How to Utilize Office Hours (RN)

00:01 Possibly unpopular opinion coming to you next: Office hours may be one of the most underutilized things on the entire planet.

00:10 Are all professors wonderful human beings who do just really want to altruistically help you learn? No.

00:16 But, honestly, most teachers probably do want to help you understand and give you some kind of really helpful information that is less generic than they can present to the whole class if you take the time to go and at least introduce yourself to them.

00:31 I know this because I'm convinced, honestly, I am convinced this is how I passed nursing school.

00:38 You might have caught on to this, but I was not the best nursing student.

00:41 I didn't figure out most of these tips until I was almost done with NP school and I had already tried procrastinating and forcing my way through school with sheer force and stubbornness and terror of my student loans needing to be repaid.

00:53 I am not the best student.

00:54 I have always known that.

00:56 But I do really like talking to people.

00:58 So when classes started, I would go and meet my teachers during those first office hours and, quite literally, just introduce myself so that they knew my name and associated my face and my weird, rambly emails and conversations with my name. Teachers are people.

01:16 They are not evil bears.

01:18 They will not eat you, I promise.

01:20 And people like knowing other people and making connections, and use this human weakness to your advantage.

01:28 OK? When you initially go and introduce yourself, I mean, you can just literally go and introduce yourself and then leave because I get this is kind of weird.

01:35 If you're a bolder human or more comfortable, ask them if they know of any helpful tips that previous classes have told them or, like, really helpful to get through this particular class.

01:45 You can let them know what your academic weaknesses and strengths are and see if they have any tailored resources or anything to help you given those particular needs and see where to go. Also, you can go with a friend.

01:56 Friends help everything. It makes it more of a team effort.

01:58 And throughout the semester when you do have questions or if things didn't go well on an exam, you can go back.

02:04 You can see if they can explain a topic in a different way.

02:07 Keep a contact point with your professors.

02:10 You are more likely to get help that is beneficial to you and your grades if they are someone that you are in regular relationship with.

02:18 They are more likely to be willing to work with you if you have a relationship with them , and you never know when you will need that human in your corner.

02:27 OK? Professors are usually there to be helpful, so take them up on that. I know some of you think this is weird, but this is actually what is called networking, and you will need that skill forever, so you might as well start it right now. But what happens when you and your teacher, you just don't vibe at all? OK? Let's hop over in the next video to discuss conflict management with professors.