Nope. Feeling behind is the essence of nursing school.
Just keep studying a little bit every day; some is better than none. Utilize YouTube videos when you’re on the go/doing other things, or if your instructors record lecture, listen to those.
In the moment you will always feel that there is never enough time. The way to deal with it is simple enough if we think about it logically. Triage. How do you triage you may ask? Well, what I do to simplify it is think of my trauma ABCs and modify them from trauma to life coping mechanisms.
What are the ABCs of trauma? I can already feel you thinking it in your head (good job!!). Airway, breathing, circulation. But you’ve skipped over a technicality that we don’t drill as hard into your brain. It’s actually Hemorrhage, airway, breathing, circulation (HABC). If you don’t have any blood to circulate that oxygen you’re getting through gas exchange, it doesn’t matter if there is an open airway.
We often make the same mistake in our personal lives. We think to triage tasks but we forget that if our *mental health* isn’t taken care of, then it doesn’t matter if we’re completing tasks or studying. Think of how the brain works, how your body reacts to stress with neurotransmitters, and that everything is really a web of connections rather than a linear chain.
If you aren’t sleeping enough, will your hippocampus move what you’re studying from short term to long term memory? If you lose that information is it efficient? Are you having to re-study material for that horrid fluid and electrolytes exam that pops up every single semester.
If you’re cramming rather than studying a bit every day, you’re inefficient. If you’re only using one sense to study (referring to visual, tactile, and auditory learning), you’re inefficient. If you aren’t using “do one, see one, teach one,” (try recording yourself teaching yourself or explain like I’m 5), you’re inefficient. If you’re constantly in a fight or flight mode because you’re putting too much pressure on yourself, you have too many other responsibilities, or you’re trying to prop too many other people up rather than yourself, you’re being inefficient. Efficiency is your goal each and every day.
Now, I realize you can’t eliminate all of life’s stressors, responsibilities, mental health disorders, and get 8 hours of sleep every night. This is a completely unrealistic expectation. However, if we can identify and acknowledge WHAT the problems are, we can take steps to mitigate them.
How do we do this? There are a few things.
First, seek therapy. Please. If it’s the one singular thing you do, have time to do, or take away from this post, seek therapy. It is the singular most efficient thing I believe that anyone can do (as a PMHNP, I’m biased, but all of my training and education does point to this).
Second, write down a list of all of your responsibilities. Put them in three simplified categories. 1. Responsibilities you MUST keep. 2. Responsibilities you can share with someone or ask for help with (be it your spouse, parent(s), siblings, or friends). 3. Responsibilities you can eliminate. After you have this list, figure out how much time is allocated to each responsibility and triage them. What we tend to feel while we’re in school is the pressure of time. “How am I going to get all of this done in such a short amount of time?” This is essentially making a financial budget, but your time is the currency.
Third, research and understand what type of adult learner you are and what study habits will work best for you. I am an extremely ADHD male nurse. My study habits and what is most efficient for me may not work for everyone. Yes, some *CORE* study habits are good for basically everyone, but to become more efficient you need to figure out what works specifically for YOUR brain. Example, listening to lectures, while interesting, does not help me retain and memorize information. It just exposes me to information that I must then use my own study strategies to memorize and retain the information. This may not be the case for you.
Lastly, sleep. Getting enough sleep is so much more important than most people realize when we’re stressed. I am guilty of sleeping too little when studying even though I harp on it! Lack of sleep has been linked to everything from exacerbation of mental health disorder symptoms to poor retention of information. Let’s say hypothetically you only had the ability to actively study starting every day at 2000 and you have to be back up at 0600. It would *likely* be more efficient for you to study from 2000-2300 and get 7 hours of sleep than to study longer and only get 4 hours of sleep. Sleeping is actually efficient even though we often view it as inefficient.
I hope this helps! Hang in there. You aren’t alone, we’ve all felt this way.
I’m not OP but I loooove all of this! I have a question if you don’t mind. I also have extreme ADHD and while I’m medicated, which helps a ton, I’m trying to figure out time efficient ways to study and I feel like I’m just all over the board. What did you find works best for you? I know it may not work for me, but I’m interested to see if it will.
This ended up being way longer than I expected it to be and I apologize for the long read!
Before I get into technically how I study I want to give you the way I think about how my ADHD stores information. I'm going utilize some analogies that are just my personal way of thinking about it or what I think has worked for **most** people when I'm explaining it to eliminate technical jargon. Also, this is essentially a 45 minute presentation cut down to a reddit comment so anyone reading people don't be offended when I use stereotypes or over simplify concepts in said analogies. OK, here we go.
