Benefits of mandatory lectures vs more self study

[SurgDoc95]

The more med schools I look at the more I see either have mandatory lectures or a more study on your own approach. Can any med students speak to the benefits of either in med school?


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[Peach Newport]

The more med schools I look at the more I see either have mandatory lectures or a more study on your own approach. Can any med students speak to the benefits of either in med school?


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Going into this, I thought mandatory lectures were a good thing. I figured it would keep me disciplined. I figured it would get me into some good habits.

The problem is, every hour you spend in lecture is an hour you're not studying. Most people, even if they're not "morning people," experience peak mental activity in the morning... And this is always when lectures happen, so your actual studying is of lower quality because it needs to be done in the afternoon and night.

The medical students I know who don't have mandatory lectures will occasionally have some free time in the evenings and on weekends.

The ones I know (like me!) who have mandatory lectures have pretty much zero free time.

TLDR IMO mandatory lectures make med school more stressful and less healthy than it needs to be.

I can't see any benefit to mandatory lectures. If you're one of those people who REALLY learns the material better in class than on their own, you can just go to lectures anyway. If you can't keep motivated unless you're forced to attend lectures, Id say you probably won't do well in medical school. As for habits, you'll have to adjust in med school regardless of whether lectures are mandatory or not.

 

[Goro]

From the other side, as a medical educator, I can't see any advantage to a mandatory lecture. You're adult learners, and are the best ones to determine what is the most efficient way for you to learn. And the "sage on the stage" method of you being passive learners is not one of the most optimal. Some people do have to hear things, and it's useful to be able to ask a question when a concept is unclear. But for many of my students, lecture attendance is a waste of time,. and I have no problem sitting at home viewing recorded material at 2x speed.

Active learning modalities are the thing in medical education these days. These not only improve your retention of the material, they promote a mindset of life-long learning.

 

[SurgDoc95]

From the other side, as a medical educator, I can't see any advantage to a mandatory lecture. You're adult learners, and are the best ones to determine what is the most efficient way for you to learn. And the "sage on the stage" method of you being passive learners is not one of the most optimal. Some people do have to hear things, and it's useful to be able to ask a question when a concept is unclear. But for many of my students, lecture attendance is a waste of time,. and I have no problem sitting at home viewing recorded material at 2x speed.

Active learning modalities are the thing in medical education these days. These not only improve your retention of the material, they promote a mindset of life-long learning.

From the perspective of an educator why would you say some schools insist on mandatory lectures? Is it an attempt to help the students or just a "we make the rules" type thing?


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[Goro]

I think that it's the "this is the way we've always done it" mixed with antiquated notions of the effectiveness (or lack thereof, really) of passive learning. The older educators are the ones who give it the most resistance.

I have a clinical colleague who is about 65. He's been teaching at my school for at least 15 years. His subject is both very interesting and important. He is an excellent lecturer, but his lectures are always poorly attended, and this grates on him to no end.

Our students ace his subject in COMLEX every year!

From the perspective of an educator why would you say some schools insist on mandatory lectures? Is it an attempt to help the students or just a "we make the rules" type thing?


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[FutureD.O]

Avoid mandatory lecture as much as you possibly can. I have friends at other schools who absolutely hate how much time they waste during lecture only to go home and have to RE-review the material.

Not to mention, it's a pain in the ass to have to start your day earlier to only get the same, if not less, work done.

 

[Peach Newport]

The problem is, before I started school, I'd see people on SDN saying "avoid mandatory lectures." I thought they were just lazy. I thought they just wanted to wake up at noon every day. I ignored their advice.

It has nothing to do with laziness or the time you wake up. Most of these guys wake up at 8 or so anyway. It has everything to do with time management and actually Learning the material.

Do not make the same mistake I did.

 

[Rekt]

I'll come from the other side. We don't have mandatory lectures, but I go to class. I don't see how watching lectures at home is that different. Unless you 100% absorb the material at 2x, literally not rewinding or not taking small breaks during/after lectures, it isn't going to save that much time.

As long as I physically make myself pay attention, by noon I'm already done with a first pass of that days material. After working out, I can get a second pass through all the lectures that day quickly. If we have annoying labs or some BS clinical skills thing, then you make up for it on weekend or just into the next day.

I frequently talk to people who watch lectures from home and I commonly hear "Yeah, I'm 10 lectures behind" or that they haven't watched X lectures from 1-2 weeks ago. And at that point, I'm already at 2-3 passes of all the lecture a week out from the exam.

With that being said, you might as well not pick a school with mandatory lecture, that way you can figure it out yourself.

