How much studying in Med School?

[Billybear185]

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Hello, I understand that this thread is very similar to others, but this one is a little more specific. I have recently been looking around the internet (mostly youtube) and many sources say most of the day is set aside for studying. Is this true? By most of the time I mean like 10 hours per day. I understand that it differs for everyone, but assuming that everyone in a particular med school is relatively the same intelligence, how much is really essential to do well?

 

[FSU2013]

Hello, I understand that this thread is very similar to others, but this one is a little more specific. I have recently been looking around the internet (mostly youtube) and many sources say most of the day is set aside for studying. Is this true? By most of the time I mean like 10 hours per day. I understand that it differs for everyone, but assuming that everyone in a particular med school is relatively the same intelligence, how much is really essential to do well?

Google is your friends. So is the search function.

Everyone in med school is not nearly the same intelligence level. And "do well" is a subjective term. If you want to match dermatology or ortho in SF, NYC, Boston, "do well" means one thing; if you want to match FM or Peds somewhere that isn't going to suck the life out of you, "do well" means something entirely different. Also, each year is very different. Your first two years you do more traditional studying, and no, 10 hours is not unreasonable. Your third and (part of) your fourth, you're in the hospital all the time. Some rotations, it's only 40-50 hours with an hour or two reading each night. Others (*cough* surgery *cough*), you'll be in the hospital for 100+ hours.

I probably averaged 8-12 hours a day 5-6 days a week for the first two years.

 

[sbuxaddict]

Google is your friends. So is the search function.

Everyone in med school is not nearly the same intelligence level. And "do well" is a subjective term. If you want to match dermatology or ortho in SF, NYC, Boston, "do well" means one thing; if you want to match FM or Peds somewhere that isn't going to suck the life out of you, "do well" means something entirely different. Also, each year is very different. Your first two years you do more traditional studying, and no, 10 hours is not unreasonable. Your third and (part of) your fourth, you're in the hospital all the time. Some rotations, it's only 40-50 hours with an hour or two reading each night. Others (*cough* surgery *cough*), you'll be in the hospital for 100+ hours.

I probably averaged 8-12 hours a day 5-6 days a week for the first two years.

😱 Is that counting class time?

 

[LaughingMan]

It's nearly impossible to give a set amount of time you have to study.

5 hours of passive studying (which most people engage in) is equal to about 2 hours of active studying in my opinion.

If you can study effectively, you don't need to be spending 8 hours a day.

 

[image187]

probably averaged 3-4 hours/day 5 days a week of studying in addition to whatever lectures there were (a couple hours a day) for 1st and 2nd year. 3rd year it's a different sort of learning, but there are shelf exams at the end of each rotation and I just study whenever I can... a few small breaks throughout the day if I get a chance and probably an hour each night if I'm able. 4th year is typically a joke and there is no studying except for step 2 for a few weeks with much of the rest of the year being electives.

 

[fahimaz7]

4 hours of class/day followed by 6-8 more hours/day to review/learn material. It picks up in the 10 days leading to a test and of course slows down when you have three weeks in between exams.

Lots of studying. It's not that bad. Graduating MS4 here.

 

[fahimaz7]

It's nearly impossible to give a set amount of time you have to study.

5 hours of passive studying (which most people engage in) is equal to about 2 hours of active studying in my opinion.

If you can study effectively, you don't need to be spending 8 hours a day.

No matter how "effect" or "active" you study, when you get to medical school, I can promise you that you will be studying more than 2 hours a day. There will be weeks where you are well above the 8 hours/day of "active" studying.

I worked harder during some of my MS1 and MS2 weeks than I did during MS3 or MS4.

Why are premeds answering these questions? Gotta love the pre-med forum, where they know how it is without even applying to medical school yet, much less attending class for at least a semester.

 

[LaughingMan]

No matter how "effect" or "active" you study, when one gets to medical school, I can promise you that you will be studying more than 2 hours a day. There will be weeks where you are well above the 8 hours/day of "active" studying.

I worked harder during some of my MS1 and MS2 weeks than I did during MS3 or MS4.

Ahh yes yes, did not mean to imply that 2 hours of active studying was all that's needed. Just that the range is so large. I'd probably guess at 4 hours a day minimum.

