Study Tips for Nursing Students

Hey survivors,

It’s been an amazing week for me and I’m sure someone reading this has had one too. If not, I know today will be worth more than all the past days of this week. If you are going through a difficult day/week, find something to be thankful for in the midst of all that isn’t right and just be grateful. It might be hard to look past all that is happening, but trust me there is something good in it, you just have to shift your focus from the pain to see a reason to smile.

Talking about focus, what exam are you focusing on? I know we just finished our first exam, or for some people first two exams. There are two outcomes, it was probably good or bad. Regardless of the outcome, are you still focusing on that exam or the ones ahead? You see we have a tendency to dwell on the past, thinking what I would have done different or even how will this exam affect my grades this semester. The truth is that the exam has been written, graded, and cannot be changed. The only way to do better is to take the lessons from that exams mistake and work on avoiding it in the next exam.

For example, I realized I made a lot of mistakes and missed key words in questions just because I was rushing and not because I didn’t know the material. Now I know that for my next exam I have to take my time. Your mistake could be different from mine, but the point is to learn from your mistakes and carry on. I have two more exams before the finals and I know there is hope for us all.

You might not have done too well on the exam, and could be feeling discouraged, but I will say “don’t quit, it is hard but very doable.” There is a second semester student who almost quit last semester and listened to me and is still here today. It took a lot of hard work, and determination. I hope she reads this blog so she can comment and you hear it from her personally. Here are some study tips to help you:

• Prepare for each lecture by reading the material.
• Study every lecture on the same day or as soon as you can.
• Make flash cards (very portable and can read anywhere).
• Make your notes while studying (helps during finals, you don’t have to go back to the whole book).
• Answer practice questions.
• Use your study guide given for that lecture.
• Create or join study groups.

We all have different ways of studying but trying some of the tips above might help.

Thank you for reading today’s blog, join me next week as we talk about jobs on campus.