how many hours of studying a week?

[Curious 138]

---

Members do not see this ad.

On average, how many hours do you study a week?

 

[Law2Doc]

On average, how many hours do you study a week?

This is going to vary drastically amongst individuals, and will also be dependant on school schedules, whether attending lecture is mandatory, etc. Most people who do well seem to treat med school like a full time, long houred, job, so we are probably talking about combined class and study time in excess of 40 hours per week, with more hours logged the week before an exam, and less the week immediately after. Some people are going to require more time than this, others less. It would be hard to peg an average.

 

[UnderdogMD]

Quick thread hijack🙂

Okay on one end you have a schools that has classes from 8-12 and on other end of the spectrum you have schools that have classes from 8-5. Regardless the amount of time you spend in class varies from school to school. So how does this work if all med schools have to teach the same amount of material? Also, don't the people who are class more hours per day have less time for self study?

 

[Law2Doc]

Quick thread hijack🙂

Okay on one end you have a schools that has classes from 8-12 and on other end of the spectrum you have schools that have classes from 8-5. Regardless the amount of time you spend in class varies from school to school. So how does this work if all med schools have to teach the same amount of material? Also, don't the people who are class more hours per day have less time for self study?

Everyone has to slog through the same material, since the boards are universal. Some get the bulk of it in lecture, others are simply "responsible" for it and need to read it on their own. So yes, if you are in class more hours, you have fewer hours of self study, and if you have less class hours you frequently have a larger self-teaching component. This is further complicated by the fact that at most places lecture isn't mandatory.

 

[alwaysaangel]

Everyone has to slog through the same material, since the boards are universal. Some get the bulk of it in lecture, others are simply "responsible" for it and need to read it on their own. So yes, if you are in class more hours, you have fewer hours of self study, and if you have less class hours you frequently have a larger self-teaching component. This is further complicated by the fact that at most places lecture isn't mandatory.

See this makes sense - but I really can't imagine how they would stretch out the material we cover into 8 hours a day. There are some concepts we have to figure out on our own but most of the stuff is covered in lecture and I just can't imagine it taking twice as long - that would KILL me.

Granted I'm only done with 2 classes and halfway through a third and just starting 2 more. But I just still can't imagine how the stuff could take 8hrs/day to teach or how anyone could tolerate being talked at that long.

 

[alwaysaangel]

On average, how many hours do you study a week?

I have about 4 hrs of lecture per day and 3-10 hrs of other stuff per week. I usually study for about 4-6hrs a day (but this isn't completely focused since I'm often listening to music or watching TV shows on my computer while I study). Then I'll study a little on the weekends, and then review pretty much the whole weekend before the exam (almost all our tests are on Mondays)

 

[Curious 138]

wow, i thought since it's med school, you would have to study till you burn out. it doesn't sound that bad though. I was reading the dental school thread and people are logging 50-70 hours of studing a week! 😱

 

[CigarTragic]

Me, MS1:
Weekdays:
- Usually 3 heavy study days - 5 to 6 hours: highly focused
- 2 lighter days - 2 to 4 hours
Weekends:
- At least one day of 6 hours minimum
- Other day ranges from 0 to 6 hours

Safe bet that I average 30 hrs / wk of independent study

Oh, also... people who seem to be handling the workload best are the people who are willing to go the extra mile. You can work efficiently and push yourself and have plenty of downtime. Yes the work can be overwhelming, but this IS your job. If it wasn't medical school, your focus would be on something else... and God knows we'd all be putting in 12+ hours/day doing something else because we're all blatantly Type A and we damn well know it.

Break your study time up. Never 2+ hours or more without a break.

 

[alwaysaangel]

wow, i thought since it's med school, you would have to study till you burn out. it doesn't sound that bad though. I was reading the dental school thread and people are logging 50-70 hours of studing a week! 😱

Granted I'm only 2 months in but its really not THAT bad. It depends on your learning style, your school, etc. But Panda is pretty much right when he says its not much harder than a full-time job. In fact, its easier than a lot of full-time jobs.

 

[ZagDoc]

I'd guesstimate on a typical week... 25ish? We go 8-12 in lecture, so between studying and lecture, around 45 hours.

Much more before exams.

 

[bola]

On average, how many hours do you study a week?

Ok so on average I think I study about 20 hrs a week outside class (very rough estimate)...but my problem is I'm an extremely slow studier(?). It takes me almost 3 hrs to go through a 2 hr lecture because I have to study actively (writing stuff down, wiki-ing, etc) and I feel I can only get through one a day so that makes me fall behind quite a bit...

