3 STUDY STRATEGIES to Pass Your Exams!

Hello. Hello.

Welcome. Happy Monday. Happy Monday, everyone. Welcome to the nursing school show.

Ask questions about studying because that's what.

We'Re talking about for joining today. Up to bat three study strategies.

Drumroll. Oh, I can't.

Drum roll, drum roll. This table's a metal table and it gets very loud. Yeah.

We have to be very welcome.

Welcome, everyone. Thank you for joining. We are diving right into. Study strategies. Strategies.

Study strategies for passing your exams. I didn't put a title on Instagram. Sorry. Because so people on Instagram are joining and are like YouTube.

You guys got the title.

Hi, Robin.

Hey, Pammy. Good, good, good.

You got the title. Oh, good, good.

All right, good. While we get going. Where is everyone joining from? Let us know in the comments. We always like to see where everyone's coming from.

So let's see who was on last week from the farthest place. Australia tends to be one of the farthest, that's for sure. Who did we. What country was it last time? I forget.

Bahamas.

Bahamas. Bahamas, that's right.

Yes.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yep.

Christopher, what are the three sharies? We are going to be diving into that shortly, so stick around. Pammy, we have a winner.

Northern Ireland. We were just talking about Ireland.

Christopher. I'm from Chicago. Yay. Are you not sure if that's a yay?

Are you questioning that? That's funny. We literally, Matthew and I say all the time is that if we were ever to move out of the country, it would be to Ireland. And that would. I, I. That would be great. Yes.

Yeah.

I would really enjoy Ireland.

I. I want to put the reason why we asked. I do want to put, like, maybe a map or something around here. I think that would be pretty cool to have a map up there.

Nepal and then start putting map. Yeah, yeah. We need, like, doll thumbtacks or whatever. Yeah.

Yes.

That's awesome. Hello. Pray deep. Hello.

So Gracie's asking, is the VIP community open yet? So the membership is not open. However, you can get on the VIP list to know when it opens.

We try not to be confusing, but sometimes it comes out as confusing, and we're really sorry about that, Pammy.

It's beautiful here, but wet. Oh, okay. Rainy season there a little bit. We had a windstorm today. Or they say it's a windstorm.

Well, it didn't. They said it was going to be 60 miles an hour, but it did not feel like 60.

I kind of want to post that meme that, like, have you seen that picture? Like, it has the. The plastic picnic table with, like, one chair that Fell over and like, I survived the windstorm. I want to do that because it.

Didn'T seem like that I survived the apocalypse, the snowpocalypse or something where there's like a garbage can or something that's blown over. Like, I survived. Hello? Oh, sorry, Instagram. I'm kind of shaking the phone. Love how you guys are so supportive of this business and how you interact with each other. So sweet. A. Thanks. Hi. New route. Hey, funny story. Check my stories just like now because I got your message and I haven't responded yet and I completely forgot. As I told you guys. Yeah, as I told you, I completely forgot to post the critical thinking model that we talked about last week. I literally forgot to post it on my stories. Nirut messaged me about it because. Awesome. And I literally just posted it on my stories right before we went live. Sorry about that. But it's up there. Take a screenshot of it and save it. So YouTube, everyone at home watching, go to my Instagram and check my Instagram stories because I literally just posted this on there. Which is the DRC critical thinking model, which we will go over today, actually.

Oh, cool.

We're gonna.

I did not know that.

Walk through this a bit.

So good deal.

As long as the baby holds up. Don't get fussy on me. Don't get fussy on me.

So, Pammy, funny, funny story. Like, I think it's not just me that likes Ireland. Like, I have an older brother and he really likes Ireland. I don't think he's ever been there yet, but they were planning a trip. But for one of his, I think, birthdays or whatever, his wife actually got him a plot of land in Ireland. I guess there's. There's this place that you can go that you can get like a little foot by foot, square foot. Part of Ireland. So at least you can like say, I own part of Ireland or something. So it's pretty funny.

Yeah. Fundamentals theory exam. What can you recommend me to study instead of reading the whole book? I hope you are going to stay through this life because we are going to talk about it. Hey, you guys. We get a lot of people that are like, why are your live videos so long? I can't join. No nursing student can join. Watching a live video for.

