Amount of studying in optometry school.

[hopefulstudents]

Could a current optometry student give me an idea of a basic day in optometry school? About how much do you study on an average day?

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[simplybaby]

Maybe this might be helpful! It's the forum for practitioners and students currently enrolled in optometry school.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forums/optometry.21/

 

[OpticalBlackOut]

an oldie, but a goodie: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/workload-during-optometry-school.195617/

 

[Blondiechick919]

Depends on you, your style, and your school's schedule and exams. But expect to have 1-2 exams a week first year and expect the material to be exponentially harder 2nd. 3rd is way less class way more clinic across the board and generally easier until you're cramming for boards. 4th year is easy peasy.

 

[mathcod]

I graduated 2013. I was a B average student in undergrad but graduated with honors in optometry school. Optometry school is definitely a lot easier. At my school, 1st year was the toughest because it had the most classes and busy work, but 2nd year got easier, and 3rd year was even easier, mainly because the curriculum builds on itself and tends to repeat key things (for example, Myasthenia Gravis probably appeared in 7 different classes) so by the time you hit boards you pretty much knew it in and out (diagnostic tests, symptoms, treatment, pathophysiology). Boards wasn't that hard, and I honestly believe any B student can just wing it without studying based on if they passed their classes and learned.

That's the thing: you have to learn. I've met so many optometry students that just memorized it was embarassing, but whatever works apparently works. My friend who memorized details graduated and is making as much as I do, but she felt always overwhelmed and didn't retain much of her education. She "studied" all of the time but, again, she was just memorizing stuff. I've tutored people who just memorized and some failed and dropped out.

I read textbooks, utilized my library, and got tutoring from upperclassmen and I actually learned and retained most of the material. I had a lot easier time with my education, didn't shell out $700 for a cram course for boards {which received mixed reviews in efficacy from classmates} and had plenty of spare time {I remember doing tons of gaming binges and partying, and I remember a lot of my classmates did as well}. I probably studied about 4-9 hours per exam, so I probably studied 90-180 hours per 3 month quarter.

It's not that difficult and you can definitely have a school life or a family life, but you have to learn how to study correctly and efficiently to make learning the material easy. Memorizing is the hard way to victory, and you can't memorize everything forever. Reading the same powerpoint presentation 10x is just memorizing. Reading the powerpoint presentation and different sources regarding the same topic (especially those written with a student clinician as the audience) will tell you what you need to know when key points link up, and often time it will be some other source that will tell you explanation/mechanism for why something occurs, and then it clicks and you will have learned the material.

 

[sky019]

I'm in my first year right now. I'm studying pretty much everyday and every weekend. It's mostly non-stop studying. That doesn't mean you don't have free time. Just have to manage.

 

[hopefulstudents]

I graduated 2013. I was a B average student in undergrad but graduated with honors in optometry school. Optometry school is definitely a lot easier. At my school, 1st year was the toughest because it had the most classes and busy work, but 2nd year got easier, and 3rd year was even easier, mainly because the curriculum builds on itself and tends to repeat key things (for example, Myasthenia Gravis probably appeared in 7 different classes) so by the time you hit boards you pretty much knew it in and out (diagnostic tests, symptoms, treatment, pathophysiology). Boards wasn't that hard, and I honestly believe any B student can just wing it without studying based on if they passed their classes and learned.

That's the thing: you have to learn. I've met so many optometry students that just memorized it was embarassing, but whatever works apparently works. My friend who memorized details graduated and is making as much as I do, but she felt always overwhelmed and didn't retain much of her education. She "studied" all of the time but, again, she was just memorizing stuff. I've tutored people who just memorized and some failed and dropped out.

I read textbooks, utilized my library, and got tutoring from upperclassmen and I actually learned and retained most of the material. I had a lot easier time with my education, didn't shell out $700 for a cram course for boards {which received mixed reviews in efficacy from classmates} and had plenty of spare time {I remember doing tons of gaming binges and partying, and I remember a lot of my classmates did as well}. I probably studied about 4-9 hours per exam, so I probably studied 90-180 hours per 3 month quarter.

It's not that difficult and you can definitely have a school life or a family life, but you have to learn how to study correctly and efficiently to make learning the material easy. Memorizing is the hard way to victory, and you can't memorize everything forever. Reading the same powerpoint presentation 10x is just memorizing. Reading the powerpoint presentation and different sources regarding the same topic (especially those written with a student clinician as the audience) will tell you what you need to know when key points link up, and often time it will be some other source that will tell you explanation/mechanism for why something occurs, and then it clicks and you will have learned the material.

This is great, I really appreciate your feedback. It was very helpful.