I have considered just scheming through and not studying in as much detail but I'm worried that if that does not work I will end up sacrificing a whole exam...any one have tips for this?

 

[cbass1350]

Generally, I try to study at least 6 hours/day outside of hospital work. I usually squeeze in an hour or two in the morning and then the rest at night. I can't say that I always stick to this schedule, though. It really depends on my level of motivation and how late I get home, but this is usually the case.

Oh and for the type of material:

I usually warm up with some Kaplan lectures. Then I go over the corresponding Kaplan notes. I usually finish up by reading a surgical vignette and a small topic from Sabiston's.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

Why doesnt someone start a poll on this????

 

[PEN15]

I usually just study when I can... a couple of hours during weekdays and a little more on weekends. After a long day at school, the last thing I want to do is open up my pathology book.

 

[Flopotomist]

I have notes or a book open in front of me for about 2 hours a day. Whether or not I'm studying is dependent on how fast exams are approaching on the calendar.

San Lorenzo University Medical School??? Where is that? Never heard of it.

I am a bit of a slow learner, and have to actively outline the chapter, and lectures in order to succeed, and it takes me about six hours per week day to do that. On the weekends, I spend probably another 6 hours reviewing.

On the week before finals, I crank this up a bit more.

Average week - 36 hours

Week before finals - 60 hours

I don't know anybody like the poster quoted above that does well on just 2 hours a day.

 

[Law2Doc]

wow, i thought since it's med school, you would have to study till you burn out. it doesn't sound that bad though. I was reading the dental school thread and people are logging 50-70 hours of studing a week! 😱

There are people in med school who are logging 50-70 too. I said the equivalent of a full time, long houred, job, which would average more than 40, with much longer hours during test weeks. How much you need to do will depend on you, and your goals. The people who need more time to do well, to pass, to honor are all going to rack up more hours. FWIW, the dental students I know seemed to have a LOT more free time than the med students, did a lot more socializing weekly etc. But I admittedly do not know a statistically significant sampling.

 

[Law2Doc]

See this makes sense - but I really can't imagine how they would stretch out the material we cover into 8 hours a day.

There are folks who will say that if a prof says something in lecture 3 times, it is definitely important and test-worthy. With a shorter day, you would tend not to get the repetition/hammering home and everything would be said once. Schools with shorter than 8 hour days all started with longer days and pared things down. Frequently, the notes/readings did not get pared down. So you are responsible for the same material. At any rate, the boards will expect you to have covered all the material covered in a typical med school curricula. So schools are going to be packing it in one way or another regardless of the schedule.

 

[The Angriest Bird]

This is a very important point that I have to make.

Studying for 40 hours is NOT the same as working for 40 hours. Studying is much much worse. This is why.

1. Working for most jobs is semi-brainless. There are exceptions of course. But most people can auto-pilot their jobs. You don't need to acquire new knowledge on a hourly basis. Studying is completely different. You are always sailing in new territory. And it is testable. You can't auto-pilot it, you have to constantly, painstakingly pay attention.

2. The brain (cerebral glucose consumption if you wish) usage is much higher for studying than for working. Say you work 9-5 and go home, have some drink and take a quick nap, you are set. You have the entire night to relax and have fun. But if you study 9-5, you are probably so burned out already. And for some medical student, when they are relaxing during the night, they are actually thinking "I could've studied now and got more done."

3. Exams. I can't think of any jobs that have exams. And to be honest, exams are our greatest stressors. I really don't have to explain this to anyone.

This may be a "grass is greener" effect. But for most people I have talked to, who started working after undergraduate, they are very firm on "not wanting to go back to school."

Anyway, 40 hours studying a week = 40 hours working a week = so it's a full time job. It just doesn't work like this.

 

[DCDAWG]

Id say I do 60 hour weeks including class and studying.

 

[alwaysaangel]

This is a very important point that I have to make.

Studying for 40 hours is NOT the same as working for 40 hours. Studying is much much worse. This is why.

1. Working for most jobs is semi-brainless. There are exceptions of course. But most people can auto-pilot their jobs. You don't need to acquire new knowledge on a hourly basis. Studying is completely different. You are always sailing in new territory. And it is testable. You can't auto-pilot it, you have to constantly, painstakingly pay attention.

2. The brain (cerebral glucose consumption if you wish) usage is much higher for studying than for working. Say you work 9-5 and go home, have some drink and take a quick nap, you are set. You have the entire night to relax and have fun. But if you study 9-5, you are probably so burned out already. And for some medical student, when they are relaxing during the night, they are actually thinking "I could've studied now and got more done."

