Study tips that helped maintain my college GPA

College, especially nursing school can be a daunting task. While it does require some “smartness” a lot of the keys to success are held in routine, dedication and focus. Maintaining my GPA and study habits in school can be attributed to a few things that I figured out along the way. First, I quickly realized that taking notes in fast paced lectures was nearly impossible. I decided to find a buddy in class to share note taking responsibilities with. We would make joint google docs and collaborate on notes together in real time. This did two things, it allowed us to get all the information down and helped us understand content better. We would write our own explanations and comments in the wings that would help guide our studying later. The next saving grace was Quizlet plus. I paid a small fee for a yearly subscription and it was extremely worth it. As many people know, a lot of nursing school is memorization when it comes to classes like anatomy, biology, and the other sciences. I would take the pictures from my lectures or from my textbooks and be able to import them directly into my slide deck on quizlet (a feature you do not have with the free version). This saved me on exams when charts and images used in the textbook or lectures were the same as what was on the test.

Go to office hours, every single week. This can be tough for many people, I know. However, I found very quickly that building relationships with professors gave you a huge leg up when it came to exams. By figuring out how they teach/test you get a better idea of what to expect when exam day comes. Oftentimes I would find myself stressing over a topic and by going to office hours I would get inside information on what to stress over and what not to stress over when it came to topics on the exams. It was a huge help when there was a ton of material to study. Lastly, find a study routine that works for you and stick to it. For me, I liked to go to Starbucks to study and get coffee before my study session. It sounds silly but having a comfort place, or comfort drink to set you in the “focus mood” is a real thing and was one of the only ways I could focus. One of the most important things about this place that you pick however is that it is not a place that you sleep at. So your study place cannot be your bed, or the couch that you frequently spend your afternoon naps on.

Happy studying! :)

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