How much time per day?

[Punkn]

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Hey guys,

Counting down to the final days before Step 1 (this coming Friday is the big day) and was wondering how many hours per day you all spend studying, especially as you approach your exam date. I feel like I do nothing but study and still feel like I won't be able to get through everything in time; anyone else feel the same? all!

 

[nope80]

Yes, totally understand where you are coming from. I'm much more functional in the morning, by the evening my brain turns to mush and while I push myself, i'm definitely a lot less productive.

 

[nectarine]

typical schedule:

wake: 7:30a
study: 8-12
lunch: 12-12:30
study: 12:30 -7
dinner: 7-8p
study: 8-2
🙁

 

[nectarine]

oops double

 

[nope80]

woww nectarine, how long have you had that schedule for? How do you stay focused at the end of the night? Past 6 I tend to not retain nearly as much...

 

[nectarine]

about 2 weeks, with 2 days of sleeping a little later. my problem is that i'm SO much more productive in the evenings at like 2am. i'm really not very productive in the mornings, but i try to push through and i think that's why i'm starting to burn out

 

[Whats_up_doc]

The one I will try to follow...

Wake up: 9
Study : 9: 30
Lunch : 1 PM

Study 1:30 -7:00
Dinner: 7:00 - 7:45

8:00 - 11:00 (USMLE World)

11:00- 11 45 ( hang out in SDN, facebook, etc.)👍

 

[confuse]

Same here. I usually don't go to bed until 3-4 am because I study best late at night, but I don't wake up until 11 or 12 pm though. I don't know how you can stay awake and study with just 5 hours of sleep. On a good day, I study 12 hrs. On a bad day, anywhere from 5-8 hrs depending on whether I exercise or hang out with my family.

about 2 weeks, with 2 days of sleeping a little later. my problem is that i'm SO much more productive in the evenings at like 2am.

 

[McGillGrad]

If you get a good 6 hours of pure study time, then you should be satisfied.

Whenever I got tired and couldn't really focus on reading, I did some practice questions. When that got old, I took a nap. If you are relearning info during your step studying then you should take one of those prep courses because it is going to be a rough 6 weeks by yourself.

 

[psammomabody]

7-12 study
12-1 lunch, 15-20 questions/explanations
1-4 study
4-8ish questions/explanations

 

[chaostheory]

8-11: questions (lunch is usually just a sandwich or something at my desk)

11-5: study

5-6: dinner

6-12am: study

12am-3am: questions (usually tired by this point, but i seem to assimilate info better at odd hrs of the night lol... maybe because it's super quiet and peaceful?)

then sleep 🙂

It's hard for me to study nonstop because I have a short attention span when it comes to reading some of this medical stuff... I usually take about 10-20 mins break every hr or so.

 

[tomorrowgirl99]

I didn't think that sleeping for 5 hours was healthy. On my schedule I sleep for 6hrs 30 min. and I know that sucks.

 

[chaostheory]

I didn't think that sleeping for 5 hours was healthy. On my schedule I sleep for 6hrs 30 min. and I know that sucks.

yep it's unhealthy for most ppl, but i'm used to it. i've been like this for most of my life. if i get a lot more sleep than i'm used to, it totally messes me up. i went to two different docs about it because my friends got worried (went to one doc a few years back and one this year) and they both said i'm healthy so it's all good 🙂 i wouldn't recommend other ppl on here to sleep as little as me though... i'm not normal lol

 

[tomorrowgirl99]

I'm kind of the same way. I've been getting by with 5-6 hours of sleep for most of my life. I've just always been told to get more.

 

[NucleusAccumben]

Usually 8 to 9 hours a day on week days and an average of 4 hours a day on weekends, maybe more if I'm behind. I don't see the point in studying beyond that because I'm just pushing to get through material instead of learning/relearning etc. I know I'm not going to remember everything. I read for about 4 hours a day and then do a set of 48 questions (45 minutes) and review those over the course of 3 hours, because I thoroughly go over the answers and annotate in FA. I try not to take to many notes because it slows me down. But I find that combination works for me. To each their own. Good Luck

 

[ENThopeful]

Ive been managing to get 12 hours a day done, not including breaks with 2 hours of TV (when i eat my meals). Ive been feeling pretty guilty about the TV but I dont see how one can avoid burn out without some sort of relaxation time..

