Block schedule vs. traditional

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So I go to a school that has a traditional curriculum with tests every week and am really feeling the burn out right now. I have not had a single free weekend because they are all spent constantly studying so that I do not fail the following week's test.

I'm wondering if those of you that go to a school with a block schedule, where you take an exam every few weeks, feel less stressed? Your tests seem to have more material on them, but you at least have a little bit of time to "catch your breath" after an exam (I think some schools even give you a few days off after a block, but correct me if I'm wrong).

Also, does the single subject focus during blocks help? I feel like the hardest part of our schedule isn't that we have a test every week, but rather that we have to juggle 4 subjects at once. You can't actually spend all your time studying for the next week's test or else you risk falling dangerously behind in your other subjects.

I'm doing well so far but feel like my motivation is slowly fading. Just curious if the grass is greener on the other side or if medical school is a bitch no matter what school you go to.

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So I go to a school that has a traditional curriculum with tests every week and am really feeling the burn out right now. I have not had a single free weekend because they are all spent constantly studying so that I do not fail the following week's test.

I'm wondering if those of you that go to a school with a block schedule, where you take an exam every few weeks, feel less stressed? Your tests seem to have more material on them, but you at least have a little bit of time to "catch your breath" after an exam (I think some schools even give you a few days off after a block, but correct me if I'm wrong).

Also, does the single subject focus during blocks help? I feel like the hardest part of our schedule isn't that we have a test every week, but rather that we have to juggle 4 subjects at once. You can't actually spend all your time studying for the next week's test or else you risk falling dangerously behind in your other subjects.

I'm doing well so far but feel like my motivation is slowly fading. Just curious if the grass is greener on the other side or if medical school is a bitch no matter what school you go to.
I'm not sure what you mean by a "block" schedule, but my school only tests one subject per exam (OMM, Clinical skills, other academic subjects). It is unusual to have more than one exam in the same week.

It is very nice to be able to focus on one exam at a time. However, we still have exams pretty frequently, at least one every other week or so. Our exams are usually on Monday morning and we almost always have class on Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning 8AM at the very latest, so no time off. We usually only have a Friday exam if it is right before a break (summer, winter, spring).
 
I'm not sure what you mean by a "block" schedule, but my school only tests one subject per exam (OMM, Clinical skills, other academic subjects). It is unusual to have more than one exam in the same week.

It is very nice to be able to focus on one exam at a time. However, we still have exams pretty frequently, at least one every other week or so. Our exams are usually on Monday morning and we almost always have class on Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning 8AM at the very latest, so no time off. We usually only have a Friday exam if it is right before a break (summer, winter, spring).

Oh sorry if I wasn't clear, we only have one subject per exam as well. My schedule sounds pretty similar to yours.

But I was under the impression that some of the other schools have blocks, e.g. an anatomy block where they will do ONLY anatomy for 6 weeks or so (not sure on exact length) and then have a huge test at the end of that block.
 
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Wow you guys are lucky. We have exams almost every week as well, but we have weeks where we have 4 exams in one day, some weeks where we have anatomy and lab on Monday and the OMM exam and lab the next day. It does get rough but I wish I had your schedule for sure!

In terms of burnout I would take the Monday night off and go again starting Tuesday. You need time to recuperate.
 
Wow you guys are lucky. We have exams almost every week as well, but we have weeks where we have 4 exams in one day, some weeks where we have anatomy and lab on Monday and the OMM exam and lab the next day. It does get rough but I wish I had your schedule for sure!

In terms of burnout I would take the Monday night off and go again starting Tuesday. You need time to recuperate.

4 exams in a day? That sounds inhumane.

Yeah I have been taking one day off a week and its been sort of working, but I definitely feel behind after taking that day off though.
 
So I go to a school that has a traditional curriculum with tests every week and am really feeling the burn out right now. I have not had a single free weekend because they are all spent constantly studying so that I do not fail the following week's test.

I'm wondering if those of you that go to a school with a block schedule, where you take an exam every few weeks, feel less stressed? Your tests seem to have more material on them, but you at least have a little bit of time to "catch your breath" after an exam (I think some schools even give you a few days off after a block, but correct me if I'm wrong).

Also, does the single subject focus during blocks help? I feel like the hardest part of our schedule isn't that we have a test every week, but rather that we have to juggle 4 subjects at once. You can't actually spend all your time studying for the next week's test or else you risk falling dangerously behind in your other subjects.

I'm doing well so far but feel like my motivation is slowly fading. Just curious if the grass is greener on the other side or if medical school is a bitch no matter what school you go to.

I go to a school with block scheduling (exams every 3-5 weeks) and the grass is probably greener with block scheduling. I would be miserable if I had to take exams every week.
 
