agree with waiting until you graduate to start doing them. Nursing tests are written like the NCLEX and getting a book broken down by body system to do questions out of is a great way to study...especially for Med/Surg. The drug NCLEX book may help when you take Pharmacology also. I did NCLEX questions to study through my whole first year, and even though I have been out of school this past year because I failed the 3rd semester math comp test, I can still get a really high score on a test from my NCLEX book! It's nice to know that not only did my books help me pass the test, they also helped me retain the knowledge in my long term memory!

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Just to clarify, I think using NCLEX study materials is helpful while you're in school (i.e. do the GI section in your study guide when preparing for a GI test -- it can help to reinforce what you already know and maybe give you some information you didn't get in class). What I was trying to say was that I wouldn't start working on NCLEX study material until you're actually learning the material in class.

I completely understand the desire to get a head start -- I'm like that too! -- with your drive and commitment, I'm sure you'll do great!

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These books are usually for use after you're all done with your classes and getting ready to take NCLEX in a couple months time (you have to get approval from the State Board to take NCLEX and this happens a few weeks after your graduation). You'll learn the content as well as test-taking strategies during the course of nursing school.

Actually I was referring to this post...sorry!:D

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Specializes in Critical Care, Management, Education.

I am a nursing instructor and want to comment on the bags. Most clinical sites have very limited space so the smaller the better. Also, don't bring ANYTHING of value that you can't keep on your body! Best wishes. P.S. I agree with the poster who said not to strive for perfection, because you're setting yourself up for failure. Strive for excellence. Oh, by the way, SO many of you need to learn to spell correctly. It will definitely improve your credibility!

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I completely understand I don't need to study NCLEX review books yet, but I want to understand/learn how the questions are written, i.e., patient safety coming first in every scenario; but what is the question really asking about, etc., that kind of weird "what are they getting at questions" is why I want to check out the books. (The 2 questions I got wrong on my last anatomy test was how the question was written.) Although I am not a nurse yet, I have 15 years' background in the medical field, so some questions of course will be way over my head because my background is not in nursing/hands on, but some I will know the answers to. I want to know which review book may help me learn how the questions are worded, learning what they are looking for in an answer, etc. Oh, and I can't relax if I'm not studying :nuke:, so I will be studying something . . . med conversion a good idea? That I would have less knowledge in, though, diagnosing and symptoms and physiology stuff I have a good handle on, anatomical, etc., so want to brush up on how these questions are asked, not worried about all the content yet, plenty of time for that! And when I learn the content, it will all fall into place (for me, that's how I "get" it: read it before, then learn it in class, and usually know it after studying a little after that). Might even run across something in clinical and think, wait a minute, I've heard this problem/symptom/diagnosis/treatment scenario before . . .

So, any ideas on what to read, read, read while I'm catching rays this summer?

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One of the things that helps me out after a long day at clinicals is going to the car, cranking up the music (I yell at my kids for doing this) and trying to let it all go before I get home. It helps to have some old rock and roll or something with a beat to put you into a new frame of mind. As many others have said, one day at a time.:D

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