Tag: Time Management

Time Management

Time Management

Clock

Sometimes I am shocked and surprised to realize that one full school year is almost coming to a close. Time, does indeed, fly by quite quickly. For seniors, this is their moment to shine; the countdown to graduation is nearly here. But until then, everyone including myself must stay focused on doing well on the final exams.

Time management is crucial before and during finals week. Students must learn how to prioritize themselves and balance their time to study and time to have fun. Some subjects require less attention than others, for instance, people might dedicate more of their time and effort for organic chemistry than for leadership class. It just depends.

Here are some ways to manage the way you study:

  • Write yourself an hourly agenda. This helps you keep organized and explicitly shows you what you need to get done at a specific time. Remember to consider some time in-between to relax and take a break.
  • Prioritize. Do not procrastinate, as even I know that is very hard to do. Find out what needs to get completed first. Which finals come first?
  • Zone-out any distractions. Specifically with social media, on-line or on your smartphone, things can get very distracting. Mute your phones if you must; move to a quiet study area! Allow yourself to maintain a focused mind and concentrate on studying. Remember, in the end, all your hard-work will pay off if you truly put the time and effort in.
  • See the teacher. Going to see them personally may help you immensely because they may be able to give you more information on what will be covered on the exam.
  • Keep the positive attitude! If you genuinely believe that you will do well, then you will have confidence when you take the exam. Plus, who doesn’t like being happy?!   🙂

 

Nursing School Problems

Nursing School Problems

Before starting my Spring 2012 semester at Loyola, I had been repeatedly told that it would be my hardest one while in the BSN (Nursing) program at LUC. This past week and a half has squashed any doubts I had about this fact. While I know that I will get through this semester with an intact GPA (my sanity and social life are still up in the air), I can also tell that it’s going to be a stressful time. In order to pep myself up, I thought I’d remind myself of some of the things I have to look forward to this semester:

1. No longer needing to worry about time management – This refers to is the fact that the amount of work given in a night can be exorbitant, no matter how you budget your time. For example, there is no way that I can finish the six chapters of textbook reading, two math units, three skills and an hour and a half online lecture by Thursday unless I get struck by a radioactive meteor and develop the power to pause time. Instead of just freaking out about how to budget my time, or wasting hours looking up the next meteor shower, I simply work whenever I can, while remembering not to beat myself up because I didn’t finish absolutely everything.

2. Making a whole group of new friends – They say that misery loves company; nursing school is no exception. The rate at which I’ve been making friendships has pretty much tripled in the past few weeks. It’s always nice to have more people to smile at when walking across campus, and it’s convenient to have friends in all the same classes as you, especially when “socializing” is really just studying with the company of others.

3. More opportunities to talk to professors – I have found that whether or not I like a professor when they are teaching, I like all of them outside of the classroom. You can clearly tell they are hard on us because they really want us to pass the NCLEX and be the best nurses possible. As more and more of my classes become focused on nursing, I’m finding that the opportunities to talk to my professors comes up more often. I appreciate this, because who better to answer my questions about working as a nurse than actual practicing nurses?

4. Remembering the importance of mental health – It’s extremely easy to forget about your mental state when focusing hours and days of your time on studying, comprehending, and memorizing facts. While going partying every weekend isn’t a great idea, don’t beat yourself up for “taking time off” to go to a movie or hang out with friends for a few hours. In fact, I wouldn’t even consider it to be “taking time off”; taking care of yourself can be just as important as taking care of your workload.

5. Don’t forget to laugh – It’s easy to get completely overwhelmed during this semester and by this whole process.  However, it’s important to keep a smile on your face, and remember to enjoy yourself once in a while.  My favorite study break is to visit NursingProbs, because it’s a great place for nursing students to make fun of ourselves and the occasional ridiculousness of our lives.

Some of the more funny NursingProbs, as compiled by my friend and fellow nursing student, Christina Reckard