Study Tips

LEARN, STUDY, AND SUCCEED !!

Now that you have gained some knowledge about how you learn, let's look at some "How to Study" sites, and see if we can get some new ideas on how to study to fit our learning style.

First, when you come to class, bring your textbook! I know many students who follow along in the textbook during the lecture and highlight the important passages. You also may want to take a few notes. So, we need to learn to be good listeners. Take a look at Good Listening In Class. You will have to scroll down from the main menu to read it. Then, you need to read about Taking Notes in Class. Other great ideas from this site include Study Habits and Study Groups.

Next, what better way to get study tips, than from students who have been where you are at, other student nurses! Sometimes we learn best from each other! So, take a few minutes to read Tips From Student Nurses, they have some great tips, and have "been there, done that".

Post some of your ideas too! Let's share, and learn from each other!

Marcia

Find Out About Yourself

Dear Students,

Here in the Success Center for New Student Nurses, I will have some areas that will help you learn more about yourself, and how you learn.

HOW WE LEARN

First, it might help if you know whether you are Right or Left brain dominant. Take a look at the Learning Styles link. When you open this link on the left side of your screen there are short cuts to the different tasks.

1. Read the Introduction and the Hemisperic Dominance description.

2. Take the Hemisperic Dominance Test or Inventory to determine the balance of your brain's hemisperes. (The test and inventory are the same, just called two different names).

3. When you push "score", there will be a paragraph that tells you how many questions you answered for right or left brain dominance that will indicate whether you are right or left bran dominant.. There will also be a list of six words such as: Holistic, Random, Concrete, etc.

4. Read each of the 6 Information Processing Styles, and pay attention to which word describes your learning style or habit. For example: Linear vs Holistic. If you had the word "holistic" on your list, you would be prone to processing information as described for holistic in that list.

As you read, you will probably learn why you do things the way you do. Have fun!

Next, you may want to know if you are a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learner.

1. Go to the VAK link. Read about visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning. There are many links from this site to explore, but first I would like for you to take the test.

2. Scroll down to VAK learning style indicators (free self-test questionnaire). Take a piece of paper and make 3 columns, label one column visual, one auditory and the last one kinesthetic. (Kinesthetic means actually doing or touching).

3. Answer all of the questions (don't put a lot of thought into your answers, put what comes to mind), and make a mark in the column that best fits your answer.

4. Total each column, and the one with the most marks indicates whether you are mainly a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learner.

There you have it! I hope you will begin to understand how you learn. Everyone learns differently, and if you know and understand how you learn, it will help you to succeed in nursing school.

Let me know what you have found out about yourself. I am a right brain learner!

Marcia

Welcome

Hello and welcome to the Success Center for New Student Nurses! Nursing school is exciting, challenging, and scary! You have worked very hard to get here, and I hope you will visit this site often, share your experiences, and contribute your ideas.

Learning how to study for and take nursing exams can be a challenge. The Texas Board of Nursing has encouraged many different strategies for improving a nursing candidate's performance on the NCLEX licensing examination. These strategies include preparation for test taking skills, critical thinking, and stress reduction. They will help you succeed not only with your licensing exam, but also in successfully passing your nursing courses.

Our edublog will assist you in identifying your learning style, choose study techniques to create an individual study plan, and be able to apply stress reduction techniques while taking an exam. Let's join together to support each other with different ideas, solve problems, and help everyone reach their goal---to become a Registered Nurse!

Marcia