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An exam once per week keeps you on your toes. We have at least one exam/quiz/practical per week. Take one night off and do whatever you want, then study the rest of the nights. This is your job! I surely hope you didn't come to med school thinking you were going to have it easy :)
 
We had one 4-5 hour block exam every 4-5 weeks that included 4-6 subjects (1st year: anatomy, cell bio, patient care/ethics, OPP, biochem) (2nd year: micro, path, pharm, internal medicine, OPP, cardiology) and was 200-250 questions. While it was a good break after block, I did not like the idea of not being able to focus on 1 subject as you have to focus on every class since there was questions from every subject on there ranging from 20-50 questions from each class. I guess medical school sucks either away but some people enjoy block exams, while others prefer being tested on that weeks material the following week and weekly exams.

I also did not like how lets say there were 30 questions for path, if you miss 4, you're already down to a B...And for OPP, if you miss 3 you were down to a B since every OPP test was 25 questions...The system is flawed, but I guess the school likes it.
 
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I really like how my school has our curriculum set up. We have a block schedule with first year basic sciences and second year organ systems. First semester of 2nd year we had Cardio, Respiratory, and Renal with an exam every 2-3 weeks for the first 2/3-ish of the semester and then had Repro, Derm, and Heme/Lymph the last 1/3-ish of the semester with exams every 2-3 weeks. This semester we have GI, Endocrine, and Peds for the first half of the semester and muskuloskeletal, clinical neuro, and behavioral med the last half. In the middle of all that are about 3 OMM exams and three OMM practicals per semester with continuing clinical education all through the year. First year was similar with a couple of subjects at a time with an exam every 2-3 weeks. Tests are almost always Monday with nothing scheduled until lecture Tuesday morning, sometimes we're lucky enough to have lecture at 9:00. Attendance isn't mandatory at my school, so the lecture start time only effects the minority of students that go to class anyway.

Do I feel less stressed? Objectively I would say yes, but I'm not a stressful person so take it with a grain of salt.
 
We have a block schedule now, but used to do the weekly exams. We Faculty and students hated it, and everyone liked the block schedule once we switched over.

Except during block week itself!

The only thing useful about a weekly exam is if it's cumulative. then you're constantly keeping up to date and not binging and purging.

You'll get through it.

So I go to a school that has a traditional curriculum with tests every week and am really feeling the burn out right now. I have not had a single free weekend because they are all spent constantly studying so that I do not fail the following week's test.

I'm wondering if those of you that go to a school with a block schedule, where you take an exam every few weeks, feel less stressed? Your tests seem to have more material on them, but you at least have a little bit of time to "catch your breath" after an exam (I think some schools even give you a few days off after a block, but correct me if I'm wrong).

Also, does the single subject focus during blocks help? I feel like the hardest part of our schedule isn't that we have a test every week, but rather that we have to juggle 4 subjects at once. You can't actually spend all your time studying for the next week's test or else you risk falling dangerously behind in your other subjects.

I'm doing well so far but feel like my motivation is slowly fading. Just curious if the grass is greener on the other side or if medical school is a bitch no matter what school you go to.
 
I really like how my school has our curriculum set up. We have a block schedule with first year basic sciences and second year organ systems. First semester of 2nd year we had Cardio, Respiratory, and Renal with an exam every 2-3 weeks for the first 2/3-ish of the semester and then had Repro, Derm, and Heme/Lymph the last 1/3-ish of the semester with exams every 2-3 weeks. This semester we have GI, Endocrine, and Peds for the first half of the semester and muskuloskeletal, clinical neuro, and behavioral med the last half. In the middle of all that are about 3 OMM exams and three OMM practicals per semester with continuing clinical education all through the year. First year was similar with a couple of subjects at a time with an exam every 2-3 weeks. Tests are almost always Monday with nothing scheduled until lecture Tuesday morning, sometimes we're lucky enough to have lecture at 9:00. Attendance isn't mandatory at my school, so the lecture start time only effects the minority of students that go to class anyway.

Do I feel less stressed? Objectively I would say yes, but I'm not a stressful person so take it with a grain of salt.

This is how I wish our school organized the material. Systems based learning seems like a much more clinically relevant way to learn. Hopefully I'm not put at a disadvantage on boards/in practice by our outdated style of classes, but my school claims to produce students with high board scores so I'm trusting them for now.
 
I have not had a single free weekend because they are all spent constantly studying so that I do not fail the following week's test.
Yeah, that's medical school. I get a free 1/2 day every 3 weeks or so when we have a regular exam.

You'll get used to it, don't lose hope.
 
This is how I wish our school organized the material. Systems based learning seems like a much more clinically relevant way to learn. Hopefully I'm not put at a disadvantage on boards/in practice by our outdated style of classes, but my school claims to produce students with high board scores so I'm trusting them for now.

If the evidence shows that your school produces high board scores, there is probably a reason for that. My school takes pride in getting us ready for rotations. I don't know what our board scores are compared to other schools, but I know it isn't at the top. Maybe it is because of how the curriculum is set up.
 
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