How many hours a day do med students attend class?

[Gardenea]

At my highschool class is 8:30 am -3:40 pm, are these hours similar to what med students spend in class M-F?

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[LaughingGas10]

At my highschool class is 8:30 am -3:40 pm, are these hours similar to what med students spend in class M-F?

It depends on the school and can be quite varied.

There is a concerning trend in cutting down the number of classes all over.

The most ridiculous one i have seen as an educator is the newly opened NOORDA college of osteopathic medicine which states on their website that they have No scheduled classes and no large classroom lectures

Curriculum | Noorda College of Osteopathic Medicine

noordacom.org

@Goro do you have any thoughts among this from the DO educators as to their impression of this policy, and if this will become widespread ?

 

[M&L]

At my highschool class is 8:30 am -3:40 pm, are these hours similar to what med students spend in class M-F?

It greatly depends on the school and on where you are in your stage of medical education . Also if lectures are mandatory or not . And just on your personal learning style .
Personallt , I think I study probably from 8-12, then from 3-6 4 days a week , 2 half days and 1 day off .

 

[drducky.]

It depends on the school and can be quite varied.

There is a concerning trend in cutting down the number of classes all over.

The most ridiculous one i have seen as an educator is the newly opened NOORDA college of osteopathic medicine which states on their website that they have No scheduled classes and no large classroom lectures

Curriculum | Noorda College of Osteopathic Medicine

noordacom.org

@Goro do you have any thoughts among this from the DO educators as to their impression of this policy, and if this will become widespread ?

It’s actually a positive to have less scheduled lectures. You’ll understand when you get there.

 

[Lasetor756]

Word to the wise. Don’t go to class. Agree with what others said above.

 

[deleted1082375]

High school is much different because of all the downtime, socializing, and time in class to do homework. Med school is just them lecturing to you the whole time and you have to learn everything they tell you. Most days are over four hours.... Some days 8 AM - 5PM of straight lecture.

Labs are more chill but there's very little downtime. Too much material to cover.

My last exam was an entire semester of a college class (35 or so lectures) jammed into two weeks with an exam the following monday..... this was with four other classes going on at the same time.

 

[TragicalDrFaust]

I'm a first year osteopathic medical student and I spent about 5-8 hours a day on school work, including weekends. I've taken a single day off this year other than scheduled breaks. I only go to class when it's mandatory, about 2-3 hours a week or maybe 6 hours if there are anatomy labs that week. High school and medical school, and even undergrad, are apples and oranges (and banana?) Don't be too worried about the amount or work or the timing - undergrad will ramp up in difficulty enough that you gain mental endurance and learn to manage your time by the time you get to medical school.

 

[Goro]

It depends on the school and can be quite varied.

There is a concerning trend in cutting down the number of classes all over.

The most ridiculous one i have seen as an educator is the newly opened NOORDA college of osteopathic medicine which states on their website that they have No scheduled classes and no large classroom lectures

Curriculum | Noorda College of Osteopathic Medicine

noordacom.org

@Goro do you have any thoughts among this from the DO educators as to their impression of this policy, and if this will become widespread ?

I'm really worried that the Noorda curriculum will leave weak students high and dry. This is a curriculum designed for strong students; something that Noorda, being a new, for-profit DO school, will not attract for a fair number of years. On top of that, new schools devote very little in the way of student support, like learning services.

There are schools that have moved to a TBL format (U VM, Wright State) and have no lectures. Rather, students look at assigned material, like pre-recorded videos, and then work together as teams. The data suggests that this improves long term retention, but I have yet to see any data on Board scores for this, and no that Step I/Level I are going PF, we might never know!

At my school, some 80-90% of the students do not attend our lectures. As adult learners, that's fine with us. Yet not at CUSOM, LECOM, ARCOM and a few others, where their heads are stuck in the 1920s. Our students are still required to attend labs, so they're in class some 6-8 hrs/week.

 

[drducky.]

I'm really worried that the Noorda curriculum will leave weak students high and dry. This is a curriculum designed for strong students; something that Noorda, being a new, for-profit DO school, will not attract for a fair number of years. On top of that, new schools devote very little in the way of student support, like learning services.

There are schools that have moved to a TBL format (U VM, Wright State) and have no lectures. Rather, students look at assigned material, like pre-recorded videos, and then work together as teams. The data suggests that this improves long term retention, but I have yet to see any data on Board scores for this, and no that Step I/Level I are going PF, we might never know!

