What study habits work and don't work for nursing school?

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I'm about to start an accelerated BSN program in mid-August and have been reading a lot of the student nurse posts. I keep reading that the study habits that worked in pre-reqs don't work for nursing classes (i.e. the ol' memorize and dump method). I have a 4.0 in my pre-nursing classes but a lot of those classes really are just test of your ability to memorize a massive amount of information (anatomy) and then dump it onto paper come test time. I was wondering if anybody would be willing to share how they successfully changed their study habits once they got into nursing school? What still worked- what didn't?

I've been reviewing some NCLEX questions and I can see how the questions are worded very differently and require a deeper level of understanding of the material. I wanted to know how do you study in order to achieve that deeper understanding? Thank you!!

Like you said, memorizing does not work. We were told day 1 that there was nothing you have to memorize in my program :D Basically, what that means is you need to understand the whole concept. You will be taught one thing in class, and it is up to you to go home and apply it to what you have learned previously. 90% of my Nursing School exam questions do not come from a book or a lecture. They come from thinking and analyzing a problem.

You might need to try a couple different study methods, until you get one that fits. I was a big note-card maker when I was in pre-reqs and I have not made one note card in Nursing School. One of the things that works for me is, lets say we are learning about COPD. I will sit down after lecture and go system by system and brainstorm what would be happening in each organ system.

Talk to you professors... A LOT. Go in after exams to talk with them about missed questions, they should walk you through the rationale for the correct answer.

Good luck!

I keep reading that the study habits that worked in pre-reqs don't work for nursing classes (i.e. the ol' memorize and dump method).

So that's what that means. I keep hearing that you can't study for nursing classes like you studied for prereqs, which confuses me, because I studied so hard for prereqs. I've never been good at the memorize and dump method (avoided it when possible, actually).

Never memorize. Now, what worked for me may not work for everyone, but I found it a good way to condense information to make reviewing for exams easier. My method: read all of the chapters and take detailed notes. Take detailed notes in class. Take notecards and only put the important info (like stuff that is unique to the condition, procedure, etc.). Read these at least once a day. 48 hours before an exam, read through the chapters again (just read because you already took notes) and read your detailed notes. Then, the morning of the test, just look at your note cards. This sounds like a lot, but I promise it really isn't when you put it into practice. I work full-time, am raising my teen cousin and am providing full care for my gram. I also go to nursing schools full-time. This method has helped me to shave some time off while still getting all of the info and retaining it. I am not a straight-A student, but I am getting As and high Bs.

READ....READ....READ all material and like 1 week before test do a lot of practice questions on everything that is going to be on test.

do some review each day. Don't try to cram it all in the day before the test because you will never make thru all the material in one night. Practice questions!!! Get the workbooks that go with your texts, there's lots of great questions in there, and you can test yourself to see how well you know the material. Sometimes teachers even take test questions from there. If you have ATI use it, and learn to love it. Search youtube, there's lots of helpful videos. I think the biggest thing is to do a little bit each day, rather than all the day before exam.

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

I tailored my studying by : reviewing the objectives of required chapters, highlighted the tables and examples, utilized the material by using the nursing process, and utilized the "recommending reading" for a "to the point" process of the material (mainly rented my books and got my books on a discount or used). I also utilized "review" books with NCLEX-style questions, which is the format of testing in Nursing programs.

Specializes in Pediatrics, Long Term Care.

From my personal experience, don't try and JUST read everything. When you have an exam on 13 chapters don't FORCE yourself to read it. Understand the concepts and learn the material but reading to understand the concepts will take you a long way!

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
From my personal experience don't try and JUST read everything. When you have an exam on 13 chapters don't FORCE yourself to read it. Understand the concepts and learn the material but reading to understand the concepts will take you a long way![/quote']

^ :yes: THIS...

I'm glad this post is on here. Two years ago I was in a LPN program. I passed fundamentals because it was mainly skills and pharmacology but when med surg started I failed the final and was kicked out the program. I knew the basic terms but I studied by notecards and didnt completely grasp the concept to answer the questions that were asked.

Specializes in Hospitalist Medicine.

I found that applying what I've learned to case studies worked well for me. Also, try to "teach" the material to someone else. Pick a friend who won't turn study time in to social hour (perhaps another classmate?) and try to teach the material to each other. It really helps solidify what you know in your brain.

I would try to do the NCLEX-style questions that were available from the textbook publisher online to gauge my knowledge of the concepts. If your textbook has a separate study guide/question book, it's usually a wonderful resource to practice questions before an exam. I just want to make clear that these are questions for student use made available by the publisher. I'm not advocating instructor test banks :)

I would also break up your studying into small chunks during the day, rather than one long study session. They say the typical adult learner needs to be exposed to material at least 3 times before retaining it.

Best of luck to you during your accelerated program! :D

Yep. So true. My old nursing instructor used to say C means continue not cry. She said when you finish and pass NCLEX nobody cares about your GPA.

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