Complete all necessary paperwork well in advance. Attending nursing school often involves completion of detailed paperwork. Students must submit forms before they attend applying for admissions. Once admitted students must complete forms each term in order to sign up for classes. Stay on top of this paperwork. Find out when forms must be submitted and do so well before the required deadlines.
Attend full time. Getting your bachelor's of science or associate's degree in nursing can be tough. Nurses must master courses such as organic chemistry that requires one's full concentration as well as lots of time. Students may find themselves up late at night completing labs as well as extensive homework. If possible attend school full time. This will help you to pay close attention in class and master all necessary materials as well as avoid the burden of working. While attending classes full time may involve financial sacrifice this should pay off with good grades. Good grades will help you find employment once you've graduated.
Purchase textbooks. Attending nursing school may mean confronting material you've never encountered before. You may be vaguely familiar with subjects such as biology and physics. However, you may not familiar at all with subjects directly related to your nursing major such as pathophysiology or the maintance of a sterile field. Purchasing textbooks can help you study more fully and make nursing school easier. Textbooks can serve as a valuable reference source once you've graduated and no longer have an instructor you can consult if you confront hospital procedures that you find hard to master.
Take copious notes. Note taking is a vital skill that can help you get through nursing school. Detailed notes should be taken if possible at every class meeting. Your notes should not just copy down what the instructor states but take note of questions that others ask in class. Your notes can serve a valuable resource later on when you must pass state licensing exams to become an RN. Good notes will help your refresh your memories after you've graduated.
Form a study group. Once you've been enrolled in nursing school for a period of time you should have a sense of where your strengths and weaknesses lie as a nursing student. You can help play to your strengths by working with others on them. Contact other students. Work with them on a weekly basis to help master new material. Nursing is built on a series of foundations. As you progress through a course of study you must make sure that you have mastered the previous subjects correctly or you will find it difficult to understand new concepts. One of the best ways to make sure that your nursing studies progress more easily is to tap into the knowledge base of other students.