10 hours a week

[zeebs]

It's unavoidable. I will be commuting two hours a day this fall when I start med school. Anybody have any suggestions about how I can keep 10 hours a week from being a total loss?

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[avicoo]

OUCH!

I love books on tape/cd though.

 

[KyGrlDr2B]

Use it as down time, relaxation time, time to think about things that aren't medicine related. I always take a break after class anyway, so that could be part of yours. And you might want to move a bit closer before 3rd year.

Or, if your class tapes the class lectures, you could listen as you drive. If you can stand it. Trust me, medical school lectures are the most boring things in the world. It might make you want to smash yourself into a semi.

 

[bnichols0330]

there are also step 1 review cd's that are almost like a BRS lecture series. If I had to commute that is the way I would spend my time.

If you can relax and enjoy your time driving then do so, but for me I would rather study while driving and enjoy my relaxing time once I got home.

 

[IlianaSedai]

Before I got my car, I used to walk 30min to and 30min from lectures every day. During that time, I often just recited material to myself. I wouldn't want to go through a tape of lectures (blech, what a waste of time for me), but reciting the life cycle of HIV or rabies from my head or just pondering random stuff like what to cook for dinner this weekend worked fine for me.

Believe me, you can totally afford to think of nothing but beer and football during those 10 commute hours a week, if you really want to. There's a lot of time during the preclinical years, more than you realize before you actually get there. Sometimes I used my longish walk to just relax and unwind.

 

[timerick]

I take a bus to/from PA school. I make some index cards with information I'm trying to memorize, and look at them the first 10 minutes of the trip. Then I relax and look around and look at people and enjoy the ride. Finally, the last 10 minutes of the ride I review the cards again.

Works for me... find what works for you.

 

[DireWolf]

Put in some tunes and rock-and-roll yourself to and from school.

Driving with good music is one of my favorite ways to relax. Unfortunately, I now live 100 yards from school and miss out on this great stress-reliever.

 

[ericdamiansean]

sleep..listen to music..study..

I'll go with sleep

 

[Vincristine]

Originally posted by ericdamiansean
sleep..listen to music..study..

I'll go with sleep

Not a good plan if his commute is DRIVING.

 

[Green912]

Use this program to convert text documents to audio files which you can burn to a CD and listen to in your car.
http://www.naturalreaders.com/

 

[kaos]

You can always consider it "you" time, away from studying.

 

[zeebs]

thanks for all the ideas! looking for the step one cds. the naturalreader bit is interesting too

 

[bnichols0330]

you can find the step 1 cd's by searching ebay for "step 1 review". They typically go for about $95 and is put out by Apex testing. It includes a "comprehensive" step 1 review package. I have it ordered, so you can email me in a couple of weeks and I'll let you know how they work. Good luck.