 

[Carbon090]

I go to a school without mandatory attendance. I went to class for the first couple weeks only to realize I was wasting my time.

I feel actually studying the slides, then watching the lecture at 2.0x the speed to reinforce what I studied to be so much more efficient. I save myself a lot of time compared to those I know who go to lecture. Gives me time to train at the gym and leaves weekends more open (besides weekends leading to exams).

 

[Mad Jack]

There is literally no benefit to mandatory lectures, so long as your lectures are recorded. I like lectures- At home, half-naked, in bed, on double speed, while eating Chinese food.

 

[shisong]

my school doesnt req. mandatory lectures but I still attend because I learn better that way. it's personal preference so in the end, non-mandatory lectures are better since you have the option; whereas, mandatory lectures.. ehh you dont have that option...

 

[edgerock24]

Wish there was a document of some sort showing which schools require their students to attend lectures. Could really be helpful.

 

[FutureD.O]

One key point I forgot to mention that was mentioned above: make sure the school has recorded lectures in order for you to watch them at home at your pace! I'm not sure there are schools that neither require attendance nor record lectures. I could definitely be wrong though.

 

[Dr. Death]

I'll add my voice to the chorus above.

Student A goes to 4 lectures from 8-noon, takes detailed notes, but the professors go through material very quickly and he is bound to miss several things or have things go over his head. Every hour there is a 10 minute break where the student can chat, eat, use the bathroom etc. This student is probably going to need to go back through the slides or rewatch the lecture again to get everything he needs out of it.

Student B listens to 4 lectures on 1.5 speed. Now the 4 hour lecture block is 2 hours 15 minutes. He can take breaks when needed, slow down, skip through pointless tangents and pause to make sure he solidifies and understands all the material in the lecture. He can take breaks whenever his brain needs to.

Student B not only went through the lectures faster, but got more out of them. Not attending lecture is the closes thing to a cheat code medical school has.

 

[zero0]

Self-study all the way. I watch all my lectures at 2.5x from home and move on with my life. This gives me time to actually read through the textbook and check multiple other sources. Lectures are pretty skimpy on details anyway. I've found that I don't truly understand or appreciate the material unless I read about it from multiple sources and integrate everything.

I would absolutely discourage anyone from attending a school with mandatory lectures because if it turns out that doesn't work for you or you don't learn effectively that way, tough luck. Generally the more freedom the curriculum gives you to study the way you want, the better off you'll be.

If your school's anything like mine, there'll be plenty of mandatory things like labs and doctoring courses to eat up time anyway. Watching lectures from home will save you an extra hour a day at least and that goes a long way.

 

[68PGunner]

The more med schools I look at the more I see either have mandatory lectures or a more study on your own approach. Can any med students speak to the benefits of either in med school?


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Go to school without mandatory lecture. So, in medical school, you usually are assigned a chapter per week for a subject. Personally, I usually blew through the chapter taking my own notes in 2-3 days getting a background information on the materials. Then, I watched 4-5 days of lecture on 2.0-2.2 speed writing down stuff that the professor hinted as high yield materials for the test in a day. Afterward, I spent 2-3 days blowing through the qbank quests and other resources.

I'm still in the process of refining my studying techniques. However, a good portion of my classmates are slowing down from the daily grind and volume while I'm constantly improving exam after exam while showing no sign of wear or tear. With this study schedule, I still have 2 days of doing nothing.

Just some perspective. It's really is a marathon. The key at the beginning is to stay competitive with the rest of your class while refining your studying techniques so that you can have an extra gear or two as you grind through the years.

 

[sdhere1234]

There is ZERO benefit to mandatory lecture. Labs, PBL, small groups, etc are obviously different.

Being forced to sit in an auditorium and listen to a professor read off of powerpoints for hours serves absolutely no benefit.

 

[asdf123g]

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[tony101]

Well I kind of want to go to ACOM and it has mandatory lecture? :O Should I be worried about this? Well it isn't 100% mandatory, it's like 80% mandatory and rest isn't. I mean in my undergraduate class, I always attend lecture even if it isn't required and I felt like it always helped. Idk! I'm worried because it seems everyone hates mandatory lecture

 

[lnguyen1412]

Well I kind of want to go to ACOM and it has mandatory lecture? :O Should I be worried about this? Well it isn't 100% mandatory, it's like 80% mandatory and rest isn't. I mean in my undergraduate class, I always attend lecture even if it isn't required and I felt like it always helped. Idk! I'm worried because it seems everyone hates mandatory lecture

I don't hate it. I attended lecture anyway even if it required or not because it is helpful to me in the way. everyone learning style is different. Everyone hates it does not mean someone else cannot learn it that way. Follow your own learning style

 

[Dr. Death]

Well I kind of want to go to ACOM and it has mandatory lecture? :O Should I be worried about this? Well it isn't 100% mandatory, it's like 80% mandatory and rest isn't. I mean in my undergraduate class, I always attend lecture even if it isn't required and I felt like it always helped. Idk! I'm worried because it seems everyone hates mandatory lecture

A. Aim higher than ACOM, a new school like this shouldn't be #1 on anyone's list
B. What you did in undergrad doesn't work here. This is a different ballgame where time management and efficiency is the name of the game.

