How much did you study in pharm school?

[ldiot]

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Last semester I was pulling a solid 4-5 hours a day. Now in second semester the volume has doubled and my motivation is really lacking. I'm studying a lot less as the classes are getting harder. I'm still above the class average by a bit but I'm on a downward trend and if I continue at the pace I've been on for the last 2 weeks things could get ugly.

Anyone have any tips? I feel memorizing all of these enzymes and metabolic pathways is something that I will forget anyways. I'm also behind in my studying so I'm not sure if I should cut my losses and just study the newest material as it comes or try to cover old material that I never properly studied and stay behind.

I know the bottom line is that I need to get back to the grind but there is a high volume of material that I have already been quizzed on but still haven't learned or put the time into. This info will come back on the exam. So should I focus on the old material and try to gain ground... or focus on the new material as it comes and try to cram the old stuff before the exam? I just don't know how to approach what is a fairly large deficit.

 

[xiphoid2010]

Last semester I was pulling a solid 4-5 hours a day. Now in second semester the volume has doubled and my motivation is really lacking. I'm studying a lot less as the classes are getting harder. I'm still above the class average by a bit but I'm on a downward trend and if I continue at the pace I've been on for the last 2 weeks things could get ugly.

Anyone have any tips? I feel memorizing all of these enzymes and metabolic pathways is something that I will forget anyways. I'm also behind in my studying so I'm not sure if I should cut my losses and just study the newest material as it comes or try to cover old material that I never properly studied and stay behind.

I know the bottom line is that I need to get back to the grind but there is a high volume of material that I have already been quizzed on but still haven't learned or put the time into. This info will come back on the exam. So should I focus on the old material and try to gain ground... or focus on the new material as it comes and try to cram the old stuff before the exam? I just don't know how to approach what is a fairly large deficit.

You sound like you are just in the first year of pharmacy school. If so, and I'm not trying to scare you, but expect the amount and depth of material to double in the second year when you get into pharmacokinetics and therapeutics.

Self-discipline and will power is the key, follow by planning. The top students I know make time to study no matter no matter the cost, never fall behind. How to do that can be different, so I can only speak for myself and my wife (who I met in my class).

Our typical day went like this:
First class starts around 7-8 am. If there is a gap of 1/2 hour or more between classes, we studied what was taught that day or the day before. That's enough to get 1/2-1 class worth of material.
When we are done with classes, we hit the gym for an hour and half, there we studied on the treadmill/elliptical, enough to get 1 class worth of material down.
We ate dinner, and then went to Barnes and Nobel around 6-7, there we studied until they closed at 11 PM. That's enough to polish off 2 classes worth of material. Sometime went home and studied a bit more to finish off the day.
Weekends, we worked 8 hours at our internships, bought grocery, study while doing laundry, then hit Barnes and Nobel after that. At this point, there should be no material from the week that hasn't been memorized/completed.
The day or two before a test, memorized that material a second time (a lot easier than the first time) to refresh.

It was rough, no sugar coating it. We didn't go to a single football game, went to party when the school is on maybe once a year. I told myself I'll rest and party when winter and summer breaks come, in the working world there won't be 4 months break a year.

 

[y0ssarian87]

Last semester I was pulling a solid 4-5 hours a day. Now in second semester the volume has doubled and my motivation is really lacking. I'm studying a lot less as the classes are getting harder. I'm still above the class average by a bit but I'm on a downward trend and if I continue at the pace I've been on for the last 2 weeks things could get ugly.

Anyone have any tips? I feel memorizing all of these enzymes and metabolic pathways is something that I will forget anyways. I'm also behind in my studying so I'm not sure if I should cut my losses and just study the newest material as it comes or try to cover old material that I never properly studied and stay behind.

I know the bottom line is that I need to get back to the grind but there is a high volume of material that I have already been quizzed on but still haven't learned or put the time into. This info will come back on the exam. So should I focus on the old material and try to gain ground... or focus on the new material as it comes and try to cram the old stuff before the exam? I just don't know how to approach what is a fairly large deficit.

