First Semester Success Guide: What to Do NOW to Prepare for August

First Semester Success Guide: What to Do NOW to Prepare for August

 Welcome back to Nursing School Week by Week. So you got accepted into nursing school. Congrats! That's a huge accomplishment. But now you might be wondering, what should I be doing between now and August to set myself up for success? The first semester is notoriously tough. And while you can't prepare for everything, there are a few key steps you can take now to make your life easier.

Today we're going to talk about some practical tips to stay organized. We're going to review some key concepts and help you prepare mentally, emotionally, and financially for starting nursing school. Alright, first tip. I'm going to talk about one of the best things you can do to prepare for nursing school, is to master your time management and organization skills.

You can start practicing your time management now, so it becomes second nature. One good way to do that is,

If you don't already have a planner that you use consistently, now is a good time to get a planner. And that can be a digital planner or a paper planner. Whatever works best for you. I tend to use both. My Google Calendar and a physical planner. I find that the Google Calendar is good for me to put things in there, like just things that I need a little ding reminder for, labs that I need to be at, or due dates for papers, exams that I need to be at in person, those kinds of things.

Just so it's one more safeguard for me to make sure that I don't forget something and let something slip through the cracks.

So I use the Google Calendar for things that I want that notification reminder for. And then in my paper planner, I will put those things as well as everything else that I need to get done. And one system that I have found a lot of success with, I don't do it every week, but on days that I really want to be on my A game and have a productive day.

I will write out the things that I want to get done in my regular planner. And then I have one of those time blocking planners. Mine is just something that I created and laminated. So it's like beautiful and seasonal. For October, it has little pumpkins and stuff on it. December, It's me in my slippers, sipping on a cup of hot cocoa in the background picture, and then it will have a breakdown of hour by hour for the day. And so the night before each day, I will look at my paper planner with all the things that I want to accomplish. And then I will plug those things in depending on how long I think each thing will take to get done.

So let's say my morning routine takes two hours. So I will actually write that in on the hour by hour layout. Like I want to get that done from 7 a. m. until 9 a. m. And then maybe I need to study for four hours that day. So I'm going to plug that in. So it's just a way of giving me a realistic idea of what I can actually get done within the 24 hours that we've all been given.

Because a lot of times, I will have many things written in my paper planner that I want to do on any given day. But then once I break it down hour by hour, I realize no human being could actually get all of this done in this amount of time. So then that lets me know that in order to set myself up for success, I need to spread out some of those tasks throughout the week.

And it's also a good way of keeping me focused throughout the day. Like, at no point in the day am I floundering, saying, I wonder what I should get done now. I can just refer to my hour by hour plan and know exactly what I should be doing during that time block.

All right. So when school starts in August, assignments are going to be coming at you fast. And having a system in place now will save you later. So you can start practicing whatever system you come up with now. I mean, even if you don't have papers and stuff due, you can start practicing with whatever you have going on during the summer.

Just 10-15 minutes each night before you go to bed, setting up your day. Setting yourself up for success for the next day and then getting in the habit of reviewing that every morning.

Using your planner is also helpful for managing stress and anxiety during nursing school so you don't get behind. I know it's easier said than done just saying don't get behind, but there's some psychological thing where Present us always thinks we're going to have more time and energy in the future.

Like future us is somehow going to be freaking superwoman, right? And have all the time and all the energy to accomplish stuff. So it's human nature to put off what can be done today onto tomorrow. And I urge you in order to keep that stress and anxiety down. Try not to do that. Try not to wait until the last couple days before that paper is due before you even start it.

Because once you get behind, yes, it's harder to catch up. And it's also like your brain just gets so stressed out that it doesn't even want to start that project or even think about that project because it's overwhelming. So I urge you to break big projects down into bite sized pieces and just do a little bit every day.

Alright, you also want to create a tentative study schedule. So you want to block off time for studying, breaks, and self care. Remember, nursing school is a marathon, not a sprint.

A good rule of thumb is to, when you're planning out your schedule, leave at least 10 percent of the time in your day, for downtime, for self care, for just chilling with some Netflix, or taking a long bubble bath with candles, I don't know. Whatever you do to recharge, you can plan that in.

