Was just wondering what a typical day in medical school was like the first two years. What was your typical routine? Any free time on the weekend? Please share youre experience 🙂
A typical day in medical school
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Every day.
But really, I think it mostly has to do with your school. A school with mandatory classes vs optional is going to be a big deal for some and probably time between tests will be a factor. We don't have too much time between tests which has its advantages but it also doesn't leave much room for a break.
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How does having not too much time between test have its advantage?
Usually I watch the current days lectures, then re-watch and do notes for some previous lectures (2nd pass). Lots of free time during non-exam week/weekend. There's time for any hobby as long as you're efficient. Pretty much little to no free time on an exam week/weekend (exam every 2-3 weeks). You will get different answers though, I'm probably more average. Some go balls to the wall studying exam week or not, and some slack until a week before the test rolls around.
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Not as much information is tested per exam.
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It's the best thing that can ever happen to you. You'll love it.
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More often than not...
Wake up around 9 - 9:30.
Go to lecture until afternoon.
Catch up on the lecture or two I missed from morning.
Gym.
Library until 10 or so.
Decompress and crash around midnight.
Schedule was drastically different during anatomy block, and hours always get cranked way up during the week surrounding an exam.
It's different for everyone.
Wake up around 9 - 9:30.
Go to lecture until afternoon.
Catch up on the lecture or two I missed from morning.
Gym.
Library until 10 or so.
Decompress and crash around midnight.
Schedule was drastically different during anatomy block, and hours always get cranked way up during the week surrounding an exam.
It's different for everyone.
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Usually the forst few months are tough, you try and memeorize everything. Once you get the hang of it you start to know whats importatn and what is not, your schedule frees up a bit.
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Most of the day is dedicated to class or studying, but I almost always reserve a few hours to do other things as well. Most people seem to find a balance between studying and the rest of life that they're comfortable with. You won't spend the next two years in a cubicle without sunshine or human contact unless you choose to.
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Stay at home. Watch recorded lectures at double speed. Drive 3.5 hours one way home on weekends. Maintain my former life without a single consequence. First two years have been pretty sweet, aside from the part where my brain nearly broke from the stress and I'd find myself staring at a blank computer screen for hours because I was paralyzed by anxiety.
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Was just wondering what people who are early risers (Up around 6:30 AMish) tend to do and if waking up early has any advantages (besides having more time to study of courses) that anybody with experience can share? I was contemplating starting a gym routine at my apartment gym for a about 45-minutes to an hour before lecture begins at 8 AM. Is it really just time management? Or is the material so hard that you have to spend a lot of time going over one thing while the "pancakes" of knowledge keep stacking up?
Appreciate the insight!
Appreciate the insight!
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I am an early riser, 5-6 am. Medical school is 100% time management and if you plan when and what to study, and actually study during those times you will be successful. I never studied past 6-7pm ever, and most days i was done by late afternoon. If I did anything in the evenings it was to annotate some of the lectures at double speed. I also never studied on a Friday or Saturday during years 1 & 2.
My day was usually 7-11 study, 1 hour lunch/workout, study for a few more hours, done. Mix in some mandatory stuff for school and thats it. Keep in mind this isn't what I did for boards and those days became a little longer.
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In a perfect world I would watch 4 lectures a day and do second pass on 4 and do whatever else is mandatory. I do two complete passes of material the day before an exam, so those days are longer. I wake up at around 10 and get like 8-9 hours of sleep most nights, but exam nights I get around 4-5. We have an exam at least once a week with most the time actually being twice a week. Sometimes, when my brain is fried after an exam ill do absolutely nothing but watch Netflix and workout. Makes my next day longer but totally worth it sometimes.