I guess my first question would be, "are you studying efficiently?" If you study material from one lecture for an hour and you understand 90% of the material, it might not make sense to study 5 additional hours on the same material to bring you up to a 95% comprehension. Similarly, if you're understand 75% of the material presented and 5 additional hours only brings you to 80%, that's also a problem. You need to ensure that your time studying yields appropriate returns. If it's not, that could be an indication that you're sticking to old study habits that are either unnecessary or ineffective and time-consuming. I'll be honest, I rarely study in pharmacy school because I make sure to learn and understand the material the first time it's presented. That saves me so much time, but it does require that I'm incredibly engaged when I watch lectures.

My second question would be, "are you having trouble prioritizing what to study?" I ask this because you seem to trust us to simply tell you whether to cut your losses or to study everything. This makes me think that you have a hard time prioritizing the material you need to learn and that it may be a problem with your efficiency as I mentioned above. If you're focusing on the minutiae of your lectures, you may not be using your time appropriately. As your professors if your having trouble prioritizing. Also, try figuring out how much the material you're studying is worth to your final grade in that course. If you're studying 30 hours for something worth 10% of your course, I'd say you're doing something wrong.

These are the two best ways to cut out time. You'll need as much free time as possible if you want to get involved in work and student organizations. Honestly, the best thing for me was starting a job. That would be my third recommendation. Taking on the extra hours made me do a better job of prioritizing my material and becoming more efficient. Additionally my work hours were (and still are) "study" hours if you are mentally engaged at work. Think about the medications and disease states while at work. Think about receptor selectivity and reasons to select one drug from a class over others. Talk to your pharmacist to initiate discussion when you can.

Best of luck! It's great that you're engaged and trying to improve. Don't feel bad about being burnt out. It happens to everyone in pharmacy school. But do make sure to build in time for you. That alone can help improve your studying efficiency.


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[Amicable Angora]

What school do you go to?

 

[confettiflyer]

Most of my studying was cramming the night before an exam...the key is efficiency, specifically, distilling down to the key points of a particular subject, knowing in general the style of questioning you'll receive (or being close), and having a high powered study group to bounce off of and help distill lecture material down to single study sheets.

So i guess I'd say each one hour of lecture resulted in 30-90mins of exam studying depending on complexity of subject. Rough estimate, I don't have my old study schedule/topic lists handy. If I find them I'll post back here.


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[BenJammin]

Not to sound like an echo but the amount of time you study for a class or for a subject is completely meaningless. I had friends who studies tens of hours more than me yet we make the same grade. It's all about how effective you are in using your time wisely. Are you studying the right material? Are you memorizing or understand the material? Lots of factors go into it.

 

[ldiot]

Thanks to all for the replies. I think my study method is part of the problem. My comprehension of the material is somewhat linear to the amount of time I put it. For example, I usually put in around 3 hours studying per lecture hour to get full comprehension. We are getting 4 lecture hours a day of material (12 hours of studying) plus additional assignment/labs/presentations/rotations... so it's physically impossible for me to study 12 hours a day. The problem for me is, if I study a lecture for 1 hour it seems like I am only getting 1/3 of the material. Most students can study for 1 hour and know it 75%, and the second 2 hours get them up to 100%. So their first hour is the most beneficial. For me, like I said, it's more linear so that first hour only gets me to 33%. I think part of the problem is that I make very detailed 4-6 page outlines for every lecture that I can refer back to when reviewing for the exam/final. This is very beneficial when the exam rolls around because I don't have to go through 30 powerpoints to study, but the problem is that I end up only getting through half of the material to begin with so some of the lectures I haven't even opened yet.

Which leads me to my current situation. I get behind and then to top it off my lose motivation because I am getting buried by the material so I just end up studying even less. Other students just open up 4 powerpoints and spend 4 hours reading through them, and end up knowing ~75% of the material. I open up 4 powerpoints and spend an entire day memorizing and outlining 2 of them and know them 100%, but then end up cramming the other two into 1 hour and knowing them 50%. So now I'm really wanting to relearn the material that I'm 50% on but that will just put me further behind on the new material. And the problem isn't so much difficulty but rather volume.