And I found when those self care times are planned in, it makes me enjoy them so much more. You know, if I'm watching a movie that I've planned to watch, I don't feel guilty. I'm not like halfway thinking, Oh my gosh, I should be studying. Oh my gosh, everybody else is going to be ahead of me. Because even if I'm relaxing, I'm still sticking to my plan that I set for myself.

And even if you don't know your exact class times yet, you can get in the habit of time blocking and using your planner.

Also, you want to set up an organized workspace. You want to find a quiet, clutter free zone that will help you focus. Maybe with a good, comfy chair, because you're going to be sitting in it for hours. And this quiet space may be in your house, or it may be on a quiet floor on the library at your school. And you can go there even if you haven't started school yet.

You can go to the school library and kind of walk around and get a feel for it. If it's multiple levels, usually they'll have a quiet floor or a quiet zone where you're not supposed to talk, you're supposed to silence your phone. And that's where I got my best studying done. It was on the quiet floor of my school library.

And that was also kind of nice too. Because if I had one class scheduled for 9 to 10 and then I had like an hour or two break before my next class, instead of thinking, oh, well, I can't really get any studying done because I'd have to go all the way home. I could just go to my spot in the library that was comfortable and familiar and get like an hour of studying done before my class.

And those little bits of studying time really add up. One thing I will advise you against, I am begging you, don't ever let yourself fall asleep in your study spot. And please don't make your study spot your bed in your bedroom. Your bed should be a space for sleeping and resting. Your mind gets confused when you try to mix two purposes for one space.

So don't make your study spot your bed. It could be a desk in your room. Preferably it would be a home office or a study spot at school. But yeah, I'm begging you don't ever let yourself fall asleep in your study spot. Like my study spot was in the library and sometimes almost every day I would see someone with their head laying on their folded arms on their desk just sleeping away.

And once you've done that a couple times, that becomes an option for you. And I would just advise you against that because your study time should be for studying and not for sleeping. If you feel so tired, like you're sitting at your study space studying, and you are just starting to nod off, then get up and go for a walk or just leave and say, you know what, I'm going to study later.

Just don't get in the habit of falling asleep in your study space. A couple ways that nursing students can create a study environment that maximizes focus and retention is to have breaks built into your study session. One thing I really like is the Pomodoro method of studying. And there's a couple of really good apps for this.

But you can set the app so that it'll have a countdown and you will study for like 25 minutes. And then it will ding and you take a 5 minute break. And then it will ding again, and you study for another 25 minutes. You can set it to however many you want, but I like to do four 25 minute study sessions.

And then once you've done your fourth, you get a 25 minute break. So you could go for a longer walk, get a snack during that longer break. And that's a better way for retaining information because your brain needs a break, right? You can't just have a two hour continuous study session and expect to retain all the information as well as you would if you had breaks.

Another thing that scientists have found to be helpful is, and a lot of writers do this, to sort of break that writer's block and to get into the writing mode quickly, even if they're not feeling it. They will start their writing session with some kind of routine, like a song that they play every time before they start their writing session.

Or they will always get their coffee and maybe do a couple stretches. They do the same thing every time leading up to their writing session. You could incorporate that for your study session. Maybe you chew the same flavor of gum, or get the same beverage, or you know, go through the same motions, listen to the same background music.

Whatever triggers your brain to think, Okay, it is now study time. No messing around. Maybe you put your phone on silent, or they have apps now that will put your phone into study mode, work mode, so that you're not getting constant text messages and distractions.

That could be really helpful.

Alright, a pro tip is to start tracking your daily habits now. Your sleep, your study hours, your water intake. So you can build routines that set you up for success in nursing school. If you have a morning routine and a night routine that works for you, congratulations, you are already ahead of the game.

If you haven't found a morning routine that works for you and that you think will work around your nursing school schedule, try to work with that. I'd probably start with your night routine because that helps you get to bed at a decent hour, which in turn sets you up for a good morning routine. So start with tweaking your night routine and then add your morning routine.

That would be a really good use of the summer, this time leading up to starting nursing school.

Alright, the next important thing that you can do to prepare for starting nursing school is to refresh your key prerequisite knowledge. Now don't panic if you feel like you've forgotten everything that you learned in your prereqs. You just need a quick refresher. And I want you to focus on these key subjects.

