Preparing for your nursing and medical examinations

Preparing for your nursing and medical examinations: good study habits

 Case study

Last week I had an encounter with a young lady, a student nurse. She seemed rather run down and depressed and  so done in that i just had to chat with her to find out what was wrong. On inquiring on the cause of depression, she mentioned upcoming exams as the main cause, failure to concentrate, read and being extremely tired. She was panicked and was sure she would fail as she was not putting in the 4 to 5 hours reading her classmates were doing. Worse even when she did manage to read, most of the things seemed to float over her head and she would fall asleep!. She just did not know what to do. She was now so scared of even attempting the examinations that she was considering redoing  her final year. Classmates and friends were predicting that since she was not reading these 4 to 5 hours she would fail her examinations, and she was now believing the same. After a counseling session through which I explained some changes in attitudes and reading habits could be changed to get better results in studying, reading and passing examinations, she left my presence a different person, who believed that it was possible to pass her final examinations.

I am sure there are others like her out there and I thought I could share with you some of the tips I gave her to help her have a better attitude and boast her confidence and abilities to not only study better but write exams better. Over the past few months as various groups of students have taken part in examinations, I have seen students suffer from not having prepared enough for the exams. Quite a number of students have been back-grouped, meaning you are pushed a class behind, while for the even more unfortunate, expulsion after failing one to many examinations. As a librarian this is very sad as you would like all students to do well. Even with the best resources, if you do not have good stuidy habits, then chances are you will fail some examinations.
Tips provided below are from my own experiences as a student at college, university and as a librarian of 10 years. While not all will suit your needs, still I am sure by taking time to go through this list you will definitely gain something to help you study better and do so much better in examinations.

Preparing for examinations

1. Develop a reading habit-and schedule reading time

Some people study every day, others once or twice a week. How often you reading  is not as important as actually reading on a regular basis. Even if you just read once a week , it’s better than waiting until the first exam to do a swat session.

Set aside a study time when you are not too tired, or to busy or even hungry. And when you study for a long time, you must take breaks in between to refresh you. Take studying seriously, not when you have free time or when you feel like it. If you schedule study time just as your class time is scheduled, you’ll find it becomes much less of a hassle in the long run. last-minute cramming reading sessions are very hard on you emotionally and physically.

 2. Understand your topics in your own words

Your tutor can explain school work to you, you can read your textbooks, even have friends can help and you can even "Google it",  but you must be able to explain what you have learned to yourself. If you don’t understand a topic, when it comes up in an exam chances are your exam results will not be so good.  So you need to get into the habit of explaining whatever it is you are studying, in your own words, so you understand your study notes. The key to help improve your memory is to understand what you’ve learned when you are studying it. So don’t just memorise and tick off the list – make sure you understand.

 

3. Don’t be afraid to ask questions about what you don’t understand

 ask questions of your teachers, friends and other knowledgeable people including your librarian. Don’t be afraid of asking a ‘silly or stupid’ question – there really is no such thing when it comes to study and reading !  Look at how you did the last test and see where you did badly and ask tutors and lecturers about were you went wrong so that you can make corrections and improve- Review your previous tests and sample tests provided by your teacher. 

5. Quiz or ask yourself questions

This is a great tactic to see what you have understood of what you have read, where you are still hazy and were you need to read more. It also gives a good idea of how much you know of a topic. Once you feel you understand a concept or a topic, it is important to test yourself on it. You can try and reproduce exam conditions as much as possible or were you feel comfortable and can focus without distraction. You get to understand what you know and can answer confidently with what you have studied. 

It will give you exam practice and preparation, making the actual exam a better experience and not so fearful. I can not describe enough how great a feeling you will get when you have practiced and quizzed yourself and the examination has a question on a topic you covered well. You cant wait to write because you are confident because you know what the questions require. more comfortable experience. 

You can practice by yourself by testing yourself with either practice exams, past quizzes. If a practice exam isn’t available, you can make one up for yourself and your classmates or just make up questions like you have seen or written in past examinations. If a practice or old exam from a course is available, you can use it as a guide, but please remember that this is not the actual exam you will write so do not go cramming old exam questions instead they are there to give you a feel of what exams are like and help you to understand the type of questions that may come in examinations.

How you are studying matters

Sometimes you can’t “force” yourself to be in the right mindset, and it is during such times you should simply avoid studying. If you’re distracted by something, then you will find studying frustrating. you can always come back to it once you are less focused on other issues. Just do not take to long! Sometimes people leave it off and use issues in their lives as an excuse to avoid reading . remember reading still needs to be done if you are to pass those examinations.

Mind over matter positive attitude-think positively when you study, and remind yourself of your skills and abilities and other accomplishments. after all to get to were you are now, you have to have succeeded else where. Avoid disastrous thinking such as panicking over lack of time, running out of time or even failure to understand or remember topics. Instead look at what you can accomplish in the time that you have, and how you can do it in bite size chunks so that you understand and do well. further more, do not compare yourself to classmates. I recall that young student nurse, comparing her study habits with her room mates and seeing herself as doing rather badly at reading and studying. \this made her feel very bad about her self and self esteem was now low. \people study differently so what may work  for your friend class mate and others might not work for you. you need to identify all the other times when you have studied and did well as to what were the conditions and attempt to duplicate them as much as possible. if you read at night , then that is your thing, do it, if you read well, in the library then go read there, if you read well by doing small reading sessions, then do that. It does not matter that so and so are reading 4 hours straight, that is their study habit. you study the way that get you the best results not what everyone else is doing.

 Where to read?- 

 A lot of people make the mistake of studying in a place that really wont allow you to concentrate with  a lot of distractions from noises, people, traffic and so on. How many have tried reading in your dorm and found that your roommate is distracting you? Try the library, an empty class room, a study hall, or any quiet areas. Finding an ideal study place is important, because it’s helps you to concentrate on the job of reading. I used to love to read in a public library although, we had our own University library because there were few distractions. I was not a study group person and hated the distraction from classmates when ever i went to read in the university library who would be constantly talking and asking questions!!!. therefore, the public library became my go to place for the years i was at school. So find your own place.  

Study groups

 Study groups are a popular way of reading with the help of friends or classmates. While some groups are big, others small, they need to involve people of similar academic aptitude, and in the same class and allow for all member to contribute to the discussion. They also need to ensure that they do not become dominated by just a few individuals while the rest are at a referral. Every one must have a fair chance to participate and contribute as well as request assistance. Hence smaller groups can be ideal in order to get much more out of the study group.. Different formats work for different groups. Some groups like to work through topics together, questioning one another as they go through it, others to compare class notes. Such study groups can be helpful for many students, but not all as others don’t benefit from this type of searching. However, all group members must be as committed as you are.

Take your classes seriously

Know what the teachers expect from classes-Different tutors have different expectations from their students. While taking good notes and listening in class are good starts, Talking to the tutor as soon as possible  especially for difficult courses will help you understand the course requirements and the tutors expectations. That will help you also set your own expectations ahead of time.  If you get a particularly bad grade on a paper or exam, talk to the tutor. Try and understand where you went wrong, and what you can do in the future to help reduce it from happening again.

Pay attention in class. If the tutor says, writes or dictates some notes they usually important. You must copy these down as well as pay attention to what they saying as you might miss what half the class is probably about.  

I hope these tips will help students in their study habits. Others are welcome to add more useful tips with comments. 

T. Sibanda