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Required class from 8-12, every day. You get to skip 15 percent of each course for the block, though (although for courses like Psych, for example, you could do that in one day and have to make all of the rest of those for the 9 week block). Anatomy lab normally 2 hours, twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays. OMM lab on Tuesdays, 2 hours. Clinical Skills, 2 hours on Wednesdays. Thankfully we're done with anatomy in a week. A full year of that was enough! We normally get some embedded study time in the afternoon, because half the class starts lab at 1 and the other half at 3. But if you're stuck with the late lab and you live further than a few miles you're on campus 8-5. Some weeks they double up the labs; next week, for example, the only time we're off from Monday-Wednesday from 8-5 is an hour for lunch.
Thank you!
Thank you!
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My typical day is wake up at 6am and study at home till noon. Go to labs at school from 1-4. Go home and study till 8pm. Exam weekends are way different though.
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Once we finished anatomy, my schedule was: Wake up 8 AM. Outline last year's notes on the lectures for that day (we have scribes at my school). Take a break for lunch/to work out around noon or 1 PM. Watch the recorded classes at 1.5x or 2x speed to make sure my outlines contain all the pertinent information. Study until dinner. Eat dinner. Study more after dinner. Watch an episode of whatever show I'm currently addicted to on Netflix. Bed around 11 PM. When necessary, this schedule could be adjusted to go out for dinner with friends on a random night, go on a date, etc. Leading up to exams is a more intense version of this routine.
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What time do you usually go to bed if you wake up that early?
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That was during MS1 and 2, and I was on the couch around 8, game or watch tv w/ the wife, in bed by 10-11. 7-8 hours of sleep guaranteed every night, more on weekends
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People don't usually realize the physical and mental endurance required to sit in a single spot just to put in the time to have gone over the material you're responsible for on a med school test. Like most of us spend our days sitting non-stop to do our readings and to watch our lectures. This physical study endurance cannot be underestimated and is a great explanation of a productive day from a 1st year's perspective.
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Depends on the demands of your spouse, daycare, etc. Medical school is beyond a full time job and raising a child is a full time job. If you have a working spouse, you need child care assistance. If you and your spouse can afford for them to stay home and raise the child then you are fine.
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For me, I rarely went to school except for days we had mandatory lectures/labs, so I had a plenty of time. It was more like a fulltime job plus some nights/weekends that I had to study close to exams. During board prep, it was more like 60-70 hr/ week
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When med school started I had been married 8 years and had two kids, we added a third towards the end of first year, I'm now at the end of my third year. My wife has remained a SAHM through medical school. I treated school like a full-time job with a part-time job in the evening. I would do school 8-5 (with a lunch break of course), eat dinner and get kids ready for bed 5-8, study 8-11. I did that Monday-Thursday. I took Friday night off to be with my wife. On Saturdays I volunteered at a children's play place 10-2, studied 2-5, called it a night. Sunday was time for God and family, all day. On test weeks My schedule changed to Monday-Saturday: school 8-5, eat dinner and get kids ready for bed 5-8, study 8-11. That worked for me and my family. Other married students spent more time away from their familes, some less. If med school ends up ruining your family relationships, was it really worth it?
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As stated somewhere above, your schedule will vary by semester and proximity to exams.
1st semester was the toughest, getting acclimated and trying to cram everything in. Once you get through anatomy and get the hang of things though I would do something like this:
Wake 630, get my day organized and planned, check off homework/videos/readings for small courses such as primary clinical skills/ osteopathic practice.
After this and breakfast, class most days at 8am-12noon. Sometimes afternoon class or labs. If not, lunch and study til 2/3, gym for an hour, then fit in study into the evening around dinner until 9-10pm.
You'll find it gets easier and you end up knowing exactly what you need to do to get the grade/understanding you want out of it.
1st semester was the toughest, getting acclimated and trying to cram everything in. Once you get through anatomy and get the hang of things though I would do something like this:
Wake 630, get my day organized and planned, check off homework/videos/readings for small courses such as primary clinical skills/ osteopathic practice.
