Medical school readings intensity

[NP545]

How any pages per week do you have to read per week in med school? (daily and weekly)
Do you have the same classes every day of the week?

Through undergrad, in a course like biochemistry it took me 2-3 hours to read & understand each chapter (~30 pages). Is this pace too slow for medical school readings? If so, how can I improve my pace while still maintaining my comprehension ability. How can you improve comprehension for deep materials and/or regular material?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[seizurecrow]

Like with anything else, practice. Just read more often.

 

[AspiringERMD]

How any pages per week do you have to read per week in med school? (daily and weekly)
Do you have the same classes every day of the week?

Through undergrad, in a course like biochemistry it took me 2-3 hours to read & understand each chapter (~30 pages). Is this pace too slow for medical school readings? If so, how can I improve my pace while still maintaining my comprehension ability. How can you improve comprehension for deep materials and/or regular material?

+1, and something I'm also worried about. Biochem was more like 3-4 hours for me, similar length Although I was taking notes at the same time.

 

[MiaMia14]

I think it's going to vary by school...but I used mostly lecture powerpoints to study. Obviously the is a lot of information there and when you don't understand something you have to go look it up. But I wasn't routinely sitting down and reading whole chapters of textbooks at a time. Actually, when I tried to do that I ended up doing worse. You'll figure out how you study best when you get to med school. You will probably have to overhaul how you do it anyway, so there is no point in worrying about it right now. I don't think there is any magic "reading speed" where anyone can tell you you are too slow or just fast enough, etc. obviously you can't take all day on one lecture, but it seems like you are fine.

 

[AspiringERMD]

I think it's going to vary by school...but I used mostly lecture powerpoints to study. Obviously the is a lot of information there and when you don't understand something you have to go look it up. But I wasn't routinely sitting down and reading whole chapters of textbooks at a time. Actually, when I tried to do that I ended up doing worse. You'll figure out how you study best when you get to med school. You will probably have to overhaul how you do it anyway, so there is no point in worrying about it right now. I don't think there is any magic "reading speed" where anyone can tell you you are too slow or just fast enough, etc. obviously you can't take all day on one lecture, but it seems like you are fine.

Thanks. This is comforting. I've been really anxious about med school lately.

 

[allantois]

The funniest thing is that med schools always list 20-30 textbooks "required" of MS1's

I've only ever read one textbook back in Ochem

 

[tima]

Usually you can study before you read the book. For example, I used to study kaplan biochem videos before I read the chapter. This allowed me to have some basic knowledge before I read the more detailed book and powerpoint.

 

[taffer]

From my experience, there are "required readings" but everything you need to know (or at least the topics) will be included in the lecture notes. However, this isn't to say you won't be doing a hefty amount of googling. : )
As much as I would love to read a textbook, I've found I simply don't have the time thus far.

 

[deuist]

The funniest thing is that med schools always list 20-30 textbooks "required" of MS1's

I read through only a small fraction of required textbooks during the first two years medical school. The bulk of my time was devoted to re-watching lecture videos and studying the handouts that professors made. Third year, fourth-year, and residency are a different animal and require substantial time spent reading textbooks.

 

[allantois]

I read through only a small fraction of required textbooks during the first two years medical school. The bulk of my time was devoted to re-watching lecture videos and studying the handouts that professors made. Third year, fourth-year, and residency are a different animal and require substantial time spent reading textbooks.

Do you think people in PBL spend more time reading books since I assume they don't have lectures to watch?

 

[Apoplexy__]

Do you think people in PBL spend more time reading books since I assume they don't have lectures to watch?

PBL student here: I read roughly 1/2 to 3/4 of 7-10 textbooks 2-3 times in MS1-2 (PBL doesn't apply to MS3-4). I was a slow reader in college and never read the required texts. You all have nothing to worry about.

How any pages per week do you have to read per week in med school? (daily and weekly)
Do you have the same classes every day of the week?

Through undergrad, in a course like biochemistry it took me 2-3 hours to read & understand each chapter (~30 pages). Is this pace too slow for medical school readings? If so, how can I improve my pace while still maintaining my comprehension ability. How can you improve comprehension for deep materials and/or regular material?

