[nrsgrl]

Hello,

It's my third day of nursing school-lpn. I can't sleep, eat, have headaches and feel like I'm going to freakout. I got a 10 page booklet to memorize by next Friday and a 23 page booklet today to memorize by next Thursday! Holy Moly! There is no way to cram all that in. I have spent 6 hours every night studying!!! I barely have time to eat, sleep, shower.... What am I doing wrong. I know they're trying to either scare the crap out of us- it worked, or weed us out. Well I've wanted to be a nurse since I was a little girl and won't let anything stop me. What am I doing wrong. I don't think all this studying is necessary. How do I seperate all the info and memorize??? Please help!!!

Thanks,
Lesley

[shirleyjt2003]

I remember all that, it was like that for me every night sad to say, i studied and studied, we could record lectures in class on a microcassett, so i would record lectures and listen to them on the way to and from school, I would also record me reading the notes and do the same for them, I woud also sing the notes b/c for me i can learn a song fast so i thought why not learn notes this way and it worked, but sorry to say that was an everynight thing when i was in nursing school except we had about 3o pages of notes, no joke, and had to remember them all in one night for test the next day, you will learn a routine for you. Good Luck!

[nrsgrl]

Thanks Shirley!!!
I'm glad to know it's not just me. When I got to class today and told everyone what happened they looked at me like I was an alien. But it's just that I'm so motivated to become a nurse that I might be over doing it a little. Doing much better tonight. Very exhausted but doing a lot better. Talked with my instructors and they said I was over studing a little. I think I am supposed to study concepts and not fine details.

Thanks,
Lesley

[cougarnurse]

How about highlighting the major points, and go back later and deal with the lesser points?

'Cat'

[orionseal]

Whoe, Flashback!

NO, YOU ARE NOT TERMANALY-UNIQUE KID.
We as a whole (my L P N class and I) felt the same way (we were and still are tight) we had a common gole and we helped each other. the secret for us was to help each other. After all what are we in this field for. certainly not for the pay (although it's not that bad,(the pay, that is)) it's my drive to help others that led me to be a nurse, and it seemed to be a common denominator for those of us in our studygroup. We helped each other with everything, even car repairs, I usedtobe a mechanic befor coming into nursing.

So, if you realy want to be a NURSE start in school and help out your classmates, you just might find a Nurse or two among them.

[nrsgrl]

Thanks everybody!

[peekabooicu]

I love to read a post where people are nervously excited about learning something new!
I was an LPN for a very long time, and I loved my jobs through the years.
I went back to school partly because I kept training people younger than me.
(Including RNs)
You guys will probably continue to be scared during school, but you will learn alot when you actually go to work.
One of the main things they will unintentionally teach you in school:
Working together and helping each other is the best way to learn things-especially in clinical setting.

[Ricu]

It appears that you have been "adequately counseled" Good luck and, stay in touch.

R

[FC_boi]

OP- im assuming that you are going full time class... ive heard from some of my friends that went to a full time LPN class said that it was hard and fast pace. My friend had a hard time adjusting with the situation. I, however went and took a part time class my reason being is that i dont want to rush things, and I want to understand all the lectures that were gonna have coz i know that nursing isnt a joke and I learn better that way IMO.. anyways goodluck with your skul ...i myself still have a 1 1/2 year before i grad.

[RPNStudent_Rachel]

I can totally sympathize with you...whoops, I mean empathize-my instructor keeps drilling that into my head! sympathy=BAD empathy=GOOD

I am currently in my second semester of the RPN program (here in Ontario that's like your LPN program) and I had a rough first semester as well. Ah, who am I kidding....it's still rough in the second semester!

The trick is to get yourself REALLY REALLY organized. I started to feel better about things when I had about three different reminder systems (I used my email pop up calendar thing, a white board calendar on the wall, and my palm pilot!), because then I could see the big picture and could plan in advance for readings and assignments coming up.

Oh, and the school counselor gave me some great advice (yes, I sought help for stress) about studying and those pesky required readings:

For any chapter you have to read, you should start by reading the summary (if there is one), the first paragraph, and the last paragraph. That will give you a good idea what it's about, and then you should skim through the entire thing, highlighting parts of the text that are most important-ie. what you read in the intro and end of the chapter, and writing notes about it.

That worked for me!