We get a lot of Tammy. I have no idea where it was just some kind of thing that they did. So it's kind of fun. It's kind of like. It's kind of like, oh, you can name your own star or whatever. Or own A quote unquote, own a star that's. Yeah, apparently he owns a square foot of Ireland because he likes it so much.

That'd be cool. But I would like to own a square foot of Ireland. Yeah, it's pretty cool. Yes, we get a lot of those comments, people saying the lives are like that they can't join because, you know, you're in nursing school. Totally understand. That's why it's recorded. So go on YouTube if you miss any of these tips, go on YouTube after this live and you can watch the whole thing.

Yes, all our lives are on YouTube and we do like to take a little bit and talk to you guys and make it a little bit more informal and just kind of hang out with you guys every evening, so. Well, not every evening, but Mondays and Wednesdays we go live. So, yeah, join us.

Okay.

It's fun. So three study strategies. Let's get to it while you are.

Telling us where you are in the world, because there's a lot of people on YouTube that haven't told us yet.

And Christopher, I am curious, why is the Chicago a a question mark? Question mark? Are you.

Is it too windy there as well? Hey, I was actually going to ask how windy does it actually legitimately get in Chicago? I'm curious, like miles per hour. I'm curious, what, what is the criteria to be called the Windy City? That's my question for you tonight.

A brisk breeze.

A brisk breeze.

Boston, Brazil.

Okay, so tip number one. Now that we already talked about it, I'm just going to go through it now. Drc. This is our DRC critical thinking model. And so this is how I recommend that you learn how to critically think and put puzzle pieces together in your brain. Like I said before we got on. Well, like I said five seconds ago, I have, I took a screenshot of this on my Instagram stories. So if you want a. To take a screenshot. Well, I guess you can kind of screenshot it now. There you go. Instagram screenshot it. YouTube. I'll come to you in a second. Okay, YouTube screenshot. Oh, see, YouTube is hard. Okay, is it there screenshot that. Something like that smile. Okay.

All right.

So before I smile to the camera and our kids are like, yeah, they have the funniest faces.

They don't know how to smile. Okay, so Christopher, you mentioned something earlier on that I do want to touch on. You said, what are the three strategies? They stay study the concepts and you can answer any question. So this is diving a little bit into it and really what nursing. Sos and nursing school. How, how they're moving towards teaching or how they teach is really the, the, the idea of concept based learning or critical thinking learning or what have you. But yeah, really what we want you to understand is getting the concepts down and being able to critically think. So even if you're presented a scenario or situation that you didn't memorize that you're still able to figure out what to do based on the concepts that are provided in the question.

Yes, Mark, for Joe's. I'm sorry, it is backwards on Instagram. However, if you go to my stories on Instagram, it will not be backwards.

If you go to your eyes, it'll be right.

If you flip your phone upside down or turn it around, you'll be able to read it. Just kidding.

If you say Christina's name three times, it'll be, it'll be good also. You can also go to YouTube and it's right side up. Right, left side.

Yes. YouTube will be correct, I think. Hopefully. Yeah, YouTube. Was it backwards? Is this backwards?

No, that's. It's good.

It should be good.

Yeah.

Okay, good. All right. Well, all right.

So that, that is what this DRC model really aims to do is getting you in the habit of critically thinking and getting these concepts down.

Yep. So DRC stands for definition or description. So high level overview of what you were learning. Do not make this complicated. Definition or description of what you are lear reason or rationale? What is the reason behind it? What is the rationale behind it? So I really here really like you to dive into the why. Why is it happening? So if you're so this is about diabetes, why is diabetes happening? So that's the pathophysiology. What is going on? And then, oh, actually this is diabetes symptoms is what this DRC model is about. And then connection. Connecting the dots is the C. So connecting the dots between everything. So diabetes, just high level definition, the R. So definition, description and the R is reason or rationale. What's the why? So that's your pathophysiology or what is going on? Or why do these things happen? C is for connection. How are these things attached to everything else that you're learning? So diabetes, how are the signs and symptoms related to the assessment and the intervention? So connect it all together. You could even do something where it's like, how does diabetes connect to hypertension? How does diabetes connect to, you know, neurological disorders? How does diabetes, you know, what are the, you know, not pros and cons, Compare and contrast. Like what? Like compare and Contrast things. How are these things similar? How are they different? Does that make sense? So that's your connection. So connect the dots between everything that you're learning. Cool. So like I said, this is on my Instagram stories right now. Sorry, Instagram. It's backwards on here, but it will not be backwards if you just screenshot it off my stories. I hope that helps. So that is tip number one for study strategies to help you pass your exams. Now, we also have YouTube videos on critical thinking. So go to YouTube, type in nursing sos critical thinking, and those will pop up for you. They are so helpful and so awesome. Yes.