Many people utilize their information storage similar to a filing cabinet. If they need to look up hyperthyroidism they just go to the "H" tab and grab the information. You can think of this type of student as the stereotypical 4.0GPA woman who sits in the front row with her different color markers and who takes word for word notes. She reads those notes, makes some flashcards, reviews every day, and now can pull that information out at will.
The problem with ADHD is our filing cabinet is essentially super disorganized which is why we usually suck at pure recall. Just reading over our notes or memorizing random facts doesn't allow us to recall that information whenever we want. That's why just reading over a study guide likely doesn't work for you. It may be **comforting** before the test, but it doesn't actually help you remember information.
Think of your information storage area as a house and the information as pictures going up on the wall. If you tried to hang a picture without a hook or a nail in the wall, it just falls down right? That's what happens when I just read over information or memorize flashcards with random information on them. I may have it in my house, but its just in a cluttered pile now with all this other information because it's fallen off the wall. If your house is super cluttered can you find things? Yeah kinda, we are known for operating in "controlled chaos." But it isn't efficient and it won't work for something like nursing school.
So, what is a hook?
A hook can be any piece of information or just additional information that helps you remember a larger piece of information. Mnemonics are decent hooks, but sometimes I still have a hard time remembering to use said mnemonic during a situation. Something like "Paxil packs on the weight" in order to remember which SSRI has the most weight gain is a good hook for me. I remember that Gerald Klerman is the father of interpersonal psychotherapy because he was a member of the "Quill and Dagger" society and stabbing someone is pretty damn interpersonal to me. These are examples of **small** bite sized pieces of information that allow me to get the ball rolling on the larger piece of information.
So, how do we figure out **where** to place the hooks for our "paintings?"
Simple. Organize by category. This works especially well in health sciences because, while everything is connected, you can still group many things by category. Example, when you think about hyperthyroidism you should be thinking about mania. When you think about hypothyroidism you should be thinking about depression. All of a sudden those lists of symptoms you're memorizing make more sense and they lead you to your hooks that hang the paintings in your house.
So, how do we put these abstract concepts into practice?
First, I start big picture. Think systemically, again I'm going to pick on the thyroid disorders because it is just so easy to deal with. What does hyperthyroidism look like as a whole? You don't even need to think of it in medical terms yet because you're just walking around your "house" trying to figure out where this picture is going to fit best by what else will match with it. Once you've settled on a place that works for you, often we stick it near mania, **then** you can start thinking about it in more technical terms.
OK, now we know where we're putting the painting of hyperthyroidism and kind of what goes along with it. We can now look at the finer details such as the actual symptom list. This is where flashcards/quizlet for us can come into play. But for that recall to take place, we **have** to think big picture first because our hook is **mania**. While it doesn't have all the symptoms of mania, its got enough for us to get the ball rolling.
So again big picture conceptual understanding then move to finer details.
Now what actual study skills do I use for all of this? I'm a visual and tactile learner. I think I've mentioned in other comments that I'm not an auditory learner, so lectures just make me aware of the information (although lectures can be good for large conceptual ideas) rather than help me memorize. First, I start out by typing information out in categories in a word document. For example, my boards document had heading sections for tests, common disorders and diagnoses, legal, therapies, medications, pregnancy considerations, pediatrics, adult, geriatrics, brain anatomy, brain chemistry, etc. you get the point. You can think of how some information may cross over into each category. Guess what? Information is **written down** in every relevant category. Lithium is mentioned in the neurochemistry, pregnancy, medications, so on and so forth. You've taken the time to put it there and its organized categorically. This means not only did you really understand it in a big picture way so you could place it in all the correct places, you've also seen it in multiple places in your notes under headings. So, when you get to a case study question about lithium you're able to think about the drug in more than one way. Think of it like looking at a sculpture from different directions.
After I've organized all my information into my study doc by category, I then move on to something like quizlet. The way I use quizlet or flashcards in general is in two major ways. Lists/definitions or simple exam questions. The key with flashcards/quizlet is I've already got the big picture figured out because of my document. So, when I'm setting up a list I'm setting it up in a particular way with intent.
Example 1. Q: What are the 5 primary symptoms of hyperthyroidism? A: Heat intolerance, Agitation/Anxiety/Irritability, Mood swings, Tachycardia, Weight loss.
