This Study Technique Got Me Through Nursing School

Hi! I’m Nicole, an MSN-ED and RN with Blueprint Nursing. I’ve been a practicing nurse for eight years, and I’d like to share with you how I created my study method in nursing school that helped me get through my classes and become the RN I am today. 🤩

It all started back in my anatomy and physiology courses. We were covering so much material in that class, and I began to feel like I needed to switch up my study routine—I’d tried the whole flashcard thing and the classic “brain dump” study approaches, but none of it really worked for me.

My Tried-and-True Study Technique for Nursing School!

Through trial and error, I began to create a new approach using active recall studying. Boiling it down to the basics, it consisted of the following: 

1. Recording Lectures

Recording and listening to lectures helped me fill in any gaps I had in my notes. This gave me a solid base of material to work with as I began to look for study methods that worked better for me. 

2. Concept Mapping

At some point during nursing school, you may have taken a questionnaire about learning preferences. For me, instead of visual, auditory, or reading/writing, I prefer kinesthetic learning. This means it’s best for me to make feeling and moving a part of my study routine! 

So, I started figuring out how to manipulate the traditional classroom lectures and notes to fit this approach.

One method I found that really worked for me was concept mapping. This let me arrange things I was learning in a way that made sense to me, and physically manipulate them by drawing out maps and coloring in important ideas. This seemed to really help me retain what I was learning. (Of course coffee helped, too!) 

Just as an example, here’s a small concept map I made for the ABCDE of prioritization: 

3. Body Doubling  

Once I’d gotten concept maps down, I started to combine what I’d done so far with the fact I’d always liked studying in groups. Whether we talked about the material or just sat studying in silence, group studying always seemed to help me.  

The final step was adding in a technique called “body doubling,” which is when you have someone else around that’s doing the same thing as you. Having another person near me kept me on-task and ultimately more productive!

My Results…

Eventually, all of these methods sort of blended together into my own approach, which made me a better student, helped me get through nursing school, and ultimately is the reason I passed the NCLEX! 🚀

I’m glad I took the time to find what worked for me, instead of doubling down on my old approach that wasn’t getting me the results I wanted. I think it really helped me become the RN I am today!

More Resources

Anyway, that’s my story. I hope you found it helpful! And if you’re in the same boat that I was, check out the full video for the full study method:

And be sure to check out the rest of our YouTube channel for some great NCLEX study tips!  

We also offer some great courses and resources, including: 

👩‍🏫 NCLEX Live Study Group (LSG) – Your study schedule is built in! (plus, you’ll get access to the Crash Course & 1,000-question NCLEX Qbank 😎)

🏫 NCLEX Self-Paced Crash Course – Study on your own time with 18+ hours of video lessons and 18 quizzes

👩‍💻 Free NCLEX Webinars – Join our free sessions with experts to prep for the exam and life as a real-deal RN

📓 Free NCLEX Cheat Sheets – Grab these free downloads for help memorizing NCLEX terms, isolation and PPE, and more!

Best of luck on your journey! 💙

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