 

[EssTwoThreeFour]

I don't really study. i just stare at pages all day until the info gets burned into the back of my retinas.
jk. I wish it were that easy.
9 - shower. eat something. put on necessary clothing
10 - go to school pissed
10 -2 study
2-3 eat
3-7 study
7-8 flashcards
8 - 10 uworld etc
10-1 eat and do whatever studying i can manage. I usually fall asleep with flashcards in my hands.

I used to do wake up at 10 and study till 4 am. I felt like i was PMSing 24/7. had to stop.

 

[sebsvenmdc]

about 2 weeks, with 2 days of sleeping a little later. my problem is that i'm SO much more productive in the evenings at like 2am. i'm really not very productive in the mornings, but i try to push through and i think that's why i'm starting to burn out

I would try to push your sleep up to 6.5 to 7 hrs a night. Seriously, your brain would probably be about 5% more efficient if you did it. I make sure I get as close to 7 as possible a night. It's really easy to waste time in the day...just cut down on that and be good to yourself with sleep.

 

[McGillGrad]

I would try to push your sleep up to 6.5 to 7 hrs a night. Seriously, your brain would probably be about 5% more efficient if you did it. I make sure I get as close to 7 as possible a night. It's really easy to waste time in the day...just cut down on that and be good to yourself with sleep.

Yeah, I find 7 hours to be perfect.

 

[pepotonoto]

7 hours sounds nice too. How do you give yourself an extra hour of sleep if your body wakes up on its on fixed schedule with or without an alarm?

 

[sebsvenmdc]

7 hours sounds nice too. How do you give yourself an extra hour of sleep if your body wakes up on its on fixed schedule with or without an alarm?

I pull the plug at 1am, then do wind-down stuff till 1:30am...then wake up at 8:30. You should try to go to bed an hour earlier. I guess some ppl can function on less sleep...but what works for me is trying to have a very high energy level in the day, and if I feel decently rested, I can do that. Going on 4 or 5 hours of sleep is possible for about 4 days, but then I start to get really dulled mentally and lacking in effort. It's very counterproductive. You need to keep your body in shape...getting sleep is clutch to not getting sick and staying sane.

 

[sebsvenmdc]

Work done = time spent studying x efficiency

If you can keep efficiency high with less sleep...you're good. But once time spent studying encroaches on sleep, it starts decreasing the efficiency, thereby not significantly increasing work output.

 

[McGillGrad]

7 hours sounds nice too. How do you give yourself an extra hour of sleep if your body wakes up on its on fixed schedule with or without an alarm?

Try working out 3-4 times a week (with a proper weight training routine, not just cardio) and you will sleep so much better.

 

[harrisonIM]

8am-9pm usual morning routine
9am-8pm with a 30 min lunch break
8pm-12am dinner + play time

Idk how you guys manage to study all day then sleep 7 or less hours. Props to you guys. I suppose I could cut down my playtime and squeeze in another hour...

 

[BoneNibbler]

8am-9pm usual morning routine
9am-8pm with a 30 min lunch break
8pm-12am dinner + play time

Idk how you guys manage to study all day then sleep 7 or less hours. Props to you guys. I suppose I could cut down my playtime and squeeze in another hour...

You are on the wrong message board if you have "playtime" as part of you schedule!

 

[Tritleb]

You are on the wrong message board if you have "playtime" as part of you schedule!

^Is this guy always such a douche?

 

[rahulb]

i think he's just a virgin

 

[BoneNibbler]

^Is this guy always such a douche?

I am sure this one^ is .

i think he's just a virgin

Can't be , ^ mom took care of that.

 

[Captopril]

Can't be , ^ mom took care of that.

wtffffffffffffffffffffff

 

[SeminoleFan3]

Up by 7 Monday-Saturday, studying by 7:15.
7:15-12:30 Study
Lunch for a half hour
1-5:30 Study
I fit some questions in sometime in the evening for about 90 minutes. Then it's dinner and time to hang out with the spouse (who's keeping the same boards schedule). In bed by 11. I desperately need 7 hours of sleep.
Sundays are either a half day or completely off.