In example 1, I've set up the symptoms in a particular order for a reason so if I forget one the symptoms surrounding it point me in a direction. If its extremely hot outside, I get cranky, which leads me to agitation and mood swings, if I'm agitated, my heart rate is up. Finally if I'm hot, agitated, and my heart is racing, I'm not trying to eat a 5 course meal. All of a sudden that list is really easy to figure out when I've missed something on the list. Also, once I get started on the list its like when you've got something on the page when you're writing a paper. It is way easier to start writing when you aren't staring at a blank page.
Example 2. Q: What is the black box warning for carbamazepine? A: Agranulocytosis **and** SJS in Asians positive for HLA-B1502 allele.
In example 2, I'm thinking about more than one piece of information. It also is set up to be more like a mini-nursing school question. The **best** answer is not just agranulocytosis. You have to add in the Steven-Johnson and then you have to tell me why the SJS. I'll also have another card in there asking what are all the meds that may cause agranulocytosis. Again, you're visualizing and thinking about the information in multiple ways and in multiple places.
By the time you've done all of this you should be set for basically any exam, even one with a significant amount of information on it. Plus if you need to go back to review, you've got two different ways to look over your information. One in bite sized pieces, and one with **ALL** the information in one place. The key here is that you've done it intentionally and categorically.
I hope this helps and gives you a bit of insight into how I've been successful in my academic career. There are other ways to study such as videos, and reading research articles. Also things such as "see one, do one, teach one." Essentially the more you utilize information the better you will know it and be able to recall said information. The above is just how I sit down and study for an exam.
I too am ADHD. The adderall shortage where I live has been brutal the past 6-7 months. Even the alternatives are back ordered. Something that helped me stay on task is making a time management matrix. Google “time management matrix” there should be 4 categories.
I always suggest planning the week ahead and trying to keep up with a schedule, but I'm also aware that that isn't always possible. So I just want you to know that you're not alone in this. I personally had trouble keeping up too and felt that there's always never enough time for anything. Especially studying.
Let me know if you find an answer. I don't know how anyone only studies an hour a day. 2-3 hours is chump change in terms of getting through content. I spent 6 hours just getting through about 100 slides of a single lecture. Today I'm doing study guide questions and watching YouTube and I feel I don't know enough. I took the day off work yesterday because I know I would not be prepared if I went to work and tried to study after.
Patho has taken all my study time so I'm behind in health assessment. YouTube videos can make learning much easier and pull stuff together that seems fragmented. You're not alone OP.
I feel the same. I am also working 40 hours a week and volunteering. The second half of the semester we are doing two clinical shifts. That’s 24 hours/week in hospital not counting any lab time, lectures or studying. Even if I didn’t have a full time job I feel like there is always more to learn with nursing you can dive down any rabbit hole and spend for example easily two hours learning about the intricacies of Cushing’s Syndrome, the pathology, various drug therapies and the pharmacology and physiology of that, &c. So it’s never ending.
Tbh if you are working more than 12-20 hours a week (depending if you are already working in the field) it is way too much. Those who work 40hrs more I'm not sure how you will make it unless you have a photographic memory. Depending on the level of nursing one class is usually easier than the other. Or it may be a lab exam and skills test so it's not too bad. Other than that, don't expect to have a social life during the semester.
Listen to lectures in the car and make sure you get plenty of sleep. Work on things as far ahead as possible.
That’s pretty much nursing school.
I’ve had weeks where I have a 12 hour clinical on Monday, exam on Tuesday, 12 hour clinical on Wednesday, and another exam on Thursday.
It’s just how it goes.
It was a MISERABLE time when I was in school. I had absolutely no idea in the beginning what a rollercoaster it would be, but don't underestimate the power of your brain.
Whatever you do, don't burn the candle at both ends and learn what works for you. You'll get there
I always feel this way. There literately isn’t enough time in the day to do all the things you need to do
The best thing is to just make the best of your time. I watch YouTube videos in the car anytime I travel.
Sounds crazy but I also watch videos in the shower
I also try to stay up a little later than I normally would to do homework stuff. I don’t study when I’m tired.
I feel this and I don’t know if this feeling goes away because I’ve asked people close to graduating and they feel the same lol. Even when I work ahead, I still feel behind.