3. Exams. I can't think of any jobs that have exams. And to be honest, exams are our greatest stressors. I really don't have to explain this to anyone.

This may be a "grass is greener" effect. But for most people I have talked to, who started working after undergraduate, they are very firm on "not wanting to go back to school."

Anyway, 40 hours studying a week = 40 hours working a week = so it's a full time job. It just doesn't work like this.

Yeah its partially a grass is always greener and partially just personal opinion. You'll get different answers depending on who you ask. A lot of the people I know (myself included) want to go back to school.

I worked for a year after undergrad and I COULD NOT WAIT to go back to school. Brainless or not - working is draining. You have a bunch of responsibilities, deadlines that are about as stressful as an exam, expectations which are higher than that of an exam, and a ****load of obnoxious politics that you have to deal with on a daily basis.

Depending on the job and your responsibility work can require constant learning too that can be just as draining as school. Work is also testable - most people who work have a supervisor looking over their shoulder commenting on everything they do. And its never good enough. With a test you do your best and walk away. With work you're constantly expected to fix it and make it better and better - its very frustrating.

The politics is the worst. No matter where you work there are politics. They are stressful and exhausting to deal with. Not that school doesn't have politics but they don't affect the students to the point that they do employees.

I'm so relieved to be back in school - I actually have more free time, and am much less stressed out. The only thing I miss about work is having a lot of extra money to spend every month.

 

[45408]

wow, i thought since it's med school, you would have to study till you burn out. it doesn't sound that bad though. I was reading the dental school thread and people are logging 50-70 hours of studing a week! 😱

Don't worry - dental school isn't any harder. 🙄 They're probably not studying 100% of that time, but I've logged 80+ hours at school in a single week before a block of exams (which I did pretty well on), almost none of which was spent attending class. You'd better believe there are people in my class who study a lot more than me though.

A lot of times, studying til you burn out happens a lot sooner than you might think. My brain can only absorb so much in a day, and if I try to learn more, it just won't happen. I definitely have more free time than an M3, so that's a perk, but many days, I study as much as I can stomach.

 

[Sartre79]

Granted I'm only 2 months in but its really not THAT bad. It depends on your learning style, your school, etc. But Panda is pretty much right when he says its not much harder than a full-time job. In fact, its easier than a lot of full-time jobs.

Define a full time job. I worked full time (40 hrs/week) for the last 3 years prior and it was no way near as intense as Med School. I had my evening off to do whatever with the wife and dogs, etc. Of course, I have a non-science background as well...so I didn't go to med school b/f I went to med school.

 

[alwaysaangel]

Define a full time job. I worked full time (40 hrs/week) for the last 3 years prior and it was no way near as intense as Med School. I had my evening off to do whatever with the wife and dogs, etc. Of course, I have a non-science background as well...so I didn't go to med school b/f I went to med school.

Like I said in my last post it depends on your job and personal opinion. I worked 40 hrs a week last year and think it was way more work than med school. But at the same time I like med school a lot more so that could be part of it.

 

[Sartre79]

Like I said in my last post it depends on your job and personal opinion. I worked 40 hrs a week last year and think it was way more work than med school. But at the same time I like med school a lot more so that could be part of it.

It just depends on the job really. To be upwardly mobile in a major corp, or in a lot of other fields you will be clocking anywhere from 60 to 80 hrs a week. So, It can be situational. I think Med School is hard thus far, but like I said, I'm not a science guru and haven't taken a lot of the classes that other students at my school have. So, I'm struggling a bit...take what I say with grain of salt though.

 

[Writer1985]

I'm in class about 20 hours a week, and I'd say I study about twice that much at home (4-5 hours a night, a full day on weekends).

I've heard the job analogy before and it's not really that accurate -- for one thing, we are paying through the nose for this "job." Yeah, some jobs can be stressful, but my college friends who are working are done at 5 or 6 pm every day, whereas I'm studying till midnight. More like indentured servitude than anything else.

But I'd still rather be doing this than working in a cubicle somewhere.

 

[Law2Doc]

It just depends on the job really. To be upwardly mobile in a major corp, or in a lot of other fields you will be clocking anywhere from 60 to 80 hrs a week. So, It can be situational. I think Med School is hard thus far, but like I said, I'm not a science guru and haven't taken a lot of the classes that other students at my school have. So, I'm struggling a bit...take what I say with grain of salt though.

I agree it depends on the job. Which is why I qualified it as a "long houred" job. My prior career was fairly intense, required use of your brain, and required significantly more than 40 hours/week. Treating med school like such a job was a pretty reasonable game plan. Obviously if at the job you are comparing it to, you spent 40 hours/week goofing off next to the water cooler, you are going to find it difficult to treat med school like such a full time job and still succeed. But I think that misses the point.