Cool.

And actually, now that I think about it, where's the study system? Oh, it's right here.

It's right there.

It's right here in the drawer. I also want to mention this because we'll see. Oh, no, don't get fussy on me. Please don't get fussy on me. So, well, inside the nursing SOS Membership community. Inside, inside. As a nursing SOS member, you get the nursing school study system. So this is our full step by step guide for how to study in nursing school. Okay? So this will walk you through all of our study strategies and step by step process for how to study. And on page 17 and 18 and 19 and 20 and 21, it's all about critical thinking. You might have to rock.

Okay, all right, I will go deal with.

He's ready to go to bed.

All right, here we go.

He will fall asleep when you rock him. I'm trying to bounce him, but it's not working. So he's gonna get Daddy. Okay, so on page 17 of the Nursing School study system. So like I just said, this is inside the nursing ESSENCE membership community. So if you are a member, go log into your dashboard and check it out. So we have nine key critical thinking questions for you to ask as you critically think. Okay, so let's just go through a couple of them. What do I need to assess for when? What do I need to assess for with this disorder? So include lab values, signs and symptoms. You know, what things are you going to look for? Health assessment, all that good stuff. What interventions are within my scope of practice as a nurse to do without an order. This is huge, you guys. How often do you get a nursing question on an exam? That's like asking you what your first priority is going to be or what your initial action is going to be. Like, that language is all over our nursing exams, right? It's everywhere. So what is your. What's the first thing that you are going to do, what is your initial action? And this really hits on this. So what interventions are within my scope of practice as a nurse to do without an order? What you will often see is on those exams, one of the answers might be to call the doctor. And I'm telling you right now, if there is an. If there is an answer that says call the doctor, that is rarely the correct answer. You have to know, you have to make sure that there's nothing else that you can do. Okay? That's within your scope of practice. Before you call the doctor, all right? Make sure that there's nothing else that you can do. All right? It's a trick. They try to trick you. And so when you see, when you see an answer like that on. Put that down. When you see an answer like that on your exam for a question, call the doctor. Or, you know, pass. Like delegate something or like, pass. You hear the phrase pass the buck. Like, don't pass the buck. Don't get anybody else to do it if there's something you can do. Okay? So that is, that's really what that is hitting on, how does this intervention impact a patient without comorbidities? What patient and family education needs to occur? So these are just critical thinking questions to go through as you study. So like I said, log into the nursing SOS membership community, if you're a member, and get the study system. Okay. Download it if you haven't already, but it's page 17 through 2021 that talks about critical thinking. Okay. All right. And then like I said on Instagram, on my stories, check it out. The DRC critical thinking model is awesome. It's going to help you so, so much. So that is strategy number one. Okay, Bye, Pammy. Thank you for hanging out with us from Ireland. So fun. Yeah. So fundamentals this. Well, okay, so here's the thing with fundamentals. Fundamentals goes from anatomy and physiology. When you are like your pre reqs, A and P, microbiology, biology, chemistry, all the things that you just memorize stuff, right? Like you just, you have to memorize so much. And then you come to nursing school, and in fundamentals, you are slowly starting to learn what critical thinking means. So, like we always say, critical thinking is basically two things in nursing school, okay? It is planning ahead. So you always are trying to think one step ahead of what you need to do. So, like on a clinical floor, you know, making sure that when you walk into a patient's room that you know exactly what you're going to do. You bring all the supplies that you need because you don't want to keep having to run in and out of the room and to grab stuff. You want to be prepared, right? So planning ahead. And then the second is connecting the dots. So just like we said with the DRC model, connecting the dots between everything else that you're learning. How does diabetes interact with hypertension? How does diabetes interact with heart failure? You know, how does heart failure interact with the respiratory system? How does the cardiac system interact with the respiratory system? Just in general, you know, how does the neurological system interact with the cardiac system, system? All of these things, you've got to connect all the dots between all of those things. Right? That's really critical thinking in nursing school. But the thing with fundamentals. Oops, sorry, Instagram, I'm kind of bumping you again. The thing with fundamentals is it's not like super deep critical thinking. You take it in kind of baby steps, which is nice. You're not completely thrown into a med surg mindset from the get go. You do kind of ease in because some of you'll find that some of your fundamentals exams are more, you know, high level questions that you're going to get. And then some of them are going to, you know, they're going to transition into more of the critical thinking stuff. So that is nice. So this will help. Absolutely. The DRC model for fundamentals and of course, the study system. Boom. So, yeah, if you remember, log into your dashboard because it's in there. Just click on study system and you can download it. All right, so the next, the next tip that I have for you that I want to go over, you guys, I have visuals tonight. I have so many visuals for you. I'm so excited. Concept maps, okay? Concept maps are a big, big deal. And let me, let me kind of caveat this. They can be a big deal for you. Now, do I recommend that everyone