Typical day in YOUR life as a med student

Paulz said:

I don't want the "typical" life of a med-student, I want to know what you personally do. How much time you spend in class, how much time you spend watching/reading lectures online, how much time eating, working out, sleeping, napping, with friends/family? What are your weekends like?



I can look up typical life of a med-student and get 1,000,000 results, all saying the same general things. I want to know what it's like personally for you guys.

Paulz

Click to expand...

The answer depends on what year you are talking about. Assuming you are talking about first year, during the week, I generally attended lecture during the day. Then spent 5-6 hours or so reviewing the lecture notes and reading ahead in the noteset, and tried to squeeze in an hour or so of meals, exercise and TV. On weekends, the only days when you can stop and review stuff without new stuff coming along, I generally spent all day (8-10 hrs) both days reviewing the week's worth of notes and material. Evenings on the weekends were off. On test weeks, everything got stepped up a notch and the off times disappeared. Just expect to work harder than you ever have before, and be ready to change things up when they don't work -- your first attempt at a game plan often won't. As you get further along you will have a better sense of where you can cut corners and free up a bit more time for important things, rather than making even trades of sleep for fun, which lots of people try to do early on.

Paulz said:

I don't want the "typical" life of a med-student, I want to know what you personally do. How much time you spend in class, how much time you spend watching/reading lectures online, how much time eating, working out, sleeping, napping, with friends/family? What are your weekends like?



I can look up typical life of a med-student and get 1,000,000 results, all saying the same general things. I want to know what it's like personally for you guys.

Paulz

Click to expand...

There are no "typical days." Each day is different and each day has its own challenge. There is nothing special as to how a medical student go about his/her day. It is as normal as the typical day of your,say, Garbage Collector. If I were you, I would just focus on Paulz and do what is best for Paulz.

Everyday is different, so here is our schedule here at USF...
http://hsc.usf.edu/medicine/educati... Calendar 2007-2008 B2-B3 Revised 2-13-08.xls

I'm up everyday at 6:30am (sometimes 6:00am), goto school for classes (I prefer live lectures to the recorded versions), then study about 4 hours in the evening. I try to put in some good time on the weekends when necessary, or take some time off when I can. It's always changing, except for my 6:30am alarm.

Weekdays

Up at 5:30-6:00 to eat breakfast. Then it's usually jog, shower, class, brunch, class, gym, study, dinner/out for an hour or two/errands/appease GF, study, sleep by 11. Rinse. Repeat.

Weekends

Up at 7:30-8:00 to eat breakfast. HIIT, errands, study, go out to eat with friends, siblings, etc., study, gym, study, dinner, flash cards, free time, go out/GF, usually sleep by 1.

Test week

Up at 5:30-6:00. Drink caffeine, take ECA stack, or whatever necessary stimulant. Jog. Study. Pee from caffeine. Study. Study. Study. Study. Eat since caffeine has worn off. Study. Gym around 1:00 pm. Study. Study. Study. Study. Caffeine around here. Study. Study. Study. Eat again. Study. Study. Sleep.

I'm a first year.

Weekdays:

Up at 6 am, shower, eat breakfast, get ready, and out the door around 7am. Classes from 8 am to noon or three, depending on the day (with an hour break for lunch). Drive home, screw around on the internet for about an hour, then make study guides, flashcards, re-listen to lectures, etc. until about 10 pm. I usually take about an hour for dinner and relaxing somewhere in there.

Weekends:

Wake up around 10 or 11 am. Make coffee and fiddle around (cleaning, checking e-mail, etc.) for a couple hours until I stop being groggy. Study the flashcards, study guides, etc. that I made this week until evening. Depending on how much material I have to go over, I stop anywhere between 6 pm and 10 pm, then take the rest of the evening off to spend time with the BF. Weekends before test days, it's pretty much wake up, make coffee, and study the entire day until I go to bed.

Dakota said:

For me the biggest trick wasn't figuring out how to schedule my day, it was figuring out the most efficient way to spend the time. Everyone needs to figure out the methods that are the most efficient for them.

Click to expand...

Agreed. Early on you spend a ton of time doing stuff that actually isn't that helpful. Its all about adapting and refining your approach. You get really efficient toward the end of second year. And then they change the rules on you.