3 more weeks...

 

[Tritleb]

wtffffffffffffffffffffff

Yeah, definitely tried to lay out an insult and instead gave the impression that he boinks his own mom...embarrassing.

 

[McGillGrad]

Yeah, definitely tried to lay out an insult and instead gave the impression that he boinks his own mom...embarrassing.

Or a cry for help...

 

[BoneNibbler]

Yeah, definitely tried to lay out an insult and instead gave the impression that he boinks his own mom...embarrassing.

Instead? Really. You must have inferred that it was an insult, since no one directly said it was, and you claim it to be. So apparently it worked. Try getting an opinion of your own in stead of being a follower.
Nevermind, some people are meant to be followers. Keep it up YFL.😴

 

[Cirrus83]

I think you should study enough per day to not feel like you're going to flunk the boards but not so much that you feel like blowing your head off with a shotgun.
So far I find that this varies depending on the day, so this is anything from 4 hours when I'm just not feeling it to a 14 hour marathon when the panic hits (unsurprisingly this is often the day after I did 4 hours).

But seriously, who cares about hours, I think you should just set tangible goals for what you wanna get through in terms of coverage per day and try to stick to it...forcing yourself to go another 3 hours when your brain stopped giving a **** is just masochism.

 

[ENThopeful]

I think you should study enough per day to not feel like you're going to flunk the boards but not so much that you feel like blowing your head off with a shotgun.
So far I find that this varies depending on the day, so this is anything from 4 hours when I'm just not feeling it to a 14 hour marathon when the panic hits (unsurprisingly this is often the day after I did 4 hours).

But seriously, who cares about hours, I think you should just set tangible goals for what you wanna get through in terms of coverage per day and try to stick to it...forcing yourself to go another 3 hours when your brain stopped giving a **** is just masochism.

you forget, we are med students

 

[Captopril]

you forget, we are med students

Ya my phys teacher always says "only med students would pay good money to sit through 8 hours of lectures, and still be laughing at my jokes at 4pm. Masochism is the only explanation. "

 

[ZagDoc]

But seriously, who cares about hours, I think you should just set tangible goals for what you wanna get through in terms of coverage per day and try to stick to it...forcing yourself to go another 3 hours when your brain stopped giving a **** is just masochism.

I think this is a good way to approach it.

For example, my goal for the day was to get through my morning questions then do all of neuro. Here I am 14 hours later still studying.

But yesterday my goal was questions + endocrine, and I had around a 7 hour day. On nights like that, I'm either useless and let my brain recover with some NBA playoffs, or I use the extra time for catchup/poor subjects (*cough*pharmamicrobiochemistry*cough*).

 

[Knicks]

I just put in 7 hours today, and I'm brain-fried!

How do some people "study" for 10-12 hours per day? Surely, after the 7th-8th hour, the "studying" can't be that much more productive.


Quality > quantity, in my opinion.


EDIT: Just read this post:

I think you should study enough per day to not feel like you're going to flunk the boards but not so much that you feel like blowing your head off with a shotgun.
So far I find that this varies depending on the day, so this is anything from 4 hours when I'm just not feeling it to a 14 hour marathon when the panic hits (unsurprisingly this is often the day after I did 4 hours).

But seriously, who cares about hours, I think you should just set tangible goals for what you wanna get through in terms of coverage per day and try to stick to it...forcing yourself to go another 3 hours when your brain stopped giving a **** is just masochism.

.... and I agree. 👍

 

[stickshift]

How do some people "study" for 10-12 hours per day? Surely, after the 7th-8th hour, the "studying" can't be that much more productive.

You'd be surprised. I spent 8 hours on endocrine today and surprisingly wasn't brain fried. I could probably spend a few more quality hours.

Plus there's things like spending several hours on flashcards, doing practice problems and reviewing answers, etc. Takes up alot of time, but at least it's quality time.