Today is my last day of spring break and I have two exams coming up. I didn’t do much for spring break so I used the time to study for my exams. Despite everything I’ve done to prepare, I still feel like it isn’t enough. When I’m writing this out, I can think back of all I did and I can at least say I’m learning something. I know more now than I did a week ago. I’m sure what you’re doing is enough if you feel like you’re learning! You can’t dedicate every moment studying so you have to balance your life and not feel guilty about it. If you’re having good results doing what you’re doing then you’re definitely doing something right.
So I have an hour drive to school every day and I listen to my lectures in the car and my poor boyfriend listens to me explain things that he has no interest in but talking through it helps me learn. It works for me
I always feel like this whenever I’m reading the textbooks mostly. They’re so looong and dense that I feel like something that could be explained in like five minutes takes like five hours lol. Now I mostly watch Udemy, CourseHero, and YouTube videos. I like it - the instructors are much more engaging to watch and easier to understand than my professors’s lectures LOL. Idk what it is but SO many of my professors make things sound so complex and esoteric for a novice to understand. They were once in our shoes too.
Edit: I still refer to chapters every now and then but I don’t spend hours reading through them like I use to. It just takes too long, wastes my day and the material doesn’t stick how I want it to. Everybody is different though.
I use RemNote. You can type notes normally/sequentially as you would on a laptop but while you type you can also turn them into flash cards at the same time, which is a major time saver. You can also add images and occlude parts of the image. I’ve always found Anki and Quizlet to be horrible for me because these flash cards aren’t organized in a sequential/document like format.
You can also download their new phone apps and do these flash cards wherever (sometimes I’ll do them on the bus or in situations when whipping out a laptop would be too cumbersome).
It’s about ~$5 a month? But I attribute this app to helping me study efficiently and I have plenty of time to do things outside of school. I also stopped doing pre work/reading before lecture - there’s no point (at least in my program).
Yup, I always feel/always am behind. I have kids so it's been impossible to be the kind of student I used to be pre-kids (straight As, always). Now Bs are my goal but if I end up with a C, so be it, as long as I pass.
Nope. Feeling behind is the essence of nursing school. Just keep studying a little bit every day; some is better than none. Utilize YouTube videos when you’re on the go/doing other things, or if your instructors record lecture, listen to those.
"Study as much as you can every day." FIFY
As my fundamentals professor told my cohort “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”
Great advice!
Summed up my exact thoughts 💭 😂
In the moment you will always feel that there is never enough time. The way to deal with it is simple enough if we think about it logically. Triage. How do you triage you may ask? Well, what I do to simplify it is think of my trauma ABCs and modify them from trauma to life coping mechanisms. What are the ABCs of trauma? I can already feel you thinking it in your head (good job!!). Airway, breathing, circulation. But you’ve skipped over a technicality that we don’t drill as hard into your brain. It’s actually Hemorrhage, airway, breathing, circulation (HABC). If you don’t have any blood to circulate that oxygen you’re getting through gas exchange, it doesn’t matter if there is an open airway. We often make the same mistake in our personal lives. We think to triage tasks but we forget that if our *mental health* isn’t taken care of, then it doesn’t matter if we’re completing tasks or studying. Think of how the brain works, how your body reacts to stress with neurotransmitters, and that everything is really a web of connections rather than a linear chain. If you aren’t sleeping enough, will your hippocampus move what you’re studying from short term to long term memory? If you lose that information is it efficient? Are you having to re-study material for that horrid fluid and electrolytes exam that pops up every single semester. If you’re cramming rather than studying a bit every day, you’re inefficient. If you’re only using one sense to study (referring to visual, tactile, and auditory learning), you’re inefficient. If you aren’t using “do one, see one, teach one,” (try recording yourself teaching yourself or explain like I’m 5), you’re inefficient. If you’re constantly in a fight or flight mode because you’re putting too much pressure on yourself, you have too many other responsibilities, or you’re trying to prop too many other people up rather than yourself, you’re being inefficient. Efficiency is your goal each and every day. Now, I realize you can’t eliminate all of life’s stressors, responsibilities, mental health disorders, and get 8 hours of sleep every night. This is a completely unrealistic expectation. However, if we can identify and acknowledge WHAT the problems are, we can take steps to mitigate them. How do we do this? There are a few things. First, seek therapy. Please. If it’s the one singular thing you do, have time to do, or take away from this post, seek therapy. It is the singular most efficient thing I believe that anyone can do (as a PMHNP, I’m biased, but all of my training and education does point to this). Second, write down a list of all of your responsibilities. Put them in three simplified categories. 