Hello everbody

,Finally I am taking my first nursing class starting this fall. Do you have any  tips in passing and going through nursing school?  If your a single parent or the only working parent working as fulltime as cna should I resign. I can not afford it.   Anyone has any suggestions. 

                                                                                                                                                                           becky123

I usually advise my students not to work more than 20 hours a week if they can possibly help it.  That being said, I worked full time while going thorugh my ADN and BSN programs.  I had to:  I had bills to pay.

It will be difficult, but is doable.  You won't have much of a personal life while you are in school.  You should explain this to your family, but let them know that the carrot at the end of the stick is a much improved standard of living for you and your children.

Time management and organization are key.  You need to get a big calendar and mark out your class times, study times, and assignments due.  Make sure you put at least a couple of hours a week in there for you and your family.  Set aside a bit of time to be involved with your kids.  Give yourself a guilty pleasure--if you like American Idol, don't study while you watch it!  But be sure to stick to your study goals.  Just between classroom work, clinicals, lab and studying, you will be putting in 40 hours per week minimum.  Bank on it.

Ask for help from your instructors early.  Any time you don't think you get it, talk to an instructor.  If you have ADD, ADHD, learning disabilities or test anxiety, provide documentation to the disability access services office of your school--you may qualify for special help or considerations during exams.  You will be responsible for providing any documentation to support this (and the expense), but it can make a big difference in your performance if you have a legit disability.  Too many students feel embarassed to ask for help:  don't!  You do yourself a disservice.

Remember when studying:  it is not about how much you can memorize.  It is how well you can apply the concepts of nursing to what you are doing in patient care.  It is about application.  You are preparing to take a national exam--the NCLEX.  The NCLEX does not care how much you know.  You can get every knowledge/comprehension question right and still fail the NCLEX.  The NCLEX cares about what you do, can you identify priorities, do you know when not to give a drug, do you know what to do and when to do it?

Practice test taking.  Learning how to take a nursing exam is as important as studying for it.

Good luck!

One thing that was important for me was making friends with the people I went to nursing school with.  I was 26 when I went to nursing school and balancing "adult" life with "college" requirements was very hard at times...the people you are in school with understand!!  I graduated May 08 and keep in touch with about 20 people I went to school with...we have evolved from a nursing student support group to a new nurse support group!!   You will need that when you are done with school...trust me!!  I don't think nurses are better than anyone else, but I do think we're unique and we need each other for support.