1. By Carlos Cardenas, BSN RN
Miami Regional University®
Academic Center of Excellence’s
Director and Advisor
A Guide to improve your
studying methods

2.  Table of Contents
◦ Daily/Weekly/Monthly/Semester Routine
◦ Study Groups
◦ Finding a Way
◦ Reading Course Content
◦ Note Cards
◦ Study Guides
◦ Topics
◦ Methods
Where to begin?

3.  Setup your routine choosing the topics you NEED to
study and how you will study them
 This includes creating a weekly, monthly, and
semester “studying schedule” as appropriate
 Include each day of the week, how many hours you
will study, choose the topics you will study (weakest
areas first), and HOW you will study the topics you
need to refresh on first.
Routine

4. Monday Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun
Work
Study 2
hours
Work
Study 2
hours
Work
Study 2
hours
Work
Study 2
hours
Work
Study 2
hours
Work
Study 6
hours
Work
Study 4
hours
Cardio
Pharm
Neuro Respirator Endocrine Renal ALL ALL
Saunders Note Cards
Kaplan
Evolve
Vocab
Note Cards
HESI
Tutoring
Priority
Questions
Strategy
NCLEX
Questions
Note Cards
Saunders
Kaplan
YouTube
Kaplan
Note Cards
HESI
Group
Study
NCLEX
questions
Saunders
Group
Study
YouTube
Note Cards
Kaplan
Vidoes
YouTube
HESI
Evolve
NCLEX
Mastery
Routine continued…
Weekly Schedule SAMPLE for 1 TOPIC

5.  You study better on a day off over a day you
finished a 12 hour work shift.
 Be smart about how much time you take per day.
 On a bad day, do not study as long
 On great days, plan to study longer.
 The better the quality of study, the more you can
retain the information you are covering
Quality of Study

6.  Set Schedule – ALWAYS SHOW UP
 Present on your chosen area to others
◦ Each member should be able to teach 20-30 minutes of
information.
◦ Ask questions. Give rationales, so they all remember!
 Alternate methods to remember concepts
◦ Humor and Repetition, if wrong, try again after rationale
is given. Until they get it right!
◦ From the mouth of a “friend”
◦ Making “memories”
Study Groups

7.  Choose topics to cover – Syllabus
◦ What is going to be on the next quiz or exam?
 Give a topic to each member of the group
 The next week you will meet and cover your own
topics for 30 minutes each.
 30 questions - each partner creates explaining the
top priority of their chosen topic.
◦ Topic examples as seen on the course syllabus
 Fundamentals- Infection Control, Safety, etc.
 Medical- Surgical – Cardiac, Neuro, GI, GU, etc.
Group Studying Overview

8.  Do not study in groups without organizing topics
that will be covered.
 Studying in groups with no organization or direction
can be a waste of time, be careful.
Group Studying

9. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Cardio Neuro GI Respiratory
Test 1 Test 2 Test 3
Finding A Way
Range Grades from 50-90% to 75-85%

10.  Read 30 minutes at a time
 Pre-determine what you are reading and from where
◦ Saunders- Cardio- Chapter? Pages?
◦ 10 pages is 1 hour of Out of Classwork
 Make sure to freshen up on vocabulary with Note
Cards after reading or listening to words you can
not define. (COLOR Flash Cards)
Course Content

11.  Make Flash Cards for pharmacology, memorizing
content, learning vocabulary words
◦ Use COLOR flash cards for Pharmacology
◦ Use different colors for different classifications
◦ Examples:
 Beta-blockers (blue cards) VS Ace (red cards)
 Increases heart = RED cards
 Slow heart rate = YELLOW cards
Note Cards

12.  WORD Documents- Create one for each area
 Google: copy links into your document
◦ “Nursing Studying Guides”
◦ “TOPIC” (cardiac, pharmacology, med-surg, etc.)
◦ “PDF”
◦ “Word”
 Copy YouTube videos URLs once approved by you
Study Guides

13. Study Guides- Master (Build Forever) Vs
Now (Word Document to study for the
week)

14.  Review all course topics that you will be tested on
 For each topic listed Give a “self” Grade
◦ A, B, C, or F
◦ You grade should be based on how strong you feel
towards that topic area– BE HONEST.
 Study areas with F = First
◦ Then study the areas you have Bs and Cs.
◦ Leave the areas you have an A for last.
 Tutor and study your areas of weakness first!
Topics- WHAT to Study first?

15.  Reading
 PPT
 YouTube
 Tables/Diagrams
 Note Cards (Flash Cards)
 Saunders (Chapter 5, Test Taking Strategies, pg. 26)
 Kaplan (videos)
 Evolve (Adaptive Quizzing)
 Learning Extension (Pearson Vue)
 Phone Applications (NCLEX Mastery, ex.)
 WORD documents (USB flash drive)
 The more the better! Stick to your best methods!
◦ Voice vs Feeling vs OUTCOMES
Methods- HOW to study material

16.  Keep an eye on the Fs going to Cs
 Keep an eye on Cs turning into F’s
 This occurs as your range is becoming tighter and
closer together.
 The topics you FIRST chose “Cs” for may change into
Fs.
 Refresh your topics to your current weaknesses as
appropriate
Refresh- Re-evaluate

17.  Step 1 – Find questions on the topics that will be on the exam
◦ Ex. Safety, Delegation, Cardio, Neuro, GI, and/or GU etc.
◦ Learning Extension, Sherpath, Phone Applications – NCLEX style questions
 Step 2- Complete questions and ONLY analyze the ones you have scored
incorrectly
 Step 3- Prepare study materials differently, Take time to find or construct
tables, photos, videos, etc. for the areas you have scored incorrectly in
◦ Create Word documents with notes, pictures, tables, diagrams, and videos when
possible.
 Step 4 – Study the material you scored incorrectly (FOCUSED) and use the
different methods to review the material (Not only reading styles)
 Step 5- Repeat 1-4, with a new set of questions which should include the
topics that will be tested next.
Focus on What and How to study

18.  It is said that nurses must complete 20,000 NCLEX
style questions or more before being able to
become a nurse.
 The notion has truth because as your knowledge
increases and the familiarity of what is expected
from these questions are met, the “testing” aspect of
nursing becomes easier.
◦ Keep up the Hard work!
◦ Keep answering, rationalizing, and understanding the
material and questions you cover.
Future Nurses, RN must practice NCLEX style
questions