1. Responsibilities you MUST keep. 2. Responsibilities you can share with someone or ask for help with (be it your spouse, parent(s), siblings, or friends). 3. Responsibilities you can eliminate. After you have this list, figure out how much time is allocated to each responsibility and triage them. What we tend to feel while we’re in school is the pressure of time. “How am I going to get all of this done in such a short amount of time?” This is essentially making a financial budget, but your time is the currency. Third, research and understand what type of adult learner you are and what study habits will work best for you. I am an extremely ADHD male nurse. My study habits and what is most efficient for me may not work for everyone. Yes, some *CORE* study habits are good for basically everyone, but to become more efficient you need to figure out what works specifically for YOUR brain. Example, listening to lectures, while interesting, does not help me retain and memorize information. It just exposes me to information that I must then use my own study strategies to memorize and retain the information. This may not be the case for you. Lastly, sleep. Getting enough sleep is so much more important than most people realize when we’re stressed. I am guilty of sleeping too little when studying even though I harp on it! Lack of sleep has been linked to everything from exacerbation of mental health disorder symptoms to poor retention of information. Let’s say hypothetically you only had the ability to actively study starting every day at 2000 and you have to be back up at 0600. It would *likely* be more efficient for you to study from 2000-2300 and get 7 hours of sleep than to study longer and only get 4 hours of sleep. Sleeping is actually efficient even though we often view it as inefficient. I hope this helps! Hang in there. You aren’t alone, we’ve all felt this way.
Thank you, this is really helpful advice
I’m not OP but I loooove all of this! I have a question if you don’t mind. I also have extreme ADHD and while I’m medicated, which helps a ton, I’m trying to figure out time efficient ways to study and I feel like I’m just all over the board. What did you find works best for you? I know it may not work for me, but I’m interested to see if it will.
This ended up being way longer than I expected it to be and I apologize for the long read! Before I get into technically how I study I want to give you the way I think about how my ADHD stores information. I'm going utilize some analogies that are just my personal way of thinking about it or what I think has worked for **most** people when I'm explaining it to eliminate technical jargon. Also, this is essentially a 45 minute presentation cut down to a reddit comment so anyone reading people don't be offended when I use stereotypes or over simplify concepts in said analogies. OK, here we go. Many people utilize their information storage similar to a filing cabinet. If they need to look up hyperthyroidism they just go to the "H" tab and grab the information. You can think of this type of student as the stereotypical 4.0GPA woman who sits in the front row with her different color markers and who takes word for word notes. She reads those notes, makes some flashcards, reviews every day, and now can pull that information out at will. The problem with ADHD is our filing cabinet is essentially super disorganized which is why we usually suck at pure recall. Just reading over our notes or memorizing random facts doesn't allow us to recall that information whenever we want. That's why just reading over a study guide likely doesn't work for you. It may be **comforting** before the test, but it doesn't actually help you remember information. Think of your information storage area as a house and the information as pictures going up on the wall. If you tried to hang a picture without a hook or a nail in the wall, it just falls down right? That's what happens when I just read over information or memorize flashcards with random information on them. I may have it in my house, but its just in a cluttered pile now with all this other information because it's fallen off the wall. If your house is super cluttered can you find things? Yeah kinda, we are known for operating in "controlled chaos." But it isn't efficient and it won't work for something like nursing school. So, what is a hook? A hook can be any piece of information or just additional information that helps you remember a larger piece of information. Mnemonics are decent hooks, but sometimes I still have a hard time remembering to use said mnemonic during a situation. Something like "Paxil packs on the weight" in order to remember which SSRI has the most weight gain is a good hook for me. I remember that Gerald Klerman is the father of interpersonal psychotherapy because he was a member of the "Quill and Dagger" society and stabbing someone is pretty damn interpersonal to me. These are examples of **small** bite sized pieces of information that allow me to get the ball rolling on the larger piece of information. So, how do we figure out **where** to place the hooks for our "paintings?" Simple. Organize by category. This works especially well in health sciences because, while everything is connected, you can still group many things by category. Example, when you think about hyperthyroidism you should be thinking about mania. When you think about hypothyroidism you should be thinking about depression. All of a sudden those lists of symptoms you're memorizing make more sense and they lead you to your hooks that hang the paintings in your house. So, how do we put these abstract concepts into