At my school, some 80-90% of the students do not attend our lectures. As adult learners, that's fine with us. Yet not at CUSOM, LECOM, ARCOM and a few others, where their heads are stuck in the 1920s. Our students are still required to attend labs, so they're in class some 6-8 hrs/week.

BUT STUDIES SHOW STUDENTS DO BETTER IN CLASS 😂

 

[deleted1082375]

I'm really worried that the Noorda curriculum will leave weak students high and dry. This is a curriculum designed for strong students; something that Noorda, being a new, for-profit DO school, will not attract for a fair number of years. On top of that, new schools devote very little in the way of student support, like learning services.

There are schools that have moved to a TBL format (U VM, Wright State) and have no lectures. Rather, students look at assigned material, like pre-recorded videos, and then work together as teams. The data suggests that this improves long term retention, but I have yet to see any data on Board scores for this, and no that Step I/Level I are going PF, we might never know!

At my school, some 80-90% of the students do not attend our lectures. As adult learners, that's fine with us. Yet not at CUSOM, LECOM, ARCOM and a few others, where their heads are stuck in the 1920s. Our students are still required to attend labs, so they're in class some 6-8 hrs/week.

do you know if the students at ARCOM, LECOM, or CUSOM benefit from mandatory attendance? are they weaker DO students in general?

 

[Goro]

do you know if the students at ARCOM, LECOM, or CUSOM benefit from mandatory attendance? are they weaker DO students in general?

For the latter two schools, they're fine students. ARCOM being newer, don't have that luxury. Do NOT assume that I am attacking the ARCOM students!

Several decades of medical education data shows that passive learning is known to not be as effective as active learning modalities.

 

[LaughingGas10]

BUT STUDIES SHOW STUDENTS DO BETTER IN CLASS 😂

This may be just the schools I have taught at. the schools with a didactic curriculum with good lectures, the students seem more prepared when they come out to the later clinical years and have a more comprehensive understanding.

The curriculum where there are no didactic classes or an established curriculum, I feel that students when they come to us during their clinical rotations, they almost have an attention deficit, with sparse flash card adapted learning, which is good to pass the boards, but not enough rigor for the clinical challenge of medicine.

 

[deleted1082375]

This may be just the schools I have taught at. the schools with a didactic curriculum with good lectures, the students seem more prepared when they come out to the later clinical years and have a better understanding.

The curriculum where there are no didactic classes or an established curriculum, I feel that students when they come to us during their clinical rotations, they have an attention deficit, with sparse flash card adapted learning, which is good to pass the boards, but enough for the clinical challenge of medicine.

just gotta learn to pimp with cloze deletions and you'll be blown away

 

[Sleepingdoc]

At my highschool class is 8:30 am -3:40 pm, are these hours similar to what med students spend in class M-F?

High school learning is different from med school. Please dont compare the two. You dont get spoon fed in med school.

 

[LizzyM]

Forty years ago, med school was 8-4:30, 5 days per week with a portion of that time devoted to labs (anatomy, physiology, etc) and the rest a lecture hall with the entire class. Times have changed

Some schools have lectures but very few of the lectures are mandatory and they are also recorded and posted online. Some students find it more efficient to listen to the recording, on 1.5 speed, and then go back over the most difficult concepts.

Besides large lectures, many schools have smaller tutorial groups with students reviewing and discussing in a small group. Some schools pioneered this small group approach to at least some of the material as much as 30 years ago. Now I think that it may be required by the accrediting body for MD schools so you'll see some of it almost everywhere.

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

Is it possible DO schools don’t have mandated classes because of class size?

 

[Putkernerinthehall]

Forty years ago, med school was 8-4:30, 5 days per week with a portion of that time devoted to labs (anatomy, physiology, etc) and the rest a lecture hall with the entire class. Times have changed

Some schools have lectures but very few of the lectures are mandatory and they are also recorded and posted online. Some students find it more efficient to listen to the recording, on 1.5 speed, and then go back over the most difficult concepts.

Besides large lectures, many schools have smaller tutorial groups with students reviewing and discussing in a small group. Some schools pioneered this small group approach to at least some of the material as much as 30 years ago. Now I think that it may be required by the accrediting body for MD schools so you'll see some of it almost everywhere.