do concept maps? No, because if concept maps and drawing things out visually like, this is not your jam, totally fine, no big deal. You don't have to use them. I know a lot of people recommend them, and I hope you don't take that recommendation as a. I absolutely have to do this. Like, don't take it that way, okay? If I recommend something, if another nurse out there recommends you study a certain way, um, you know, you have to, you have to balance those things with yourself, right? If that's not how you learn, that's fine. Then you don't have to use those things. You don't have to use what I recommend you don't have to use what another nurse recommends. It's totally fine. You do what is best for you because you know how you study best. Okay? These are just tools that, you know, we try to give you and help you with so that you have options that you know your options. Does that make sense? So concept maps, one of those options for you. So if you are a visual learner, this will really, really help you because you can see it really well visually. So kind of going back to the critical thinking model, these two things are very, very similar. All right, so this is what a concept map looks like if you are not familiar with it. And actually knee root, you might have to message me again on Instagram because I think I would like to out point post this on Instagram so you have an idea of what a content map looks like and it's not backwards for you on Instagram. Sorry. So I can post it on my story. So if I forget to post on my story, somebody message me and remind me, okay? Because I will always forget. Like I said last week. There we go. YouTube, hopefully. Can you see that? It's like, it's blank, but you can see concept map at the top. Okay, there you go. Like I told you last week, after these live videos, I go eat ice cream. And then oftentimes I go to bed and I forget to post these things because, you guys, it's late at night for us and this is. My brain is kind of mush. But I will post this for you on my stories, okay? You just might have to message me DM me to remind me. So concept map here in that center box, like you see, in that center box is where you'll put the topic. All right? So that's a topic that you're studying. And then the other boxes around it are things that are connected to that topic. What you are learning, right? So let's say like, for example, if it's heart failure here or a disorder like a med surgical disorder here in the middle. And then you would write up here, okay, what's the pathophysiology of that sort of disorder? Then over here you write the signs and symptoms and the nursing assessment and the nursing interventions and, you know, whatever else you wanted to fill in. Like, what is it connected to, you know, heart failure? How does it inter. What did I say? I said heart failure, right? How is it connected to, you know, respiratory issues or, you know, respiratory failure or hypertension or stroke or, you know, things. You could fill in the boxes however you want, but it's just gives you a nice visual way of seeing things come together and kind of put together in a really cohesive way, which is nice. So these two tools for you, like I said, take them, think about them, use them. If they help you, if they don't help you, forget about it, okay? Just forget about it. It doesn't matter. I want you to only use the things that are helpful for you. If you, you know, see me recommend something. If you see somebody else on the Internet out there somewhere in the interwebs, recommend something. Don't take that as. Or your instructor. Right, Your instructor will always recommend things. But, you know, if that just doesn't work for you, those recommendations don't work for you. Don't do it. Okay? I am just here to try to help, give you the tools so that you can make the best decision for you. Great example of that is reading the whole textbook. And actually someone on Instagram said this a little bit earlier. I'm sorry, I lost your comment because I got several comments and joins since then. Sorry. But if I remember right, someone on Instagram was asking about how I cannot read the whole textbook. And that is something that you hear a lot from your instructors, right? Is that you're supposed to read the entire textbook in nursing school, but is it really feasible to do that? And for a lot of us, the answer is no. Like, it's not feasible for us to do that or you won't have time to do, you know, the critical thinking stuff. That's way more important than just reading the textbook. Okay, so, so just like I said, like, if your instructor recommends something, you know, just don't, you know, take it, take it, think about it, you know, figure out what works best for you. And if reading the textbook doesn't help you, then don't do it. If that makes sense. So the other tip that I really wanted to share, and I'm really excited to share because we don't talk about it enough. I don't think I talk about this enough. And it's just, it's so helpful. And that is teaching someone else what you are learning. Okay? So teaching someone else what you are learning is huge and for a couple of reasons. So when you are teaching someone else, you not only are thinking about it as you are teaching them, so you're, you're kind of synthesizing the knowledge in your mind as you're teaching them. Like, how many of us have had the experience where, you know, like I'm doing now, right? You're thinking, you're really thinking as you're talking. Like, my thoughts right now are not fully fleshed out at the moment, but I am thinking as I'm talking so that I can hopefully come across clearly to you kind of the same thing. When you're teaching somebody, once you learn it kind of, you know, once you're studying and getting in your, you know, you know, getting in your notes from class and you're learning things in nursing school, try to take that and teach somebody else. Because then as you're teaching them, it's going to make more sense to you as well, because you are, you might think about it in a different way. You might say something that's like, oh, yeah, wait, okay, let me kind of jam on that point really quick. And, you know, you