Hours of studying and limit for burnout?

[hopefulDOcter4321]

Current 1st year. How many hours a day / week do you all study? And what do you all think is your limit after which you feel burnt out? I'm trying to find the right balance for this. Currently, I'll go hard for one exam but then get burnout and not care much about the exam later that week. Our curriculum has around 2 exams a week.

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[CyrusHabs7695]

I don't think its so much a specific number of hours studying = burnout, its more of purely studying and neglecting other things in your life (exercise, friends, family, hobbies etc)

 

[Tenk]

You need to set up some kinda system that works for you. Mine was a work hard, play hard method. I studied hard but then I chilled and did whatever I wanted several hours a day. If you don’t chill out and exercise or have fun, you’ll never make it.

 

[IMG69]

I usually do zanki cards while gaming, when i have to afk/can afk get through quite a lot

 

[Gilakend]

I would say 60-70 hours a week on time doing school things whether that's required things or studying.

However, I load mine up during the week and take the weekends off. I don't feel burnt out, but often feel like I could reduce my workload if I studied on Sunday, but I haven't ended up doing this yet.

 

[hopefulDOcter4321]

I would say 60-70 hours a week on time doing school things whether that's required things or studying.

However, I load mine up during the week and take the weekends off. I don't feel burnt out, but often feel like I could reduce my workload if I studied on Sunday, but I haven't ended up doing this yet.

Since I attend a mandatory attendance school, I feel like my weekends are wasted catching up on material. I'm not much of in-class learner myself. For exams you have early in the following week like Monday/Tuesday do you study on the weekends? We have several a week (2-3x) exams but shorter amount of lectures like 10ish per exam.

 

[Gilakend]

Since I attend a mandatory attendance school, I feel like my weekends are wasted catching up on material. I'm not much of in-class learner myself. For exams you have early in the following week like Monday/Tuesday do you study on the weekends? We have several a week (2-3x) exams but shorter amount of lectures like 10ish per exam.

At my school, we have quizzes every 2 weeks over the last 2 weeks of material cumulative and exams at the end of every block. You can take the quiz or exam anytime Friday afternoon - Sunday night and I always take them on Friday afternoon, giving myself the full weekend.

If I were to break it down my lectures (which I wouldn't, but just so you can compare) our quizzes probably have 20-30 lectures on them with an avg maybe around 25 and an exam covering 10 weeks of material would probably be like 100-150 lectures. Right now we are ~7 weeks in and have 100 "lectures" uploaded, but some of those might not be full-on lectures.

 

[Fatalis]

When I was in MS1-2; studied 7-8hrs/day during the weekday then for weekend 12-14hrs. Of course I would take breaks, etc. I found that studying for 15-20 then giving myself 10min break would let me retain a ton!

 

[southflorida1107]

I would always study about a week out from an exam and break it down so I could study parts of it each day and finish a couple days before the exam to review. Also always stopped studying at 7P to relax and almost never studied past noon on weekends

 

[4thtimeretaker]

I would always study about a week out from an exam and break it down so I could study parts of it each day and finish a couple days before the exam to review. Also always stopped studying at 7P to relax and almost never studied past noon on weekends

How many lectures do you typically have for each exams? I know the poster above said 100-150 lectures. Do you also get through many passes? Do you ever get the feeling that you "should be studying" when you wind down at 7 PM, for instance a couple days before exam? My problem is that I always have this overarching feeling that I should be studying 24/7

 

[southflorida1107]

How many lectures do you typically have for each exams? I know the poster above said 100-150 lectures. Do you also get through many passes? Do you ever get the feeling that you "should be studying" when you wind down at 7 PM, for instance a couple days before exam? My problem is that I always have this overarching feeling that I should be studying 24/7

OP said they had roughly 10 lectures an exam which is a bit less than what I had. My exams were roughly 13 lectures per so my method worked out for me. I would do two lectures a day and review the previous material after studying the new lectures so it helped ingrain it a bit better. I never felt that my unwinding at 7P was an issue and I say that only because I was one of those people that never attended class and started my days earlier than most

 

[4thtimeretaker]

OP said they had roughly 10 lectures an exam which is a bit less than what I had. My exams were roughly 13 lectures per so my method worked out for me. I would do two lectures a day and review the previous material after studying the new lectures so it helped ingrain it a bit better. I never felt that my unwinding at 7P was an issue and I say that only because I was one of those people that never attended class and started my days earlier than most

Ah that makes sense, I find it hard also balancing having two exams a week. Because sometimes you're simultaneously studying two separate subjects that have no overlap whatsoever. I think like you suggested, skipping non-mandatory classes and just grinding out all the studying earlier in the day is the move.

 

[mistafab]

I studied around 5 hours a day 5 days a week first year. Plenty of time to not burn out if you are okay doing poorly in school lol.

Second year I did 8 hours a day (actual studying, not total hours), 5 days a week, then a half day on Saturday. I found this system was really healthy and I felt like I had time to do things I liked to do, without the guilt of “not studying.” Also did really well in my classes and step. YMMV

 

[teenyfish]

I studied around 5 hours a day 5 days a week first year. Plenty of time to not burn out if you are okay doing poorly in school lol.

