Are you studying for nursing exams such as NCLEX, and English is not your first language?
Frustrated with how hard it is to remember new vocabulary – especially Medical English?
Don’t worry – you are not alone! In ten years of teaching ESL in Asia I have helped hundreds of language learners improve their technical vocabulary. And it doesn’t get any more technical than Medical English!
Here are ten tips you can put into practice to make remembering vocabulary easier and improve your chances of passing.
1. Start From A Base Word
When learning a foreign language, many students learn words individually and translate them directly from their native tongue.
A more effective method (in my ten years of teaching ESL in Asia) is to start with a base word and branch out from there.
These “base words” are usually infinitives, and one example would be the verb “to assist”.
Once you can understand and use “assist”, move on to the words that use assist as a base. Some examples are “assistance” and “assistant”.
You can then group the words together into a family of words, rather than learn and remember them one by one!
2. Use The Power Of Mnemonics
Mnemonics are techniques which we can use to organize information to remember it easily.
A great example of use Mnemonics is the use of the acronym “RICE” (Rest-Ice-Compress-Elevate) for treating a sprain, or “SPACEDIGS” for dealing with depression. To find out what that means, you can visit this big list of medical mnemonics on Wikipedia.
It’s actually better to make up your own rhymes and sayings, and if you can make them as colorful or as funny as possible, they’ll be easier to remember.
A second, equally effective method for using mnemonics for remembering nursing words and vocabulary is the “Loci” method, more commonly called the “Memory Palace” technique.
I personally found this to be really effective when studying for difficult exams. I imagined the street that I grew up, and at every house I put inside something that I had to remember in order.
Next, I imagined myself walking down the street passing each house and saying the words inside.
It worked for me (I passed!) and scientific studies have proven this technique time and time again.
3. Speak English With Fellow Students
I have taught thousands of ESL students and from time to time I would ask “Do you ever speak English at home, or with your sister”. The answer was always “No!”.
Don’t get used to just practicing your vocabulary in a classroom, or on your own. Finding new ways to both say, hear and use the new vocab will help you immensely.
You could try practicing nursing vocab with your fellow students in a more relaxed setting such as a coffee shop. This could be to discuss which words you find funny, difficult to remember, or to give each other quizzes and the losers pay for the coffee!
Remember, actually speaking the words out loud (no matter how difficult they are to pronounce – you won’t improve if you don’t try!) will really help you remember them and even spell them.
After all, we learn to speak in our native tongue several years before we learn to read and write.
4. Listen To Nursing Podcasts
When you enter a new industry for the first time, there’s always a lot of jargon and buzzwords to learn. This is true for native speakers and ESL nursing students alike.
Using things like flashcards to learn words on their own is fun, and you can help you pass the exam. But it’s much more difficult to know where and when to use the word in sentences and conversations.
The best way to do this is to listen to people in your industry or profession talk.
There are some great nursing podcasts for medical students which will help you do this. One is Jon Haw’s podcast especially for NCLEX nursing students.
You can also find a list of ten great nursing podcasts here.
5. Watch (& Listen!) To YouTube
It’s long been established that people learn in different ways, and not just from books. Watching YouTube videos could really help you learn new nursing vocabulary.
“English Lessons With Adam” has some great videos such as this one:
https://youtu.be/IW22_OnpS5Y
This channel from Virginia Allum also has some great videos to help you learn Medical English.
*Pro-tip*
It’s not always possible to watch a video if you’re driving a car or on public transport with limited WiFi. A good tip is to download the video and then convert it into mp3 format.
Now you can listen to it anywhere and it will also save a lot of memory space, too.
There are quite a few programs like this one, which do this on-line for free!
6. Read Blogs / Forums
Another great way of internalizing new vocabulary is finding blogs and forums that you like to read.
As with the podcasts, when you get a group of people with a particular interest together (in this case nurses) they will invariably use industry-related vocab.
Be careful with Facebook groups and some forums though, as many people use “Text-speak” to type! This can be counter-productive when you need to spell nursing words correctly in an exam.
Some great nursing websites to get you started are “Nurse Blurbs”, “I Am A Nursing Student”, & “The Nurses Zone”.
7. Review, Review Review
With so much new vocabulary to learn, many students forget just how important it is to review.
Here is one stat that you should definitely remember: We forget around 70% of what we have learned just one day later! The forgetting curve shows us that after one week, most people will have forgotten 90% of new information.
“English Lessons With Adam” has some great videos such as this one:
https://youtu.be/IW22_OnpS5Y
This channel from Virginia Allum also has some great videos to help you learn Medical English.
*Pro-tip*
It’s not always possible to watch a video if you’re driving a car or on public transport with limited WiFi. A good tip is to download the video and then convert it into mp3 format.
Now you can listen to it anywhere and it will also save a lot of memory space, too.
There are quite a few programs like this one, which do this on-line for free!
6. Read Blogs / Forums
Another great way of internalizing new vocabulary is finding blogs and forums that you like to read.
As with the podcasts, when you get a group of people with a particular interest together (in this case nurses) they will invariably use industry-related vocab.
Be careful with Facebook groups and some forums though, as many people use “Text-speak” to type! This can be counter-productive when you need to spell nursing words correctly in an exam.
Some great nursing websites to get you started are “Nurse Blurbs”, “I Am A Nursing Student”, & “The Nurses Zone”.
7. Review, Review Review
With so much new vocabulary to learn, many students forget just how important it is to review.
Here is one stat that you should definitely remember: We forget around 70% of what we have learned just one day later! The forgetting curve shows us that after one week, most people will have forgotten 90% of new information.
Make sure you break down the material into smaller chunks to make it more manageable. And leave plenty of time for review and for answering previous test questions.
Something that will really help you stick to a plan is to get into a routine. Try to set (and keep to) regular study plan so you don’t need to force yourself to study.
A great way to do this is to give yourself rewards for hitting study goals. This could be an evening out with friends, or just allowing yourself to binge watch Grey’s Anatomy.
10. Have Fun!
Quite often, studying for a course or an exam is never fun. I bet you could think of millions of things you’d rather be doing (and in some cases studying!).
Studies show that the more fun you have doing something, the easier you can recall it. If you can make your studying fun (or even less of a drag) it will really help.
Some ways to do this involve making games using flashcards, quizzes and study material. Mix up what you study to add variety and keep things fresh.
You can also use different mediums to study such as reading, listening to spoken word (recording your own voice speaking and spelling out new vocab works for some people) and watching videos and presentations.
Do you have any tips or examples that have helped you learn new nursing vocab?
If so, please let us know in the comments section below.