12 nursing school survival tips

7. Take the Kaplan NCLEX review.

8. Try to get an understanding of the general major topic of each exam. Trying to understand 300-plus pages of material for a 25-question exam is unrealistic. Understanding topics rather than memorizing sentences will help you more for tests and comprehensive finals at the end of the semester.

They will always get you with two to three completely random questions that you would not have known if you didn’t have a photographic memory. Just know that will happen so you won’t be super pissed and caught off guard when it does.

9. Most RN students were getting A’s prior to their nursing classes. Kiss those A’s goodbye and just try to pass. An A in a prerequisite class = a B in nursing school. Don’t kill yourself for a 4.0; it’s not worth the stress.

10. Take every opportunity to do any tasks in clinical (start foleys, IVs, blood draws, vitals, repositioning and changing patients, admission paperwork, injections, etc). Once you’re on your own, being comfortably with tasky things makes you think big-picture-wise faster.

11. The day you get your syllabi, get out a calendar and write out all of your assignments. Things will sneak up on you. Prepare appropriately so you don’t have to cram. Get papers done early. I decreased a decent amount of stress by doing that because I was able to actually get sleep the night before papers and tests because I was already done.

12. And if you did step 11, this will allow you to enjoy the non-nursing parts of your life. You need time off and time away. It’s easy to just do all nursing, all the time…but that’s terrible for your mental health. Organize a calendar for yourself and make sure you spend time AWAY from the books. If your brain is de-nursed for a night, it might do you better than cramming for yet another night.

To read more, visit NurseEyeRoll.com.