What I've seen at some schools is a mix of PBL and traditional lecture. Is there evidence of PBL-style learning producing more capable practicing physicians?

 

[LizzyM]

It is unlikely that anyone has, or will attempt to measure that outcome. There are just too many variables and, or course, the students are not randomized to one school's curriculum or another.

There are intermediate outcomes that can be measured, such as step 1 scores (back when we had such a thing), and the use of historical controls from the same school year or two earlier for comparison.

Google PBL medical and you'll find a ton of papers looking at the evidence that PBL is a method that helps adult learners master the complex material and learn how to approach clinical challenges in real life.

What I've seen at some schools is a mix of PBL and traditional lecture. Is there evidence of PBL-style learning producing more capable practicing physicians?,

 

[YCAGA]

People in my class recently were complaining that we had too many mandatory activities during the week. For the last 3 week block, I counted 16 hours of mandatory activities, only 2 hours were on campus (the rest were on Zoom), and 5-6 hours were the kind of thing that you could listen to the Zoom and do laundry, cook, or workout. And I think my school is pretty middle-of-the-road in terms of how much mandatory stuff we have to go to and even then it isn't bad at all. Of course this doesn't mean that I'm dedicating 10-15 hours over three weeks to medical school, but the rest of the time is completely self scheduled which is what you want in preclinical years in my opinion.

 

[mikeLG]

Current 3rd year here. The two are vastly different as they should be.

The time spent in class varies depending where you are in your training (traditionally, the first two years are classroom based but the last two years are clinic based) and where you attend medical school.

But if you are asking how many hours you spend working (between class, studying and clinical obligations), I personally worked from 6am-8pm M-Sat and took Sunday off during my classroom portion and then anywhere from 5:30am-8pm to 8am-5pm depending on what service I was on. Again, this varies from student to student. I’m planning on going into a competitive specialty so it was particularly important for me to score high on my Step exams and classes.

I wouldn’t worry about the hours though. It is a gradual process and you’ll learn as you advance through high school and college that you are able to work longer and more efficiently.

Best of luck on your journey and feel free to message me if you have any questions!

 

[Anon899]

At my highschool class is 8:30 am -3:40 pm, are these hours similar to what med students spend in class M-F?

My first year was 8 am to 4-7 pm Monday through Friday

glad that’s over haha

 

[hopkinsgal2022]

Medical school is very unlike high school. Most preclinical medical students, like undergraduate students, spend a vast majority more time studying on their own than in class.

At JHUSOM during preclinical, class for us was typically 8 AM to 3 PM M/W/F (with 12-1 lunch), 8 AM to 12 PM T/Th, and 1-5 PM at a clinical site either T or Th (assigned to one of those days). Each day was typically 2 hours of small group in the morning (required attendance) and 2-4 hours of lectures (not required attendance; they are recorded and most students choose to watch the recordings at 1.5+x speed). In total it was ~30 hours of class time per week (roughly 1.5-2x the amount of time a full-time students spends in class per week in undergrad), of which ~18 hours per week was required attendance, including the one afternoon of clinical per week. Students who only attend classes with required attendance typically average another 6-8 hours/day studying at home (i.e. watching those recorded attendance-optional lectures; Anki flashcards; boards resource videos/Qbanks). You're definitely actively in class or studying at least 50 hours/week.

During third and fourth year, your schedule varies widely and is of course dictated by whatever your clinical clerkship schedule is. That may look like 5 AM-5 PM daily on a surgery rotation, 6 AM-4 PM daily on a pediatrics rotation, etc. Duty hours prevent clinical medical students from being required to be present in the hospital more than 80 hours/week and require that we get at least one 24-hour period off per week and at least 8 hours off between shifts. Most rotations will not come close to exceeding duty hours; my third year schedule was typically 50-70 hours/week in the hospital, plus another 10-20 hours/week studying at home in the evenings for that rotation's shelf exam. Those might sound like a lot of hours, but honestly it's a blast. Third year has definitely been the highlight of medical school for me!

 

[MadScientist95]

It depends on the school. However, I will generally say that you will have a lot less of actual class when compared to high school. Even when starting undergrad, most professors realize that you are a full grown adult and therefore do not have mandatory attendance to their class. College, and medical school for that matter, are different than high school in that you are paying to go there, rather than you have to go like high school. So its up to you on what you want to do.

 

[Kardio]

Is it possible DO schools don’t have mandated classes because of class size?

No