How many of you cram/procrastinate for a test last minute?

[4thtimeretaker]

Hi guys, just wondering how many of you or your classmates wait till the last minute to study for an exam/quiz/clinical encounter? When I stay cram, I mean not having looked at ANYTHING prior and learning everything within those few days. I find myself being bad with procrastination and always push studying off until 1-3 days before an exam. At my school we have 2x exam a week averaging around ~10 lectures each exam.


I know every student is different and has their own ways to study. In these days all I do is study and nothing else. I'm fortunate in that I don't have any commitments with family or children so I'm able to afford to do this. Out of the students in my class I've talked to, I feel like I'm one of the few that do this and it concerns me. I'm still able to pass exams, sometimes I can get A's but mostly my grades hover around 78 to 86. Dealing with procrastination is something I've dealt with pretty much my entire life, and I've come to terms with myself that I never will be able to start studying early no matter how much I try. Just want to know how much this will hurt me in the future.

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[libertyyne]

Dont do this. The people who did this in my class were people who had immense difficulty come step 1 time and either had to take an extra year or delay taking the exam.

It seems like you go to a DO school. God forbid you want something like gen surg in 3rd year , these habits will make it even more difficult.
If you want FM and are ok with going anywhere then your current strategy may work out fine.

 

[ciestar]

Did that a lot M1/2, i regret it.

 

[4thtimeretaker]

Dont do this. The people who did this in my class were people who had immense difficulty come step 1 time and either had to take an extra year or delay taking the exam.

It seems like you go to a DO school. God forbid you want something like gen surg in 3rd year , these habits will make it even more difficult.
If you want FM and are ok with going anywhere then your current strategy may work out fine.

Oh wow, yeah I don't want to be in that position come step time. I know this question is specifically different for everyone, but how many hours minimum/maximum do you think I should dedicate to studying regularly in order to prevent cramming and ensure long term retention for boards. This is something that worked for me in HS, and even college and I guess for now in medical school. I don't think it will be sustainable in the long run.

I know I'm not just going to magically change over night. My plan for second semester was to watch all the lectures for each day at least one time (something I didn't do before until cram time). Since we have 2x a week, watching the lectures daily would take up anywhere between 2-4 depending on 1x or 2x speed. Then I could study for the exams that I have that particular week. I guess in doing so I can get in that 1 initial pass and then subsequent ones when I study for the exam a couple days before.

What's been screwing me over I think is the fact that its just so many exams a week that the only thing one can do is cram. The exams are on different subjects also like OMM, Path, Pharm, Clinical Medicine, Anatomy, etc. If I had one exam every 2 weeks it would be different.

 

[Gilakend]

I use Zanki. In the first semester, I tended to leave class material until 1-2 days before the quizzes and those days were always hell. However, I already had a very good understanding of the material going in, I was just trying to memorize the random minutiae from lecture. I specifically try to do a little each day now and my quality of life has improved 5 fold.

 

[libertyyne]

You should be spending as much time as needed to learn the material for long term retention. Learning it properly the first time will lead to it being easier to relearn when it comes to it during dedicated and beyond. I have been doing well on clinical rotations as well because I have solid foundation that I just need to refresh come shelf time.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I leave the class material until the week before the exam, but I’m spending a lot of time doing zanki, boards and beyond, and sketchy.

 

[hallowmann]

Hi guys, just wondering how many of you or your classmates wait till the last minute to study for an exam/quiz/clinical encounter? When I stay cram, I mean not having looked at ANYTHING prior and learning everything within those few days. I find myself being bad with procrastination and always push studying off until 1-3 days before an exam. At my school we have 2x exam a week averaging around ~10 lectures each exam.


I know every student is different and has their own ways to study. In these days all I do is study and nothing else. I'm fortunate in that I don't have any commitments with family or children so I'm able to afford to do this. Out of the students in my class I've talked to, I feel like I'm one of the few that do this and it concerns me. I'm still able to pass exams, sometimes I can get A's but mostly my grades hover around 78 to 86. Dealing with procrastination is something I've dealt with pretty much my entire life, and I've come to terms with myself that I never will be able to start studying early no matter how much I try. Just want to know how much this will hurt me in the future.