Pages/day or pages/week doesn't work out because textbooks are vastly different in size of text or pages, as well as difficulty. Because of that, I never really paid attention. I don't think 2-3 hours/chapter is too slow though.

The classes you have and their variance per week are far too different per school to tell.

Improvement of your comprehension and pace is just something you figure out for yourself. There's literally no other way for me to tell you.

 

[deuist]

True, I had not considered that. My med school did only a few weeks of problem-based learning so that we could be introduced to the subject. I do remember having to look up lots of stuff in textbooks and databases. In that case, there was not a defined reading path such as "read chapters 1 through 6 of the biochemistry textbook." Instead the whole focus was on finding the answer to a question. The amount of time spent reading was entirely dependent on how lucky one got on picking the right resource the first time.

 

[Gauss44]

Focus only on the meaning or information presented and not on the style. While I don't know you, I've known many readers that focus on an author's word choice, style of punctuation, phrasing, etc. - and not only is that generally awful in most science texts, but it will also slow you down.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I literally have not touched a textbook in like two years.

 

[IncognitoGuy]

I literally have not touched a textbook in like two years.

Pretty much the same. The only reasons I touched a textbook at all were because a "lecture" was just a required reading instead.

You'll get better at it, but part of it is learning to separate extraneous information from what information is important, because you'll go crazy if you try to do it all.

 

[mehc012]

I think Tis going to vary by school...but I used mostly lecture powerpoints to study. Obviously the is a lot of information there and when you don't understand something you have to go look it up. But I wasn't routinely sitting down and reading whole chapters of textbooks at a time. Actually, when I tried to do that I ended up doing worse. You'll figure out how you study best when you get to med school. You will probably have to overhaul how you do it anyway, so there is no point in worrying about it right now. I don't think there is any magic "reading speed" where anyone can tell you you are too slow or just fast enough, etc. obviously you can't take all day on one lecture, but it seems like you are fine.

Pretty much the same. The only reasons I touched a textbook at all were because a "lecture" was just a required reading instead.

You'll get better at it, but part of Tis learning to separate extraneous information from what information is important, because you'll go crazy if you try to do it all.

Odd to see the same typo from 2 people in the same thread. I wonder if it's a holiday thing...lots of 'Tis the season' floating around!

Edit: lol I can be so dumb sometimes. Happy holidays SDN!

 

[MiaMia14]

I actually noticed it and tried to "edit"...but it said "it was" already in the edit box, so I'm assuming it's a holiday thing. Cute.

 

[mehc012]

I actually noticed it and tried to "edit"...but it said "it was" already in the edit box, so I'm assuming Tis a holiday thing. Cute.

It is bothering me a little that it's not 'tis and 'twas, however...let's go contraction formatting! Plus it solves the capitalization issue!

 

[itttiramer]

I think Tis going to vary by school...but I used mostly lecture powerpoints to study.

 

[WillburCobb]

Do you think people in PBL spend more time reading books since I assume they don't have lectures to watch?

I attend a school with one of the older PBL based curriculums. We have lectures and 99.99999% of my studying is based solely on lecture notes; and I was a die hard textbook reader in undergrad. The only textbook chapter I've read in its entirety was in a review book early on in block I, and was more detail than I needed.

 

[NP545]

I attend a school with one of the older PBL based curriculums. We have lectures and 99.99999% of my studying is based solely on lecture notes; and I was a die hard textbook reader in undergrad. The only textbook chapter I've read in its entirety was in a review book early on in block I, and was more detail than I needed.

Do you think you could possibly PM me the name of the med school you go to? (or at least the state) We seem to have similar majors and qualifications, and I would be interested in a school that is heavily reliant of lecture notes

 

[WillburCobb]

Do you think you could possibly PM me the name of the med school you go to? (or at least the state) We seem to have similar majors and qualifications, and I would be interested in a school that is heavily reliant of lecture notes

Can't PM you due to your account setting, but I'm in NoDak.