To the nursing student who is feeling totally overwhelmed with the amount of content that needs to be read in a very short amount of time (while trying to balance sleeping, eating, working, maintaining social relationships, exercise, and just maintaining some sort of life)…. I’ve been there! During my ADN, BSN and MSN I worked full time, planned a wedding and got married, got pregnant and had a baby (twice!), studied for boards twice while pregnant (NCLEX and NP board exam). You Can manage a life outside of nursing school! You just need to learn how to maximize your time. Strategizing and using supplement resources are key.

Here are some tips and strategies to make your studying more efficient (so you Retain the information and have some free time!).

1. Don’t memorize, focus on comprehension- nursing school is all about critical thinking. Understanding the basics, while memorizing important details such as lab values, is what’s important. Memorizing all the symptoms of hypothyroidism is going to be time consuming; understanding the pathophysiology of hypothyroidism will allow you to answer the critical thinking questions. So- focus on the big picture then test your knowledge with NCLEX style review questions. To be fair, there is a lot of memorizing; so spare yourself and only memorize what you need to and focus on understanding processes after that.

2. Organize Your time! Keep a weekly planner and identify daily study times- (it doesn’t hurt to add in planned time to exercise and grab a happy hour drink). Whether study time is on a lunch break at work, or before your kids get up— having the designated time to study will help you relax just knowing you’ve set the time aside to bury your nose.

3. Structure Your Study Time (now that you’ve identified the times you will study)

To begin, make sure you read the assigned material before the lecture (if you have med/surg one time each week and have to read 3 chapters before each class, designate the time to read these before class!).

Start by reading your teachers outline, end of chapter textbook notes (anything to help you grasp the big picture of what you are about to learn…). As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, the highlights/outline at the end of each chapter is always where I started. This allowed me to grasp the big picture when reading the subject material. I also used this as a brief outline when taking notes and making flashcards.

Read the chapter, skimming over what seems to be too detailed/fluff (again, reading the end of chapter outline helped me identify what was important in the chapter and what I could skim over).

Take notes, including a page of what you don’t understand and what you need to revisit/memorize.

During lecture, take notes… Ask your teacher the questions you marked down in your notes of material you don’t understand. Remember, studies show that handwriting notes, as opposed to typing them on the computer, will help you retain information better!

After lecture on the material use your supplemental resources to test your critical thinking skills (NCLEX review books, ATI books). Make flashcards of the information you need to memorize (or purchase them and review them). Add any additional information to your study notes.

Revisit these notes/flashcards after each new seection has been completed.

If you are a social learner develop a study group (teaching others is a great way to retain information), and try to get together before each test. If you are an independent learner, develop a group for students who prefer to share study guides/notes/flashcards (this is my learning style; having others notes and flashcards was so beneficial to my learning!).

What does research say? Not to reread.

Get rid of your highlighter and obsessing over reading all the details, again. Research has shown that using flash cards (your own, or premade) has much greater results than re-reading. Also, research shows high retention and better grades for those who use practice questions/tests, instead of rereading.

Other effective study strategies supported by research? Spreading out your study time; studying multiple times a week, as opposed to studying for a long stretch once a week, will result in better retention and grades.

Even more interesting? Studies show that highlighting and rereading provides minimal benefit to learning and performance.

Boiled down simply– after reviewing the material study with flashcards! Then, quiz yourself with NCLEX style questions! AND, study multiple times a week.

If your looking to buy a great comprehensive study package (with a not-so-small price tag) look into the NRSNG Academy: Online NCLEX Review. It includes NCLEX flashcards, questions, quizzes, audiobooks, study/prep books, an NCLEX test simulation program, and many other super helpful resources. With a price tag of $425 this is likely not an option to most, but greatly beneficial. If interested here’s the link:

On a final note I wanted to add one thing I used frequently as a nursing student- Amazon Prime! It has almost any resource you could want and it’s delivered to your door with free 2 day shipping. Not only that, students get a discount on the membership. If you want to try a Student 6-Month Trial click here.

Prime Student 6-month Trial

As always, let me know if you have questions. If you’d like to receive additional nursing tips/resources follow my blog by adding your email with the link below.

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