I think the bottom line is that I am pretty good at prioritizing what to study but my efficiency is low. It's something that I have tried to work on but my mindset is always to study to know everything so it's very hard to change. My first instinct is to eliminate my study outlines which would save a lot of time but then I struggle to organize the info and when I write it I retain it lot better. I guess my first step, for now, is to simply increase my study time.

 

[y0ssarian87]

Thanks to all for the replies. I think my study method is part of the problem. My comprehension of the material is somewhat linear to the amount of time I put it. For example, I usually put in around 3 hours studying per lecture hour to get full comprehension. We are getting 4 lecture hours a day of material (12 hours of studying) plus additional assignment/labs/presentations/rotations... so it's physically impossible for me to study 12 hours a day. The problem for me is, if I study a lecture for 1 hour it seems like I am only getting 1/3 of the material. Most students can study for 1 hour and know it 75%, and the second 2 hours get them up to 100%. So their first hour is the most beneficial. For me, like I said, it's more linear so that first hour only gets me to 33%. I think part of the problem is that I make very detailed 4-6 page outlines for every lecture that I can refer back to when reviewing for the exam/final. This is very beneficial when the exam rolls around because I don't have to go through 30 powerpoints to study, but the problem is that I end up only getting through half of the material to begin with so some of the lectures I haven't even opened yet.

Which leads me to my current situation. I get behind and then to top it off my lose motivation because I am getting buried by the material so I just end up studying even less. Other students just open up 4 powerpoints and spend 4 hours reading through them, and end up knowing ~75% of the material. I open up 4 powerpoints and spend an entire day memorizing and outlining 2 of them and know them 100%, but then end up cramming the other two into 1 hour and knowing them 50%. So now I'm really wanting to relearn the material that I'm 50% on but that will just put my further behind on the new material. And the problem isn't so much difficulty but rather volume.

I think the bottom line is that I am pretty good at prioritizing what to study but my efficiency is low. It's something that I have tried to work on but my mindset is always to study to know everything so it's very hard to change. My first instinct is to eliminate my study outlines which would save a lot of time but then I struggle to organize the info and when I write it I retain it lot better.

How can we get you to know the material better in that first hour?

Have you tried skimming the material (ppt slides, etc) beforehand to get an idea of where the lecture is going? This can help you identify what to focus on. Do you find that you understand the material completely before moving on to the next slide or do you have to go back and forth a lot? Getting it right the first time saves time. Why is it that you're gaining as much information from hour 2-3 as you are from hour 0-1? This would be concerning to me.

Unless you happen to have more time, I would nix the outlines and rewriting of information. Do you print out your lecture slides? I find that to be more helpful than using the PowerPoint files. It allows me to take physical notes on the slides and I can go back and reference it, if necessary.

I've got to commend you on analyzing your situation and recognizing it's problematic. Good luck 🙂


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[ldiot]

How can we get you to know the material better in that first hour?

Have you tried skimming the material (ppt slides, etc) beforehand to get an idea of where the lecture is going? This can help you identify what to focus on. Do you find that you understand the material completely before moving on to the next slide or do you have to go back and forth a lot? Getting it right the first time saves time. Why is it that you're gaining as much information from hour 2-3 as you are from hour 0-1? This would be concerning to me.

Unless you happen to have more time, I would nix the outlines and rewriting of information. Do you print out your lecture slides? I find that to be more helpful than using the PowerPoint files. It allows me to take physical notes on the slides and I can go back and reference it, if necessary.