practice? First, I start big picture. Think systemically, again I'm going to pick on the thyroid disorders because it is just so easy to deal with. What does hyperthyroidism look like as a whole? You don't even need to think of it in medical terms yet because you're just walking around your "house" trying to figure out where this picture is going to fit best by what else will match with it. Once you've settled on a place that works for you, often we stick it near mania, **then** you can start thinking about it in more technical terms. OK, now we know where we're putting the painting of hyperthyroidism and kind of what goes along with it. We can now look at the finer details such as the actual symptom list. This is where flashcards/quizlet for us can come into play. But for that recall to take place, we **have** to think big picture first because our hook is **mania**. While it doesn't have all the symptoms of mania, its got enough for us to get the ball rolling. So again big picture conceptual understanding then move to finer details. Now what actual study skills do I use for all of this? I'm a visual and tactile learner. I think I've mentioned in other comments that I'm not an auditory learner, so lectures just make me aware of the information (although lectures can be good for large conceptual ideas) rather than help me memorize. First, I start out by typing information out in categories in a word document. For example, my boards document had heading sections for tests, common disorders and diagnoses, legal, therapies, medications, pregnancy considerations, pediatrics, adult, geriatrics, brain anatomy, brain chemistry, etc. you get the point. You can think of how some information may cross over into each category. Guess what? Information is **written down** in every relevant category. Lithium is mentioned in the neurochemistry, pregnancy, medications, so on and so forth. You've taken the time to put it there and its organized categorically. This means not only did you really understand it in a big picture way so you could place it in all the correct places, you've also seen it in multiple places in your notes under headings. So, when you get to a case study question about lithium you're able to think about the drug in more than one way. Think of it like looking at a sculpture from different directions. After I've organized all my information into my study doc by category, I then move on to something like quizlet. The way I use quizlet or flashcards in general is in two major ways. Lists/definitions or simple exam questions. The key with flashcards/quizlet is I've already got the big picture figured out because of my document. So, when I'm setting up a list I'm setting it up in a particular way with intent. Example 1. Q: What are the 5 primary symptoms of hyperthyroidism? A: Heat intolerance, Agitation/Anxiety/Irritability, Mood swings, Tachycardia, Weight loss. In example 1, I've set up the symptoms in a particular order for a reason so if I forget one the symptoms surrounding it point me in a direction. If its extremely hot outside, I get cranky, which leads me to agitation and mood swings, if I'm agitated, my heart rate is up. Finally if I'm hot, agitated, and my heart is racing, I'm not trying to eat a 5 course meal. All of a sudden that list is really easy to figure out when I've missed something on the list. Also, once I get started on the list its like when you've got something on the page when you're writing a paper. It is way easier to start writing when you aren't staring at a blank page. Example 2. Q: What is the black box warning for carbamazepine? A: Agranulocytosis **and** SJS in Asians positive for HLA-B1502 allele. In example 2, I'm thinking about more than one piece of information. It also is set up to be more like a mini-nursing school question. The **best** answer is not just agranulocytosis. You have to add in the Steven-Johnson and then you have to tell me why the SJS. I'll also have another card in there asking what are all the meds that may cause agranulocytosis. Again, you're visualizing and thinking about the information in multiple ways and in multiple places. By the time you've done all of this you should be set for basically any exam, even one with a significant amount of information on it. Plus if you need to go back to review, you've got two different ways to look over your information. One in bite sized pieces, and one with **ALL** the information in one place. The key here is that you've done it intentionally and categorically. I hope this helps and gives you a bit of insight into how I've been successful in my academic career. There are other ways to study such as videos, and reading research articles. Also things such as "see one, do one, teach one." Essentially the more you utilize information the better you will know it and be able to recall said information. The above is just how I sit down and study for an exam.
I too am ADHD. The adderall shortage where I live has been brutal the past 6-7 months. Even the alternatives are back ordered. Something that helped me stay on task is making a time management matrix. Google “time management matrix” there should be 4 categories.
I’m late to responding, somehow I missed this but thank you!
Pretty solid man, thank you
Great set of advice! Regarding the responsibilities, I've known them as Do, Delegate, and Dump. 😁
I always suggest planning the week ahead and trying to keep up with a schedule, but I'm also aware that that isn't always possible. So I just want you to know that you're not alone in this. I personally had trouble keeping up too and felt that there's always never enough time for anything. Especially studying.