 

[Mdtichen]

Why are premeds answering these questions? Gotta love the pre-med forum, where they know how it is without even applying to medical school yet, much less attending class for at least a semester.

Looks like mostly medical students have answered thus far, good try with the bashing though.

 

[fahimaz7]

Ahh yes yes, did not mean to imply that 2 hours of active studying was all that's needed. Just that the range is so large. I'd probably guess at 4 hours a day minimum.

It's a better guess to say the range is 40-80 hours/week of actively working on the material. Hours/day isn't a reasonable way to measure the load.

You also have to take into consideration the C student and the A student when you ask these questions. While not always to the case, the A students work a lot harder, smarter, and longer than the C students on campus (although SDN selects for the A students).

 

[prado]

Looks like mostly medical students have answered thus far, good try with the bashing though.

Obviously his post was directed at the premed commenting about how many hours one should or shouldn't be studying in medical school. Don't take it personal, no one else did.

 

[LaughingMan]

Why are premeds answering these questions? Gotta love the pre-med forum, where they know how it is without even applying to medical school yet, much less attending class for at least a semester.

I suppose you might be right with this, though your execution was poor.

I have a brother who have gone through the process and merely shared what I observed from him.

😍😍👍👍

 

[Mdtichen]

Obviously his post was directed at the premed commenting about how many hours one should or shouldn't be studying in medical school. Don't take it personal, no one else did.

Hahaha I wasn't. I was just trying to start trouble 😛. I agree with him 100 %

 

[fahimaz7]

I suppose you might be right with this, though your execution was poor.

I have a brother who have gone through the process and merely shared what I observed from him.

😍😍👍👍

Ah. By that reasoning I should be answering questions on the CPA forum and tax law forum, as my brother has been through both and I saw what he did...

Here's a true story. As a MS4 I got frustrated with my mom and asked her what she thought my "average" day was like. Her response, "um.. 2-3 hours of lecture followed by a few hours of shadowing in the hospital/week." What? Are you kidding? I was on my Sub-I in the hospital, working from 5am till at least 7pm every night + Q4 day 24 hour call. This is the load that she thought I had been doing for 4 years.

Talk about out of touch.

 

[FSU2013]

😱 Is that counting class time?

I never went to class except when required, i.e. PBL once a week, the standardized patients and the occasional "professionalism" lecture.

Like Fahimaz7, I'm an MS4 who did very well throughout med school. And everything he said was pretty dead-on.

 

[LaughingMan]

Ah. By that reasoning I should be answering questions on the CPA forum and tax law forum, as my brother has been through both and I saw what he did...

Here's a true story. As a MS4 I got frustrated with my mom and asked her what she thought my "average" day was like. Her response, "um.. 2-3 hours of lecture followed by a few hours of shadowing in the hospital/week." What? Are you kidding? I was on my Sub-I in the hospital, working from 5am till at least 7pm every night + Q4 day 24 hour call. This is the load that she thought I had been doing for 4 years.

Talk about out of touch.

Do it and post your results! 👍😍

 

[darkjedi]

I probably study/do work an additional 2 hours a day on top of my classes and have plenty of other time for stuff/funs. It's when it comes down to test time when that goes up to like 12 hours of studying a day the week before the exam.

 

[FSU2013]

I was the exact opposite of this. We had a test once a month on a Friday. The first week of the block I was on study lock down, the next two I studied pretty hard. The week of the test, I relaxed. I generally studied <4 hours the tuesday and wednesday before the test and I didn't open a book or go to school the day before an exam.

I probably study/do work an additional 2 hours a day on top of my classes and have plenty of other time for stuff/funs. It's when it comes down to test time when that goes up to like 12 hours of studying a day the week before the exam.

 

[sbuxaddict]

I never went to class except when required, i.e. PBL once a week, the standardized patients and the occasional "professionalism" lecture.

Like Fahimaz7, I'm an MS4 who did very well throughout med school. And everything he said was pretty dead-on.

Gotcha, ok, thanks for your response! I feel like I'd be more productive studying on my own than using that time to go to class.

 

[Slowpoke]

Studying so far in 1st year is similar to taking a mini-MCAT every 3 weeks.

 

[fahimaz7]

Studying so far in 1st year is similar to taking a mini-MCAT every 3 weeks.

