What's the best way to manage/study for classes?

[Nissan350z]

Hi. I will be starting my first semester of NS in about two weeks. The classes I have are: Pathophysiology, Pharmacology, Skills Lab 1, and Intro to Nursing Theory. I would like your advice as to how I should manage them.

Should I study for each class daily, two subjects daily and switch after a day, or focus on the harder classes and leave the easier ones to study for later on? How do all of you study for your classes? Thanks and good luck! :)

[chinacatSN]

The best advice I can give you is to take one day at a time. If you get yourself all worked up about homework and studying and when and how to do things, you're going to burn yourself out. One woman in my class would study every night for 3 hours, then do all her reading which was anywhere from 50 to 250 pages, and then try to do her homework on top of it.

So, I would suggest you get a planner of some sort, take your syllabi and write down all the due dates of assignments and all the test dates as well. Keep up on your homework before you even THINK about studying because missing homework can be almost as bad as doing awful on a test. Do your reading and you should be fine - especially if you retain info from reading. You can also record your lectures and listen to them as you do your homework.

Of course, it also depends on your program. My nursing program requires TONS of reading and TONS of homework - if I studied every night on top of it I'd never sleep. Just don't burn yourself out and don't sacrifice your entire life so you can study.

Congrats and good luck!

[9livesRN, BSN, RN]

Mine was:

Get to school 1 hour earlier then I should, review andnread about lecture, after the lecture I would not leave until I finished the homework and at least 30 questions out of a nclex book on the subject I learned that day!

[RKpianoman, APRN]

What worked best for me last semester, my first semester, was skimming over the chapters for the next day and thoroughly reading parts that I didn't understand at first glance. Then, i would quickly skim over the powerpoints for class and get a good night's sleep. Be prepared to take notes and maintain a calendar during class to keep track of assignments. After class, I would go to the library or coffee shop and read back through my notes from that day once and study anything that did not quite sink in during class (i tried to limit this to however long it took me to finish a cup of coffee). After this, I took a break for an hour to walk around campus or play piano (whatever helps you unwind). The, it was homework time, oh joy! After homework, I prepared for the next day by what I explained at the beginning of this post.

DO NOT miss class unless you are running a fever, throwing-up, or you have some sort of emergency. My days of taking random breaks from class were over when I started last semester. Nursing school moves at a fast pace, and catching up is very hard to do. That being said, I haven't found any one subject to be terribly challenging; the challenge is in the volume that is poured upon you all at once.