Finals are finished. Happy dance, applause, and celebrate… for a few days anyway. So how do you remember what you learned last semester (and the semesters before)? Remember if you’re in nursing school, the goal isn’t necessarily to pass the class, ok that is one goal, but to pass the NCLEX the first time you take it. There is really no way to learn all of the content on the test at once, I recommend remembering what you’ve already learned. So what should you do during the four weeks or so you have off.
- Review your flash cards. Make a schedule, decide now that you’re going to study a couple of hours a day until next semester. You can take a couple of days off (Christmas, New Years) but study some on those other days. While you’re reviewing your cards, make some notes about questions that you consistently list. I studied the cards five days a week, then on Saturdays I would dig into what I needed to study / learn more.
- Don’t forget your math. Saturdays I would also try and work 20 or 30 NCLEX math problems. You should know, or begin to know what types of problems you’re having trouble with.
- Take at least two or three NCLEX practice tests. This book http://amzn.to/1RICtPJ has a little over 5000 questions. I own it and recommend it (if you use that link to buy it I make a couple of bucks). As you test, learn things that give you problems. If its content that you haven’t covered yet, don’t worry about it too much. If it is content you’ve already covered then you have some more things you need to study.
- I know you don’t want to study while you’re ‘off’, but studying now will reward you later on. I said just study a couple of hours a day and then you can have fun. If you run out of things to study, buy the books you’ll be using next semester and spend some time reading them.
Enjoy your weekend (and break).
