Practice Makes Perfect!

I have ramped up my commitment to studying this past week. I went out of town for the 4rth and came back to reality, literally and figuratively. I had been coming to the realization that passing would be in jeopardy if I didn't ramp up my studying. I now set my alarm for 5 am and actually up with a book and coffee in hand by 5:30.

My (new!) coworker recently lent me her very gently used copy of Adult and Family Nurse Practitioner Certification Examination: Review Questions and Strategies by Jill Winland-Brown & Lynne  Dunphy. It has SO many practice questions divided into topics, with 112 questions per section. These questions are not the nursey types seen on the NCLEX nor the often straightforward types offered by Fitzgerald or Leik (those I can do!). Several of the questions are fact based, and simply facts that I didn't know when answering the questions (I do now!!). On one level, I feel discouraged that I'm not scoring high on these questions, but I am happy that I was lent this book and have the chance to practice! SO, my strategy has changed from do all I can to survival mode. I feel like many of my days are challenges to learn as much as I can for the boards and for my new role as NP. I learn so much every day at my new job but part of me is missing the not-so-long-ago days where I had all day to study for the boards. What a luxury! But I have always been the type of person to fill my plate of life full. That being said, I was feeling like I loaded on more than I could handle by working late hours, and my boss has been understanding of my leaving the clinic at a reasonable hour in order to study in the evenings. I do feel motivated to study- it's no longer if I'll study but when, which is sometimes in between seeing patients.

When I was working as a nurse and in grad school, I would look forward to the days when I would work a 9-5 job and come home and enjoy a relaxing evening with my husband. I feel like I'm still looking forward to those days (sigh!) but for now I am keeping focused on my goal of passing the boards!!!