Anatomy and Physiology. Medical terminology and basic math for medication dosages. For anatomy and physiology, I want you to pay special attention to the cardiovascular, respiratory, and nervous systems. So you can go back and revisit,

so you can look up some helpful YouTube videos. Just brush up on what you learned in anatomy and physiology for the cardiovascular system, the respiratory system, and the nervous systems. That will help you immensely. And then as far as medical terminology, understanding those prefixes, suffixes, and root words will help you break down complex terms that you're going to be exposed to in nursing school.

And you can even make some flashcards for these or use a flashcard app. One flashcard app that I love is the Anki, or Anki, I never know how to say it, A N K I flashcard app. And then another thing to brush up on are those basic math for medication dosages. So you want to brush up on fractions, decimals, and conversions, like milligrams to micrograms, and milliliters to liters.

Try to memorize those if you can, because you will be tested on that in your dose medication dos in your medication dosage classes for nursing. Some good free resources to help you review. Your prereqs are YouTube channels like registered nurse RN for anatomy and physiology and the dosage calculations and Osmosis has a great YouTube channel.

They use fun animated medical videos And,

and the crash course videos.

And then some apps that are really helpful for reviewing your prereq knowledge is Quizlet. And they also have several dosage calculation and med math apps that you can get. Khan Academy is a classic for learning basic anatomy and physiology. And a math refresher, like for more basic math. And everybody's using ChatGPT now, right?

So you could go into ChatGPT. You don't even need to get a paid version. You could just use the free version. And you could use that to help you study the key knowledge that you need to know from your prereq classes. Such as You could go in there and type in a prompt like create 10 flashcards for the information that a nursing student would need to know for the cardiovascular system.

And then it'll spit out 10 flashcards and you can use those to help create your flashcards in your flashcard app. Or you could prompt it to give you the 10 most important lab values that a nursing student needs to know during clinicals. And it'll spit out 10 important lab values. And you could turn those into flashcards, or you could tell chat GPT, um, to give me 20 common abbreviations used in nursing, and it will spit that out.

So using technology, and I mean, don't think of it as cheating. It's not cheating. It's just spending your time wisely instead of getting out your old textbooks from your prereq classes and your old notes, looking through those for hours to find common abbreviations. You're just going to chat GPT and you're getting it done in about two minutes.

All right, but don't stress about memorizing everything. Your first semester will review these topics, but it's gonna go by very quickly. So getting familiar now will make things easier. The next thing you want to do to prepare for nursing school is to get comfortable with medical language. Start learning those common abbreviations and medical terms like BID means twice a day.

PRN means as needed. Um, P. O. means by mouth. You want to, if not memorize all of those, at least get some exposure to them. So your first pass. Through seeing those as not when you're already in nursing school, but it's more like, oh, yeah, it's like meeting you an old friend Yeah, I've seen that I know what PO means and you want to get used to reading medication orders and lab values because you're gonna see those a lot So you could even start quizzing yourself on what our normal lab values And I'm going to put a link in the show notes to one of my favorite resources.

I didn't create it. Oh my gosh, I wish I had. Um, but it's just a few pages long and it lists all the normal lab values for you, as well as some common abbreviations. But things like

But things that your clinical instructor will make rounds and ask you about like potassium, what's normal lab value for potassium, calcium, magnesium, hemoglobin, things like that, that as a nurse you're going to be looking at every day to see if your patient needs a blood transfusion or electrolyte supplementation.

Alright, and like I mentioned before, you can start making flashcards. You can make your own flashcards on index cards or use the Anki app or the Quizlet app. And you want to review 10 to 15 terms each day for just a low stress way to absorb the information. And another great thing is to find nursing podcasts like this one you're listening to now.

Shameless plug. You want to find not just this one, but maybe two or three nursing podcasts that you like. And you can go ahead and find those and start listening to those while you prepare for nursing school. Find ones that break down topics in an easy to understand way. And there are a lot of nursing podcasts to choose from.

Some are geared more towards beginners like nursing students and others are geared more towards people who are already in the nursing field. And those might be a little more difficult to understand just because the information is coming at you so fast and they're assuming that you already know a lot of those medical abbreviations and terms.

Like they're not going to break down what hypotension means versus hypertension, that kind of thing. Podcasts are a good way to get a little exposure to specialties that you won't find in nursing school. One common misconception about nursing school is that you're going to learn everything you need to know in order to be a nurse in nursing school.

