No matter what semester of nursing school you’re in – whether it be your first, last, or midway point – we’re a few weeks in now, and there’s a pretty good chance you’re feeling a tad overwhelmed. Being that I’m in my last semester, I can’t help thinking about my first. I’ve told so many people that it was so hard, if I had to do it again, I’m not sure that I could. But thinking about it now, I’m not sure that’s entirely true.

I remember my first exam run. Three exams in three weeks and it was a nice pathophysiology sandwich. But in addition to studying, there were still papers to write, discussion postings to post, med terms and IV drip equations to be memorized, care plans to create, and hundreds upon hundreds of pages to be read. This is one of the hardest realizations of nursing school: the rest of your classes do not stop because you have an exam coming up.

Yes, my to-do list was longer than Santa’s naughty list the year Paris Hilton’s sex tape was released. Overwhelmed doesn’t even begin to describe the insurmountable feelings of trepidation I felt (and still feel) knowing how much there is to do and how you really need to know your stuff – because, remember why you’re here, you’re going to save lives.

And with anything, there were some things I did that worked, and a bunch of things I did that didn’t. And like any good PR girl, I made a list of key learnings, and maybe they’ll help you. So, here they are:

1. Get a planner. This is the best advice I could ever give anyone in school. If you strangely have something against planners get a plain notebook and turn it into the planner. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy – I got mine for $10 at Target and let me tell you, it was the best 10 bucks I have ever spent. My planner is more important to me than my left foot. I put EVERYTHING in it. Do you realize how many balls you’re constantly juggling in nursing school? Do you realize how much extra stress and anxiety you put on yourself by trying to remember all these balls you have up in the air? You’re stressed enough and as you’ve learned (or will learn soon), cortisol isn’t good for anyone.

You have to do whatever you possibly can to alleviate whatever stress you can and I’m telling you, it all starts with a planner. I write down every little thing I have to do whether it’s writing a paper, practicing vitals, or taking a shower, because believe me, you’re going to forget to do that and it’s something many people aren’t very forgiving of. But writing it down is only half the game. You have to abide by the deadlines you set for yourself, too. You know what they say, you can’t spell planner without plan. Or maybe I just say that. Whatever.

2. Make time for yourself. People will tell you to do this and if you’re anything like me you’ll roll your eyes, silently scoff, and think you know everything. Well, you’re wrong. I didn’t see the light of day for five days before my first patho exam and couldn’t tell you the last time I washed my hair or put on a pair of pants that didn’t have an elastic waistband. My gym membership was just eating up my credit card, and sleep – what was sleep?

I did everything wrong. If I did anything besides study I felt guilty, but listen to me, you have to take study breaks. I’ve since started a routine where I’ll study for an hour or so straight and then reward myself with an episode of New Girl or Friends. Without commercials on Netflix they’re about 20-22 minutes each which is the perfect amount of time for you to rest your mind for some mindless entertainment and reboot.

3. Make your health a priority. For a significant amount of time I was eating peanut butter out of the jar and string cheese for every meal. And guess what? It got to me. By the day before my first exam I felt like absolute and total shit. My body was actually craving green vegetables which I didn’t know was possible for someone who considers breakfast meat to not only be its own food group, but the most important one.

And listen, I love coffee as much as any other basic B. I don’t even always need it for the caffeine, I just enjoy it so damn much. There’s something about it that makes me feel like someone is giving me a warm hug from the inside the moment it hits my GI tract. But I was drinking cup after endless cup (and when I say cup, I’m talking 12 oz – not 8). I was surely dehydrated because I wasn’t drinking water and the water I was drinking was cancelled out by the caffeine.

Here’s what I’m getting at and read this as many times as you need to until it sinks in: you NEED to take care of yourself. You will not perform your best on exams if you’re exhausted, dehydrated, and washed out of nutrients. Trust me on this one – I learned it the hard way.

Oh, and also, don’t forget that you’re going into a HEALTHCARE profession. So sitting on your ass all day, eating junk food, getting no exercise or sunlight or vitamin D really isn’t going to cut it. You know the old saying, practice what you preach? Yeah, live by it.

4. Make a group of friends. And preferably, befriend the smart people. But in all seriousness, make a friend. Make ten. These people are your most valuable resource. If you don’t know something, chances are somebody else does. And no one understands what you are going through better than these people. I don’t care if you’re shy. I don’t care if you don’t consider yourself a people person and prefer to socialize with your cats. Put on your big girl (or boy) panties and start chatting with your classmates. I have made several really, really good friends in this program and they have been my lifeline more times than I could ever count.

5. Work together. #4 is a prerequisite, but working together is a must. And it’s not always in the same capacity that you might think. A lot of people study in groups but that doesn’t work for everybody. Plus, people tend to go off on tangents while studying and before you know it, three hours have passed by and all you’ve learned is that sally so and so just put her dog down and wants to break up with her boyfriend. Unfortunately, (or perhaps fortunately, however you want to look at it) that’s not going to be on your exam. I’ve worked with classmates virtually and in-person. We split up chapters and share our notes which makes the study guide process a teeny bit easier. Plus, the camaraderie we formed by doing so brought us closer together.

6. Trade in social media for more productive apps. Have you ever found yourself with some time on your hands and nothing to do? Super rare in nursing school, I know, but hear me out. Whether you’re waiting at the doctor’s office or online at Dunkin Donuts, you naturally pull out your phone and start cruising through your newsfeed. I used to do this ALL THE TIME and didn’t even know why. Then I deleted the Facebook app and my life changed.

Have you ever heard of Quizlet? I don’t think it was around the first time I was in college (not that I did all that much studying back then) but let me tell you, it’s a Godsend. I live through index cards. Mead stock has probably gone up since I went back to school because I go through so many. Quizlet allows you to make index cards online and you can access them on your computer, or more conveniently, through the app. So the next time you find yourself with a few minutes, start scrolling through. Every single minute of the day is precious when you are in nursing school, and if you’re in an accelerated program like me, every waking minute really isn’t enough. Sure you will miss out on what your ex-boyfriend’s sister’s father-in-law’s neighbor did in Spain two weeks ago, but that’s probably not going to be on your exam either.

There are also awesome apps like NCLEX RN Mastery, NCLEX-RN Pocket Prep, and UWorld NCLEX that will send you daily NCLEX-style questions for practice. These are super helpful because you can never do enough practice questions. Believe me, I know how limited your iPhone storage space is, but what’s really important here? Some are free and some cost a few bucks but they’re all totally worth it.

7. Remember why you started in the first place. I know it’s terribly cliché of me to throw a positivity line at you at this point in the post but seriously. When you’ve hit your worst point (and you will – many, many times), remember why you want to be a nurse. Think about what it was that brought you to this point.

Whether I didn’t do as well as I thought I would on an exam, or I’m having serious FOMO because my friends are out on a Saturday night and I’m home studying, or I’m feeling that everything is just TOO MUCH, I think about why I wanted to be a nurse in the first place and how badass it’s going to feel once I actually am. And then I suck it up, and keep going.