This is a terrible habit and it needs to be fixed. I agree that it will make studying for Step very difficult for you. That said, fortunately you go to a school where you are cramming every few days simply by virtue of the frequency of your exams. If you were at my school where we only had 3 exams a semester based on 700+ pages of text material, you would have failed multiple times already.

There really is nothing to gain by cramming. Your goal isn't to pass med school its to learn the basics for being doctor and treating people. Don't sell yourself short.

 

[Goro]

Hi guys, just wondering how many of you or your classmates wait till the last minute to study for an exam/quiz/clinical encounter? When I stay cram, I mean not having looked at ANYTHING prior and learning everything within those few days. I find myself being bad with procrastination and always push studying off until 1-3 days before an exam. At my school we have 2x exam a week averaging around ~10 lectures each exam.


I know every student is different and has their own ways to study. In these days all I do is study and nothing else. I'm fortunate in that I don't have any commitments with family or children so I'm able to afford to do this. Out of the students in my class I've talked to, I feel like I'm one of the few that do this and it concerns me. I'm still able to pass exams, sometimes I can get A's but mostly my grades hover around 78 to 86. Dealing with procrastination is something I've dealt with pretty much my entire life, and I've come to terms with myself that I never will be able to start studying early no matter how much I try. Just want to know how much this will hurt me in the future.

This is a good recipe for failing out of med school, or at a minimum, failing Boards.

On top of that, you'll look like an idiot when you're pimped in clinical years.

Cramming = no retention.

 

[CherryRedDracul]

Take it from an expert crammer: you're better of studying with a regular schedule. You'll retain more, and you want to retain as much info as you can before Step 1 and clinicals.

 

[4thtimeretaker]

Take it from an expert crammer: you're better of studying with a regular schedule. You'll retain more, and you want to retain as much info as you can before Step 1 and clinicals.

Was the transition easy from cramming to regularly studying? I definitely do not want to cram for the rest of my life. I'm planning on seeing a learning specialist or psych therapist to see if I'm plain lazy or have some underlying learning deficit. I don't mind studying a little every day its just that our curriculum doesn't really cater to that since as soon as we finish one exam we are studying/cramming for the next.

Thank you so much for the help guys 🙂

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Was the transition easy from cramming to regularly studying? I definitely do not want to cram for the rest of my life. I'm planning on seeing a learning specialist or psych therapist to see if I'm plain lazy or have some underlying learning deficit. I don't mind studying a little every day its just that our curriculum doesn't really cater to that since as soon as we finish one exam we are studying/cramming for the next.

Thank you so much for the help guys 🙂

How often do you have exams?

 

[4thtimeretaker]

How often do you have exams?

Minimum 2x a week, around 10 lectures each. They usually aren't always the same day each week but are two days apart. So its definitely easy to cram for them but sometimes idk how people study for them without cramming. The curriculum doesn't seem conducive to long term retention unless one starts like 1-2 weeks out. We usually have around 20 exams a block (10 weeks long).

 

[Free411]

Hi guys, just wondering how many of you or your classmates wait till the last minute to study for an exam/quiz/clinical encounter? When I stay cram, I mean not having looked at ANYTHING prior and learning everything within those few days. I find myself being bad with procrastination and always push studying off until 1-3 days before an exam. At my school we have 2x exam a week averaging around ~10 lectures each exam.


I know every student is different and has their own ways to study. In these days all I do is study and nothing else. I'm fortunate in that I don't have any commitments with family or children so I'm able to afford to do this. Out of the students in my class I've talked to, I feel like I'm one of the few that do this and it concerns me. I'm still able to pass exams, sometimes I can get A's but mostly my grades hover around 78 to 86. Dealing with procrastination is something I've dealt with pretty much my entire life, and I've come to terms with myself that I never will be able to start studying early no matter how much I try. Just want to know how much this will hurt me in the future.

As has been previously mentioned, don't do this. These kinds of methods are romanticized in undergrad but don't work in med school. Not only does it not help for Step 1, it's just a generally poor way to encode information. As a fellow med student, I can say that the most elite students I rotated with were the ones who took the time and had organized study methods all 4 years.