Currently wrapping up second year:

10:00-11 = wake up, shower and eat breakfast (i'm not a morning person unless forced)
11:00-12:30 = review previous day's lectures
12:30-2 = typically by this time the lectures for the morning (9-12) are posted online, so i enounce most of them at 2x at this time.
2:00-4 = errands, misc. things, etc. eat lunch.
4:00-6 = if applicable, ill watch afternoon lectures at this time
6:00-8 = workout and karate most days
8:00-10 = shower and dinner
10:00-1:00 = if necessary, study a little extra or just enjoy myself doing whatever.

Friday:
8pm onwards is going out time, til 3 or 4 or whatever. On test weekends, this depends on how confident I am.

Sat and sunday: study very little unless it is a pre-test weekend. In that case Ill study 8 hours or so on sat and like 12 on sunday (pretty much the whole weekend esp sunday is gone)

I gave up going to lecture because I have to commute kind of far and realized it's a worthless waste of my time to get up at 7am and get home at like 1:30pm to watch 3 hours of elcture in person at a crawling speed when I can just watch them online in 1.5 hours at a more upbeat pace (which keeps me more alert and doesn't let my mind wander).

6:15 Wake-up, get myself and kids ready for school, prepare breakfast, make school lunches
7:10 Send the kids off to the bus stop with hubby
7:15 Eat breakfast, catch up on email, read morning news
8:00-5:00 Study-memorizing notes, listening to lectures, etc. (I stick pretty rigidly to this as my time is limited with family and all, though I do take short breaks)
12-1 Lunch (I still study through lunch)
Leave at 5:00p to pick up kids from school
5:30-6p Make dinner, do homework with kids, eat dinner
7p Help the kids get ready for bed, brush, etc.
7:30 or 8-11:00 Study

This is my normal schedule unless I have to go to the school for mandatory class (Tues and Thurs afternoons), or for a quiz. My schedule is pretty much the same whether test week or not. I just don't have alot of time to waste, so I have to maximize what time I do have.

Weekends- Take off Saturday, and study Sunday 10-12 hours.

This is my current schedule:

6:30AM - Wake up, eat breakfast, coffee, troll on SDN/CNN while waking up.
8:00-12:00 - Lecture, I usually go unless there's a histology lecture. Usually have 1-2 hours thrown in there for break/study. Break time is generally used up for reading for that day's lecture(s)/labs or getting ahead.
12:00-1:00 - Lunch. may or may not study through it (depends on if there's a free lunch)
1:00-4:00 - Labs/lectures.
4:00-5:00 - Go home, take a break.
5:00-7:00 - Study, briefly look over that day's material. Eat a snack if im going to the gym afterwards, else dinner.
7:00-8:00 - Gym.
8:00-11:00 - Study. Read next day's material, review previous material if time allots.
11:00-1:00 - My time. I try to fall asleep sometime after 12, but usually ends up being 1 because I do stuff/shower before I sleep.

Weekends:
Saturday
9-11AM - Attend review sessions
11AM-12PM - Do nothing/eat
12PM-5PM - Study, go over the previous week's material. If possible, fit gym time in between.
5-7PM - Dinner/break.
7-9PM - Try to study. Sometimes possible, sometimes not.
9PM - whenever: If there's no test, maybe go out or watch TV. Just anything that involves beer.

Sunday:
-Spend most of day studying for the test coming on Monday (which seems to be every week).

I don't follow this schedule strictly everyday. Sometimes I may study more, some days I may do nothing at all or go light on the studying. After you learn the ropes of M1 year you know when to cut corners (because doing so is needed for a healthy life M1 year).

MS-2:
7am: Wake up, get ready, walk over to school for required small group
8-10am: Small group, print day's notes
10am: Home to nap, study, chill out, food, gym depending on the day
~1pm: Lecture videos posted, watch them and take notes
~3-4pm: Break
Rest of the day is varied, usually some reviewing, cleaning around the house, doing fun stuff, etc. Amount studied is variable.

A typical day in my life. Umm it's kinda borning but I'll say it anyways.

