*These tips are for American Nursing schools but some may apply to nursing schools in other countries.

1. There is nothing easy about it. Nursing school is no joke. I was  an RT for 12 years and I thought RT school was difficult. Nursing school even more challenging.

2. Nursing school is a lot of work. It will take up a lot of your time. Before I started this program, which is an accelerated 3 semester program for people already in the medical field as an LPN, CVT, Paramedic,or RT, I was told by a guy already in the program that I would spend 4-5 hours a day on all the work and studying involved in RN school. He was 100% right in what he told me. I spend hours each day doing school work unless I’m working or in clinical and then I spend only an hour or so on school stuff that particular day. Some weekends I have fun but many more I spend working on school stuff. It is sometimes difficult to strike a work/life/school balance. I have found out that it is not much better for traditional nursing students in traditional programs.

3. You will have to do a lot of reading. Sometimes 6-8 chapters a week. Many of those chapters 40 pages long (as in the case of my Pediatric/ maternal child book). If your teacher provides learning guidelines or objectives – use them. Use other resources provided based on what type of a learner you are. Discover your learning style here. You will be given many different resources to learn and you will feel overwhelmed. Try them all and see what works best for you. Some textbooks come with eBooks when you purchase the books.  That is enormously helpful so you don’t have to carry around the 10 or 15lb text books!

4. Make friends in your class and form study groups. Nursing programs are unique in that the group of people you know will most likely be with you throughout the program and take the same classes as you. You can always learn something from other people and they can learn from you. Everyone has their strengths and weakness. Maybe yours compliments someone else’s.

5. Buy an NCLEX review material now! All of our tests are NCLEX style. This means that not only do you have to know the theory but you also have to know how to apply that theory. Get used to the NCLEX style questions you will see them throughout your program and when you take your NCLEX exam. I bought the Saunders NCLEX-RN exam Comprehensive review book immediately on the recommendation of a student just getting ready to graduate my program. I also bought The HESI Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN Examination. you will likely be required to take a HESI achievement exam after each class and a HESI exit exam at the end of nursing school. This book has helped me study for not only each HESI exam but also for my class exams because it breaks down everything so it is more understandable. After each HESI exam you can create study packets based on your week areas from each test. Very helpful!!

6. Buy a laboratory and diagnostic test with nursing implications book , A Davis drug guide, and A nursing diagnosis book. It will help you tremendously! You will need to understand what all the labs are for, how to explain what they are for to your patients and what they mean. The nursing Diagnosis books will help you make nursing diagnoses and create care plans for your patients. Please visit my “Links and Nursing Books” page for these books.

7. Take Time for yourself and Take Care of yourself. Get enough sleep, drink plenty of water, exercise and apply what you’re learned in nutrition class to yourself. You have to be able to take care of yourself before you can take care of someone else. If you don’t recharge your batteries you will burn out quickly. Take it from me who has gotten sick more than twice in the last 8 months. Enlist the help of your family, or if you are married, your husband and kids to get things done around the house.

8. Prepare to feel lost. Prepare to feel as if you don’t know what you are doing. Give yourself some slack because you don’t know everything and can’t know everything.   It does get better!

9. Be organized! It is imperative that you be organized. It was suggested to me to schedule my week with everything I need to do. I literally schedule each thing I have to do, Test dates, clinical dates, etc. I use Google Calendar. And I share it with my husband so he knows exactly what I have to do and where I am on any given day. You will likely be given a calendar with all the important dates on it for exams and projects due.  Use this to your advantage!  Enter all of this on your master personal calendar right away,  so that you can see what needs to be done and when it needs to be done.

10. Be in touch with your professors! They are there to help you so pick their brain as often as needed. Ask questions. Ask your clinical instructor for help in doing a procedure until you are comfortable with it. There are NO STUPID QUESTIONS!

11. Don’t give up!! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to quit and how many times I’ve heard my classmates want to throw in the towel. There may be tears! There may be frustration but it will all be worth it in the end.  When times get tough, remember the reason why you wanted to become a nurse in the first place, and call on your support system for help if you feel you’ve forgotten or you feel too overwhelmed. You’re not the only one going through this, so talk to your fellow nursing students.  Keep your eye on the prize!

12. Be prepared! Always have your scissors, hemostats, stethoscope, “brain sheet” , penlight, a roll of tape, flushes, and Alcohol wipes in your pocket for clinical.  And don’t wait until the last minute to study for exams!

13. Learn your drug calculations and drip rates early. You will be tested on it and use it frequently! Learn Dimensional Analysis.  At first I thought it was BS but really it’s the easiest way to do your calculations!  This is a great site for an overview.

14.  Know your conversion factors, From American to metric and apothecary.

14. Be prepared to see anything and everything.  Ask to see that procedure, that surgery, or listen to that murmur! It can only benefit you.

..To be continued…