Tips for Students
by Kari Lawrence
Dec 20, 2018

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Between work, family, practicum and coursework, the life of a Master of Science in Nursing – Family Nurse Practitioner specialty track student is busy.

While we can’t add any more hours into the day, we can provide you with some time management tips courtesy of our (MSN-FNP) specialty track graduates.

1. Make Prioritizing a Priority

When advancing your nursing education, you’ll need to work your personal life and other obligations around your studies at times. Chamberlain FNP graduate Aarti Mehta made prioritizing one of her top priorities.

“The best advice I can give is to prioritize,” she said. “I knew school was a priority. You have to prioritize what’s important to you. Every week, I had a planner taped to my desk and I would write in exactly what was due and what day I needed to do each thing. Sunday morning, I woke up and looked at the kind of assignment that was due for that week. Depending on that, I would prioritize everything else to make sure I could fit that in.”

2. Take Homework with You

The beauty of online learning is that you can take the classroom with you. Whether you’re waiting to pick up the kids from school or on your lunch break, you can complete homework assignments to make time for other things later on.

“Keeping a plan, a schedule and sticking to it is so important,” said FNP specialty track graduate Tia Carrington. “I would think, ‘I’m going to study this day, my daughter has dance class. I’ll make sure I bring my laptop during that time so I can at least get some practicum hours put in the computer or do a post while I’m at her dance class.’ My laptop became my best friend and went almost everywhere with me. The only thing that changed was my location – I could be at my daughter’s dance class or at my mom’s house, but my work was always with me. If I went on vacation, my laptop was with me.”

3. Tackle Reading and Assignments Earlier in the Week

When it comes to getting homework done, if you start your reading and assignments earlier in the week, like FNP graduate Sarah Magula did, you will find it easier to relax later in the week.

“Sunday was when the new week started for different assignments, so I would try to get all of my reading done Sunday and Monday. Then by Monday night, I would try to make sure I had part one of the discussion board complete so I still had time for feedback. Sunday and Monday were really my busiest days for classwork and towards the end of the week, I would just sort of wrap things up and review everything I had done.”

Time management isn’t a simple thing to master, but the more you work at it and adopt a few tried and true practices into your routine, the easier it will become.

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