What is your study technique?

mgfam · Jul 4, 2014

Study. If a person whose first language is not English can graduate, you can

NRRN,IWP · Jul 4, 2014

Thank you I am so nervous & excited!!

seaofclouds21, BSN, RN · Jul 4, 2014

Do you know how you learn best? If so, find ways to optimize on that. If you don't know yet, try to figure that out. Some people learn best by listening. A good technique for those people is to record their lectures and listen to them over again as necessary. Some people learn best by reading. A good technique for those people is taking notes, then rewriting them or making flashcards with the information. Some people learn best by doing. A good technique for those people is to get as hands on as possible. This can be a bit harder with some content.

When I was in nursing school, I tapes my lectures and kept detailed notes. Sometimes I would rewrite my notes because I would add a lot to my original notes when I listened to my tapes over again. I didn't use flashcards, but there were others in my program that swore by them. When it came to labs, I would get as hands on as I could and spend as much time as I could doing whatever it was we were doing. When it came to learning our clincal skills, I would spend extra time practicing, just to be sure I was getting the hang of it. I wanted the skills to become fluent, without pauses as I tried to remember what to do next. Practice is the best way to make that happen.

NRRN,IWP · Jul 4, 2014

Thank you! Very well explained! :)

pmabraham, BSN, RN · Jul 7, 2014

Good day, irak10:

For me, my study technique varies per class, and also the subject/unit being covered by the class. What is your learning style(s)? Mine is a combination of visual, auditory, and kinetic. Even though the techniques I use vary, since I'm a combination of all three, I usually strive to incorporate all three in whatever technique I'm applying.

No matter the class I've taken, I've found the advice on https://allnurses.com/pre-nursing-student/how-get-any-846733.html to be extremely valuable mainly from the standpoint of time management. I try to get the syllabus for each class in advance of the class, and then plan out each day of the week in terms of reading assignments, plain study & homework time, start date for project, due date for projects, quiz and exam dates, etc.

For "rough" study time calculations, I do the following considering a 15 to 16 week semester:

* For non science classes, 2 hours of study time per week per credit hour (i.e. 3 credit class = 6 hours study).

* For science classes: (a) treat lab and lecture as two separate three credit classes for time management purposes only (b) 2 to 3 hours (often leaning towards three) per credit hour. For example, AP 1 with lab at 4 credits would be treated as two 3 credit classes putting aside 6 to 9 hours for lecture per week and 6 to 9 hours per lab per week. The main change to this is when I took AP2 and Microbiology at the same time, I increased the study time to 4 hours per credit vs. 3.

When dealing with any compressed schedule (i.e. 6 to 8 week semester), I doubled the ending time calculation. Also, some class descriptions (at least at our college) will have the professor telling you to treat xyz course as an x credit class even though the actual credits received are less. When they do so, it is typically a hint that you will need to put more time into studying.

In the application of time management, I always tried to incorporate breaks; and any large block of time (i.e. here is a 4 hour block) would be broken down into smaller pieces such as review chapter (5 minutes), read chapter (20 minutes), take a break to do something physical (5 minutes), then repeat.

]Here are some links that may be useful in terms of improving overall study skills, taking notes, reading text books, etc.

]SQ4R Study Method

Note Taking Systems - Academic Skills Center: Study Skills Library - Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo