ONLINE Nursing school?! What?! You must be so excited to start this journey ONLINE! Who would have thought online nursing school would even be possible? You don’t have to worry about driving to campus as much. You can listen to recorded lectures whenever you want. You can even take your online exams from the comfort of your own bed if you’d like. This is going to be a breeze! If THIS is what you’re thinking, you’re in for a rude awakening. But if you understand (up front) that this isn’t going to be a walk in the park, you’re already a step ahead of most! I’ll admit I underestimated the difficulty of it by a long shot.
If you want to succeed in Nursing School online, I recommend following these tips.
Start the semester organized! If you haven’t already, click here and enter your email address in the pop-up message to receive a free study plan template I created to help you keep up with your assignments, exams, and studying.
Do NOT fall behind! This is extremely important. When you’re physically on campus, teachers and fellow classmates are there to remind you of assignments. But when you’re online, it is up to YOU to constantly check your school email and keep up with assignment deadlines. It is so difficult to catch up when you’re behind so do yourself a favor and stay ahead if at all possible.
Have a fast & reliable internet connection. You don’t want to miss out on quiz or exam time because of your internet speed. A lot of internet providers are offering upgraded internet speed to students at no additional cost due to the pandemic. Call your internet provider to get details! If this option fails, talk to friends and family about using their wifi on exam days.
Create a group chat of some kind for your class if you don’t already have one! Even though you’re online (and yes, even if you haven’t met your classmates) it’s a good idea to have a platform to communicate with each other. My classmates and I use the GroupMe app. It’s nice because you can turn notifications off if you don’t want to receive them but this is a great way to ask each other questions and send study material back and forth.
Study groups! This is one of those things that doesn’t work for everyone. But with that being said, most people can’t sit at home studying for hours without interruption or distraction. Although several places are still closed, call some of your local coffee shops and ask if they’re open for business inside. I know here in Birmingham, we have a few places like Panera Bread that opened back up with social distancing precautions in place. Study groups give you the opportunity to discuss the exam topics with another student and pick up on things you either forgot to study or maybe even missed while listening to lecture. My advice for study groups is to schedule these study sessions SEVERAL days prior to taking the exam instead of the day before. Studying in a group the day before an exam could overwhelm you and make you feel like you’re not ready if someone else seems to know the material better than you.
Online clinical simulations SUCK! I just wanted to throw this out there in case you had any preconceived notions about them. Make sure you do these days…yes I said DAYS before they’re due. Why? Because they’re very time consuming and the likelihood of it taking longer than an actual clinical day is pretty high if you’ve never done one before. Your patience will 100% be tested when doing these. Thankfully, my school is still having some clinical days in the actual hospital but I’ve heard some schools haven’t been as lucky.
Schedule a 1 on 1 meeting with your instructor ASAP if you don’t do well on an exam. “But Chanley, what do you mean? We can’t meet with them. We are online!” Yes, you can! I know because I’ve done it. You will need to send a respectful email to your instructor expressing your concern regarding your exam grade and that you would like to set up a virtual meeting for feedback on how to improve your study habits for future exams. Did you notice I said ASAP? Yeah, there’s a reason for that. Your instructors may be able to give you advice or even recommend resources that could help you improve on your next exam. However, if you decide to wait until you’ve made a few bad grades, there’s not much they can do to help you at that point. Every single point is crucial in Nursing school! Don’t wait until the final exam to meet with them if you’re struggling!
Use Facebook and Pinterest to your advantage! Join student nurse support groups on Facebook! There are several that post helpful content and it’s a great way to interact with other students from different schools. Pinterest is also amazing for Nursing content! Here’s an example of one of my Nursing School boards. Feel free to follow it! I’m always posting new content I find.
If you have an iPhone, utilize the “Reminders” app! I love this because you can set up specific lists, check them off, and re-use that same list over and over. For example, I have a list labeled “Exam Day” Then I have the following check boxes: pencil, scratch paper, school ID, take off Apple Watch, clean off desk (no paper, books, or iPads near your exam area). This way, I don’t have to worry about rushing to do all of this right before the exam or forgetting to take off my Apple Watch and receiving a failing grade. I also use these for other things like my clinical bag. I keep a check list of everything I need in my clinical bag so I know I won’t forget anything the night before.
Online Exams are….. horrible. I don’t say this to scare you but seeing the time ticking away, not being able to go back to previous questions, and having to use the platform’s horrible little online calculator for dosage calculations can really boost anxiety. But even though you hate the online exams, it will prepare you for the NCLEX exam considering it will be that way as well. My biggest piece of advice here is to stay calm if there’s an error on the exam and follow whatever guidelines your instructor gave you for that scenario.
Lastly, keep your eye on the prize! I know this is a difficult time but Nursing school is hard for a reason. What you’re learning day in and day out will be used to save lives one day! Remember that! You’ve got this!
Great advice Chanley!