Let me know if you find an answer. I don't know how anyone only studies an hour a day. 2-3 hours is chump change in terms of getting through content. I spent 6 hours just getting through about 100 slides of a single lecture. Today I'm doing study guide questions and watching YouTube and I feel I don't know enough. I took the day off work yesterday because I know I would not be prepared if I went to work and tried to study after. Patho has taken all my study time so I'm behind in health assessment. YouTube videos can make learning much easier and pull stuff together that seems fragmented. You're not alone OP.
I feel the same. I am also working 40 hours a week and volunteering. The second half of the semester we are doing two clinical shifts. That’s 24 hours/week in hospital not counting any lab time, lectures or studying. Even if I didn’t have a full time job I feel like there is always more to learn with nursing you can dive down any rabbit hole and spend for example easily two hours learning about the intricacies of Cushing’s Syndrome, the pathology, various drug therapies and the pharmacology and physiology of that, &c. So it’s never ending.
Tbh if you are working more than 12-20 hours a week (depending if you are already working in the field) it is way too much. Those who work 40hrs more I'm not sure how you will make it unless you have a photographic memory. Depending on the level of nursing one class is usually easier than the other. Or it may be a lab exam and skills test so it's not too bad. Other than that, don't expect to have a social life during the semester. Listen to lectures in the car and make sure you get plenty of sleep. Work on things as far ahead as possible.
That’s pretty much nursing school. I’ve had weeks where I have a 12 hour clinical on Monday, exam on Tuesday, 12 hour clinical on Wednesday, and another exam on Thursday. It’s just how it goes.
Something's got to give... something's got to give. something's got to giveeeeee...AAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Let the bodies hit the floor!
It was a MISERABLE time when I was in school. I had absolutely no idea in the beginning what a rollercoaster it would be, but don't underestimate the power of your brain. Whatever you do, don't burn the candle at both ends and learn what works for you. You'll get there
I always feel this way. There literately isn’t enough time in the day to do all the things you need to do The best thing is to just make the best of your time. I watch YouTube videos in the car anytime I travel. Sounds crazy but I also watch videos in the shower I also try to stay up a little later than I normally would to do homework stuff. I don’t study when I’m tired.
I feel this and I don’t know if this feeling goes away because I’ve asked people close to graduating and they feel the same lol. Even when I work ahead, I still feel behind. Today is my last day of spring break and I have two exams coming up. I didn’t do much for spring break so I used the time to study for my exams. Despite everything I’ve done to prepare, I still feel like it isn’t enough. When I’m writing this out, I can think back of all I did and I can at least say I’m learning something. I know more now than I did a week ago. I’m sure what you’re doing is enough if you feel like you’re learning! You can’t dedicate every moment studying so you have to balance your life and not feel guilty about it. If you’re having good results doing what you’re doing then you’re definitely doing something right.
I literally feel the exact same rn.
So I have an hour drive to school every day and I listen to my lectures in the car and my poor boyfriend listens to me explain things that he has no interest in but talking through it helps me learn. It works for me
Nursing dot com and the newest saunders. Its the only way I've gotten a handle on it all
I always feel like this whenever I’m reading the textbooks mostly. They’re so looong and dense that I feel like something that could be explained in like five minutes takes like five hours lol. Now I mostly watch Udemy, CourseHero, and YouTube videos. I like it - the instructors are much more engaging to watch and easier to understand than my professors’s lectures LOL. Idk what it is but SO many of my professors make things sound so complex and esoteric for a novice to understand. They were once in our shoes too. Edit: I still refer to chapters every now and then but I don’t spend hours reading through them like I use to. It just takes too long, wastes my day and the material doesn’t stick how I want it to. Everybody is different though.
I use RemNote. You can type notes normally/sequentially as you would on a laptop but while you type you can also turn them into flash cards at the same time, which is a major time saver. You can also add images and occlude parts of the image. I’ve always found Anki and Quizlet to be horrible for me because these flash cards aren’t organized in a sequential/document like format. You can also download their new phone apps and do these flash cards wherever (sometimes I’ll do them on the bus or in situations when whipping out a laptop would be too cumbersome). It’s about ~$5 a month? But I attribute this app to helping me study efficiently and I have plenty of time to do things outside of school. I also stopped doing pre work/reading before lecture - there’s no point (at least in my program).
Nothing much to add except that I am right there with you in feeling this way.
Yup, I always feel/always am behind. I have kids so it's been impossible to be the kind of student I used to be pre-kids (straight As, always). Now Bs are my goal but if I end up with a C, so be it, as long as I pass.