How to get high grades/study more

[Slyther1n]

Hello,

I'm a medical student from western europe and I am seeking advice. In my medical school in my country getting grades like 100% or 90% for a test is remarkable. At my medical school someone rarely gets 100% for a test.

I've heard many people in the USA Medical School gets A's/100% for tests. Not sure about that and correct me if I'm wrong. Let's just say that if at my medical school you keep scoring 80-85% for tests you're doing very well.

Ideally I'd want to get to 80-90% for my avarage testscore. Let's say I'd have to study 40 hours for around a 80% score, I'd probably need to study 50 hours for around 90% scores. I've never gotten a 90% score so I'm not sure studying 50 hours would definitely get me a 90% score.

Does anyone have any tips how I can study 10-12 hours a day. Ideally I'd study 10 hours a day from monday to saturday leaving the sunday for me to relax, but I think I'd exhaust myself that way, though that would definitely help me with test scores I think. I've heard some people study 50-70 hours in the week of a test. I avarage around 40 hours the week of a

Someone once said on this forum (I lurk sometimes) that in medical school he or she found out that some people are just smarter and, as hard as it is for me, I'd have to agree with that. I've always held belief in the idea of hard work beats talent, and I still do, but some people just seem in terms of grades to be very smart, which is good. Having smart doctors taking care of patients is a good thing.

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[Say]

Without specifics on how you are currently studying and how similar western european medical programs are to US programs, I imagine it will be hard to get advice. However, I would ask the top students in your class or the class above what they do that seems to work for them. I think many med students in the US study 50+ hours a week. If the question style is similar to the types we get in the US, I am a firm believer that the harder you work the better you will do.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Many people get 100%? In what planet? Average falls around 83% where I go.

 

[alpinism]

The vast majority of US med school courses aim for an average in the 70-90 range.

Its very rare to get a 100% on exams.

 

[seminoma]

Rather than 10-12 M-Sat and rest Sunday you may want to consider 6-8 M-F, and 12-16 Sat and Sun. Gives you a bit of free time everyday rather than a bolus of free time one day per week. Plus it's pretty hard to convince yourself to take an entire day off especially in regular intervals... or at least it was for me.

 

[pacman2018]

i feel as though the title to this thread answers your question. study more to get better grades. a better question would be how to study less or the same amount and get better grades, no?

 

[Frazier]

Hello,

I'm a medical student from western europe and I am seeking advice. In my medical school in my country getting grades like 100% or 90% for a test is remarkable. At my medical school someone rarely gets 100% for a test.

I've heard many people in the USA Medical School gets A's/100% for tests. Not sure about that and correct me if I'm wrong. Let's just say that if at my medical school you keep scoring 80-85% for tests you're doing very well.

Ideally I'd want to get to 80-90% for my avarage testscore. Let's say I'd have to study 40 hours for around a 80% score, I'd probably need to study 50 hours for around 90% scores. I've never gotten a 90% score so I'm not sure studying 50 hours would definitely get me a 90% score.

Does anyone have any tips how I can study 10-12 hours a day. Ideally I'd study 10 hours a day from monday to saturday leaving the sunday for me to relax, but I think I'd exhaust myself that way, though that would definitely help me with test scores I think. I've heard some people study 50-70 hours in the week of a test. I avarage around 40 hours the week of a

Someone once said on this forum (I lurk sometimes) that in medical school he or she found out that some people are just smarter and, as hard as it is for me, I'd have to agree with that. I've always held belief in the idea of hard work beats talent, and I still do, but some people just seem in terms of grades to be very smart, which is good. Having smart doctors taking care of patients is a good thing.

You would be doing very well at my school too. Prob AOA. Preclinical course averages ranged between 62 and 88.

 

[Slyther1n]

Without specifics on how you are currently studying and how similar western european medical programs are to US programs, I imagine it will be hard to get advice. However, I would ask the top students in your class or the class above what they do that seems to work for them. I think many med students in the US study 50+ hours a week. If the question style is similar to the types we get in the US, I am a firm believer that the harder you work the better you will do.

Currently my studying method is just trying to go over my lectures notes and the lecture sheets and making a lot of practise tests. I've asked a few top students how they study. One says he studies less than 40 hours a week, but in the week of the exam he studies 10+ hours a day orso. Another top students says she studies around 50 hours a week. Another says he studies around 60-70 hours a week. 2 out of 3 of them have in common that they study more than me, one not so. But I'm not sure if he's telling the truth though.

Many people get 100%? In what planet? Average falls around 83% where I go.

Well sometimes I read on this forum and I read people getting A's on exams, so I thought getting A's in the USA must be happening frequently.

The vast majority of US med school courses aim for an average in the 70-90 range.

Its very rare to get a 100% on exams.

Thanks!

Rather than 10-12 M-Sat and rest Sunday you may want to consider 6-8 M-F, and 12-16 Sat and Sun. Gives you a bit of free time everyday rather than a bolus of free time one day per week. Plus it's pretty hard to convince yourself to take an entire day off especially in regular intervals... or at least it was for me.

That seems like it would definitely work, thanks! Though studying 16 hours on saturday and another 16 hours on sunday seems challenging, but perhaps you mean 16 hours in total for saturday and sunday? That could work too.

i feel as though the title to this thread answers your question. study more to get better grades. a better question would be how to study less or the same amount and get better grades, no?

That would be a better question, and at one point I did find out how I could get a high grade by studying less. It worked twice so far. Still, I feel as if I studied around 50 hours, using the extra hours by going over the material over and over again, my grades would be higher, but so far I never really was able to study 45 hours each week, more like 40 hours this week, 40 hours next week, 30 hours the week after that week, etc, etc.

You would be doing very well at my school too. Prob AOA. Preclinical course averages ranged between 62 and 88.

Thanks!

What about this, based on what seminoma has said:

M: 8 hours, including lectures
T: 8 hours, including lectures
W: 8 hours, including lectures
Th: 8 hours, including lectures
Friday: 8 hours, including lectures
Saturday: 10 hours
Sunday: 5 hours

Total: 55 hours with time left to relax on sunday.

When I study at home I get most of it done after 6 PM, but a lot of times my lectures end at 12:30 PM, so when I go home I relax until 6PM. But that's not good at all because if I get the studying I do at home done right after I get home from lectures, it will give me free time after 8 PM or somewhere around that.

 

[pd1112]

Now you're caught in the mind game of trying to replicate the schedules of others in order to get similar results.

 

[seminoma]

@Slyther1n no I mean 12-16 each. There aren't classes, or new lectures, or required activities on the weekend. You can sleep in, workout, do stuff with friends, and still study a lot.

 

[TBV]

Average in any school important is high C to low B in my observations. You may want to check out the pomodoro technique. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique). Basically set a timer for 20 minutes or so and study until it goes off. When it goes off slack off for 5 min (Facebook, whatever your vice is idk) and then set another timer for 20 min. Its great for allowing your brain to take a break and keep the productivity up.