 

[SnowTown]

Dang... I need to ramp up my study time. 🙁

 

[Bolo]

It probably depends what you are studying and how comfortable you are with the material. Since we are doing all anatomy right now, I am studying a ridiculous amount. Hopefully when biochem rolls around in a few weeks, I won't have to spend nearly as much time on it, since I was a biochem major.

 

[sprinkibrio]

I keep hearing from different people that 65 hrs of class/studying is what you should be doing. I was probably doing that at first but it's not sustainable for me... yet. I guess.

 

[medhacker]

I'm in class about 20 hours a week, and I'd say I study about twice that much at home (4-5 hours a night, a full day on weekends).

I've heard the job analogy before and it's not really that accurate -- for one thing, we are paying through the nose for this "job." Yeah, some jobs can be stressful, but my college friends who are working are done at 5 or 6 pm every day, whereas I'm studying till midnight. More like indentured servitude than anything else.

But I'd still rather be doing this than working in a cubicle somewhere.

This is more like it, 60 - 80 hrs depending on the week

 

[myKuduSlewaZulu]

14 hrs of class + ~25 hrs of studying = ~39 hours/week of med school, except for test week of course.

 

[degoo_]

MS1, I study maybe 2-3 hrs (uneffectively, with music/tv/youtube) every night. Weekends even less. We have class 8-5 here and i'm pretty burned out at the end of the day, especially if I goto the gym.
I think I need to step it up...

 

[kdburton]

I easily average the "50-70 hours" that people are talking about by being on campus each week. This includes time in class (8-12) + studying + eating + taking short breaks, etc. Some people may say thats overkill, but it just depends on how well you want to do in your classes... I could have passed my last two biochemistry/molecular bio test withoug opening my lecture notes or a reference text, but I was going for the Honors grade instead. Since I'm at med school to learn all this stuff I put in the extra effor and its been paying off so far 🙂

PS the dental students at my school have many of the same classes, but then have ridiculously long pre-clinic labs after normal class hours that probably add a lot of "time on campus" to their studying hours as I described mine above. I kinda feel sorry for them because I'm done by lunch every day and they're only starting the second half of their day haha

 

[-Goose-]

Quick thread hijack🙂

Okay on one end you have a schools that has classes from 8-12 and on other end of the spectrum you have schools that have classes from 8-5. Regardless the amount of time you spend in class varies from school to school. So how does this work if all med schools have to teach the same amount of material? Also, don't the people who are class more hours per day have less time for self study?

B/c MANY med schools over-teach and go into WAY too much detail.

 

[noonday]

i'm a second year in an all problem based program, so i'm only in class about 16-18/hr a week, plus a day working at a doctor's office. including this class time, i tend to pull 15-hour days every week day, one 15-hour weekend day, and one 10-hour weekend day every week. so that come up to, uh, hold on, math, uh, about 100 hours a week for all things school.

and as many have said, it's worse than working. i worked a full time job, a part time job, a 20-hr/wk volunteer gig AND took two night school classes all simultaneously for a few years, and this myopic, boring, drugdery is much much worse than the mix of things i used to do.

 

[Katya00]

I go between highs and lows, this week I didn't study that much. I tend to log most hours on the weekends, I feel like it's easier to understand the "big picture" with more lectures done. Usually during the week I try to become familiar to the concepts and the terminology, and I learn things here and there. On the weekends I try to cram in the details that aren't so obvious or aren't stressed as much. I definitely study A LOT, I view school as my full-time job. Because I study so many hours during the weeks before the exam, I don't actually study that much more during exam week.

We don't have all day lectures, we only have about 3-4 hours of lecture a day (with a whopping 3+ hours in the lab on dissection days, usually about 3 times a week).

I study more than 40 hours a week, on average. I'd say it's more like 50-60, counting class time and extra time in the lab. Sometimes it's more like 70. This gives me grades above the class average, usually in the 90s. I don't really mind the studying so much but the stress of exam week is killer.

Honestly, I think it depends on the grades you want to get. I don't know anyone who only studies 2 hours a day though, we all tend to study a lot. I'm no super genius, so I have to put the time in.

 

[Slide]

B/c MANY med schools over-teach and go into WAY too much detail.

👍
Quoted, for truth.

Sometimes the professors approach the classes if it were an advanced undergraduate class and teach in more detail than necessary. They may have realized that the minutae we learn will be purged from our minds within a few days after the test, but they do it anyway.