Studying: getting the kinks out

My studying routine seems to be glancing at study materials throughout the work day when time permits. I currently work as an educator that offers nursing skills and knowledge every once in a while. So, you can imagine that this does not leave me with an excess of time during the day. I return home at 4pm and unwind. During this time I will intermittently review my written materials like Saunders and Mosby's. I find something to eat and head out to the internet cafe to study with the online NCSBN course. I am usually there from 8-11pm.

I come home exhausted, but my brain is still ticking racing through terms and concepts recently reviewed. Sometimes I feel as though I could continue to study throughout the night, but my ability to concentrate is compromised at this point and I sleep because I have to wake up at 6am the next day.

My anxiety levels about the test have chilled immensely. Just a few weeks ago I was a nervous wreck. I contacted former classmates who passed the exam ions ago for advice. One shared with me that she started studying one month in advance and did 100 questions and studied their rationales per day (I am up to 80 questions and per day). I was freaking out because I have been studying on and off since June and it appeared as though no matter how much I studied, I was still getting answers wrong--lots of them (50-60% correct). Often times, I would get the answer correct on my second guess. This would result because I would look at the correct answer (meaning it was my first choice) and then talk myself out of it and choose another one which was wrong. However, sometimes the "go with your first choice" technique does not yield the correct answer.

Aside from my low self-study scores, my anxiety was compounded by the fact that I simply cannot afford to NOT pass this test. There is so much riding on it. First of all, I am currently working in Africa (a story which I will expound upon at another time). I have to fly to London--an international test center--to take the test. They do not offer the test in any African country at this time. I could've flown back home to the States to take it, however three things quickly influenced that decision:

One, it is cheaper to fly to Europe from Africa than to the USA. I do not think that flying to New York is too badly priced, but I would be subsequently flying to the Midwest which increases the budget immensely. Secondly, I only have a limited about of time off of work. I am testing over the Thanksgiving Day weekend. Fortunately, that is not a special holiday in England so scheduling during that time was no problem. The distance between London and West Africa is shorter. I can get in and out quickly. Thirdly, I am not crossing time zones. They are on the same time zone. Meaning that my international jet lag will be greatly minimized and will greatly contribute to better testing conditions.

So, I am paying to take the test like everyone else, $200. I am also paying an extra $166 to take the test at an international testing site--that's $150 plus the Value Added Tax (VAT). My flight cost $1,200 round trip into London Heathrow. There are costs associated with my stay at a youth hostel, airport transfers, public transportation, and food. The British pound is 2:1 to the American dollar--I will pay double for everything once there. As you can see this is not a cheap test! It is not in my best interest to come away anything less than a RN.

However nowadays my anxiety levels have lowered considerably. Why? I just know that I am going to pass!

I have been doing a lot of positive visualization. During the time that I unwind from work each evening, I take some moments to lie down on my bed and imagine how my trip will unfold. I think about the airplane landing, going through immigration, walking through the terminal, looking for baggage claim, finding a bus into town, locating my hostel and checking in, and how I will spend that first day relaxing and calming my nerves (I fly arrive on Thursday morning and test on Friday). The morning of my arrival I will sleep once, having taken a red-eye in, once I'm settled. Then I plan to take the "tube", their subway system, to the testing center. I may even walk in and introduce myself. Then, I will eat dinner--my lone Thanksgiving Day dinner--and return to my hostel in preparation for tomorrow's test. I will do no studying throughout this whole time.

I envision myself entering the testing center the following day. My appointment is at 11:00am. I see myself at the computer reading questions, clicking away. I am not anxious. I may be challenged by the questions, but I am not stressed. The computer cuts off at 75! The screen turns white and blinks a bit before informing me that my test is over. I head out to a traditional British pub to celebrate.

I continue this positive visualization day after day. It has helped incredibly to calm my nerves. I have done it so many times that it really feels as though I have already passed the test. So much so, that the studying I am doing now feels like I am just going through the motions (fulfilling my end of a contract), but I have definitely already passed.

This is not to say that I do not get frustrated while studying. I do, especially when I get problems wrong. Sometimes I get them wrong simply because I did not read the question correctly. For example, the question may read that "the client is in need of further instruction if s/he states . . ." In my haste, I choose an answer that reflects a correct understanding of the condition or medication regimen while overlooking the fact that I should have chosen the false-negative response. So, it is little things like that that frustrate me. Fortunately, this is something that I can work on with myself if I just slow down and learn to READ the question before jumping quickly to answer it.

I also know that I have several weak subject areas like pharmacology and delegation. In my haste to tackle as many questions as possible--I am still trying to work myself up to 100 questions a day like my former classmate--I keep putting off reviewing these subject areas. I know that I have to take time to get these subjects in my head.

Additionally, I feel as though there is a significant difference in the types of questions I see in Saunders and Mosby's and those with the online NCSBN course. The NCSBN course questions are definitely harder. It's good though. However, sometimes it seems as those the rationales depending on the review material differ. I can get accustomed to reading and applying Saunders rationales throughout my practice--like avoiding answers that use the word "only" or going for the "global umbrella answer", but when I practice with NCSBN the reasoning behind the rationales differ slightly. Does that make sense to you? It is almost like getting used to the household rules of one family and then moving to another with a totally different setup. Of course, nursing is still nursing but it is the slight nuiances like that that can trip you up on some questions.