6 tips for nurses to improve their academic performance

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Nursing school is not child’s play. Nursing is a challenging career path that requires significant effort and excellent academic performance. As you enter nursing, it is crucial to prepare yourself to think critically and serve selflessly. Good study skills can improve your competence, self-esteem and confidence. It helps you acquire the skills you need to have a successful career. Further, better academic performance can lead to better job opportunities, higher earning potential, satisfaction and achievement, and improved emotional well-being.

But how can nurses excel in school given their busy schedules and often additional responsibilities? Improving academic performance is not as challenging as it sounds. Some lifestyle changes and balancing techniques can help you excel in nursing school. Whether you are a freshman or a senior in graduate nursing school, read the tips below to improve your academic performance and become a successful nurse.

1. Create a schedule

Studying for a nursing degree can become overwhelming with complex subjects and courses. The best way to learn efficiently and effectively is to write a schedule routine and follow it religiously. Divide your course subject wise and protected days for each subject. Make sure you don’t under or over schedule your routine. Only put as many things into your schedule as you can realistically complete. Also, leave a few hours for breaks and other activities.

A schedule works incredibly well for online classes because it’s easy to lose track of recorded lectures. For example, if you are following a RN to MSN online program, create a schedule to accommodate attending classes while performing other clinical duties. Following a plan will allow you to continue classes and study while earning an online degree.

A study schedule brings routine to your life, saves time and helps you achieve your goals faster. Moreover, a schedule enables de-stressing, helps avoid procrastination and increases concentration.

2. Follow the reading material

As students, most of us do not take the reading material assigned by the instructors seriously. However, when pursuing a complex degree like nursing, it is essential to take your reading material seriously and be prepared before every lecture. External reading material can help you stay on track with your courses and increase your knowledge significantly. Since each class is for limited time, it is impossible to study and learn every little concept. For this, reading material is very important.

External sources can provide input that students can understand; It improves their knowledge set and creates motivation to read and learn more.

Remember, no knowledge is too much knowledge in medicine. The more you know, the better professional you can be.

3. Create a study group

Many students struggle to study alone and prefer to learn with peers. If you are one of them, creating a study group will be an efficient strategy to enhance your studies. There are several studies that state study groups can be a very effective form of learning.

Study groups provide a support system for people in the same situation as you and open up networking opportunities. Moreover, study groups help you learn faster, gain new perspectives, learn new study skills, fill learning gaps, and break boredom. Most importantly, studying in a group can help you practice in the real world, where most decisions are made as a team. Study groups help your people skills, increase your collaboration skills, and help you stay focused on achieving your goals.

Some important things to consider when creating a study group include:

• Make sure your group is small
• Find classmates and assign them to a learning pyramid
• Identify the target as a group
• show up ready
• Stay organized and focused
• Take scheduled breaks.

4. Find a mentor

Mentorship can help you excel academically and prepare you for the real world. Find a mentor or someone with enough experience at your university and get frequent study tips from them. Ask them to review your schedule and guide you to make it more efficient.

Mentors provide encouragement and support for growth and development. They can offer valuable teaching and study suggestions, help you become a leader, give you helpful feedback on behavior, and act as a source of knowledge.

5. take a break

Studying is extremely important, but so is taking scheduled breaks. Taking a break helps you refresh your mind and think better. Non-stop studying can numb your mind and at some point it will stop processing anything. So, take breaks, especially if you’re in nursing school, since it can feel like a full-time job.

While you may feel like you don’t have time to take a break due to backlogs of classes, assignments, and exams, you must give yourself time to avoid burnout. Too much studying can lead to stress, fatigue, poor sleep, headaches and other physical and mental health problems.

Taking breaks improves your memory, increases energy, reduces stress, improves your health, and increases your performance and creativity.

6. Education is for learning, not for scoring high

An important thing that all nursing school students must understand is setting your goals for learning. Studying just to get good grades won’t do you any good in the future if you don’t learn the necessary concepts. Therefore, schedule your time and activities to study with the intention of learning. Think of high grade scores and ample learning as a bonus to benefit you.

Preparing your brain for learning is the same as preparing it for future success. Don’t let a drop in your grades worry you. Instead, focus on mastering the subject and laying a solid foundation without stressing on grades.

Studying and taking tests will be different than when you were in high school, and you will have to make the most challenging adjustments while in nursing school. You will start to notice a change in your grades if you address it sooner rather than later.

last thought

Being a nurse is rewarding but challenging. Nursing school can be the most complicated of all the steps in your nursing career. However, remember this is not forever and will end soon. You must learn to balance your life and focus on your goals. Academic performance is very important, but more important is your learning. The best type of student is one who can learn and maintain decent grades at the same time.