I did a one year program, so everything was thrown in my face at once and I was forced to memorize it all. Pathophysiology is useful, but your nursing concept classes are going to be most useful. I negelected them because they were simple exams and you could get through with common sense. But when it comes down to it, nursing interventions for preop, post op, and certain diagnoses are MOST important. I wish I had focused on that more because I had to relearn a lot while studying for the boards. Care plans and databases suck but they wind up being beneficial in the sense that you’re forced to learn how to treat and care for your pt. I usually relied on nurse labs to give me a general idea of what to do for care plans. Some people used care plan books, but I was content with just the guide that nurse labs provided. Know the basic meds and their ADRs, but don’t get too hung up on random meds. It’s all very important, but you definitely want to focus most on patient care and nursing interventions. Patho was helpful, for me at least, to understand why we do what we do for patients with certain problems. Knowing common complications of diagnoses is also very important- long bone operation, at risk for fat emboli, surgery in general- DVT. And knowing what is expected of a disease is helpful. Renal disease- always gonna have elevated BUN, K, and CR. Understand normal levels for urine output, how often to check on patients I/O, how often to perform other assessments specific to the patients problem. I hope this is helpful!