We regularly had 180 question tests as a ms1. Sure felt like the MCAT. lol

 

[thesauce]

8 hours per day, 6 days per week during MS1 and MS2. Very similar to my undergrad. Ramped it up to at least 12 hours per day when studying for step 1. Didn't go to lectures unless required. Had plenty of time for outside pursuits.

Never had anything close to 180 questions on an exam!

 

[gmcguitar4]

If attendance is not required and all lectures are streamed online, would you still go to lecture(current med students)? Is lecture just a waste of time if you can watch it 2x speed?

 

[darkjedi]

If attendance is not required and all lectures are streamed online, would you still go to lecture(current med students)? Is lecture just a waste of time if you can watch it 2x speed?

It depends on the person. I would say maybe 1/5 of my class still go to lectures at 8am, with more trickling in every hour after that. Many people still go for the social aspect of being in a classroom with other people.

 

[Ismet]

IMO, if you're studying 8-10 hours per day every day in addition to going to lecture, something is wrong, but then again I'm not striving for a competitive specialty so I'm perfectly content with scoring middle-of-the-road on exams. Everyone figures out their own system, and the important thing is to not compare your study habits with someone else, because that person thinks and learns differently than you.

I'll usually study/listen to lectures 3-4 hours a day and then ramp it up as the exam gets closer, usually like 12 hours/day the weekend before the exam.

If attendance is not required and all lectures are streamed online, would you still go to lecture(current med students)? Is lecture just a waste of time if you can watch it 2x speed?

It's not a waste of time if you're an auditory learner. I'd say about 1/3 of my class regularly goes to class, just because they learn best by hearing information. I'm a visual learner, so hearing things does nothing if I'm not writing things down, writing it in my own words, or drawing diagrams/flow charts/making spreadsheets. I don't usually go to lecture unless it's not being recorded (when there is patient information/patient videos) or unless it's a lecturer I particularly like. Sometimes I don't even listen to the lecture because the notes we're given are so detailed + images that there's no additional info in the lecture.

 

[fahimaz7]

IMO, if you're studying 8-10 hours per day every day in addition to going to lecture, something is wrong, but then again I'm not striving for a competitive specialty so I'm perfectly content with scoring middle-of-the-road on exams. Everyone figures out their own system, and the important thing is to not compare your study habits with someone else, because that person thinks and learns differently than you.

I'll usually study/listen to lectures 3-4 hours a day and then ramp it up as the exam gets closer, usually like 12 hours/day the weekend before the exam.



It's not a waste of time if you're an auditory learner. I'd say about 1/3 of my class regularly goes to class, just because they learn best by hearing information. I'm a visual learner, so hearing things does nothing if I'm not writing things down, writing it in my own words, or drawing diagrams/flow charts/making spreadsheets. I don't usually go to lecture unless it's not being recorded (when there is patient information/patient videos) or unless it's a lecturer I particularly like. Sometimes I don't even listen to the lecture because the notes we're given are so detailed + images that there's no additional info in the lecture.

3.9 here @ graduation. Different strokes for different folks.

 

[FSU2013]

3.9 here @ graduation. Different strokes for different folks.

+1

 

[nychila]

Are most exam/quiz questions multiple choice?

 

[thesauce]

Are most exam/quiz questions multiple choice?

With 180 questions, they better be

 

[IslandStyle808]

IMO, if you're studying 8-10 hours per day every day in addition to going to lecture, something is wrong, but then again I'm not striving for a competitive specialty so I'm perfectly content with scoring middle-of-the-road on exams. Everyone figures out their own system, and the important thing is to not compare your study habits with someone else, because that person thinks and learns differently than you.

I'll usually study/listen to lectures 3-4 hours a day and then ramp it up as the exam gets closer, usually like 12 hours/day the weekend before the exam.



It's not a waste of time if you're an auditory learner. I'd say about 1/3 of my class regularly goes to class, just because they learn best by hearing information. I'm a visual learner, so hearing things does nothing if I'm not writing things down, writing it in my own words, or drawing diagrams/flow charts/making spreadsheets. I don't usually go to lecture unless it's not being recorded (when there is patient information/patient videos) or unless it's a lecturer I particularly like. Sometimes I don't even listen to the lecture because the notes we're given are so detailed + images that there's no additional info in the lecture.