That's definitely not true. Nursing school semi prepares you to be a med surg nurse on a med surg unit in a hospital. It's not going to prepare you to be an ICU nurse, a home health nurse, a rehab nurse, a PACU nurse. It's going to give you the basics because nursing school only lasts two to four so they only have so much time. So they want to make sure that they're putting out nurses that aren't going to kill patients. And traditionally new nurses would start out on a med surg floor and would work there for at least a year before they went on to ICU or PACU, some sort of specialization.

So that's a common misconception that nursing school is going to prepare you for any type of nursing. Alright, next, it's helpful to prepare mentally and emotionally. Nursing school is as much a mental game as it is academic. You want to set realistic expectations for yourself. You won't know everything right away, and that's okay.

You will feel overwhelmed at times, but so does every nursing student. Just feeling overwhelmed with all the new information and the speed at which that information is coming at them and they're expected to absorb it. There are a lot of tasks to complete, a lot of classes to be at, labs to attend. You have to work in the hospital doing clinicals.

A lot of information that you have to memorize. Not just memorize, but understand. You have to deeply understand the cardiovascular system, how blood is pumped through the body, because there are a lot of ways that That, that can go wrong and the nurse has to understand how it should work, what to look for and recognize when the system is not working, and then what should be done about it to help fix it.

It's helpful to find a support system in nursing school. You can join, or before nursing school, you can join Facebook nursing student groups, Reddit threads, or Discord channels. And if you can connect with students that are already in the program to ask questions, that can be really helpful.

Even little questions like, Hey, I'm supposed to get this textbook. Is this something that I really need to buy? Or, hey, I can't figure out how to get my badge. Do you guys have any tips? Or, what did you guys think of this professor? It's just helpful. You also want to talk to your family and friends about your upcoming schedule.

Nursing school is very time intensive. So let them know ahead of time so they can support you. If you have kids, start thinking about child care or backup plans for busy weeks, because that can be a big stressor in your life if you don't know who's going to watch your kids while you're in clinicals or while you're in lab.

Some effective ways to build a support system with other nurses before classes even start is that you can look for nursing forums like allnurses. com. And search within that for your specific school, and even your specific semester that you're starting, like so and so college, fall 2025. And there will usually be a group.

If it's not started, you could start it yourself.

And the group is kind of talking about just exchanging little things like I'm so excited or nervous or hey, how are you guys doing this thing online or this requirement? How do you, how are you getting this done? And you can just start chiming in on that and try to get a feel for the vibe of some of the people.

And you could even try to set up a little meet and greet, maybe at a coffee shop or a Mexican restaurant and try to get to know some of the other students who are going to be in your classes and your lab. And don't feel weird about it like you're some kind of stalker because they are just as nervous and excited as you are and they would probably love it if somebody else organized something like a meet and greet because going into nursing school, you know, we all have this pent up energy and excitement and a little bit of anxiety and to be able to share that with somebody who's also going through it is priceless.

There are also usually Facebook groups. If there's not one already, once again, you could start one. And if you start it, you're already kind of leading the pack, like the other nursing students sort of see you as a leader of the cohort.

Another way that you can prepare for your first semester of nursing school is to have a self care plan in place. I know this is typically the last thing that people actively prepare for, but nursing school is stressful. And if you can figure out what helps you unwind, you individually, whether that's exercise, reading, journaling, whatever it is, if you can figure that out now,

if you don't already know and find resources, if it's exercising, maybe find your favorite YouTuber that has exercise videos that you like. Like I've had periods where I've been really into Grow with Jo or Yoga with Adrian. There's a Pilates one that I really like where she's on a beach and it looks so beautiful and she's so fit.

It's like exercise goals, right? But if you can figure out now what recharges you, if exercise just totally depletes your energy, then maybe that's not your thing. I mean, obviously, you have to do some sort of moving your body, um, but maybe for you, that's just walking around your neighborhood or walking on a trail.

And maybe, uh, if you're like my husband, you get recharged by playing some video games. I don't know. Whatever it is, figure out your resources in your system and how you're going to fit those things into your busy schedule once you're in nursing school. Another thing to think about is sleep and how sleep is non negotiable.