Well I have calsses from mon-fri 8-4

I wake up at 5:30 am. I do the usual stuff shower, get dressed and eat breakfast. Then I drive myself to school and it's like 7: 15. So I read some stuff and walk around the campus untill it's 8. I have histo and anatomy labs on mon and class, anatomy and physio labs and class on tues and finally biochem lab on wed and the rest of the week I have only classes . Anyways my day finishes everyday at 4. Then I go home and sit infront the tv or the internet. I start studying at 6: 30. Though I only study for a little time cuz I'm so tired .The go to bed on 10. Thats about it.

Sometimes when I read SDN, I realize either how much of a slacker I am or how many perfectionists their are in SDN world. I do not put in nearly as much effort as the rest of these folks. My typical day (at least 2 weeks before exams):

Get up ~noon. Eat breakfast, screw around reading emails / SDN / facebook. After an hour or so of that, I watch two or three lectures online. I take a break for lunch... hang out with the hubby... whatever. Come back and watch another lecture or two. Watch some TV while half-heartedly reading notes. Screw around some more. All in all - maybe 4 or 5 hours of my day is spent studying. Go to bed around 3am.

Two weeks before test block:

Get up around 11am or noon (I value my sleep and find I can't study if I'm falling asleep this far away from tests). Still spend an hour eating / screwing around. Watch ~5 or 6 lectures (b/c I'm probably quite behind & am playing super speedy catch up so I can start reviewing). Take periodic breaks to relax my mind & feel like a person... go back to studying. All in all - probably 8 or 9 hours of studying per day.

A few days before test block:

Up probably by 8 or 9am... study, study, study, drink coffee and red bull... study.... panic... wonder why I spent so much time screwing around earlier in the month when I had so much free time..... study. All in all - probably about 14 hours a day studying... maybe more... right before and during test block. I probably only get about 4 hours of sleep during the days prior and during TB.

So... there's my typical days. I usually slack off to no studying right after TB's and amp it up bit by bit throughout the weeks until I'm at high gear for test blocks again. I probably ought to come up with a better system, but this is how I've started out and I can't seem to break from it this year (MS-I). Might be able to try something different next year. FYI - I'm by no means acing our class, but I'm also not coming close to failing anything either. I'd say I have an average performance record. I imagine these folks who are studying 8 or 9 hours a day every day and 12 or 14 hours before tests must be acing everything.

It's pretty crazy how some folks are morning people and some are late sleepers. I envy you folks that can sleep till 11-12. If I don't get up at my normal time, the sun almost always wakes me up without fail. Even if I went to sleep at 3 or 4 the night before.

This past quarter
M/W: (1) wake up at 7:40-8 am (2) get ready for school:catch the 8:40 bus (3) class from 9:30-12 (spent 10:30-12 on facebook, playing computer games, studying anatomy flashcards b/c the class was pointless) (4) lunch break 12-12:30 (5) anatomy class til 1:30 (6) anatomy lab til 4:00 (7) wait for bus/tool around and get home by 5:00 (8) dinner and read hw for an 1hr (9) tv from 7:00 to 9 (10) workout while doing anatomy flashcards til 10 (11) chat online
T/TR: (1) wake up at 7:40-8 am (2) catch bus (8:40) (3) class from 9-12 or 1 /eat breakfast in class (4) workout til 2 (5) home to read anatomy from 4-7 (6) lazy around and do nothing/watch tv/call friends

Test weeks ie mainly 1-2 days before test: focus only on the subject tested on and anatomy; usually school til 12 or 4; skip my 10:30 to 12 class and go to library; after school workout; read about 2 hours at night--meet friends/classmates for dinner at school; bed at 9 pm (or if i'm really behind midnigh); wake up at 4 am and study til 7:40 then repeat schedule
[usually skip all classes but the class w/ test in it on test days]
*only studied cell bio, biochem, physiology, the week of tests; but usually attended the classes (all but cell bio really); read entire textbook and then powerpoints/classpaks...usually exhausted and pass out after test

MS2 here:

Wake up at 6
6:30 - bring kids to school.
Attend Class from 8 - 12
Eat lunch
1 - 5 Study
5 - 8 Pick up kids, play, eat dinner, put them to bed
9 - 11 Review
11:30 Sleep

Paulz said:

I don't want the "typical" life of a med-student, I want to know what you personally do. How much time you spend in class, how much time you spend watching/reading lectures online, how much time eating, working out, sleeping, napping, with friends/family? What are your weekends like?