After this and breakfast, class most days at 8am-12noon. Sometimes afternoon class or labs. If not, lunch and study til 2/3, gym for an hour, then fit in study into the evening around dinner until 9-10pm.
You'll find it gets easier and you end up knowing exactly what you need to do to get the grade/understanding you want out of it.
I'm married. No kids.
I treat school like a job with some overtime. I wake up at 8, drink my coffee and do hobby stuff until sometime between 9-10, then begin studying (usually at school). Done by 6 or 7 at night. Whenever I feel myself beginning to zone out I'll take a small break and do something fun (15-30 mins or so), then get back to studying. When I get home, I eat dinner with my wife and we hang out and watch a movie or something.
I do this 6 days a week. Sunday is fun day. I may do some minor review stuff in the morning, and then my wife and I usually hang out with friends for most of the day.
It's honestly not that stressful. Really. As long as you stay on top of things, first year isn't bad at all.
Also, for what it's worth, I actually prefer going to class. So if there's an 8 am lecture, move the whole schedule forward a couple hours. I actually find it takes me longer to watch recorded lectures because it's just easier for me to focus if I see an instructor speaking in front of me. If I'm listening to a recorded lecture I zone out more, and thus need to take more breaks. YMMV.
I treat school like a job with some overtime. I wake up at 8, drink my coffee and do hobby stuff until sometime between 9-10, then begin studying (usually at school). Done by 6 or 7 at night. Whenever I feel myself beginning to zone out I'll take a small break and do something fun (15-30 mins or so), then get back to studying. When I get home, I eat dinner with my wife and we hang out and watch a movie or something.
I do this 6 days a week. Sunday is fun day. I may do some minor review stuff in the morning, and then my wife and I usually hang out with friends for most of the day.
It's honestly not that stressful. Really. As long as you stay on top of things, first year isn't bad at all.
Also, for what it's worth, I actually prefer going to class. So if there's an 8 am lecture, move the whole schedule forward a couple hours. I actually find it takes me longer to watch recorded lectures because it's just easier for me to focus if I see an instructor speaking in front of me. If I'm listening to a recorded lecture I zone out more, and thus need to take more breaks. YMMV.
W
wxman393
Ditto on this. Married for eight years with a couple of kids and a full-time working spouse. I don't study past 10 pm, even during exam weeks (typically two exams per week). I enjoy spending time with my wife and kids, while also getting plenty of sleep so that I can get up early in the morning to hit the gym before class. Unfortunately, we have a semi-mandatory attendance policy and can only miss a certain number of lecture hours per block.
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I think being married made the these past two years much easier. I don't worry about cooking, cleaning, running errands, or even ironing my white coat. My better half takes care of all of that. I'm very efficient with my studying. Up until February (Boards studying started) of the second year, I spent no more than 40hrs on a week on schooling stuff. This includes listening to lectures (FROM HOME!), going to labs, OMM, and studying. I honored nearly every course. I accompanied my wife and kid to Disneyland 3-4x a week, watched TONS of TV (Breaking Bad, Prison Break, GOT, TWD, Dexter, House, Hannible, Lost, and few others I can remember), visited extended family members once a week, and still had time to spend time on SDN.
All that that was possible because 1) I avoided going to school as much as I could (on many occasions I sacrificed easy-earned points so I could stay home) 2) Listened to the lectures online at 2x while taking detailed notes 3) Made sure to limit my notes to one page, singled sided per lecture 4) Reviewed my handwritten notes every night 4) Prioritized my family (I spent every free moment with them. When my classmates would go out for lunch or something after an exam, I'd go home and spend that time with my wife and kid) 5) I took a genuine interest of the material I was learning. I didn't feel it was a burden. I really enjoyed learning this stuff.
The only thing I'd change if I go back in time to Day 1 of medical school is I'd get Firecrackers and invest 30mins of my day doing qs to maintain the knowledge until I got to boards prep time. I should've told those students who advised me to "don't worry about boards until Spring of second year" to shut their mouth.