How you encode information in your brain determines how you can access and apply that same information to real-life situations. Think of it like this:

#1 - Person is told to clean their room and does so by randomly throwing things on shelves and under their bed. (cramming)

#2 - Person is told to clean their room and actually takes the time to be diligent and properly organizes/sorts things. (consistent study methods)

When needing to quickly find something, who do you think will be most successful?

Basically, how we learn from the beginning has major implications as to how good of a doc one will be. You don't want to be that doc who can't optimize their clinical decision making because they don't know or can't recall stuff that they should. And you'll see when you get on rotations, that you will need often need to pull info out of your mind to apply to your patients. Sure we can look things up but you can't and shouldn't use that as a crutch.

I'm saying all this as someone who was just like you. Used to cram in UG. Did well GPA wise, aced MCAT, got into a top 10 school then got my ass handed to me in the first couple months. I turned it around big time, though. Also, I was able to do well on rotations because I realized I needed to improve my learning techniques. Get it front of it now and you'll be set up for success.

 

[CherryRedDracul]

Was the transition easy from cramming to regularly studying? I definitely do not want to cram for the rest of my life. I'm planning on seeing a learning specialist or psych therapist to see if I'm plain lazy or have some underlying learning deficit. I don't mind studying a little every day its just that our curriculum doesn't really cater to that since as soon as we finish one exam we are studying/cramming for the next.

Thank you so much for the help guys 🙂

After once cramming 24 lectures into the span of one day for an exam, I decided this is an awful way to do things, and transition to a study schedule wasn't very difficult. YMMV

I'm a firm believer in frequent small study breaks and the Pomodoro timer technique. After 25-30 minutes, I lose focus, so I need short breaks.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Minimum 2x a week, around 10 lectures each. They usually aren't always the same day each week but are two days apart. So its definitely easy to cram for them but sometimes idk how people study for them without cramming. The curriculum doesn't seem conducive to long term retention unless one starts like 1-2 weeks out. We usually have around 20 exams a block (10 weeks long).

You have 2 full exams per week? Like how many questions are these? We have like 15-20 question quizzes every week, but when I hear “exam” I’m thinking 50-100 questions. You’re having two of those a week every module?

 

[4thtimeretaker]

You have 2 full exams per week? Like how many questions are these? We have like 15-20 question quizzes every week, but when I hear “exam” I’m thinking 50-100 questions. You’re having two of those a week every module?

.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Yeah, two full exams a week. On average ~5 questions per lecture so exams are around 50-70 questions depending on 10-15 lecture exams. I feel like this is pretty common for DO schools not sure why? Personally some of my friends at LMUDCOM, VCOM, WVSOM, Campbell, etc said they have exams frequently too.

https://www.vcom.edu/sites/default/files/blocks/Block2_CC.pdf

https://www.vcom.edu/sites/default/files/blocks/Block2_AC.pdf

https://www.vcom.edu/sites/default/files/blocks/Block2_VC.pdf

https://www.lmunet.edu/debusk-colle...academics/documents/oms1-fall-schedule-19.pdf

https://www.wvsom.edu/Admissions/sample-curriculum

That sounds horrible. Sorry.

 

[Kgizzle]

Honestly, as a crammer, I learned very early on that cramming for med school equals 5+ days of intense study. No such thing as all-nighters before the test.

 

[john7991]

This is a good recipe for failing out of med school, or at a minimum, failing Boards.

On top of that, you'll look like an idiot when you're pimped in clinical years.

Cramming = no retention.

Goro being Goro, saying it how it is.
P.s. you’re literally everywhere on this website, and it’s kinda freaking me out. I have a final paper due 10 minutes ago and I’m struggling. Not proud but I’ll get it done.

 

[Doggeronie]

Honestly, as a crammer, I learned very early on that cramming for med school equals 5+ days of intense study. No such thing as all-nighters before the test.

Yeah, and for shelf exams in 3rd year you're gonna have to bump that up to 15+ days of intense study

 

[Giovanotto]

Yeah, and for shelf exams in 3rd year you're gonna have to bump that up to 15+ days of intense study

???
I was never a crammer, but if there was one period in my life where I was one, it was during 3rd year. I'd study for 1-2 days before a shelf exam and do okay. Wasn't honoring everything, but did fairly average/above average. Maybe NBME shelves were much harder than ours? (NBOME)

 

[deleted889094]

I once forgot to do a complete week of lecture for one class during an exam week. Remembered the evening before the exam and had to cram. I did fine on the test, but definitely don't remember the content as well as I'd like to. Never again.