I've got to commend you on analyzing your situation and recognizing it's problematic. Good luck 🙂


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I don't move from slide 1 to slide 2 until I know everything on slide 1. Usually I pull up the lecture on the computer and write down everything important on the slide before moving to the next one. I continue this until I am through the powerpoint and usually have several pages of notes. Sometimes I even re-write the notes. It takes a ton of time but I know the material 100% and have perfect notes to review for the test with. The problem is that it simply takes way too long and is probably not feasible anymore. I haven't walked into a test or quiz yet where I actually got through all of the material. It's at the point now where I'm walking into quizzes and exams only getting through half of the material and then skim reading the rest which is killing me because I'm missing some pretty basic questions.

 

[MatCauthon]

Quality of study is far more important than quantity to echo the messages above. You may want to start reading some books about how to study more effectively and how to increase your intelligence. Neil Nedley, an MD who specializes in increasing brain health, has some interesting books and programs on this subject. He routinely works with kids who are failing in school and helps them get into Ivy league schools, medical school, etc. http://nedleyhealthsolutions.com/index.php/about-nhs

I was never the smartest person in my class but I spent a lot of time researching how to boost my brain health. If you start reading some books and listening to podcasts on these topics you may find some life-lasting benefits. I love listening to podcasts such as bulletproof diet and the Tim Ferris show. Not everything they say is accurate, but they provide a ton of ideas for experimentation.
Many of my peers were sabotaging their mental performance with their bad habits: alcohol binges, drugs, sodas, sugar, terrible diets, dependence on antidepressants, etc. To be smart many of us need every advantage we can get.

Find a way to stay motivated and love learning. Everything is an uphill battle if you don't have this. Studying was always a game for me. How can I do it in the least amount of time? I usually would study for only 2 days prior to each exam and had tons of free time in pharmacy school. If the test material was especially large, I might study for 3 days prior to an exam.
Summarizing material and asking the right questions was critical for me. I like the Cornell notes method for this purpose. If you can whittle your notes to a few key concepts, drawn from memory, then you might only need to review the material 1-3 times total.

A couple other random observations about learning:

1. Meditation is awesome for going into an accelerated learning state. Finding a way to go into a meditative state can be one of the biggest study advantages you will ever find.
2. Physical fatigue and mental fatigue are directly linked. Being in excellent physical health is a precursor to learning more efficiently. Adrenal fatigue is a real phenomenon and can be tested via salivary hormones. Getting adrenal fatigue under control greatly expands endurance and mental capacity. Lots of college students are in adrenal exhaustion. Finding someone that can test and treat this condition can be invaluable.
3. Try replaying some of your lectures at 1.5-2x speed. Most of us learn far faster than we think we do.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

Quality of study is far more important than quantity to echo the messages above. You may want to start reading some books about how to study more effectively and how to increase your intelligence. Neil Nedley, an MD who specializes in increasing brain health, has some interesting books and programs on this subject. He routinely works with kids who are failing in school and helps them get into Ivy league schools, medical school, etc. http://nedleyhealthsolutions.com/index.php/about-nhs

I was never the smartest person in my class but I spent a lot of time researching how to boost my brain health. If you start reading some books and listening to podcasts on these topics you may find some life-lasting benefits. I love listening to podcasts such as bulletproof diet and the Tim Ferris show. Not everything they say is accurate, but they provide a ton of ideas for experimentation.
Many of my peers were sabotaging their mental performance with their bad habits: alcohol binges, drugs, sodas, sugar, terrible diets, dependence on antidepressants, etc. To be smart many of us need every advantage we can get.

Find a way to stay motivated and love learning. Everything is an uphill battle if you don't have this. Studying was always a game for me. How can I do it in the least amount of time? I usually would study for only 2 days prior to each exam and had tons of free time in pharmacy school. If the test material was especially large, I might study for 3 days prior to an exam.
Summarizing material and asking the right questions was critical for me. I like the Cornell notes method for this purpose. If you can whittle your notes to a few key concepts, drawn from memory, then you might only need to review the material 1-3 times total.