Based on this you are also a kinesthetic learner.

 

[Ismet]

3.9 here @ graduation. Different strokes for different folks.

Congratulations. We're P/F here so it doesn't really matter.

Based on this you are also a kinesthetic learner.

True, I guess it's a combo of both. 👍

 

[fahimaz7]

Congratulations. We're P/F here so it doesn't really matter.



True, I guess it's a combo of both. 👍

One thing that does matter is whether or not you are "passing" with a 75 or "passing" with a 95. That's for sure when board time comes around.

Interestingly enough, I talked to numerous PD's who just change the Honors, High Pass, and Pass crap to A, B, C and recalculate your GPA on the backside, or at least this is what I was told on the interview trail this year. For the schools that are just "Pass vs not Pass," they look at class rank and go from there.

 

[Ismet]

One thing that does matter is whether or not you are "passing" with a 75 or "passing" with a 95. That's for sure when board time comes around.

How well I do on block exams right now doesn't necessarily dictate how well I'll do on Step 1 over a year from now. I'm learning as much as I can while still doing the activities I enjoy that keep me sane. But to each his own.

 

[fahimaz7]

How well I do on block exams right now doesn't necessarily dictate how well I'll do on Step 1 over a year from now. I'm learning as much as I can while still doing the activities I enjoy that keep me sane. But to each his own.

There's a pretty well described linear correlation between board scores and MS1/MS2 performance. While their are always outliers, I don't think any of us want to bank on that. One of the Texas schools publishes all their data for each year and it always shows the same relationship between the two variables. Keep your head down and try to learn as much as you can while you have the "free" time to do so.

Good luck!

Someone locate the school and data. It's been a year or two since I've seen it. Very impressive data on the subject.

 

[Non Pizza Lunch]

I almost feel the cumulative time I spent studying in the 2-3 months for Step I has been more studying than ALL my years of undergrad combined (~3.8).

 

[NickNaylor]

There's a pretty well described linear correlation between board scores and MS1/MS2 performance. While their are always outliers, I don't think any of us want to bank on that. One of the Texas schools publishes all their data for each year and it always shows the same relationship between the two variables. Keep your head down and try to learn as much as you can while you have the "free" time to do so.

Good luck!

Someone locate the school and data. It's been a year or two since I've seen it. Very impressive data on the subject.

Everyone says this, and obviously n=1 yadda yadda, but at my current progress I expect to get somewhere between 240-260 and I barely passed most of my M1 exams and even failed an anatomy exam. I think the strength of the correlation is VERY curriculum dependent. I don't doubt that it approaches 1 at some places, but there are also many places IMO where the correlation is weak at best.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717

 

[Ismet]

Everyone says this, and obviously n=1 yadda yadda, but at my current progress I expect to get somewhere between 240-260 and I barely passed most of my M1 exams and even failed an anatomy exam. I think the strength of the correlation is VERY curriculum dependent. I don't doubt that it approaches 1 at some places, but there are also many places IMO where the correlation is weak at best.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717

+1. As an MS1, I can't comment on Step 1, but I can comment on what I've been told by several 3rd and 4th years at my school, residents who graduated from my school, and my advisor and faculty mentor. I recently talked to a 4th year who just matched into ophtho...he failed microbio (the hardest course at my school) and barely passed some other classes, but micro ended up being his best section on Step 1 and he got a stellar score. The majority of our exams are not board-style, so you can't compare the apples and oranges of block exams vs standardized USMLE.

 

[MBHockey]

There's a pretty well described linear correlation between board scores and MS1/MS2 performance. While their are always outliers, I don't think any of us want to bank on that. One of the Texas schools publishes all their data for each year and it always shows the same relationship between the two variables. Keep your head down and try to learn as much as you can while you have the "free" time to do so.

Good luck!

Someone locate the school and data. It's been a year or two since I've seen it. Very impressive data on the subject.

I imagine this is true if your in house exams are similar to the way you must think on Step 1.

At my school, it's not very similar. I only P'ed most classes first and second year but got a 249 on step 1 because step 1 is more of a thinking exam than one of fact regurgitation (like exams at my school). Third year was the best thing to happen me because all in house exams were replaced by shelf exams!