I can look up typical life of a med-student and get 1,000,000 results, all saying the same general things. I want to know what it's like personally for you guys.

Paulz

Click to expand...

On a week that I don't have a test:
Monday - Friday
- 6:45AM-7:45AM - wake up, get ready, eat breakfast, pack lunch, blah blah
- 8:00AM-12:00PM - In class
- 12:00PM-1:00PM - Eating lunch and watching ESPN in the student lounge
- 1:00PM-6:00PM - read over the lectures from that day while referencing text books/internet as needed to make sure I understand everything thoroughly
- 6:00PM-7:00PM - Dinner and watching some TV
- 7:00PM - ~midnight - whatever I want to do, hang out w/ the GF, hang out with friends, nap, etc, etc.
Sat/Sun
- sleep off hangovers from the previous night then lay around for a long time doing a whole lot of nothing. maybe go shopping or go out to eat or something. review notes from that week maybe if there was something I didn't understand very well

On a week that I have a test:
M-F: Same schedule as when I don't have a test but add up to 4 hours more per day of studying, while simultaneously subtracting that amount of time from the 7:00PM-~midnight portion of the day. I usually go through and condense all the lectures into 1-2 pages of notes that I still need to learn/memorize per hour of lecture during this time so that I can review it once or twice more before the test.
S/S: Wake up by 8 or 9AM and go study pretty much all day. (no partying on these weekends for the most part)
** all of the above schedules are slightly mixed up a bit for other things I do such as going to preceptor for 4 hrs/wk, going to the gym for 1.5hrs at least every other day, special interest group meetings every few weeks, emergency med elective, etc

Law2Doc said:

Assuming you are talking about first year, during the week, I generally attended lecture during the day. Then spent 5-6 hours or so reviewing the lecture notes and reading ahead in the noteset, and tried to squeeze in an hour or so of meals, exercise and TV. On weekends, the only days when you can stop and review stuff without new stuff coming along, I generally spent all day (8-10 hrs) both days reviewing the week's worth of notes and material. Evenings on the weekends were off. On test weeks, everything got stepped up a notch and the off times disappeared.

Click to expand...

L2D...you did not indicate when you peruse SDN and write your posts

"Law2Doc
5K+ Member

Status: Medical Student
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 15,557 "

Lshapley said:

L2D...you did not indicate when you peruse SDN and write your posts

"Law2Doc
5K+ Member

Status: Medical Student
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 15,557 "

Click to expand...

Posts are over a lot of years. And tend to be at regular study breaks. The more posts the more hours chained to the computer. Hint -- that's a lot of hours of studying.

TheProwler said:

Some people learn faster than others, so while I certainly don't study as much as some, I definitely study more than others. I know a girl who studies a lot less than I do, and it's not hurting her performance.

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It's definitely got to be an individualized thing. I know I would fail out if I tried to study the same as some of my classmates, and probably would do a bit better if I managed to log the hours that a few diehard others do. You should start out first year doing overkill, and then ease up as your grades warrant, or change things up if it isn't working. med school is all about adaptation. You likely won't get it right the first time. But it's the very very rare individual who isn't stepping things up pretty substantially as compared to undergrad. Based on the schedules listed here and what I know I and my peers are doing I think there's less exaggeration on this thread than Prowler is suggesting.

MS1: First 3 months, up at 7 for 8-5ish class /lab, then desk from 6-12 studying. Month 3 on, up at 8 or 10 for 8-5ish class, restaurant/bar 6-11 till test week, then up at 4:30 for 4:45-midnight studying.

MS2: Up at noon for noon-5 study in bed in my underwear, 5-12 golf, dinner, TV till test week, then up at 5 for 5-midnight studying.

MS3: (Excluding surgery / OB) Hospital/clinic at 7-8ish for AM rounds/clinic till 2ish, then home for Warcraft/TV till Shelf week, then up at 6 for 6-midnight studying

MS4: Varies excessively. Up anywhere from 6-12 most months, lot of golf/TV/bar/Warcraft

bump

Jwax said:

Sometimes when I read SDN, I realize either how much of a slacker I am or how many perfectionists their are in SDN world. I do not put in nearly as much effort as the rest of these folks.