Second year I did 8 hours a day (actual studying, not total hours), 5 days a week, then a half day on Saturday. I found this system was really healthy and I felt like I had time to do things I liked to do, without the guilt of “not studying.” Also did really well in my classes and step. YMMV

Hmm.. I think I might try this next block. I was doing about 6 hours a day, 7 days a week and felt pretty burnt out. I'm still figuring out my ideal study techniques so that hasn't helped with efficiency either.

 

[4thtimeretaker]

I studied around 5 hours a day 5 days a week first year. Plenty of time to not burn out if you are okay doing poorly in school lol.

Second year I did 8 hours a day (actual studying, not total hours), 5 days a week, then a half day on Saturday. I found this system was really healthy and I felt like I had time to do things I liked to do, without the guilt of “not studying.” Also did really well in my classes and step. YMMV

So the 5 hours a day, isn't including class hours right? Is your study technique basically to skip class and watch the lecture recordings for that day and that's your first pass? Do you have advice for someone that has to take 2 exams a week (12-15 lectures) and the material is completely independent?

 

[esob]

2 Exams per week sounds awful tbh. I'm not sure how I'd even deal with that since I personally do better with multiple long term passes over a topic. If I were in that situation though I would probably try to anki the high yield stuff so that I could retain it for step and just get a general overview of anything that wasn't explicitly mentioned in first aid.

 

[mistafab]

That 5 hours included class time, hence the doing poorly lol.

Mistafab’s guide to barely getting by.

So the 5 hours a day, isn't including class hours right? Is your study technique basically to skip class and watch the lecture recordings for that day and that's your first pass? Do you have advice for someone that has to take 2 exams a week (12-15 lectures) and the material is completely independent?

 

[4thtimeretaker]

2 Exams per week sounds awful tbh. I'm not sure how I'd even deal with that since I personally do better with multiple long term passes over a topic. If I were in that situation though I would probably try to anki the high yield stuff so that I could retain it for step and just get a general overview of anything that wasn't explicitly mentioned in first aid.

Yeah, I'm actually afraid that it may potentially hinder my board performance later on, because at that point it's more of cramming in the lectures between the exams. Unfortunately our school uses an A-F system and I'm always afraid of being on the radar if my GPA falls too low, so i haven't had much time to fit in zanki

 

[FutureInternist]

Current 1st year. How many hours a day / week do you all study? And what do you all think is your limit after which you feel burnt out? I'm trying to find the right balance for this. Currently, I'll go hard for one exam but then get burnout and not care much about the exam later that week. Our curriculum has around 2 exams a week.

That’s rough.
I loved my block exam set-up. 5-6 weeks of info, then 1 full week of exams.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Your set up is just a constant cycle of ignore all subjects except those that you have an exam on, then play catch up as soon as those exams are done.

My study group also skipped almost all classes and made to review the same lectures as a group on the same timeline.

Potential med students should take the exams setup into account when applying.

 

[OrgoCoop]

My approach was to study however much I felt was necessary for that week (40-80+ hours) but I ALWAYS took at minimum one half day off per week. I don't care if I had step 1 coming up. Always one half day where you do not think about medicine or school and do whatever you want. I think it prevented burn out for me in a lot of ways.

 

[Isoval]

My approach was to study however much I felt was necessary for that week (40-80+ hours) but I ALWAYS took at minimum one half day off per week. I don't care if I had step 1 coming up. Always one half day where you do not think about medicine or school and do whatever you want. I think it prevented burn out for me in a lot of ways.

Jesus christ I've never studied close to 80 hours in a week before

 

[OrgoCoop]

Jesus christ I've never studied close to 80 hours in a week before

Not even for step 1? People at my school were regularly at the library from 7a-11p most days during dedicated.

edit - just saw ur class of 2022. you'll see what I mean when you hit dedicated

 

[Isoval]

Not even for step 1? People at my school were regularly at the library from 7a-11p most days during dedicated.

edit - just saw ur class of 2022. you'll see what I mean when you hit dedicated

Oof.

 

[esob]

Yeah, I'm actually afraid that it may potentially hinder my board performance later on, because at that point it's more of cramming in the lectures between the exams. Unfortunately our school uses an A-F system and I'm always afraid of being on the radar if my GPA falls too low, so i haven't had much time to fit in zanki

Check out the flash facts decks from RX360, it is more condensed than Zanki in my opinion

 

[Deecee2DO]

M1 i studied 8 hrs per day and 10 hrs per day a few days before exams. M2 is a different story-call me nuts but I do 10-12 hrs regularly evryday and then up to 14 hrs (sometimes) 2-3 days before exams depending on how hard the block is. I study my nuts off for 2 weeks then take the weekend off and rinse and repeat since our exams are every two weeks this year. I prevent burnout by literally not looking at anything school related on my off weekends. I also use timers where I go hard without distractions for 50 mins then 10 min break where i get up and walk outside and call friends and family

 

[Medic741]

Current 1st year. How many hours a day / week do you all study? And what do you all think is your limit after which you feel burnt out? I'm trying to find the right balance for this. Currently, I'll go hard for one exam but then get burnout and not care much about the exam later that week. Our curriculum has around 2 exams a week.

Some advice from another perspective, that if you can study in a place that you're happy and take short breaks between something active you can study all day for years without burning out.

During UG and medical school I figured out how to study around my hobbies. Took my phone to the climbing gym or mountain biking to do Anki between routes & would watch a lecture or two then climb for a few minutes. Passed all my classes with A/B and didn't burnout or find medical school all that hard because I didn't give up the things I really enjoyed. Gotta be proactive about that