I'm going to tell you this in a way that might not fully express my personality through the internet, because inflection and humor can't be conveyed via text, but imagine I'm telling you the following with a smile, and in no way condescendingly...

I understand you're asking for hints on how to get the actual skills correct, but you need to remember something - you're practicing to get these skills correct on a PATIENT. You're going to be interacting with a PERSON, not a robot!!

The best compliments I ever got when I was in nursing school (I had to take a medical withdrawal that I'm still on, unfortunately...) were about how personable and low-key I was while I remained on-task and professional...and I was able to do that because every patient became my family member, in a way. I can't say don't get that attached to every patient, because I know there will be patients that you get attached to, but just treat every patient like the individual that they are. My first semester, I had a clinical instructor that I honestly believe every nursing student should have had as a clinical instructor at least once, because she was incredible...one class she taught us (we already knew this, but every nursing student needs to be sat down and have it driven home) about how each patient is someone's loved one, and that nobody wants to be in the hospital, and as a nurse you are able to ease that tension by doing little things and personalizing your nursing practice however able you can to make it easier for patients and their families. That being said...

In your post, you never once mention asking the patient how they are feeling, why they are there, or asking them if you can call them by their first name or what they prefer to be called. I KNOW you have a list of vital signs you need to walk away from the patient with, but just RELAX and HAVE FUN with people! You're just counting heartbeats and breaths and recording numbers...practice on as many people that you know, and it'll become routine. If you sit in your college's student union with your stethoscope and a nursing shirt while you study, ask students at surrounding tables if they'd let you take their blood pressure for practice. You get practice taking BP and talking to "strangers/patients" of all types, and they get a free BP reading. Be creative, be friendly (within reason!), and just practice!!