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I sleep all the time. People keep talking about tests and such. I imagine they happen on campus somewhere. I'd take them but they get in the way of video games and drinking...
Seriously tho. You go to class and then go home and study. Long hours. And then study more on weekends.
How much studying depends on the subject, how well you want to do vs have a life and your own ability to learn.
Strap yourself in, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.
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Seriously tho. You go to class and then go home and study. Long hours. And then study more on weekends.
How much studying depends on the subject, how well you want to do vs have a life and your own ability to learn.
Strap yourself in, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.
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Any reasons for choosing firecracker over anki? Is the saved time of not having to write your own cards what attracted you to it?
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That's a lot of Disneyland lol.
Same here, married, except much less time spent doing fun things. I'm in the top 15% probably, but I definitely work for it. It's a good example that some people will just straight up be more intelligent/better at studying.
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No, I just happen to know that the few people in my class that started off their dedicated boards studying scoring 240+ on NBME exams. They all did FCs from Day 1. I regret not doing that. It's a little investment for a huge return.
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Yeah, but they were 2 or 3hrs max. Disneyland is 15 mins away from my house so it's hard to not go there daily when you have an annual pass.
I guess I owe my preclinical academic success to my healthy relationship with my wife and kid. Being happy at home makes a huge positive impact on the way I performed in school.
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@Ibn Alnafis MD is an OG around these parts. Give his advice serious consideration. Been followin' you since you were applying to DO programs bro. Keep up the good work man. Pure inspiration!
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Bumping up an old thread, but I just wanted to point out that most of these responses about having a great family life were guys. Unfortunately it’s not the same for women 🙁 I’m sure there are plenty of stay at home dads or husbands that work full time and support their wives in medical school, but its so much less common and doesn’t come without the guilt of a woman leaving her family at home. Nothing against these guys, happy that you had such awesome, supportive spouses, but just wish it was different for us girls (no one’s fault, just society). At least it looks like the medical field in general is becoming more accomodating to women with families recently!
D
deleted707454
1. Wake up, eat, read articles/current events until my mind wakes up and gets going.
2. Make ANKI cards from yesterdays lectures.
3. Study ANKI cards from day before yesterdays lectures.
4. 12 noon Go out and exercise. Shower & get ready for school
5. 1 - 5pm mandatorily attend the afternoon labs, (e.g. gross anatomy dissection, clinical medicine, bone wizardry, etc.)
6. 5 - 8pm watch todays lecture recordings at fast speed, first pass.
7. 8 onward = videogames, fiction books, EtOH, hobbies
8. Rinse and repeat
Day(s) before a test = Step 3 (x10)
Day(s) after a test = Step 7 (x10)
Every 6 or 7 days = Step 9
9. fornicate with my SO
2. Make ANKI cards from yesterdays lectures.
3. Study ANKI cards from day before yesterdays lectures.
4. 12 noon Go out and exercise. Shower & get ready for school
5. 1 - 5pm mandatorily attend the afternoon labs, (e.g. gross anatomy dissection, clinical medicine, bone wizardry, etc.)
6. 5 - 8pm watch todays lecture recordings at fast speed, first pass.
7. 8 onward = videogames, fiction books, EtOH, hobbies
8. Rinse and repeat
Day(s) before a test = Step 3 (x10)
Day(s) after a test = Step 7 (x10)
Every 6 or 7 days = Step 9
9. fornicate with my SO
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9 AM = Wake up and Eat
10 AM - 1PM = Watch lectures at home.
2PM-4PM = Gym
5PM-Midnight = Go to school, get relevant details from class.
On test weeks I usually replace the gym part with more studying.
10 AM - 1PM = Watch lectures at home.
2PM-4PM = Gym
5PM-Midnight = Go to school, get relevant details from class.
On test weeks I usually replace the gym part with more studying.
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This.
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