Self-care is success.
I can write down an endless list of study tips, but I believe studying should happen in ways that work for you and your own personal learning style. I’ll share 3 of my own study R’s:
Review: as long as you review your notes more than once, whether it be as soon as you get home or a few days before exams, reviewing your notes and repetitive reading (I memorize notes repetitively out loud) will help you remember everything for exams/clinical practice much faster!
Remind: nursing school gets BUSY! Make a planner for yourself. It can be a physical one or digital one. I love writing by hand; planners do keep you organized on top of everything nursing school (and any additional future education you pursue in this profession) throws at you!
REST: SLEEP. Or get at least 4 hours of sleep if you have to pull an all-nighter during exam season. Trust me—you’ll remember more things if you sleep, since (as we all know) sleeping/resting rewires your brain neurons and consolidates what you just studied. You might even remember a small detail that you thought you’d never remember again; in turn, TAKE BREAKS AND PRACTICE SELF-CARE. Stay hydrated. Don’t forget to eat. All of these are important. Striking a work/study-life balance will set you up for success.
Do I need to buy the textbooks?
Technically, you can, but I strongly advise that you don’t! Always reach out first on Vancouver-located UBC Buy and Sell Textbook groups or UBC Nursing marketplace groups, UBC Nursing chat groups you’re part of, etc! Current or former UBC Nursing students will almost always still have any old textbooks, NCLEX resources, study resources, scrubs, and more that they no longer need—they’ll typically resell all this at much lower, more affordable prices to pay it forward! Nursing = a profession where everyone helps each other, and nursing school is pretty much no different. There’s always going to be at least one person re-selling something you need.
My personal textbook study tip: don’t study off the textbook. Do not do this. You’ll waste your time flip-flopping between pages, jotting down notes here and there, and encounter disorganized sections…a nightmare! In my years of school, nursing school, specialty nursing program, and then some, the same principle applies: only look at the textbook if you don’t understand a concept in class. Textbooks will expand on it, and then they’ll go into unnecessary detail that you most likely won’t be tested on unless professors emphasize something in class. NEED TO KNOW will be covered in class, while NICE TO KNOW will mostly lie inside textbook pages. Even at work, we all still emphasize the principle of Need to Know vs Nice to Know! Hence: study/understand/memorize your lecture notes. Only supplement them with the textbook.
There’s so much information out there that no one can ever parse and then remember all of it. It’s unrealistic and impossible. At work, you’ll find us constantly looking up procedures, policies, diseases, medications, and double-checking our knowledge. The learning in nursing is lifelong. It never stops! Remembering Need to Know vs Nice to Know keeps your brain intact in the long run, too.