Click to expand...

Agreed. I used to go to classes, but realized eventually that my grades went up slightly when I just learned stuff from the syllabus/text rather than trying to include lecture in the mix. Lecture is only useful for me if the topic is heavily conceptual (e.g., physiology) and I have questions I need to ask someone.

So, on a day without lecture and no tests that week:

Wake up whenever I damn well feel like it. (Anytime from 8am - 11am)
Make, drink coffee. Check e-mail. Read the New York Times. +1-2 hours
If I'm being good, 2-3 hours of studying.
Cook something or go out to eat.
If I'm being really good, another 2-3 hours of studying.
Hang out, watch movies, screw around, go to bed whenever I damn well feel like it.

On a day with an upcoming test:

Wake up whenever I damn well feel like it. Frankly, studying is 10x more effective when you're not tired, so waking up before you're ready seems to me to be a waste of time.
Make, drink coffee. Check e-mail. Read the New York Times. 1 hour.
5-6 hours of studying - no computer, no phone, no people around, no distractions whatsoever, just real honest-to-God studying.
Break for mindless distraction. 1-2 hours.
Anywhere from 2-4 more hours of studying, depending on how comfortable I am with the material. Very rarely do I ever study after 8-9 pm.
Hang out, relax, etc. I never drink alcohol after a day of hard studying, as I'd rather not mess with the consolidation process.

So in closing, during lighter periods I often spend whole days (gasp!) without studying or going to lecture. Maybe my class rank would be higher if I stuck to the military schedule that some people espouse, but as it stands I'm in the top 15% and pretty happy with medical school. I don't want to mess with that.

I suppose I'll throw something in for this:

Non-Test Week:

5:30am: Wake up, get dressed, play with pet ferret, etc.
8am-12pm: Class, small group, or lab
12pm-5pm: Preceptor 1xweek, Clinical Skills class 1xweek, random other meetings 1xweek, time wasting 2xweek (movies, playing in the Portland gardens, gym, etc).
6pm-10pm: Non-med school stuff. Acting class 1xweek, volunteering 1xweek, martial arts 2-3xweek. Occasionally, I'll skip these things if I'm working on a show (shows usually eat up my time 3-4 days/week from 6-12ish).
Weekends: Mostly unwinding, hanging out with friends, doing sorority alum stuff, tutoring, reading, or writing (I write for an online magazine, approx 1-2 articles/week).

*Note: No, I do not study during non test weeks. I go to lecture, and I consider that enough.

Test Week (2-3 days pre exam):

Test weeks are more or less the same except that I fill my "time wasting" slot with studying, skip out on martial arts so that I can study, and add in some study after 10pm on the other nights. I'll also study on the bus during test weeks.

5:30: wake up, shower, make breakfast for myself and wife

7:15: get to my study cubicle, usually waste 30 minutes talking with the people that sit around me

8-12: class

12: hopefully a free lunch, otherwise I read online newspapers for an hour

1-3: sometimes we have class, if we don't, I go back to my study cubicle until 4:30pm

4:30: run for an hour or so

6:00: dinner, watch local news

7:00: Wheel of fortune, jeopardy

8:00: watch tv in bed; if right before a test I will stay up and read for a while

Weekends:

sat: wake up around 9; do things around the house (cut grass, wash cars, vacuum, etc); study for an hour or so. If a test is coming up within a few days, would study for 6-7 hours

sun: try to make it to church by 10; come home and read for a couple of hours. If a test is coming up soon, I'd study for 9 or 10 hours on sunday.

MS3, (one week before I can call myself MS4)
During surgery:
up at 4:30, get ready, at school by 5:30/6:00
in the OR for generally all day, fitting in some studying when I can
go home around 8:00 pm
feed my kids, put them to bed, go to bed myself between 9:30-10:00
rinse and repeat most days of the week.

on my day off or lighter days, I slept more and spent more time with my kids

during psychiatry (current rotation)
up at 6:00, get ready
at school by 7:30, preround on my patients
round at 9:00-11:00
errands/phone calls/studying for most of the day
leave at 4:30 for home
pick up the kiddos, try to get some housework done, feed the family, mess around on the internet, try to study a little, go to bed around 10:00

we're expected to round on one weekend day, get to leave earlier (around 2:30), I spend more time with my kiddos on that day, the other weekend day I tend to spend studying at school for a good 6-8 hours.