 

[asdf123g]

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[68PGunner]

I don't hate it. I attended lecture anyway even if it required or not because it is helpful to me in the way. everyone learning style is different. Everyone hates it does not mean someone else cannot learn it that way. Follow your own learning style

You're still in undergrad. Wait until you go to med school. Watching recorded lecture at home on 2.2x is truly a cheat code. You will find out that your grades and social life improve tremendously when you start skipping out on lectures.

 

[Ho0v-man]

I always kind of thought the schools that required it simply didn't want the expense/effort of setting up the recorded lectures. That's at least my logic as to why so many of the new schools have mandatory attendance.

Even if you know you want to attend every lecture, you should still go somewhere that doesn't force it. Nothing stops you from going.


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[mediator1]

Having mandatory lecture absolutely suck if you are disciplined and get much more done by yourself. However, if you are lazy, it may be a saving grace.

 

[Geo16]

This is a good info to come back to..

 

[SurgDoc95]

Just wanted to say thanks everyone for your input! We have most of our upper level science courses at my undergrad recorded and I have been very happy with how I do on exams when I view them at 1.5x speed. Granted I still go to lectures, but watching them again afterwards quicker is very usefully for me. Hope to join some of you on here next fall!


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[tony101]

A. Aim higher than ACOM, a new school like this shouldn't be #1 on anyone's list
B. What you did in undergrad doesn't work here. This is a different ballgame where time management and efficiency is the name of the game.

But I loved ACOM, the environment and the overall teaching style and the area. It was something I really enjoyed and I actually was looking forward to the school(unless I got other interviews to schools I want to go to as well). I mean I didn't think it mattered if it was a relatively new school(4 years in) 🙁

 

[SurgDoc95]

But I loved ACOM, the environment and the overall teaching style. It was something I really enjoyed and I actually was looking forward to the school(unless I got other interviews to schools I want to go to as well) even if it was a new school. 🙁

If you liked the overall feel of the school then you found your fit! Personally I've looked at their campus photos online and it looks to be very nice so I can understand where you're coming from.


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[tony101]

If you liked the overall feel of the school then you found your fit! Personally I've looked at their campus photos online and it looks to be very nice so I can understand where you're coming from.


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Yea I really did enjoy the atmosphere, area, teaching style(TBL) and the passion they had. I mean maybe I am crazy but It just struck me like lightning. I don't feel like I'm settling if I really loved the experience and believe I will love it. I mean idk, I haven't been to 25 medical schools you know, so I have very limited experience.

 

[IslandStyle808]

I'll add my voice to the chorus above.

Student A goes to 4 lectures from 8-noon, takes detailed notes, but the professors go through material very quickly and he is bound to miss several things or have things go over his head. Every hour there is a 10 minute break where the student can chat, eat, use the bathroom etc. This student is probably going to need to go back through the slides or rewatch the lecture again to get everything he needs out of it.

Student B listens to 4 lectures on 1.5 speed. Now the 4 hour lecture block is 2 hours 15 minutes. He can take breaks when needed, slow down, skip through pointless tangents and pause to make sure he solidifies and understands all the material in the lecture. He can take breaks whenever his brain needs to.

Student B not only went through the lectures faster, but got more out of them. Not attending lecture is the closes thing to a cheat code medical school has.

8-12pm wow, I would love to attend this school. I would have zero complaints. Most days I go 8-4pm, 8-12pm is a treat!

 

[FutureD.O]

Yea I really did enjoy the atmosphere, area, teaching style(TBL) and the passion they had. I mean maybe I am crazy but It just struck me like lightning. I don't feel like I'm settling if I really loved the experience and believe I will love it. I mean idk, I haven't been to 25 medical schools you know, so I have very limited experience.

ACOM was amazing in my experience. The faculty, facility, rotations, and structured curriculum were what I liked most. I was going to attend there until being accepted at my state school. ACOM was definitely my #2.

 

[cliquesh]

Lectures do not work unless the audience has previous knowledge about the lecture material. I guess you could pre-read for every lecture, but that's unrealistic in the long term.