Study Session Walk-through

If you're one of the lucky people who has never had to study for exams before, you might not even know what exactly your study session should look like. Or maybe you're just someone who tries to gut it out for exams and crams the night before, but now you realize that isn't working for you in nursing school.

In today's post, I'm just going to do a quick walk-through of a typical study session for someone who is not sure what to do once they've carved out some time and sat down at their desk.

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Location, location, location

First, it's important to pick a good spot to study.

Research tells us that the most effective, efficient location to study is in a library. People (not just students), on average, are able to complete around 30% more if they are physically at a library.

If studying at a library isn't an option, try to find a desk or a table and set up a great workspace. Thomas Frank, an Iowa State alum, has a great video on how to do this.

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Set Goals

The first few minutes of your study session should be spent determining what you are going to accomplish.

You need to make realistic goals. You should start with assignments or tasks that you absolutely have to get done during that study session. Then you can add in anything extra after that might be nice to get to, but could wait if you run out of time.

For example, I may set a goal to read and add 3-4 ATI chapters into my study guide. During a non-exam week, I may set a goal to complete a PrepU assignment, do 10 NCLEX-style questions, and turn in my clinical reflection. If there's a paper coming up, I may set a goal to get through the first four items on the rubric.

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Pomodoro Technique

If you haven't heard of the Pomodoro technique, here is a short video that explains the basic idea.

The way I organize all of my study sessions is I work for 25 minutes and take a five minute break. I do that four times and then take a 30 minute break.

Part of the reason that you need to break up your study sessions like this is that the brain is able to focus the best in the first ten minutes and last ten minutes of any study session. If you add in a break to your study sessions, you're pretty much doubling the amount of time your brain is most effective.

For example, if you study for an hour straight, with no breaks, the first 10 minutes you're focusing well and the last ten minutes you're focusing well. That means out of the 60 minutes you're studying, you get optimal performance for 20 minutes. 20/60 or 1/3 of your time is extremely productive.

If you're studying for 25 minutes, the first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes you're focusing well. That's 20/25. Then take a 5 minute break. Do it all over again to make an hour. Because you added in that break, you have had 40 minutes of optimal performance. 40/60 or 2/3 of your time is extremely productive.

2/3 > 1/3 every time. Math wins and so does the Pomodoro technique.

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Study Session Example

0900: Write out study session goals, complete PrepU Assignment

0925: Break (go get water, a snack, change over the laundry if I'm at home)

0930: Complete a body or concept map for clinical

0955: Break (go to the bathroom, scroll through Instagram)

1000: Finish up and turn in my clinical reflection

1025: Break (take a short walk)

1030: Read ATI Fundamentals Chapter 7

1055: Break (clean up my desk, put books away, check my calendar)

1100: Break (longer, 30 minute break - do whatever)

1130: Finish reading ATI Fundamentals Chapter 7

Continue this cycle for the length of your study session.

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A Short Exercise in Procrastination

If you struggle to even start studying, one of the most effective tools that you should add to your arsenal is the 5 Minute Rule.

The 5 Minute Rule is very simple: whatever it is you have to work on, you only have to work on it for 5 minutes.

There are so many different reasons we procrastinate: we'd rather do something else, we are perfectionists and the time we envision it takes to do something perfectly is intimidating... the list goes on.

The 5 Minute Rule helps because it is entirely possible for you to work on ANYTHING for 5 minutes. It is an extremely short amount of time. There's an end. 5 minutes is nothing.

A lot of times, when employing this rule, you'll end up feeling like you can work on that task for longer. If not, that's cool, promise yourself that you can stop after 5 minutes and don't set any other expectations/goals beyond that.