With a couple of months to go until we reach the end of the spring semester, it is never too early to start planning on rocking your final exams! To help you reduce test anxiety and succeed on your final nursing exams, here are five study tips that are sure to help you develop strategies for success!
UTILIZE ALL RESOURCES PROVIDED
Nursing educators and instructors work hard to make sure they supply their students with tons of additional resources to help facilitate learning. If you have not already done so, it is important to review all of the supplemental material, along with your course textbooks, to help validate your understanding of the content. The worst that can happen is that you might just learn something new!
READ, WRITE, AND REVIEW
When it comes to finals, you need to be well-prepared to succeed. In fact, it’s nearly impossible to over-prepare. One way to be sure to score well is to read, write, and review your nursing content outside of classroom hours. Some practical suggestions are to read your texts and supplemental material, write out key points and concepts, and practice recalling the information. Whether you choose to use flashcards or a notebook, writing the information down, then challenging yourself to recall, it is a great way to help the content truly sink in.
FOCUS ON YOUR WEAK AREAS
We all have our favorite topics when it comes to nursing content, and in these cases, we usually thrive in our ability to score well on related exams. However, when it comes to cumulative final exams, there is probably a lot of nursing content that we are not excited about—and that will be your focus. By concentrating on the content that you did not like, or that you scored poorly on in a previous exam, you will be increasing your chances in scoring well on the final.
TEACH YOUR CLASSMATES
Teaching is the highest form of understanding, and this study technique helps to ensure that you are ready to ace the final exam. Be sure to create lesson plans with the content that will be on the final exam. Try to create high-level questions to ask your classmates during your teachings, and be sure to restate the key points regularly. Some students choose student tutoring as a means to gain additional exposure to teaching. Either as a tutor or part of a study group, students who adopt this technique for exam preparation often do very well on their final exams.
FREQUENT, SHORT STUDY SESSIONS ARE KEY
Remember, studying for final exams is a marathon not a sprint. Students who participate in extensive cram sessions the night before an exam are less likely to do well. Instead of procrastinating until the night before, I recommend that you study in frequent intervals for no more than three-to-four hours per session. You may hold study sessions two or three times per day for several weeks leading up to the exam, but be sure to keep the sessions limited to only a few hours. During the time in between studying, make sure to partake in activities that are healthy and relaxing, such as sharing a meal with family, exercising, or getting out of the house.
Best Wishes,
-Damion