 

[Sugammaflexx]

Probably in the minority but it is possible. I would cram once per week before weekly quizzes. Would wake up at 2am and study until the quiz at 8am. Other than that I didn't study. Didn't hurt me for boards either, 255+ on step 1/2. Definitely won't work for everyone but it can be done if that's how your brain works lol

 

[ExcitatorySynapse]

Probably in the minority but it is possible. I would cram once per week before weekly quizzes. Would wake up at 2am and study until the quiz at 8am. Other than that I didn't study. Didn't hurt me for boards either, 255+ on step 1/2. Definitely won't work for everyone but it can be done if that's how your brain works lol

How did you prepare for step?
I don't really cram like the OP (i.e. i look at stuff in advance), but for like a 4 week block, the last week-10 days gets most of the productive studying.

 

[Dr G Oogle]

Just make a plan to learn all material for each exam a few days before exam, doesn’t matter how you get there just get there. And then spend rest of the days until test reviewing. I would study 4-5 hours a day every day year 1 and 2, didnt go to class just read notes, covered about 2 lectures per day even though there were 3-4 lectures every day. But eventually I caught up and never felt like I was cramming.

 

[Sugammaflexx]

How did you prepare for step?
I don't really cram like the OP (i.e. i look at stuff in advance), but for like a 4 week block, the last week-10 days gets most of the productive studying.

UFAP like everyone else pretty much haha. Did about 7 weeks, 2 blocks of 40 per day. Then the last 2 days before the test I reread first aid for one final cram

 

[slowthai]

How did you prepare for step?
I don't really cram like the OP (i.e. i look at stuff in advance), but for like a 4 week block, the last week-10 days gets most of the productive studying.

UFAP like everyone else pretty much haha. Did about 7 weeks, 2 blocks of 40 per day. Then the last 2 days before the test I reread first aid for one final cram

Yeah, this is an example of the outliers that I've talked about before; gifted crammers and/or test takers. For the rest of us mere mortals, the safe route of slow and steady will maximize your chances of breaking 250. Slow and steady = spaced repetition done over a long period of time.

 

[ExcitatorySynapse]

Yeah, this is an example of the outliers that I've talked about before; gifted crammers and/or test takers. For the rest of us mere mortals, the safe route of slow and steady will maximize your chances of breaking 250. Slow and steady = spaced repetition done over a long period of time.

I am historically a "good test taker" but I don't think that's any good for step unless you have the content down well. Unfortunately, I can't stomach 5 hours of anki daily (without an exam on the horizon), so I think I'll just go hard on practice qs with some kind of less annoying review system.

 

[slowthai]

I am historically a "good test taker" but I don't think that's any good for step unless you have the content down well. Unfortunately, I can't stomach 5 hours of anki daily (without an exam on the horizon), so I think I'll just go hard on practice qs with some kind of less annoying review system.

It really doesn't have to take 5 hours if you do it a certain way. Also, there are some alternative methods of spaced repetition. Like you said, you can just do like 4+ qbanks all on random. That's your spaced repetition right there. There was one guy that did that + Costanzo and scored 270+. He was a really good test taker though. @libertyyne did Anki differently from the norm and he broke 250, so you could look into how he did it too.

 

[treatem-and-streetem]

I was a procrastinator and not a great test taker in college/MCAT. In med school I completely changed the way I studied. Easiest way to stop cramming is to make a schedule you can follow. I just studied consistently almost every day in the first few years and did well on boards. If you cram you dont learn.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I was a procrastinator and not a great test taker in college/MCAT. In med school I completely changed the way I studied. Easiest way to stop cramming is to make a schedule you can follow. I just studied consistently almost every day in the first few years and did well on boards. If you cram you dont learn.

Making a schedule is so helpful for just managing everything in med school. I needed to work on some stuff for a few different projects and I just couldn’t find the time until I bought a day planner and literally penciled in the time.

 

[premeddestiny]

The only "cramming" I do is a brief look over all of the lecture materials the morning of the exam. Otherwise I do a little bit of study every day over the week.