My RN Journey

One of my biggest challenges in Nursing School was figuring out how to study for my exams. Because let's be honest, nursing school exams are no joke. So learning how to study for them is important. Every nursing program will be different. Every course will be different. Your studying techniques may differ from mine. However, here are a few study tips that have helped me and may help you if you are just starting nursing school: #1 - Study in Advance! Do not (i repeat - DO NOT) wait until the last minute to study for your exams. Like I said in previous posts, cramming does not work in nursing school. There's too much material to learn all in one day. Study a little bit of the material every single day - even if your exam is weeks away. If you do this, by the time you reach a day or two before the exam, it'll simply feel like more of a review and not studying. #2 - Figure out what type of learner you are. Some students are a visual learner. Some are auditor...

Whether you are in nursing school or not, I'm sure you've heard people say how hard nursing school is. Have you ever wondered why nursing school is as difficult as it is? Well, here's why it's so hard: The Workload : Based on my personal experience and my nursing program, part of the reason why nursing school is hard is due to the intense and massive workload. During my first few semesters of nursing school, we basically had class almost every day of the week and on the days that we were "off", were consumed by the countless hours of studying all the material covered during the week. They give you tons of material every week that you must learn and understand before the exams. Nursing School is all about balance: balancing homework, all the reading materials, the studying, the exams, quizzes, clinical paperwork, care plans, your life, work, time with family/friends, etc. It's hard to balance it all. But it's not impossible. Just hard.  ...

So, you think you want to go to nursing school, but not sure how it all works? Don't worry; I'll explain. Depending on your degree choice (either Associate's degree in nursing or Bachelor's), typically, most nursing programs are two years in length. My nursing program is 5 semesters long. I am currently in my 4th semester of nursing school. Here's how it works: typically, you'll spend your first semester (or first 2 semesters) completing courses like Foundations in Nursing Skills, Pharmacology, Pathophysiology, and Foundations in Patient Care. Basically all of your basic nursing courses. Then you'll progress to harder courses like Med Surg, Mental Health, Community Health, OB/GYN, Geriatrics, Pediatrics, and Med Surg 2. To correspond with your courses, you'll also take clinicals. Clinicals are designed to give you a little experience and confidence working with real patients (versus those dummies in labs) and to help you with your didactic cou...