6 Simple Steps to INSTANTLY IMPROVE How You Study for Finals

If you've got a final exam coming up, Stop. Stop studying for just a few minutes. Watch this video to make sure that you are studying the right way for your nursing school exam. Step number one, make sure that you have everything that you need to start studying. Literally everything. There was one exam that I took in nursing school where I sat down to take it, and I realized that I completely forgot to study for. For half of what we were tested on. Like, literally half of it. And I didn't even know where those notes were in my life. So if you're anything like me, I had notes everywhere, right? Like your car, kitchen, coffee table, all over the place. So step number one is just collect them all. Go through all of it. Collect all of your class notes, your PowerPoints, study guides, modules, whatever else they give you, just collect it all, get it all in one place. So. So you don't miss studying any of it for your exam, like I did. And seriously, don't forget to check your car, because I think that's where my notes were. Now, step number two is organize it all. Everyone is different and feels organized in different ways. So there are a couple of ways that you can do this. So what I like to do is actually organize my notes by week of the term. So literally take. I have props. I would literally take all of my notes right from the term and organize them by week. So I'd say, okay, here are the notes from week one, here are the notes from week two, and so on. So this worked well for my school because we would usually cover different topics each week. So by dividing my notes by week also meant that I was dividing them up really by topic too. Now, if your school doesn't really do that, you can separate your notes by topic if you prefer. That's totally fine. Just make sure that each kind of packet is small that you make. So once you've had all your notes collected from each term, separate them all by week or topic that you covered. So you'll put them all into like, individual packets, okay. Or piles. So each packet represents one week of the term or one topic that you studied. Now step number three. Now, if you've watched our channel before, you know how much I love different colored pens and highlighters, right? Especially when it comes to taking notes and staying organized. So. So step number three is to bust out a highlighter and use it. Now, I used orange because that is Matthew's favorite color. Shout out to Matthew. So here's how I would do this. This is what I always recommend. Take one packet at a time and highlight the information that you don't know yet or can't remember learning. Now, it might be a lot in the beginning. Don't worry. That is totally normal. Just go through one packet at a time and highlight the things that you don't remember. Be honest with yourself about what you don't remember and give yourself credit for you do remember. Like I said, it's going to be a lot in the beginning. That's totally normal. Totally fine. Don't beat yourself up. So that's kind of the sticking point where you might get hung up. When you go through these packets, you're going to feel like you don't know anything. That's okay. It's not true. You know more than you think you do. Okay? Don't beat yourself up. Trust yourself. You know your stuff, friend. I know you do. So give yourself credit for how smart you are. You are in nursing school already, and you're in nursing school for a reason. You got yourself here, right? You care about becoming the best nurse that you can be, and I know that you know more than you think you do. Okay? So believe in yourself and believe in the knowledge you have. You can do this. So give yourself credit. Don't highlight what you already know. Move on so that you can continue learning the stuff that you don't remember as well, right? You earned it. As you go through the process, trust what you know. If you already know something in one of the packets, right? Skip. Skip it. Don't highlight it. It's a waste of time to keep studying it or studying something that you already know. So trust yourself. You know more than you think you do. Okay? Now, after you've separated all of your notes into packets, and then you've highlighted each of your packets like, you go through them and highlight the things that you don't know, you move on to step number four. Now, this one takes a little bit more time where you'll rewrite everything that you highlighted in your packet. You'll rewrite it on a separate sheet of paper. That way you won't have a huge pile of notes to study, but you're studying from a fresh piece of paper each time. It's just a lot less paper to flip through. So rewrite your notes, everything you highlighted, onto a separate sheet of paper. And don't worry about the things that you didn't highlight, right? You already know that stuff, remember? So just ignore it. You already know it. Trust yourself. Right? You don't need to rewrite it. So seriously, I know you can do this. I know this process can seem tricky because there's a lot of information to know, but I know that you know more than you think you do. Okay, now you'll also want to download this free study checklist that we have for you that walks you through some really great study strategies as well. So check that out. The link is in the description down below for you to snag that. All right, now step number five is study the new pieces of information. Like the pieces of information that you had transferred onto that paper. Make sure to study them every single day. So I'm not saying to study this paper for hours every day, but spend some time with it each day. Right? Reviewing, spending, studying, and learning the topic. Study a little bit every day will help you retain the information more. So you're not cramming right the night before your nursing exam. You're studying a little bit every day. You'll be a lot more prepared when it comes time for your final. So all the information that you had written out on that new paper, just make sure that you are studying it a little bit every day. Now, there might be a lot of little papers. That's okay. Just study a little bit every day. Now, step number six is the one that really makes all the difference, and it helps you take your study one step further. So rather than just reviewing the information on all the pieces of paper that you wrote out, right. You'll do one last step and this is how you'll be able to sift through the topics and continue to eliminate the ones you already know. So, yes, your list will get shorter and shorter. So every day when you begin studying, highlight again the information that you don't remember. So on your paper, highlight the information you don't remember and then transfer that the things that you highlight onto a brand new sheet of paper, pretending this is a different one. Now, here's where a lot of nursing students get stuck on this. They ask me two questions, how often do I do this process? And Christina, won't this take even more time to study? Now to your first question. Do this every day if you can. Now, I know with those long clinical days and stuff, that can really be tricky to fit it all in. And that's fine if you miss a day or two. Like I said before, don't beat yourself up, but try to go through your notes every day or at least some of your packets, study them, okay? And here's why. When you're studying every day, the information, it just stays more top of mind so you don't forget it as easily. And I actually have another question to add to. Your second question is how you're studying for finals right now. Helping you or hurting you? Now, most nursing students are doing a few things wrong when it comes to studying right now. Either your studying the wrong things, you're taking too long to study because you're not focused, or you're wasting time getting caught up in overwhelm or studying things that you already know just to make yourself feel good, right? So as you do this process every day, the amount of information you need to study will decrease every single day because you're retaining more and more of it. In the beginning, it will seem like a lot to learn, but as you study a little every day, you'll remember more and more of it and have to study less, right? So it will actually save you time. You're not wasting time studying the things you already know. Something else I absolutely must mention here is that you should start this process as early as you can. Give yourself at least two weeks if possible, to start studying for your finals. And if you already have less than two weeks until your final right now, start now. Okay? Don't put it off. I know know you can do this. And of course your finals in nursing school are going to test you a ton, literally ton on critical thinking. So if you want to master that and pass your exams, click on this video right here, my friend. And as always, go become the nurse that God created only you to be. And I will see you in that next video.