Well lets see, this is how I spent today.

8:30 am - Breakfast
9:00 am - 1:00pm study Abdominal peritoneum
1:30 pm- The anatomy lab to solidify the lecture notes
2:00 pm- realized that I didn't know any of the abdominal and pelvis vasculature and thus that staring at the cadaver wouldn't help.
2:10 pm - 7:30pm home to study the notes on abdominal and pelvis vasculature.
7:30pm-8:30pm- Dinner and a break
8:30pm-11:50 pm- still studying the vaculature.
12:00am - heading back to the anatomy lab for a second solidification.
2:00am- sleep

bump!

WellWornLad said:

Agreed. I used to go to classes, but realized eventually that my grades went up slightly when I just learned stuff from the syllabus/text rather than trying to include lecture in the mix. Lecture is only useful for me if the topic is heavily conceptual (e.g., physiology) and I have questions I need to ask someone.

So, on a day without lecture and no tests that week:

Wake up whenever I damn well feel like it. (Anytime from 8am - 11am)
Make, drink coffee. Check e-mail. Read the New York Times. +1-2 hours
If I'm being good, 2-3 hours of studying.
Cook something or go out to eat.
If I'm being really good, another 2-3 hours of studying.
Hang out, watch movies, screw around, go to bed whenever I damn well feel like it.

On a day with an upcoming test:

Wake up whenever I damn well feel like it. Frankly, studying is 10x more effective when you're not tired, so waking up before you're ready seems to me to be a waste of time.
Make, drink coffee. Check e-mail. Read the New York Times. 1 hour.
5-6 hours of studying - no computer, no phone, no people around, no distractions whatsoever, just real honest-to-God studying.
Break for mindless distraction. 1-2 hours.
Anywhere from 2-4 more hours of studying, depending on how comfortable I am with the material. Very rarely do I ever study after 8-9 pm.
Hang out, relax, etc. I never drink alcohol after a day of hard studying, as I'd rather not mess with the consolidation process.

So in closing, during lighter periods I often spend whole days (gasp!) without studying or going to lecture. Maybe my class rank would be higher if I stuck to the military schedule that some people espouse, but as it stands I'm in the top 15% and pretty happy with medical school. I don't want to mess with that.

Click to expand...

I love it (not being sarcastic).

Typical Weekday:
7:25 - Wake up
8:00 - Class
11:30 - Lunch
12:15 - Study
2:00 - Intro to clinical med
4:30 - Gym
6:30 - Dinner
7:30 - Study
9:00 - Kaplan Questions
9:30 - Relax
10:30 - Sleep

Sleep 11-6:45
Class from 8-12
Study from 1-5
Dinner 6ish
Study till 10
Sleep

THat's on a test week. If it's not, I skip the studying after dinner. I typically start my "test week" about 10 days before an exam.

First Year Student Typical Weekdays

9:00am get up, shower, eat breakfast, catch up on sportscenter

10:30am- make it to school- I don't attend lecture so I get a study room and review material then in the afternoon I will listen to the recorded lectures

4:00 leave school and head home, relax a bit, eat dinner

6:00-10:00 studying at home while TV is on so not as dedicated time as day but still reviewing- depending on how close to a test it is I might take this time off

10:00-11:00 watch the news get ready for bed

11:00-11:30- personal quiet time

11:30-12:00- late night TV to wind down (yes I know studies say not to do it but I like it and it works fine)

Weekends- usually close to the same with evenings spent going to a movie or hanging with friends. Sometime I go home to visit family. Most of our exams are on Monday mornings so if it is the weekend before an exam I will spend the whole weekend 10am-11pm at a study room and use the hospital caffeteria for lunch/dinner.

