How to choose a STUDY PARTNER?

D. D. Millett, RN, BS

The first thing you must do to choose an excellent study partner is to…assess yourself. How do you like to study? Is it with loud music or while walking around? Or is it in a quite atmosphere, at a table? Is it in the early morning or in the afternoon? The library or a café?

Find out about yourself first and HOW you learn, study, and remember the best!

The IDEAL study partner:1) Observe how and where your

classmates sit in class. Up front? In the far back?

2) Do you notice them paying a great deal of attention in class, actively listening, and taking notes?

3) Do they raise their hand in class or participate in class discussions?

4) Do they ask pertinent and meaningful questions?

5) Are they usually able to provide answers to questions asked by the instructor or by other classmates?

6) What type of grades do they get? You MUST maintain at least a “B” average in nursing school…therefore try to find someone who is consistently able to obtain a “B+” or an “A” in order to keep yourself challenged. Do they great notes in case you miss a lecture?

7) Do you like them? Seems like a simple question, but are they genuinely kind, relaxed, and agreeable? You want to get along and be comfortable with each other because you will be spending a large amount of time together and you must be able to depend on each other, in order to achieve your goal…becoming a nurse. In other words, do they “got your back”?

Bottom line?

You are going to be starting your new career with the people you are in school with right here, right now. Get to know them and find the person or persons that can best contribute to how each of you learn. Bottom line is you will get through nursing school, in part due to those very people sitting around you right now.

So look to your left and then look to your right…

…And say “Hi!” to

someone who may be your

study partner!