I noticed that most of the M1 and M2 schedules are 8-5 in class lectures

[alexfoleyc]

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I was looking at class schedules for first and second year medical students, and I noticed that they spend a lot of time lecture, usually from 8 in the morning until 5 in the evening with an hour lunch break. When do you guys study? Or do you study after classes until 1 or 2 am?? Or is most of the studying done in class?

 

[Mithril]

My first week schedule looks like this:

Not exactly 8-5. There are study breaks some days and you have the weekend and a couple of good hours every night. What's not shown here is that on non-holiday Mondays, classes end at 11.

 

[DrBowtie]

You either don't go to class, or you stay up late.

Choose schools with AM only lectures. You'll thank yourself later.

 

[alexfoleyc]

You either don't go to class, or you stay up late.

Choose schools with AM only lectures. You'll thank yourself later.

Can you give me an example of an AM lecture from an actual med school, if possible?

 

[alexfoleyc]

My first week schedule looks like this:

Not exactly 8-5. There are study breaks some days and you have the weekend and a couple of good hours every night. What's not shown here is that on non-holiday Mondays, classes end at 11.

On days when you end at five, when do you study until?

 

[Whatyousay]

Can you give me an example of an AM lecture from an actual med school, if possible?

http://www.utmb.edu/cms_world/groups/external/@external/@026imo/documents/web_content/imo_095255.pdf

Class schedule for UTMB

 

[JOHNNYCAGE]

8-12 everyday here. One afternoon class a week.

 

[gettheleadout]

My first week schedule looks like this:

Not exactly 8-5. There are study breaks some days and you have the weekend and a couple of good hours every night. What's not shown here is that on non-holiday Mondays, classes end at 11.

LaboUr Day

 

[alexfoleyc]

http://www.utmb.edu/cms_world/groups/external/@external/@026imo/documents/web_content/imo_095255.pdf

Class schedule for UTMB

I'm in love with that schedule. I mean, I seriously think it is impossible stay alive in in lecture from 8-5 THEN going home and doing 6-8 hrs of studying. Is there a living example of this?

 

[Mithril]

LaboUr Day

On days when you end at five, when do you study until?

I'll let you know once I actually start.

 

[girlofgrace7]

Often the schedules look deceiving. I'm at Saint Louis University, and our official schedules often say we're in class 8 or 9 until 5, but in reality, most of our afternoon stuff is small groups/labs/etc. (where only part of the class goes). We usually have lecture 9-12, and then random stuff (like anatomy dissections during the first part of first year, clinical skills/bedside diagnosis classes and practice sessions throughout like once a week, lab for whatever class your in, small group case studies, etc.) in the afternoons. Most of us spend time between classes or in the afternoons after classes finish in the library studying. Also, almost every thing at my school (including most labs... a lot can be done on your own or via computer... they discourage us from using actual microscope slides and such) is optional and they post the lectures online. About half my class doesn't come to lecture on a regular basis. Realistically, though, depending on your study habits, you may not study after class. Most weeknights I have no motivation left after I get out of class, and I just make up for it on early days and weekends.

 

[NickNaylor]

Our classes run ~9:00-5:00 everyday, at least for the first block of courses. We usually have our "fluff" classes in the morning from 9-11 or 9-12, then an hour lunch break, then one or two "real" anatomy lectures followed by three hours of lab. When I come home I usually need to do 3-4 hours of studying in order to feel really confident with the material.

This isn't the norm, though, since anatomy is especially time intensive and requires lots of time for rote memorization. Other classes (at least at Chicago) are supposedly much better and there's significantly more free time.

Your specific time requirements will vary quite a bit from school to school, though. Cornell, for example, is done by noon everyday. I don't think you should expect that kind of schedule though.

 

[alexfoleyc]

Thanks for clarifying that guys. I seriously thought med students were in lecture from 8 or 9 to 5 then they studied until 1 or 2 am.

 

[drizzt3117]

This is very institution dependent. My school had class 8(or 9) to 12 every day, and small groups twice a week, not that it mattered bc I didn't go anyways.

 

[orthomyxo]

Couldn't resist.