can kind of flush things out a little bit by doing it that way, by talking, by talking it out with someone else. And then also, if you can teach it to somebody else really well, right? If you can teach it to somebody else in a way that they have, they have a fairly good understanding of what you're saying, that means that you're prepared for your exam. So that is kind of my. When I was in nursing school, that was kind of my, okay, my threshold for all right, now I'm ready to take my exam. If I can teach it to somebody else, I am pretty prepared. And here's why I say that. I say that because if you can teach nursing content to a layperson. I know it's a weird phrase, somebody who is non nursing and not like non medical, someone who doesn't, you know, know perhaps what polyuria is, you know, so if you can teach these nursing concepts to somebody else who doesn't understand medical stuff, that is a very good thing because that shows you that you can break these concepts down in a simple, simple way. And when you can do that, that means you know it enough to be able to do that. It, it is a skill to take big concepts, complicated concepts, complex concepts, and break them down into simple terms for people to understand in a, you know, in a, in a very simple, simplified way. Does that make sense? So if you are able to do that before your exam and take these big, complex topics that you're learning about in nursing school, you know, asthma, brain tumors, leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell anemia, like I said, you know, heart failure, cardiomyopathy, bronchitis, the respiratory one, ars, you know, if you can take these concepts, take these disorders, take these things you're learning about in nursing school, break them down into a simple way for somebody else to understand, especially someone who is not in the medical field, you are going to do pretty well on your exam because if you know it well enough to take this complex thing and break it down into simple terms, friend, you're going to do fine. Does that make sense? It's just another way to kind of check yourself to see if you're ready for your exam. But it's also, like I said, if you a really, really good way to study and to understand it more yourself. Because as you're thinking through it, like I said, you will have new thoughts about it. You'll understand it a little bit. Well, in a different way, you know, in a. In a different way that you may not have thought about it before. Does that make sense? Okay, Pammy, Nurse Mike. Is that Mike Lanierce from Simple Nursing? It probably is, I imagine. I am glad you're here, Pammy. It's 3:20 crazy in Ireland. Hey, Instagram, where you at? Okay, if you're watching from on Instagram, tell me where you are at in the world because right Now Ireland in YouTube is winning. And yes, Instagram. Okay, so we have a lot of people joining us. Hey, thanks for the hearts Instagram. I love you too. If you're just joining us, I posted this on our Instagram stories. Okay. The DRC critical thinking model that will help you through nursing school. How to critically think, how to synthesize the information in a, you know, better way to help you study. And then also, like I said, I'm gonna post this after this live, if I remember. So if I don't remember and you're looking for this on Instagram stories after this live, and I didn't post it, please DM me because I am notorious for forgetting these things after lives. Los Angeles. Hey, neighbor, I didn't know you were in la. Philadelphia, New York City, Florida, San Francisco, Instagram, Philadelphia, probably. Are you the same person? Philadelphia, Instagram and YouTube? Elsie. Chicago. Another person from Chicago. Hey, we had two people from Chicago. Okay, North Carolina. North Carolina. Why is Chicago called the Windy City? And well, okay, I understand why it's called because it's windy, right? But what is the criteria for windy? Like, how windy in miles per hour does it get in Chicag, Chicago? Someone tell me please, because I am curious why, like, is it like really windy? So someone tell me Rhode Island. Hello, Vanessa St. Thomas. Hello, Tanisha. Nice to see you, friend. Oh, hey. I actually also I needed to mention. So the membership community, the members that just joined on the annual and what was that when we opened a while ago now. But we just shipped out your pharmacology and dose calc boxes today. So whichever box you chose, it's on its way to you annual members. So if you just joined. If you had just joined on annual the last time we opened enrollment, you are now getting your box. Okay, so we just shipped it today. So fun. So I'm so excited to get those to you. Let us know how you love them. Oh, neerut. I'm glad you love the box. Yay. Hi, Vanessa. Hello again. Rhode Island. So I've never been to Rhode Island. Okay, so. Hey, friends, here's what I'm thinking. What was it? Actually, I should have written it down. I didn't write it down in my mind. Apparently, our topic for Wednesday. What do you want to talk about on Wednesday before I move on? And so I don't forget, maybe I should do a poll on Instagram. What do we want to talk about? What would be helpful for you on Wednesday? We talked about concept maps. This was a big. This was a big request that I've been getting a lot lately for some reason is concept maps. Hey, by the way, we have a whole YouTube video on concept maps too. So that will help you. So if you go to YouTube and then type in the search bar on YouTube Nursing SOS concept maps, it should come up there for you. Ooh, fundamentals. Hessie. Vanessa. We could talk about the Hessie. Would you guys like to talk about the HESI on Wednesday? Tell me yes or no. HESI or ati? Okay, raise your hand. HASI or ATI on Wednesday? They're basically. They're very similar. So do you want me to talk about the HESI and ATI on Wednesday or do you want me to talk about something else? I'm trying to get kind of a informal, kind of as we go schedule down. That makes sense. Okay. Hussy. Hussy has it. Wow. Instagram's all hussy. Instagram is all hussy. Oh, my. And YouTube is just about all. Well, okay, three atis, one hussy. Okay. But Instagram, Wow. All hussy.

