I'm not sure if it's my new study strategy or not, but here is what went down last week. Last week was the much feared week of having first test in both lecture courses (Psych + Adv Med-Surg). Why schedule tests for the same week? Makes no sense, but hey, I'm not in charge. I was also a bit nervous because the bulk of the first few weeks of school I was also preoccupied with my sister's wedding and I was not at all focused on learning anything. Only did what I needed to do to not miss any deadlines. So reading fell by the wayside, so going into the test I felt like I was behind and was literally going to have to cram it into my head.
I knew going into the weekend that my Wednesday clinical was cancelled due to my instructor having a prior commitment. So I knew that I'd get a bit more time to study on Tuesday (no prep) and Wednesday (no clinical) for the Cardiac (Med-Surg) test on Thursday morning. Psych test came Tuesday. Thought I did well, but got a B. Definitely not a bad grade, but I really felt good about the test and thought I had gotten an A. Bummer. I already knew that the Cardiac content was going to be challenging, so I had to figure out a way to force myself to stay awake and study. So Tuesday and Wednesday I worked typing up the content/answers in the Study Guides (these are basically objectives for the unit). So here is where I was brilliant: I took my lecture notes, Study Guides, medication sheets and took them to the gym with me. Gym closes at 9:30, so I left my house at 6:30 and proceeded to study while I did cardio! I got in TWO HOURS of elliptical and upright cycle (which of course kept me awake) while I studied! Awesome. There was certainly times during that second hour that I wanted to stop pedaling and stop studying...but I persisted! And apparently it was sufficient enough for me to get an A.
Next test I won't be as lucky to get day off before my Med-Surg exam, so I will just have to focus on doing Study Guides earlier, so that they'll be ready to take with me to the gym the night before the test (also a long clinical day). The challenge for us is that we have clinical the day before a test...it just stinks, but that's how it is. I definitely plan to do this gym-study thing again. I would never do a two hour workout normally and I'd probably really struggle with staying awake if I stayed home on my couch... It definitely seems like a double win.
I'm delighted to say that I'm consistently getting to the gym about five days a week, sometimes six. I feel great, sleeping well and continuing to lose weight and inches. Have an optimistic goal of reaching my goal weight by graduation, which would be a REALLY fun dual achievement. The only downside of weight loss is the fact you do eventually have to change your wardrobe -- sometimes more than once depending on the amount of weight loss. Definitely not a bad thing to get a new wardrobe, but when you are limited financially it is a bit less fun to anticipate. I'm hoping that between Target, Goodwill and bags of old clothes that maybe I can survive for a while with minimal expenses. May not be the most stylish chick (wait, I've never been stylish), but at least I won't be wearing saggy pants. haha.
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