Being a successful nursing student is not easy, but being a nurse is so rewarding. So, how do you survive nursing school? The following are some helpful tools to mold you into a successful nursing student.
Organization
Being organized is one of the best ways to survive nursing school, whether you’re nursing or pre-nursing. You’ll have multiple classes and therefore a bunch of assignments that all need to be done by a certain date. Purchase a student planner and write down every due date and test date the second you get your syllabus. If any assignment dates change, then be sure to update them in your calendar.
Having an organized student planner will be the perfect guide to your semester. Plus you’ll be able to see what’s coming up and study accordingly!
Be sure to visit Nursing School Must Haves for the complete nursing school shopping list.
Studying
During your pre-nursing classes, find what way of studying works best for you and carry this practice over to your nursing career. Whether that be making flash cards, reading the text, going back over the teachers lectures or your own lecture note. Discover your learning style now so that you can be most successful in nursing school. Doing so will help you survive nursing school.
If you’re a pre-nursing student, see Tips for Pre-Nursing Students to be Successful in Nursing School for more info.
Plus be sure to check out How to Take the Best Notes in Nursing School, Medical Abbreviations You Must Know, and How to Successfully Read and Understand Nursing Textbooks for more study info!
Motivation
Another great way to survive nursing school is to find what motivates you. Is it your kids? Your family? Your dog? The gym? Take time out of your busy student life to get back to what made you want to become a nurse in the first place.
Pro tip: Get as much as you can of these motivating factors during summer and on any breaks. You may just find the motivation you need to continue pushing through nursing school.
Office Hours and Student Success Centers
At the beginning of each semester go to your syllabus and find your teachers office hours. Make a list of their office hours somewhere you can easily reference. Do the same for your schools’ student success center if they have one.
You never know what classes you’re going to need some extra help in. Or what teachers brains you’re going to want to pick, even if it’s not necessarily school related but more career related. Professors are a fountain of knowledge and I’m sure would love to share their career advise.
School/Work/Life Balance
Finding the perfect balance is something that a lot of nursing students struggle with. There’s a fine line of not doing enough studying versus doing too much studying where your brain isn’t absorbing anything else.
When you feel frustrated or like you’ve hit a wall, get up and remove yourself from your study space. If you are attempting to work while in school then make sure to communicate this with your employer. That way they know that sometimes you may need to call out to study extra hard for a test.
Visit Managing and Preventing Student Stress for more info.
Exercise
It’s super important to stay healthy in school. A lot of times students will sit behind a computer with a textbook open going back and forth all while munching on some chips, until suddenly the whole bag is gone. This simply isn’t healthy. But what is healthy is setting aside a bowl of snacks, instead of the whole bag, and taking breaks to exercise.
Try exercising between studying to help absorb all that you just learned. This way when you go back after exercising, it’s only reinforcing what you already went over. See if your school has a gym and put it in your planner to go to the gym in between studying!
Eat and Drink Healthy
While coffee seems like a nursing school staple, you really should be turning to water to optimize brain function! Fuel your body with more ‘brain food’ rather than ‘junk food’. You’ll end up feeling a lot better and your brain will thank you!
Study Group
Joining a study group in the beginning of nursing school will be a total life saver. With all the chapters you are required to read for every class, plus all the notes you need to take, it’s a lot easier to join a study group and work on it all together. Break apart the reading, take notes, and share those notes with the rest of your study group! So find classmates who take the most comprehensive notes that will help you out on the test. This will dramatically cut down your reading time!
Pro tip: You can even do the same divide and conquer style with study guides (if your teacher is nice enough to give you one). As you’re answering questions on your study guide, do it in a Google Doc. This way the rest of your group can see what questions are already completed and what questions you might need help on. Also, when answering a question, reference the book page or the lecture slide where you found the answer. This way you and your study group can reference back to that section when studying for the exam.
Know of more tips to help survive nursing school? Comment below?
Also visit How to be Successful in Nursing School, 16 Things You Need to Bring to Clinical, What to Expect in Nursing School: Expectations Versus Reality and the Nursing Fundamentals Series for more nursing school insight!