For most people, when they go through periods of stress in their life, sleep tends to be the first thing that's cut back on, cut down, cut out, and that could maybe work if this period of stress was only going to last a week or two. But nursing school lasts much longer. It's like at least a year and a half.

And you can't just cut back on your sleep for that long of a time. And not expect to see serious consequences. So protect your rest. Get in the habit now of getting your seven to nine hours of sleep. For me it's more like nine hours. Nine hours of sleep and I am on my A game. I'm living my optimal life, but less than seven and I'm not much fun to be around, and I'm not going to retain or be able to recall information as well.

Another tip is to get into the habit of asking for help early. Whether it's classmates, professors, or other online nursing communities, you are not in this alone. Even nurses who have been nurses for many, many years, if they're smart, they know that they need to do whatever they can to retain you in this profession.

Because some days are what you've always wanted nursing to be, and then other days are really hard. And it's easy for nurses to burn out, even in nursing school. So if you're feeling that, if you're feeling like you need help, even if you can't articulate exactly what that person can do for you. Like sometimes I'm just, I'm stressed and I need help and my husband's like, well, what can I do?

And I'm like, I don't know. But just having him there, listen, you know, listen to me vent. Even just that is so much more helpful than he'll ever know. I know he always wants to fix everything, right? But just having him listen helps. So get into the habit of asking for help early when you first see the signs of stress or anxiety.

Don't wait until you're completely overwhelmed. Alright, another thing, and this is kind of a fun thing that you can do to prepare for when nursing school starts is to gather essential supplies that you're going to need. Some must have items for the first semester are comfortable shoes, because you're going to be on your feet all day during clinicals.

Um, some good brands of tennis shoes are Hoka, Brooks, Dansko is a popular option. Most of the younger nurses I've seen have been loving those Hoka tennis shoes. They're kind of pricey, but they're really comfortable. Another must have for the first semester is a good stethoscope. The Littman Classic 3 is a solid choice.

But check your school's requirements. Some schools will give you a free stethoscope, but typically that's just like going into the trash. Or just keep it in your trunk for days when you show up to lab and you've forgotten your other stethoscope. But usually you want to get your own because it's going to be better than the one they give you for free.

Some other things you're going to need are notebooks, highlighters, sticky notes, um, index cards if you're making your own. Whatever helps you stay organized. You're also going to need two pairs of scrubs. And, um, a lot of students wear compression socks. I never really have. Um, I mean I have some and I know I should be wearing them.

So yeah, I guess I will advise you to wear them. Your future self will probably thank you. I just kind of find them uncomfortable. But they're definitely, you're definitely going to need at least two pairs of scrubs. And don't just go to the scrub store and pick out your favorite color because You're going to have to have a certain color and it may need to have your nursing school's logo on it.

So check with your particular school. Some nice things to have that aren't necessarily must haves are like an NCLEX style question book or an NCLEX study app. And these are great for getting used to test questions early because the NCLEX test questions are unlike any you've ever seen before. They're very difficult.

There's often more than one right answer, but you have to get used to picking the most right answer out of the options. And the more practice you have answering those style of questions, the better you're, the better off you're gonna be come test day. One really good resource for this is the Picmonic app.

Picmonic uses Easy to remember audio visual memory devices to help you remember everything you need to know for nursing school. It's like funny stories with outlandish characters that you just can't help but remember.

And they also use spaced repetition so that right before you're about to forget a piece of information, The Picmonic app will automatically show it to you again and quiz you on that information again. So It kind of doesn't let you forget the information.

They also have a bunch of, um,

they have like the question of the day when you go on the app. So you're constantly reviewing the information that you're learning there. And they have a whole separate NCLEX study program that uses those same pictures. And stories that you've learned in Picmonic to help you study for the NCLEX.

It's a really great program. I recommend it. I'm gonna leave a coupon code in the, I will leave a link in the show notes for you guys, um, to get a 20 percent off discount if you want a subscription. But even if you don't want a subscription, check them out. You can get like, I think, one free Picmonic video each day.

And it's totally free to check them out. And it's totally free to get that.

Another thing, some people do rolling backpacks because you may have a lot of books, and those books are thick and heavy, and uh, your back will thank you. Another thing is blue light glasses for late night study sessions. You want to protect your eyes and make it easier to transition from studying and looking at the screen to getting in bed and sleeping.