A couple other random observations about learning:

1. Meditation is awesome for going into an accelerated learning state. Finding a way to go into a meditative state can be one of the biggest study advantages you will ever find.
2. Physical fatigue and mental fatigue are directly linked. Being in excellent physical health is a precursor to learning more efficiently. Adrenal fatigue is a real phenomenon and can be tested via salivary hormones. Getting adrenal fatigue under control greatly expands endurance and mental capacity. Lots of college students are in adrenal exhaustion. Finding someone that can test and treat this condition can be invaluable.
3. Try replaying some of your lectures at 1.5-2x speed. Most of us learn far faster than we think we do.

Yeah...a lot of this is some serious quackery. Also, for the love of god, under no circumstance do you tell people to stop taking their prescribed antidepressant/antianxiety meds.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

Our typical day went like this:
First class starts around 7-8 am. If there is a gap of 1/2 hour or more between classes, we studied what was taught that day or the day before. That's enough to get 1/2-1 class worth of material.
When we are done with classes, we hit the gym for an hour and half, there we studied on the treadmill/elliptical, enough to get 1 class worth of material down.
We ate dinner, and then went to Barnes and Nobel around 6-7, there we studied until they closed at 11 PM. That's enough to polish off 2 classes worth of material. Sometime went home and studied a bit more to finish off the day.
Weekends, we worked 8 hours at our internships, bought grocery, study while doing laundry, then hit Barnes and Nobel after that. At this point, there should be no material from the week that hasn't been memorized/completed.
The day or two before a test, memorized that material a second time (a lot easier than the first time) to refresh.

It was rough, no sugar coating it. We didn't go to a single football game, went to party when the school is on maybe once a year. I told myself I'll rest and party when winter and summer breaks come, in the working world there won't be 4 months break a year.

Good lord. I don't recall trying 1/4th as hard as this. Props to you for your studious discipline.

 

[Digsbe]

P1 first semester I'd spend about 30 hours in class and about 10-15 outside of class time studying (more during exams).

P1 second semester and beyond... roughly 30 hours in class and 20-40 outside of class (especially more during exam blocks). I wasn't a straight A student. Working 40-60 hours a week in P4 year, although challenging, has nothing on the exam stress and hours put into school during P1-P3 years.

 

[wagrxm2000]

Pharmacy has changed a lot since I was in school but I always just crammed the day before. You may want to try it for one exam to see how you do, it frees up a lot of time. Most of the info is useless anyways depending on where you go.

 

[ldiot]

Pharmacy has changed a lot since I was in school but I always just crammed the day before. You may want to try it for one exam to see how you do, it frees up a lot of time. Most of the info is useless anyways depending on where you go.

Yeah we are taking all our classes with med students and it's geared toward diagnosis and they are always talking about these rare diseases that most physicians will never even see. Cramming is hard because it seems like I have to organize the information in my head or write it out somehow. Just glancing over a bunch of metabolic pathways and cramming them gives me no retention or comprehension.

 

[wagrxm2000]

Oh didn't realize that's what we're talking about. Those classes its going to be way better to actually learn the pathways.

What class talks about rare diseases? What is going on in pharmacy school nowadays that's a waste of time.

 

[xiphoid2010]

Good lord. I don't recall trying 1/4th as hard as this. Props to you for your studious discipline.

Well, it was a top 10 school so there was a bunch of quite talented young minds. And even there, there was roughly half a dozen or so of us that were in a open/semi-secret (but civil) competition to be the top student. I would hazard to guess each of us were aiming to open as many door as possible to advance our careers, and that's why I was working both a hospital as well a retail internship along side all that studying. It wasn't easy, but it paid off in scholarships, residency pick, job offers, advancing through career... So much was and still is due to that same discipline and planning during school.

 

[wagrxm2000]

Having a 4.0 today doesn't mean much. Even if some employers do look at your gpa, you probably aren't going to jump past long term pharmacists to a better position. After so many years out, your gpa means nothing and should be dropped from your resume anyways.

From a retail stand point, most of the supervisors that I've met over the years who are pharmacists are clueless now about most drugs.

 

[EyeTeeFarmer]

From a retail stand point, most of the supervisors that I've met over the years who are pharmacists are clueless now about most drugs.

