What did you do to prepare for nursing school?

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Hey everyone! I start an ADN-RN program in about a month. I have a 4.0 in my prereqs including A&P 3 classes, Micro, Stats, Nutrition, Developing Psych and a few other ones. However it has been a year since I've one academics as I had a baby last fall then became a CNA this spring. Right now I am not working and have to move to a different town to go to the school I got into. I have only bought one of the textbooks: Fundamentals of Nursing and haven't started reading it. However I have been doing all the accompanying activities, like reading from the cd, taking notes on flowcharts and doing practice problems. Should I keep doing this for all of the chapters in the book so I have a general idea of whats going on when I start the program -or- should I just focus on the first unit of the book (8 chapters) and do all the reading since I don't yet know what will be emphasized in the lectures?

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Specializes in Infusion.

I don't know what will be emphasized in your lectures but I know that for the first few weeks we really focused on physical assessments.

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You should enjoy your time off and relax

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It seems like you're setting yourself up for burnout doing all that extra stuff now. I do the bare minimum to get by in my BSN program, and I still do extremely well. All of that other stuff isn't necessary.

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Specializes in None yet.

Well right now I'm not working. I was planning on moving at the beginning of August but paid first and last when I moved in so I have a 'free' month here. I was doing a contract job from May-July so now I don't have work either. So other than playing with my kids and going hiking I really have nothing to do but surf the web (I don't like to watch tv) so I figured the time would be better spent preparing for school. Granted I only get two or three spare hours a day but would rather do something productive with it than watch tv or gossip on here;)

I'm not the kind of gal that will ever do the bare minimum or try to get away with that. I just want to get some studying done now while I do have free time. I was hopping for some suggestions on if reading the text is more important or if doing the activities and questions on the CD's would be more helpful for fundamentals of nursing. For instance if someone asked me that question about Anatomy I would say use the interactive CD an practice labeling things but if someone asked me that about Micro I woudl say to read. I hope that made sense...

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I'm going to Disney, yep I'm leaving town lol. I think getting away from housework and real life stuff will help in the long run. I come home with just 2 weeks to spare which is good because the campus bookstore will have all the text books in by then and my loan will be ready to be processed. Of course the 2 weeks will be a good time to de-clutter, prepare my work space, read over my books and review chemistry and bio. I am doing an RPN then on to a BScN then to RN, hopefully not taking longer the 4-7 years ( the first two years are in physical school, BSN is available online as long as I have 1 year of practice ). This to me with a family was much easier then the 4 straight years of school, this way if after school things don't work out then I can still have a nursing career.

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You also have a family. Make sure you spend time with them so they don't feel neglected and save some time for yourself (to exercise, chill, or see friends).

What you do with your time, your study habits and attitude is your decision and completely under your control. I started reading the Nurs Fund book because I knew I would be assigned chapters during school and wanted to get ahead of the assignments. You have already started to work within the book--this sounds like you are developing a good study habit. However, research has shown that one loses concentration after 45 minutes--so get up and take a break, go for a talk, play with the kids, etc.

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I did nothing to prepare and I passed my exams so far and passed em quite well too :D If I was to go back and prepare I would go and make sure I knew all about vital signs, the terminology, I'd have looked over some Anatomy and physiology......make sure I knew the basic anatomical structure and physiology of the various organs. Apart from that I don't think there is much more to prepare unless you know what you are going to be doing in lectures :) best of luck!

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I'm getting ready to enter into my 4th quarter of nursing school. After my 3rd quarter, I had the entire summer off. This has been THE best summer ever! I've learned to have fun like never before. Although I have no regrets, I do wish I would have taken the advice of the upper class-men to enjoy my summer with my family prior to starting nursing school.

Enjoy your time off while you have it.

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I found nursing classes to be much easier than A & P and Micro. If you have a 4.0 in those classes, I am guessing you are good to go! At least for your first couple of semesters! RELAX AND ENJOY WHAT YOU HAVE LEFT OF YOUR LIFE...because nursing school is time consuming!

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My advisor told me to have fun until school starts.

We worked very hard to get accepted, so why stress out now.

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