Alright, next thing to prepare for is your financial and, um, uh. Next thing you also want to think about your finances. So if you don't have your finances in order, now is a really good time to get them in order. If you are paying out of pocket for nursing school, or if that's your plan, please do yourself a favor.

Go back, I think it was two episodes ago. Go back and listen to that episode I made. I made a whole episode on how to get your nursing school paid for. Whatever you do, don't just take out money from your own savings account and pay for nursing school. Look into scholarships and grants, even small ones add up.

And you want to create a budget for your books, tuition, and supplies. And if you plan to work during nursing school, decide now if that's realistic. I have some episodes talking about that as well. I think it's a good idea to work a little bit during nursing school, not during your first semester. First semester, you should just be focusing, if you can, on studying, just kind of getting the lay of the land.

But after your first or second semester, I do think it's a good idea to work a little bit in the hospital, like two to four shifts a month, just to get used to going into patients' rooms. And you can learn a lot during those few shifts every month. One area that I wish I had prepared more for ahead of time for nursing school was the area of meal prep because I am a wife and a mother to five children.

One has flown the nest and is now in college. But before nursing school, I did the bulk of the cooking and I wish I had prepared more for having help in that area once I started nursing school because that was definitely a challenge. I started school and then it was like, What's for dinner? I don't know.

You figure it out, you know. It was this big battle for a few weeks until we finally started one of those meal box subscription plans. Uh, we went with Blue Apron, but there's like so many choices out there. So that's one thing I wish I would have started sooner. Like maybe the summer before, um, I would have signed up for one of those programs.

That can just be something that the family's used to, and I was used to, before starting nursing school. Another thing to think about is finding some quick and healthy snacks that you enjoy, that you can just, um, like a protein bar or a trail mix, something you can just throw in your clinicals bag. And you can eat quickly, but still kind of stay on track with your personal health goals.

And don't make the same mistake that I made. After your clinical shifts, you are going to be, if you're anything like me, you're going to feel like a deer in headlights. Like, what just happened? What did I get myself into? I remember driving home in the car after my first few clinical shifts. I didn't even turn on the radio.

I felt like I was a little bit in shock. Just like trying to process everything that I had seen and learned and I'm the type that I will replay interactions that I've had with people and I'll just kind of pick it apart like, Oh my gosh, did I really say that? Did I do that? What are they gonna think?

And I know that's not great, but that's me. I know that about me. Um, but anyway, I would get done with these shifts and I would just Want some comfort food, and I got in the habit of going to, gosh, was it Wendy's? I think it was Wendy's. Almost every time after my clinical shift, I would get like a burger and fries, and I'm talking like a cheeseburger and a big fry and a Diet Coke.

That was sort of my post clinical shift ritual. So if you can not do that, that would be much healthier for you because habits like that are hard to break. So if you can kind of think about it now and pre plan a good, healthier snack that's going to both fill you up and fulfill that kind of comfort food need that you might have after a stressful experience, then that would be very beneficial to you.

Alright, another thing to think about that people don't usually think about, I didn't really think about this at all leading up to nursing school, But figure out your transportation and parking. So if you're commuting, check parking permits, bus routes if you need to take the bus, um, maybe carpool options if it's a further distance.

And remember that your clinical rotations may be in different locations. So get to know where you're going ahead of time. And if you sort of know, I mean, you don't need to know exactly where you're going to park because you can leave extra time on that first day that you're going to figure that out. Um, but if you sort of have a general idea of where the hospital is, maybe drive to the parking lot and get a feel for it.

That's going to relieve a lot of stress for you.

All right, I just want to say that I am so proud of you guys who are listening to this episode because you are already ahead of the game. Just by preparing now, you're setting yourself up for success. Nursing school will change you, but you are more than capable of handling it. Remember, the goal isn't perfection, it's progress.

Show up, do your best, and take it one day at a time. All right, you guys, if you found this episode helpful, hit subscribe and share it with a fellow nursing student. Also, come follow me on Instagram at Nursing School Week by Week for more nursing tips and motivation. I'm just trying to get my Instagram started.

I know I'm late to the game, um, so bear with me on that. But come check it out. I'm trying to make it, like, aesthetic. I'm going for, like, a light and airy theme because I love light and airy themes. They make me smile. Alright, you guys, have a great week and I will see And I will talk to you again next week.