This is what is causing the profession to go downhill. They are a liability to everyone. You end up getting metrics and standards that can't be met without sacrificing the more important things.

Back to OP:

About 1-2 weeks before a major test for some class, I'd review everything there was to know. This originated from procrastination, but once I realized Pathology was too tough to be doing this, I had to start earlier and earlier.

Find a good studying method/improve your studying method. It's not possible to do what you are doing once the volume of material increases. It took me three years of pharmacy school to figure this out. First year, I'd just skim the powerpoint and try to remember everything. Second year, I tried to make questions about every powerpoint concept and answer them.

What actually worked for me in the 3rd year ended up being making a study cheat sheet and writing as small as possible. The spatial arrangement of concepts on the paper helped me to visualize my cheat sheet and remember clinical things. For instance, I had a flow chart for antibiotics like how aminoPCNs, extended spectrum, and PCNase resistant PCs were related to PCNs. Or for CAP, I drew arrows three pathways, each based on CURB-65 score. Data tables didn't help me at all, because an element on a column/row wasn't memorable and after a while, tables really get jumbled in your mind especially if you have an intense exam.

 

[BenJammin]

Having a 4.0 today doesn't mean much. Even if some employers do look at your gpa, you probably aren't going to jump past long term pharmacists to a better position. After so many years out, your gpa means nothing and should be dropped from your resume anyways.

From a retail stand point, most of the supervisors that I've met over the years who are pharmacists are clueless now about most drugs.

I just don't understand the usage of GPA anyway since there is no standardization among universities. How can you compare/contrast a 3.5 at Harvard with a 3.5 at Florida State?

 

[297point1]

How can you compare/contrast a 3.5 at Harvard with a 3.5 at Florida State?

You don't. One of these institutions is known for rampant grade inflation, where a decade ago 90% of graduating seniors earned Latin honors.
The other is a state university known for football.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2004/6/10/graduating-seniors-rack-up-honors-while/

 

[xiphoid2010]

I just don't understand the usage of GPA anyway since there is no standardization among universities. How can you compare/contrast a 3.5 at Harvard with a 3.5 at Florida State?

Reputation of schools is public knowledge, especially within a geographical area. Baring a crystal ball, GPA is a quantifiable indicator of whether student A or B was the better student, and hence is likely more disciplined, hardworking, manages time well, and likely to succeed. GPA is not used alone to measure candidates, but to say it's meaningless is silly. It's not the number matters so much as the personal qualities that it indicates.

Also, high GPA gets you scholarship money, entry into residency training, open doors to additional career path, and so forth. Of the half a dozen or so students that I was competing again in my class, one is now a clinical coordinator at a hospital, I'm a DOP, and another is a professor now. Haven't heard from the others, but they probably aren't doing badly either.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

Well, it was a top 10 school so there was a bunch of quite talented young minds.

Ha ha. Nobody takes those seriously. Let's be honest...the top like 40-50 schools are pretty well respected and candidates from them can be weighed pretty equally.

 

[xiphoid2010]

Ha ha. Nobody takes those seriously. Let's be honest...the top like 40-50 schools are pretty well respected and candidates from them can be weighed pretty equally.

But they are not located in the same geographical area. For example, the top 10 school where I'm at is UT-Austin, in ohio is Ohio State, in Michigan it's UofM. Their reputation as the best school in the area is well known, with many alumni in leadership roles, the schools and its alumni tend to have disproportionate influence in the state/area. Granted this probably doesn't matter all that much in retail.

 

[BenJammin]

You don't. One of these institutions is known for rampant grade inflation, where a decade ago 90% of graduating seniors earned Latin honors.
The other is a state university known for football.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2004/6/10/graduating-seniors-rack-up-honors-while/

Reputation of schools is public knowledge, especially within a geographical area. Baring a crystal ball, GPA is a quantifiable indicator of whether student A or B was the better student, and hence is likely more disciplined, hardworking, manages time well, and likely to succeed. GPA is not used alone to measure candidates, but to say it's meaningless is silly. It's not the number matters so much as the personal qualities that it indicates.

