How to Survive Nursing Prerequisites Part III

Find the other parts under the “How to Survive Prereqs” tag

Let’s get to the important part, shall we?

Actually Studying for Exams

Like note-taking, studying for exams is personal and situational. Some people – myself included – like to rewrite our notes. Others like flash cards. There are also those who just read through their notes without doing any extra writing or typing. Then there are those who like to go to tutoring or to group study sessions. However, it can change depending on the type of exam. Those of us who rewrote our notes before might decide to make flashcards or simply reread our notes. Others might go into making study guides. Whatever works for you, keep at it.

But if you’re looking for something different or your way doesn’t work as well as it did, then that’s okay! You have options: * Flashcards * Rewriting your notes if you haven’t done so already * Solve some of the problems found in your textbook * Watching YouTube videos to understand concepts you don’t understand or need a little help in * Rereading the notes you have * Tutoring * Studying in groups is so helpful because people can fill in the blanks of what you don’t get

There are a million ways to study. You just need to find what’s comfortable for you and your situation.

For me? I listen to music while I study. I don’t have a set playlist, but I’ll listen to pretty much anything. If I’m at home, I’ll make myself some tea or coffee and then I’ll have snacks nearby ready to be eaten. If I’m at a cafe, I’ll have my notes, laptop, beverage, and maybe, headphones/earphones to listen to music if conversations around me get too distracting. If I’m in the library, it’s pretty much the same set up with me listening to music while I’m studying.

Like I said before, I rewrite my notes. Usually, I start rewriting them early – soon after the lecture – but sometimes I don’t get to rewriting them until later on just before quizzes/tests. Yes, hand cramps happen which is why I have been forcing myself to start early with rewriting notes.

However, as I said above, rewriting notes has been so helpful for me because it’s a chance to make the notes neater, highlight the important things like definitions, redraw diagrams, and also encode the information deeper into my brain. It also makes the revision for finals easier because the notes are cleaner and easier to read through.

I also have study groups with my classmates. Right before exams, my group and I will meet up and we review together. We would reserve a group study room in the library and then we’d study. Sometimes, we’ll watch YouTube videos on the subject matter. But mostly, we’d quiz each other. When someone doesn’t get a concept or just wants clarification, this is the time where we review as a group.

But a little trick I think might help you if you’re struggling?

Teach the Material to Yourself Out Loud to Study for Exams

“But V! I’ll sound like a crazy person if I’m studying out loud!”

I know, it sounds crazy, but hear me out.

How do you memorize speeches? How do you learn your parts in a song? Practice, right? Practice makes perfect. By going through the material for your exams out loud to yourself, you’re hammering it into your brain. It also allows you to better catch your mistakes when you say things out loud because there will be times when you think you know something, but really you don’t know what you’re talking about. Talking out loud gives your brain a better opportunity to catch those mistakes so you can fix them before exam day.

Yes, you will sound like a crazy person. I know I sounded like a crazy person when I was reviewing for A&P exams. However, it helped me so much to go through the material out loud. It was practice in a way because as exam day drew nearer, I pretty much knew the material like the back of my hand.

I was even able to teach it to other people in my class.

However! The best way to study?

Practice, practice, practice!

Practice makes perfect.

If you have practice quizzes/exams available, do them all. If you have questions in the back of the chapters, a workbook that goes with your textbook, online practice questions? Do them. The more time you spend applying what you learned and practising, the better at them you’ll get.

This is especially important for chemistry and math where your ability to solve problems is dependent on the amount of time you take practising those sort of problems. Why else were we forced to do the same types of problems over and over again in our lower-level math and science courses? The repetition was done to ensure that we could do it on our own because then we’ll be familiar with the structure and logic. For some of us, it was a quick process. But for others? They needed more practice.

Practice makes perfect.

We need to train our brains like we train our muscles. The more we do something, the better we get at doing that activity.

How to Deal With Stress and Cognitive Overload

It’s a lot, I know. I don’t know about you, but sometimes when I look at my notes or my textbook, I shudder and I could feel a headache coming. That’s usually when I turn to video games instead. Sometimes, it’s just too much.

And this is what leads to procrastination which is exactly what we all want to avoid because waiting until the last minute to get shit done makes everything so much worse.

So how do we combat this?

Breaks.

Have breaks every 30 minutes for 5-10 minutes. This allows your brain to relax a little and for your eyes to rest from all the reading.

During that time? * Drink water * Use the restroom * Stretch a little

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