How much did you study throughout your education?

[ValPak00per]

I talking high school up to MS. I personally don't study more than 30 mins per day. How much did you study during HS, undergrad and medical school. I've head that in med. school some study for 3-4 hours and do well while some study for 6-8 hours. My grades are fairly well considering I go to a private school (All A's and B's). I know I have a high potential I just am worried I won't fulfill it.

Thanks

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[Meeehai]

I talking high school up to MS. I personally don't study more than 30 mins per day. How much did you study during HS, undergrad and medical school. I've head that in med. school some study for 3-4 hours and do well while some study for 6-8 hours. My grades are fairly well considering I go to a private school (All A's and B's). I know I have a high potential I just am worried I won't fulfill it.

Thanks

For me it varied depending on what I had to study. Some things took longer than others. I don't think you should put a time requirement on studying, just study for however long it takes you to learn the material.

 

[WedgeDawg]

I barely studied in high school. Generally a few hours the day before the test. The only exception was the SAT where I did a couple hours a day for a month.

College, on my harder terms, studied really hard a day or two before the tests, tried to keep up with reading/problem sets when possible.

Medical school first semester: started out studying a lot, then it dropped off to just previewing and reviewing lectures and then cramming hard a few days before tests

Medical school second semester: a lot more studying than I have ever done in my life. Generally several hours per day on average, which ramps up to all day preceding tests.

 

[Law2Doc]

I think a decent percentage of people who end up going to med school are naturally smart and get by in high school and college without working as hard as others need to. But they face some of the biggest challenges in med school where a lot of the game is brute force long hours of studying and figuring out how you learn best and most efficiently. To some extent that rewards the people who really had to work for their good grades, because their engine is primed for this. So even though you are probably doing totally fine studying 30 minutes a day, there's probably some benefit to gradually upping your game and not being satisfied to just do the minimum. If you are getting "all As and Bs" at 30 minutes a day, consider whether that could be "straight As" with 60 minutes a day.

I'm not saying give up outside activities, or move into the library, just to have a work ethic where you aren't just satisfied with doing "fairly well" for minimal effort. Not because it matters so much now, but it becomes really hard to undo years of bad habits later. It's a big part of the reason 90% of college freshmen who show up as premed in college on day 1 don't ever apply to med school. Just my two cents.

 

[URHere]

I think a decent percentage of people who end up going to med school are naturally smart and get by in high school and college without working as hard as others need to.

It becomes really hard to undo years of bad habits later.

I agree with this. I was one of those people who generally crammed for everything throughout high school, college, and most of medical school (3-15 hours the night before each exam) simply because I could and because life was much more fun when most of my days were study-free. I'll warn you that even when this technique works well for classes, it is incredibly inefficient when it comes to taking standardized exams like the MCAT and the USMLE. This mindset also makes it hard to study when you're on clerkships or (I'd imagine) when you're trying to squeeze some education in between patients as a practicing physician.

I have some friends who have the opposite problem. They may have the information in 3 hours, but they keep studying for 6 simply because of pressure, stress, and paranoia. You'll find lots of these people in medical school and they can end up pretty miserable.

My advice is to find a happy middle ground and remember that your middle ground will look different from someone else's.

 

[ValPak00per]

Interesting very varied answers

 

[md-2020]

How much did you study during HS, undergrad and medical school.

HS: not enough
UG: definitely not enough
Med school: probably won't be enough

I know I have a high potential I just am worried I won't fulfill it.

"Potential" is a pretty abstract concept that a cynic like me will tell you is a lie made up by adults to inspire kids to work hard. Study as much as you can bring yourself to, and be okay with some mistakes along the way. Don't let this imaginary term add on any pressure.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Med school: probably won't be enough

If you're anything like me, then yep

 

[Law2Doc]

...
"Potential" is a pretty abstract concept that a cynic like me will tell you is a lie made up by adults to inspire kids to work hard...

There's a lot of truth in this statement. If everybody works their hardest there's still going to be a spread of results, and just because someone has said you have a lot of potential doesn't mean others didn't have more.

But I think a lot of us have seen enough F$&& ups who finally later got their act together and went far to know that you won't really know where in the queue you belong until you actually push yourself.

