We survived!

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I just wanted to congratulate all the students who finished their first week of nursing school! I don't know about you, but I was certainly overwhelmed by all the expectations and readings that we were expected to be familiar with in such a short amount of time. I was horrified to find out I have an 2 exams every week for the next 4 weeks. However, after taking the first exam, I am happy to report that I certainly underestimated what I was capable of and aced it. I'm sure many are feeling the same way, but I just wanted to encourage you that you are not alone! Time management and ACTIVELY LISTENING during lectures have helped me to understand and retain the material much better than taking too many notes; you don't remember why you wrote that specific thing down or why you have a gape in your notes because you couldn't write fast enough. Also, look at those objectives. Not to say that your readings aren't relevant, but there's a lot of information that you can skim over - be respectful of other's cultures (well, I would hope that's pretty straightforward, and you wouldn't spend a lot of time pondering over that basic concept). Good luck! We can absolutely do this!

Now, if I could just miter those corners...

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Specializes in Neuroscience.

I wish I had 2 exams a week. I have few exams for the semester. 3 exams for one course, 4 exams for the other, both "exams" include a HESI. Little scary.

Hope your first week of school was great! Grats on acing your first exam.

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Specializes in ICU.

Congrats!! Our first test is on Tuesday and we also have quizzes and check offs next week. Lots of videos to watch and practicing in the lab. But I very much enjoyed it. I like my instructors and classmates. The next 2 years should be fun.

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Congrats cracklingkraken for a great first week in NS. Keep us posted on your journey! I also agree the idea of an exam every 2 weeks sounds daunting but it's not that bad when you think about it. I had that kind of style exam in a somewhat challenging undergrad bio course designed for science majors.

Were you able to use a voice recorder at your program?

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

Congratulations upon surviving your 1st week! Soon you'll start noticing that there's a routine to all of this and that's good! You'll start to anticipate what you need to do and you'll start adjusting to how your exams are done relative to the material you're supposed to read.

Having exams just about every 2 weeks isn't actually that bad... it keeps you focused on the reading (you're always preparing for an exam) and it offers you relatively frequent feedback on how you're doing. My program had 6 exams + Final every semester and that worked out to an exam every 2-3 weeks. We could fail any exam but we wouldn't be washed out of the program unless our final grade was less than 75%. We also had up to 3 math quizzes every semester and we had to score no less than 90% or we were out. We also typically had 2 attempts at the skills sessions... but for the most part, it wasn't actually all that bad because we were ready for it.

Whatever you do, don't rest on your achievements from exam to exam. Keep looking for ways to improve your retention of the material. Usually what you're looking for is understanding of the concepts presented, not necessarily the details. You can make sense of the details if you understand the concepts. That, in turn, should help you work through the NCLEX later.

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@dorkypanda: Yes, we are allowed to use voice recorders! However, I honestly never go back to listen to them, so it ends up just being a waste of space on my phone. I'm more of a visual/tactile learner, so I read the chapters beforehand, take notes directly on the PowerPoint slides, and write down any questions I have. Then, I just follow along with the instructor, being sure to ask any questions about certain topics.

@akulahawaRN: Thank you! Actually, it's 2 exams per week. But that's only for the first 4 weeks (I hope). Of course, I do not rely on this exam to predict my future scores nor see it as an opportunity to slack off in my studies. However, I find it encouraging that it wasn't as scary and terrifying as I was expecting it to be, which tends to be my issues when it comes to taking exams. I have anxiety before exams, and it often becomes a source of second-guessing myself. Luckily, I love the critical thinking questions and thinking "what would be the nurse's first priority", so the exam becomes not as stressful as I was expecting. If that makes any sense.

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Specializes in ICU.

How many days a week are you going this semester? We are going 3 at Anderson but they are long days. We have our first lecture exam on Tuesday and every Tuesday after that for the next 3 weeks. Then a final on the 17th for lecture. Then we have graded checkoffs to be completed every Friday. It seems like a lot but really when I started looking at it, this semester is going to be a lot of common sense I think. Plus on Tuesday we got all 9 of our ATI books. I thought I already had enough books but then comes another box of ATI!! I forget what campus you are at?

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We have 4 days. Wow, I wish ours was only 3 days! The schedule would be more compacted, of course, but the extra day would give you that study time. Our lecture exams are the same. However, we also have lab exams every week (along with surprise quizzes). I think most of the readings are pretty easy, actually. I don't have to spend much time on it, since a lot of it tends to be common sense (respect the patient's choices - I would hope that's common sense). I'm at the South Bend campus! The ATI books are actually extremely helpful! The breakdown of the chapters are a lot simpler than the textbook, and it has a few NCLEX styled questions at the end of each chapter, along with the rationale. Let me know how your program goes! I think these 2 years are going to breeze by faster than we think.

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