Huh?

I had been noticing it. Oh, ati. And you wrote. Yes. Yep. Okay, so, okay. Would that be helpful for you then I'm assuming Wednesday we will talk about the HESI and ATI exams and how. How to pass if you're in a HESI ATI program. Now, I guess, just real quick. HESI and ATI are concept based programs. So that means that you. Well, really, that means that this is going to be really helpful for you because you have to be able to critically think. Like you have to be able to critically think through those exams. Friends, it is not about memorization at all. You have to understand how things connect together in nursing and what you're learning. Okay? So that's going to be huge, huge, huge for you. And if you're in ATI or a Hussey program, which many, many of you are cool. Okay, so we will do that on Wednesday. Plan for that. ATI has the. On Wednesday. The. I'm not even telling you. Is it the sixth? On the sixth. Okay, so has the ATI on Wednesday. We will be back at 7pm Pacific. Pacific, 10pm Eastern. Because I can do math in my head and yeah, I'll see you guys on. On Wednesday. And hopefully Matthew will be back at least at the beginning because he had to leave to put the baby down. Thanks, guys. Okay, we will see you. Fundamentals questions. Oh, practice. Okay. Yeah, we can definitely talk about fundamentals sometimes. Actually, I don't think think we've ever had like, a live video that was all about fundamentals. So I'm gonna have to pocket that in my mind. So let's do it. That sounds good. So Wednesday will be at and Hessey. All right, friends, I'll see you Wednesday. Bye. Take care. Oh, that's getting a lot of hearts.