 

[QofQuimica]

Agree with L2D. I was one of those kids who studied a lot in high school. I did dual enrollment/AP, and I came out of HS with enough college credits to start college as a second semester sophomore. I wound up attending a college with no grades, but I still studied hard anyway because I wanted to learn. I stayed there for the full four years and finished a double major in natural sciences and Spanish along with writing a thesis and getting two years of research experience. In grad school, I studied more than most of my classmates, while in med school, I studied less than a lot of my classmates. Not that I didn't still study hard in med school, but I just gave studying in med school the same level of effort I always had given studying at every other point. It wasn't me ramping down; it was everyone else ramping up.

 

[DubVille]

High School: basically never, just usually paid attention in class. Did homework in study hall or copied somebody else's.

Undergrad: Mostly cramming before tests. Actually did my homework. For classes I liked, I studied a bit more since it was enjoyable. Imagine 2-5 hours a week outside of class.

Med School: Pre clinicals was mostly cramming for 12-20 hours prior to tests. However, the way the curriculum was set up, I had to do little presentations/small groups that reinforced relevant information. So I was kind of "studying" more often.
Clincal years: in free time at hospital, learning from residents/attendings. Didnt really do a ton of "book studying" except for a day before shelf exams. Lots of reading about patients/conditions during workday, but not too much at home.

Agree with other posters who said this approach doesnt work great for big standardized tests. I didnt study for the ACT in high school, but was able to get my **** together for MCAT and STEPs by studying for 3-5 weeks hardcore.
Everyone is different, just make sure you do enough to succeed. I was just above average for med school class rank, would've required way more effort to be at the top, which I was fine with.

 

[MagentaKarma]

I haven't started medical school yet but I would say that I studied the same amount in high school and college. I believe it paid off but I guess I work hard and wouldn't call myself naturally smart. I always studied 3-6 hours a day all through high school and undergrad. I don't regret it though. I am happy to have been valedictorian and graduate college with Honors, a minor, and chemistry major in three years. I think of that as a personal achievement and it makes the long hours of studying worth it for me. I do think I could have done fine without all the studying and success but I truly enjoy studying.

 

[chizledfrmstone]

The biggest thing I learned in medical school was how to properly study and retain material. I learned some medicine along the way too.

In HS I would just goof around and review stuff the day of the test. In college I never consistently studied for more than 2-3 days. Medical school was a big kick in the behind.

I really wish I had gone to a tougher high school. It would probably have given me a better work ethic early on so I could focus on optimizing my studying.

 

[WedgeDawg]

I really wish I had gone to a tougher high school. It would probably have given me a better work ethic early on so I could focus on optimizing my studying.

I agree with this statement 100%. I never had good study habits reinforced early because there was no reason for them.

 

[Jarteblu]

not enough but enough never the less.......

 

[jqueb29]

High school: I'm pretty sure I legitimately never studied outside of school hours
College: anywhere from 2-6 hours a week on normal, non-finals weeks
Med school: LOL. Endless studying.

 

[moisne]

HS - I studied every other day, maybe 1-2 hrs
College maybe every day 1-3 hrs
Med school maybe 3-4 hrs
But ms 2 boards prep = 10-14 hrs/d

 

[Jarteblu]

30 hours a day
10 days a week
60 weeks a year

 

[randomguy123456]

HS - I studied every other day, maybe 1-2 hrs
College maybe every day 1-3 hrs
Med school maybe 3-4 hrs
But ms 2 boards prep = 10-14 hrs/d

Damnnn moisne, DAMNNNNNNNNNN

 

[EverStriving]

HS: barely studied at all, great grades
First two quarters of college: barely studied at all, good grades
Third quarter college: foolishly decided to 'challenge' myself by intentionally not studying for my math classes to see if I could derive everything on the midterms. Fun and kinda worked, but grades and GPA suffered. I wised up after this experience.
Rest of college: Actually studied enough, great grades
Post-bacc: studied my butt off, because the material was really enjoyable and I'm a huge nerd
Medical school: hopefully studying a lot and loving it!

 

[eteshoe]

HS: a lot (APs and dual enrollment)
UG: >>>>> crazy amount (in hindsight I maybe should have picked an easier major combo lol)
Masters: Not that much
MS (first half): a good amount (slightly less than UG)
PhD: Not as much as I should (a bit more than my masters and less than MS)