 

[fahimaz7]

+1. As an MS1, I can't comment on Step 1, but I can comment on what I've been told by several 3rd and 4th years at my school, residents who graduated from my school, and my advisor and faculty mentor. I recently talked to a 4th year who just matched into ophtho...he failed microbio (the hardest course at my school) and barely passed some other classes, but micro ended up being his best section on Step 1 and he got a stellar score. The majority of our exams are not board-style, so you can't compare the apples and oranges of block exams vs standardized USMLE.

So the advisers, faculty, and upper level students at U-Pitt are all saying that the performance in the pre-clinical curriculum is in no way an indicator of USMLE performance? Medical school material is tightly regulated by the LCME committee's and isn't something that can be so manipulated, in both content and presentation, so that it can be that vastly different between medical schools. While there are certainly schools that do a better job than others at getting the "important" material stressed, most medical students end up studying from the same review books and end up learning the same material by the end of the second year of medical school.

I stick to my comment that you are much more likely to be in the top group of performers on step 1 if you are ranking towards the top of your class during the pre-clinical years. While 2.0 students occasionally score a 245, these are outliers in the group, while the top subset of students will AVERAGE a 245 or there abouts.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

It's nearly impossible to give a set amount of time you have to study.

5 hours of passive studying (which most people engage in) is equal to about 2 hours of active studying in my opinion.

If you can study effectively, you don't need to be spending 8 hours a day.

So glad to hear advice coming from someone in medical school

Oh wait...

 

[alpinism]

We regularly had 180 question tests as a ms1. Sure felt like the MCAT. lol

Lol yeah that's pretty extreme. On the bright side, with tons of questions you can miss like 25 Qs and still do well.

I think the longest exam we ever had was about 80 Qs. However, the vast majority were paragraph long clinical case scenario based questions w/ multiple subsections.

Some of our exams had as little as 40 Qs. For those, you really had to know your $hit b/c you couldn't miss more than 5 or 6 and still do well.

 

[Ismet]

So the advisers, faculty, and upper level students at U-Pitt are all saying that the performance in the pre-clinical curriculum is in no way an indicator of USMLE performance? Medical school material is tightly regulated by the LCME committee's and isn't something that can be so manipulated, in both content and presentation, so that it can be that vastly different between medical schools. While there are certainly schools that do a better job than others at getting the "important" material stressed, most medical students end up studying from the same review books and end up learning the same material by the end of the second year of medical school.

I stick to my comment that you are much more likely to be in the top group of performers on step 1 if you are ranking towards the top of your class during the pre-clinical years. While 2.0 students occasionally score a 245, these are outliers in the group, while the top subset of students will AVERAGE a 245 or there abouts.

I did not say that performance in pre-clinical is "in no way an indicator" of board performance, obviously the intelligence and dedication that one puts into honoring pre-clinical classes can translate to board studying and achieving higher board scores. I'm reinforcing my original statement that my exam scores now do not necessarily dictate my future Step 1 score. I'm not saying you're wrong, as I'm sure there is a correlation between the two, I just don't think it's as strong as you think it is.

And yes, the material we are learning is standardized across the board. I glance through the course-specific section in First Aid to help me study for some exams, and the material in FA covers what we are learning in class. My statement was towards the exams. We did have two NBME shelf exams this year, and I actually did much better on those than I've done on some of our in-house exams. It's a different style of exam. So while I might learn/master the same amount of information as someone at a different school, my performance on the exam is school-specific, whereas Step 1 is standardized.

 

[GrabSlamBoot]

Everyone says this, and obviously n=1 yadda yadda, but at my current progress I expect to get somewhere between 240-260 and I barely passed most of my M1 exams and even failed an anatomy exam. I think the strength of the correlation is VERY curriculum dependent. I don't doubt that it approaches 1 at some places, but there are also many places IMO where the correlation is weak at best.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717

Hey nick I read in a previous post that you really focused your studying on board material rather than lecture material since you are part of a true P/F system. Ill be going to a true P/F school as well and was wondering how much you attribute your success (or Qbank success haha) to you bucking the curriculum and learning more for the boards as opposed to what your lecturers want. I've seen a lot of people say that when they go to a p/f school that's how they tend to focus their studying (board specific) and I just wanted to see what ur thoughts were.