9 am -Talk to to corporate (like a boss)
9:15 - Approve memos (like a boss)
9:45 -Lead a workshop (like a boss)
10:15 -Remember birthdays (like a boss)
10:30 -Direct workflow (like a boss)
10:31 -My own bathroom (like a boss)
11 -Micromanage (like a boss)
11:30 -Promote Synergy (like a boss)
11:32 -Hit on Debra (like a boss)
11:33 -Get rejected (like a boss)
11:34 -Swallow sadness (like a boss)
12 -Send some faxes (like a boss)
12:15 -Call a sex line (like a boss)
12:17 -Cry deeply (like a boss)
12:18 -Demand a refund (like a boss)
12:30 -Eat a bagel (like a boss)
1 -Harrassment lawsuit (like a boss)
1:05 -No promotion (like a boss)
1:06-5pm -Fifths of vodka (like a boss)


This is usually my typical monday

Here is my typical day...I am middle of the class with this and I would consider myself average in terms of being smart in medical school. By no means am I a genius.

9:00 a.m. - 12:00 - get to library and review stuff from previous day
12-1 - eat lunch
1-3 - listen to four hours of lectures on double speed...they are pointless but it's a habit
3-4:30 - study a little bit
4:30 - go home
5-7 - pretend to review but am watching t.v. mostly
7-8:30 - go for run
8:30 - 9:00 - take a shower
9:00 - 12:00 try to study but we see how it goes

I also take every other weekend off including friday, sat and sunday. I just finished my first year. We will see second year.

So I keep seeing people say when they don't attend class, they watch lectures at double speed. This is probably me being dumb because I don't start med school until this fall, so bear with me, but all I can picture is you pressing the fast-forward button once and somehow hearing/retaining the info. I am obviously missing something. So can someone please explain these double speed video lectures please?

mdbound1987 said:

So I keep seeing people say when they don't attend class, they watch lectures at double speed. This is probably me being dumb because I don't start med school until this fall, so bear with me, but all I can picture is you pressing the fast-forward button once and somehow hearing/retaining the info. I am obviously missing something. So can someone please explain these double speed video lectures please?

Click to expand...

The programs used to play the audio/video have an option to play it at increased speed.

On the windows media player I use you go: enhancements--> play speed settings.

DrYoda said:

The programs used to play the audio/video have an option to play it at increased speed.

On the windows media player I use you go: enhancements--> play speed settings.

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Oh ok gotcha. Thanks.

Why the heck did this thread get moved to the PRE-Med forum?

Knicks said:

Why the heck did this thread get moved to the PRE-Med forum?

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It was moved to pre-allo. There is no pre-med forum. Pre-meds, both allo and osteo, are not allowed to ask questions in the med student forums. If a pre-med posts in allo, the thread is moved to pre-allo.

So if one is a sleepyhead, a school that records lectures is a must!!

Right now I start my day around 4-5pm and I run errands, do watever I need to for the day, then sleep around 6am. I've been progressively becoming nocturnal (sleeping progressively later)..

Black Surgeon said:

Well lets see, this is how I spent today.

8:30 am - Breakfast
9:00 am - 1:00pm study Abdominal peritoneum
1:30 pm- The anatomy lab to solidify the lecture notes
2:00 pm- realized that I didn't know any of the abdominal and pelvis vasculature and thus that staring at the cadaver wouldn't help.
2:10 pm - 7:30pm home to study the notes on abdominal and pelvis vasculature.
7:30pm-8:30pm- Dinner and a break
8:30pm-11:50 pm- still studying the vaculature.
12:00am - heading back to the anatomy lab for a second solidification.
2:00am- sleep

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Creepy time to be in the anatomy lab if you ask me. . . .

49ers said:

\Memorize structures using Netter's drawings first and THEN go to lab to study the structures close to the lab practical date.

I never learned jack on the days we dissected. I showed up, did what I could to show I did something, got my attendance checked, and left. Then I showed up a few days before lab after going through Netter's to match up what I could on the body and learned it for the exam that way (4 hours of studying per exam on avg...total).

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This is the single best piece of advice for anatomy hands down! I did the exact same thing. You will learn nothing in lab if you don't know what you are looking for!! Too many of my classmates spent the entire weekend before the exams in the lab trying to memorize the material. Bad plan!