Also, high GPA gets you scholarship money, entry into residency training, open doors to additional career path, and so forth. Of the half a dozen or so students that I was competing again in my class, one is now a clinical coordinator at a hospital, I'm a DOP, and another is a professor now. Haven't heard from the others, but they probably aren't doing badly either.

This is all garbage. GPA is not standardized so it cannot be taken seriously. How can you look at a 3.8 student from the University of North Texas and a 3.7 student from Princeton and say that the former is the better student?

 

[xiphoid2010]

This is all garbage. GPA is not standardized so it cannot be taken seriously. How can you look at a 3.8 student from the University of North Texas and a 3.7 student from Princeton and say that the former is the better student?

You just added to the point I was meaning earlier - the school's reputation plays a part as well. We have UT-Austin and UIW in my area, the differences are quite noticeable.

 

[297point1]

This is all garbage. GPA is not standardized so it cannot be taken seriously. How can you look at a 3.8 student from the University of North Texas and a 3.7 student from Princeton and say that the former is the better student?

Dude- I was agreeing with you. So was @xiphoid2010

 

[wagrxm2000]

Back to the OP if you are going into retail your gpa means nothing. I'll take the worst student ever if they are a hard worker. From experience some of these 4.0 students are horrible pharmacists since they have no people skills.

 

[confettiflyer]

My UCSD kids don't have GPA's at all


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[ldiot]

Well the good news is I just got a 94 on my midterm. But I still don't have people skills, lol.

 

[xiphoid2010]

Well the good news is I just got a 94 on my midterm. But I still don't have people skills, lol.

Good job. keep it up and it'll pay off.

As people skills, in a department of any significant size there will always be people that don't get along, which management must keep in check. There are 4 categories: lovable star, competent jerk, lovable fool, and incompetent jerk. While lovable star is ideal, the middle 2 are usually fine, but don't fall into the last.

 

[EyeTeeFarmer]

Good job. keep it up and it'll pay off.

As people skills, in a department of any significant size there will always be people that don't get along, which management must keep in check. There are 4 categories: lovable star, competent jerk, lovable fool, and incompetent jerk. While lovable star is ideal, the middle 2 are usually fine, but don't fall into the last.

That's pretty funny. Forget personality tests. This actually hits the nail on the head.

 

[angryrx]

2-3 hours a day starting 2 weeks before exams. Other times, zero. Almost made cum laude by 1-2 classes, but I really couldn't care less.

Worked 2 jobs, made decent investments, came out $28k in debt while going to a private rip-off school ($190k total, minus 70k scholarships).

Just pay attention in class, pharmacy is NOT rocket science, nothing we do or learn in school is very complicated. Even the "toughest" PK courses are easy algebra at best and deriving some simple equations. Most classes require minimal critical thinking, lots of regurgitation.

 

[BidingMyTime]

What is the recommended college average, 3 hours study outside of class for every hour you spend in class? I don't think 4 - 5 hours/day is unreasonable for a professional school (at least on average, when I was in school I might take a night or 2 off during the week, and then spend 10 - 12 hours studying on Sunday) Certainly everything being said in this thread about efficiency is important--many people study ineffectively and waste their time. But for most people, even hard-driven, very intelligent people, maybe especially for hard-driven intelligent people, a professional school requires more work than they are probably used to. This is normal, just remember it's like the military, a 4 year* commitment, then you can move on with your life (*there is more fine print in the military commitment, then in the commitment to enter & graduate a professional school.)

 

[ldiot]

Yeah I still haven't figured myself out yet. The last 2 months I've been studying around 2-3 days a week for ~5 hours each day. Not by design as I've been pretty lazy. So like 15 hours a week. I don't really think I'm very efficient and am usually always behind but I outperform the class on every quiz/test, sometimes by a significant amount. I think I'm getting better at studying as the year goes by... my methods haven't really changed much but I'm covering material faster.