Thank ya

 

[alpinism]

IMO, if you're studying 8-10 hours per day every day in addition to going to lecture, something is wrong, but then again I'm not striving for a competitive specialty so I'm perfectly content with scoring middle-of-the-road on exams. Everyone figures out their own system, and the important thing is to not compare your study habits with someone else, because that person thinks and learns differently than you.

I'll usually study/listen to lectures 3-4 hours a day and then ramp it up as the exam gets closer, usually like 12 hours/day the weekend before the exam.



It's not a waste of time if you're an auditory learner. I'd say about 1/3 of my class regularly goes to class, just because they learn best by hearing information. I'm a visual learner, so hearing things does nothing if I'm not writing things down, writing it in my own words, or drawing diagrams/flow charts/making spreadsheets. I don't usually go to lecture unless it's not being recorded (when there is patient information/patient videos) or unless it's a lecturer I particularly like. Sometimes I don't even listen to the lecture because the notes we're given are so detailed + images that there's no additional info in the lecture.

That's the key point. Roughly speaking, most med students could still pass classes w/ prob a 75-80% average if they just watched lectures at 2x speed and only studied another 1-2hrs on top of that per day. But, if you're shooting for AOA or competitive specialties and want ALL Honors (>93%) then you'll prob need to put in another 4-8 hrs per day depending on the student (with the exception of the weekend before exams when most students are cranking out 10+ hrs a day). Some students are just more efficient at studying than others as well.

I agree though, if you're putting in over 8hrs a day AFTER watching lectures and not shooting for all As, something's wrong.

There's also a lot less pressure to do above average going to a P/F school.

 

[LaughingMan]

So glad to hear advice coming from someone in medical school Oh wait...

Just trying to impress you!

😍😍👍😍😍👍😍😍

 

[Wordead]

So the advisers, faculty, and upper level students at U-Pitt are all saying that the performance in the pre-clinical curriculum is in no way an indicator of USMLE performance? Medical school material is tightly regulated by the LCME committee's and isn't something that can be so manipulated, in both content and presentation, so that it can be that vastly different between medical schools. While there are certainly schools that do a better job than others at getting the "important" material stressed, most medical students end up studying from the same review books and end up learning the same material by the end of the second year of medical school.

I stick to my comment that you are much more likely to be in the top group of performers on step 1 if you are ranking towards the top of your class during the pre-clinical years. While 2.0 students occasionally score a 245, these are outliers in the group, while the top subset of students will AVERAGE a 245 or there abouts.

THEORETICALLY LCME regulates this. In reality, curricula vary a CRAPLOAD from school to school. I keep in contact with undergrad friends who are in medical school and the things some of them learn are so obscure and bizzare (Structures of drugs?!?) that it's baffling. My school also goes way too far in depth on micro - do I really need to learn these bugs that are only seen in this area of micronesia? And don't get me started on clinical years - the variance grows exponentially.

 

[neusu]

First year I went to class and probably reviewed 2-3 hours after that

Second year, I didn't go to class. I read the notes and watched the class in 2x and took my own notes..

3rd year is different

4th year is the most expensive vacation you'll ever take

 

[NickNaylor]

THEORETICALLY LCME regulates this. In reality, curricula vary a CRAPLOAD from school to school. I keep in contact with undergrad friends who are in medical school and the things some of them learn are so obscure and bizzare (Structures of drugs?!?) that it's baffling. My school also goes way too far in depth on micro - do I really need to learn these bugs that are only seen in this area of micronesia? And don't get me started on clinical years - the variance grows exponentially.

Yeah, agree - I've never seen a LCME person watching our lectures, have you? It's simply impossible to tightly regulate something like lectures.

 

[IslandStyle808]

True, I guess it's a combo of both. 👍

Yep I have the same combo also 👍

 

[fahimaz7]

Yeah, agree - I've never seen a LCME person watching our lectures, have you? It's simply impossible to tightly regulate something like lectures.

There are students at every medical school in the country that are frustrated, mad, and jaded over their medical education structure, content, and delivery. You are not special in this regard, and you're certainly not the first one to jump on a post like this and preach that you're school is so radically different than all the other schools.

Go ask your MS1 and MS2 course directors about the LCME visits and accreditation process. It's not something trivial like you make it out to be.