Studying with the humongous pressure of passing is not something that you can do without going a bit crazy, but here are a few tips (some of them probably unusual) that might help prevent your fatal freefall into madness…or at least give you a softer landing.
1. Have a study habit that you’re comfy with. Screw what the summa cum laude tells you. If your brain is turned on by loud music, the prime time telenovela, or pigging out on a nice big batch of McDo french fries (which was what my classmate Manilyn Abletes did), then go have it. Remember, it’s all about you. Your brain works in an environment you’re most comfortable with. Just be sure not to bother the rest of the world too much.
2. Do not attempt to devour your books. You are not Hermione Granger. Besides, one way or another, you’re already gone through them. Skim through your notes, study your questionnaires. Time is not your friend, and bits and pieces of information should be enough to stimulate your brain cells to remembering the concepts you’re trying to recall.
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Above: A picture of all the books I've acquired during the NLE review. I did not, however, read all of them. The books served as reference materials for facts that I have forgotten. In fact, I the only book I almost finished was the RCAP compilation of old NLE questions.
3. Back to basics. Nothing beats a good comprehension of anatomy and physiology, or the Fundamentals of Nursing. The theory is, if you know the basics, you can apply it to more complex concepts. The theory is relatively correct.
4. Karaoke time plus study time. I was once out with my guy and a couple of his friends, all of them passers of the Chemical Engineering board exam. I asked how they did it, and one of them jokingly replied, “We go out to sing”. And so I did. Lo and behold, come September, I see my name posted online as an NLE passer. Do not fry your brains with too much studying. It doesn’t help. Give the neurons some breathing time. Have fun once in a while.
5. Memorize passively. If you’re like me, you despise memorization. Of course, if you’re about to take the boards, it’s impossible that you won’t need the normal value for blood pH (7.35-7.45) or the four defects in the Tetralogy of Fallot (ventricular septal defect, pulmonary valve stenosis, overriding of the aorta, and right ventricular hypertrophy). How to memorize all those stuff without busting your brain? Try this tip on for size. Write these babies down on a piece of manila paper (or a nicely colored cartolina, with pretty green highlights), and stick them on your wall. Every night, before sleeping, recite them like a prayer. Do it again in the morning, before getting out of bed.
6. Answer past board exam questions. This one’s a classic, but it’s not a classic for nothing. While my review-mates are reading and re-reading their notes given by the review center (which I did not have since I was not fortunate enough to attend the comprehensive review), I was eating peanuts and chocolate and answering past board exams from 2001 to 2006…12 sets of exams! This might not be very encouraging (Honestly, if I was really taking the NLE, I might have already failed 12 times), but it gives you an insight to the examiner’s mind – how the questions are formulated, and what techniques work. Besides, it’s better to fail now that you’re still reviewing, that screw up the actual thing, right?
7. Exercise catharsis. We’re all up to our ears in stress during the entire time span of the review, and like any normal human person, if you bottle up your emotions too much, you eventually pop. Anorexia. Flat affect. Circumstantiality. The works. Eventually, psychosis. You want to be your former-classmate-now-RN’s new patient? No way, right? So take time to talk to someone. It does not do well to keep your apprehension bottled up, threatening to explode like a nasty aneurism.
Above: One form of our catharsis. Drawn by Manilyn Abletes, R.N.
8. Weird psychology, and some physiobiological stuff you would probably sneer at, but is actually true. Green highlighter promotes retention of concepts. I have no idea where this one came from, but apparently, it’s true. Chocolate, Coffee and Coitus help with studying. The famous 3Cs are related to the production of serotonin (aka the happy hormone), and the feeling produced would be attributed to studying. Thus studying is equated to pleasure, and the pleasure becomes a motivation to study more. It also keeps the brain in a heightened level of consciousness, because of caffeine, and because seriously, would a normal person feel sleepy in the middle of sex?
9. Do not indulge yourself in an ideal test-taking location. On the actual exam, expect the worst. Expect the heat to permeate through your thick, white uniforms, and noise pollution to bombard your already question-tortured brain. Testing sites are not exactly comfortable, so try to get used to the things that would probably distract you from the questions.
The trick is to block it all out. Tip: try whispering the question to yourself, while simultaneously listening to what you’re whispering. Just make sure you don’t disturb the person next to you.
10. PRAY. Seriously, if He meant for you to be a nurse, He will give it to you. But that doesn’t mean that’s all you’re going to do. You are still required to hit the books.
(The author has lost her PRC requirements to Bagyong Ondoy in 2009, and it took her until May 14 to finally complete all the papers she needed to apply for the NLE. She applied on the same day – May 14- which is the last day of application, thus spending her 22nd birthday in the hot, sweaty PRC compound. Lacking the discipline that most reviewers had, the author has spent perhaps 40% of her time slacking off during the review session, but still managed to scrape a not-so-embarrassing average for the NLE.)
Nice one girl! :)
ReplyDeleteI agree..A dose of happiness isn't a crime! (specially during review)
ReplyDeleteExperience is the best teacher! Great!!!!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more, all cards laid . . :)
ReplyDelete