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How many hours do you study per day during CA1-3 years? I’ve heard an hour a day but that was for IM
How many hours to study per day?
- Thread starter Chemstudent
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It depends...If you're on a busy 24 hour call as a CA-3 while leading the team, you will likely have minimal study time. I would say 45 min-1 hour/day (including weekends) on average is probably very good and likely more than your average resident. Essentially you want to read before any cases you're scheduled to be in. And read about ICU/pain too.
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For me it was pretty variable depending on the "season" of training I was in. But as a rough rule if you can consistently give 30 minutes each day you will be in good shape... and as mentioned by another poster you'll be ahead of most of your colleagues.
Beginning of CA-1: Probably at least 60-90 minutes per day, usually half of that was reading about my cases and specific relevant issues. The other half was a more systematic approach of trying to work my way through crucial chapters of Miller.
Second half of CA-1: Continue reading about cases but now with ITE and Basic looming I was focused a lot more on TrueLearn question bank and carefully going through the explanations and making my own notes / reference system (the explanations combine to form essentially an entire textbook). These 4-6 months were the "peak" of intensity, at times I could easily spend 2-3 hours studying per day after work. I temporarily gave up the majority of my leisure time here because I knew the stakes were high, not dissimilar to Step 1 studying back in med school.
CA-2: Largely dependent on the rotation I was on. I read about CT on CT, peds on peds, regional on pain service, etc. Certain times were fairly intense (e.g., beginning CV for the first time ever) but overall it was definitely a step down from the CA-1 hours. Average roughly 30 minutes per day.
CA-3: Continuation of CA-2 approach, but focused now on refinement rather than initial attainment of knowledge. Also felt a certain sense of urgency as graduation drew nearer, and I really began trying to understand nuanced management details. From an hours perspective, though, this was the best year by far. Probably less than 30 min/day if averaged out. Advanced was on the horizon but, having done well on Basic and ITE's, I didn't stress too much about it - just kept doing what I'd been doing.
Fellowship: First few months were like beginning of CA-1 again - a whirlwind of intense studying to solidify basic knowledge. After that I felt like I had a pretty good grasp on the core concepts, and most of my daily reading revolved around my specific cases or anything I felt like was a knowledge gap for me. Now I'm nearing the end and have oral board exam scheduled, so I'm gearing up for a couple months of high intensity study again.
Beginning of CA-1: Probably at least 60-90 minutes per day, usually half of that was reading about my cases and specific relevant issues. The other half was a more systematic approach of trying to work my way through crucial chapters of Miller.
Second half of CA-1: Continue reading about cases but now with ITE and Basic looming I was focused a lot more on TrueLearn question bank and carefully going through the explanations and making my own notes / reference system (the explanations combine to form essentially an entire textbook). These 4-6 months were the "peak" of intensity, at times I could easily spend 2-3 hours studying per day after work. I temporarily gave up the majority of my leisure time here because I knew the stakes were high, not dissimilar to Step 1 studying back in med school.
CA-2: Largely dependent on the rotation I was on. I read about CT on CT, peds on peds, regional on pain service, etc. Certain times were fairly intense (e.g., beginning CV for the first time ever) but overall it was definitely a step down from the CA-1 hours. Average roughly 30 minutes per day.
CA-3: Continuation of CA-2 approach, but focused now on refinement rather than initial attainment of knowledge. Also felt a certain sense of urgency as graduation drew nearer, and I really began trying to understand nuanced management details. From an hours perspective, though, this was the best year by far. Probably less than 30 min/day if averaged out. Advanced was on the horizon but, having done well on Basic and ITE's, I didn't stress too much about it - just kept doing what I'd been doing.
Fellowship: First few months were like beginning of CA-1 again - a whirlwind of intense studying to solidify basic knowledge. After that I felt like I had a pretty good grasp on the core concepts, and most of my daily reading revolved around my specific cases or anything I felt like was a knowledge gap for me. Now I'm nearing the end and have oral board exam scheduled, so I'm gearing up for a couple months of high intensity study again.
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That's something that is difficult to quantify. I've gone through long stretches were I didn't open an actual textbook once. I'm talking like months at a time. But at the same time, I was usually looking stuff up on uptodate during cases or while I was pre-oping pts for the next day, so it wasn't like I was reading at all. I would agree with the others that an hour a day is a good slow burn. You'd be able to work through multiple books if you dedicated that time right away and kept at it.
D
deleted875186
I would not go by time, but by quantity of content. My timeline for residency was going through baby miller textbook by 2 months into CA1, and then going through major chapters of big killer by the end of CA1 year, get through truelearn obviously before the basic, and then tackle subspecialty books while on those months.
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It depends on your program a bit and which years or rotations are harder and easier. Your thinking seems a bit rigid. I would encourage you to pick out material you want to get through first, create a timeline to get it done by, and then do that. That way, you have more flexibility. You can spend the morning of a day off in a coffee shop for three hours studying instead of studying one hour for three weeknights, or the other way around if you prefer. Just remember setting the plan is important. Motivation is fleeting; discipline is not.
I recommend Barash, so I'll use that as an example. Pick out the chapters you want to get through for CA-1 year (most likely chapters such as airway management, deferring subspecialty things to CA-2 year). Make sure you understand what you read, use highlighting and notes in the book (I recommend electronic so you can have it to reference at work). Be thorough and understand everything you read. Look up things along the way on google if you need to learn some supplemental things. This will take longer, but if you make proper notes and reference back to it throughout your training, it will be reinforced. Another benefit of doing it this way is that you will be much faster reviewing it future times through. Indeed, you'll be able to touch up on everything you've read in all the chapters in just a night or two before ITEs. In a way, the highlighting almost serves the dual purpose of letting you know what you don't need to waste time revisiting (ever read an entire paragraph of stuff you already knew, for example?).
Finally, use TrueLearn to reinforce what you've read.
One last tip. If you make studying more enjoyable for yourself, you'll do it more and be happier. Everybody's different, but for me, I would rather set up blocks where I set aside a big block of time to study in an enjoyable place with relaxing music and nice coffee or something than follow a rigid schedule of an hour a night at home, which sounds horribly restrictive and miserable to me.
I recommend Barash, so I'll use that as an example. Pick out the chapters you want to get through for CA-1 year (most likely chapters such as airway management, deferring subspecialty things to CA-2 year). Make sure you understand what you read, use highlighting and notes in the book (I recommend electronic so you can have it to reference at work). Be thorough and understand everything you read. Look up things along the way on google if you need to learn some supplemental things. This will take longer, but if you make proper notes and reference back to it throughout your training, it will be reinforced. Another benefit of doing it this way is that you will be much faster reviewing it future times through. Indeed, you'll be able to touch up on everything you've read in all the chapters in just a night or two before ITEs. In a way, the highlighting almost serves the dual purpose of letting you know what you don't need to waste time revisiting (ever read an entire paragraph of stuff you already knew, for example?).
Finally, use TrueLearn to reinforce what you've read.
One last tip. If you make studying more enjoyable for yourself, you'll do it more and be happier. Everybody's different, but for me, I would rather set up blocks where I set aside a big block of time to study in an enjoyable place with relaxing music and nice coffee or something than follow a rigid schedule of an hour a night at home, which sounds horribly restrictive and miserable to me.
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It’s less important how long you spend studying than how that time is spent. Blindly reading a chapter is really different from (and less efficient than) going thru your list of ITE keywords of items missed and nailing those concepts with lists, charts, maps, or other active synthesis kinds of work.
ernestcraper91
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3 hours