 

[ejw5075]

I have class 8-2 MWF with an hour lunch then lab every other lecture day from 2:30-4:30.
We have "off" Tuesday and Thursday but they randomly throw in classes from 1-2 on certain Tuesdays (health policy, alternative crap) and my doctoring course/professional development is on Thursdays for a few hours.
I don't study much MWF bc my attention span isn't long enough to be productive after lecture all day. Most of my studying is Tuesday, thursday, Saturday and Sunday. But honestly, going to class is the most effective studying IMHO.

 

[UnclePhil]

For first block, we have class 8-5 two days of the week on Monday and Friday (late afternoons for PBL stuff), the rest of the days are variable, we have at least one afternoon (usually 2) off every week. Otherwise, the latest we have to stay is 3. I go home and look over the material for an hour or two usually.

 

[mvenus929]

Can you give me an example of an AM lecture from an actual med school, if possible?

This week is an unusual week (we have Friday off, plus we don't start til 9 on Tuesday and get out at 10:30 on Thursday, because we have an exam this weekend), but generally, we have class 8-12 every day. Some of it is required (though less and less as time goes on). Most every Monday, we have a patient interview that's required, and then sometimes we have small group sessions or TBLs that are required.

Most of the time, we only have one afternoon class a week, from 1-5... that's our doctoring class. Due to our funky morning schedule, though, once we started anatomy (February of last year), we had afternoon labs once every other week or so, plus Friday afternoon practicals. There are a handful of Friday afternoon sessions first semester, but those only last til like 2. One semester during first year, you also have to do a community service project, so that may take up a few extra hours on an afternoon.

We still manage to have plenty of time, playing intramural sports, going out, etc.

 

[235788]

we go 8-3, but realistically we get out at noon half of the days

 

[justdoit31]

Most days at my school were 8-12 but in a few classes we had lots of afternoon classes. We had audio of all lectures posted online so I never went to class and played audios on fast at home late at night so I could sleep in. Now that I am in 3rd year it isn't so easy- you have to be at the hospital early!

 

[Morsetlis]

First term (Aug - Dec):

10a - noon (2hrs) x5 days: Bioethics discussion group x2, Histo Lab, Anatomy lab (4 hours), Biochemistry lab

1p - 5p (4hrs) x5 days : lectures, two hours each (Bioethics, Anatomy/Embryology, Biochemistry, Histology/Cell Bio)

5p-6p (1hr) x3 days: electives (I chose Complementary/Alternative Medicine)

6p-7p (1hr) x3 days: official review groups (optional)

So it's like 20 hours of lecture + 8 hours of lab + 4 hours of discussion group per week that are mandatory (the lab/groups are more mandatory than the lectures). Prosections : time saving.

You can fill your time with electives, sports, and review groups after lectures end if you wish.

 

[addo]

At my school there is 2-4 hours of lecture during the AM depending on the day, and then of course you got gross lab 1 or 2 times a week depending on the week, and clinical skills sessions once a week. Gross lab runs for about 3-4 hours, clinical sessions for about an hour. So actual required hours to be at school range from 4-9 hours/week.

 

[gettheleadout]

First term (Aug - Dec):

10a - noon (2hrs) x5 days: Bioethics discussion group x2, Histo Lab, Anatomy lab (4 hours), Biochemistry lab

1p - 5p (4hrs) x5 days : lectures, two hours each (Bioethics, Anatomy/Embryology, Biochemistry, Histology/Cell Bio)

5p-6p (1hr) x3 days: electives (I chose Complementary/Alternative Medicine)

6p-7p (1hr) x3 days: official review groups (optional)

So it's like 20 hours of lecture + 8 hours of lab + 4 hours of discussion group per week that are mandatory (the lab/groups are more mandatory than the lectures). Prosections : time saving.

You can fill your time with electives, sports, and review groups after lectures end if you wish.

Prosection sounds incredibly boring compared to dissection, if you ask me. I'll be looking for schools that still do it the old-fashioned way.

 

[SoundofSilver]

Prosection sound incredibly boring compared to dissection, if you ask me. I'll be looking for schools that still do it the old-fashioned way.

Dissection is a huge time sink, as most of the time is spent skinning the area, and then cleaning out the fat and connective tissue.

My school is mainly dissection, but we do have some prosections mixed in. The prosections seemed more efficient in terms of time spent learning vs. time standing around not learning.

I suppose both methods probably have their pros and cons though.

 

[drizzt3117]

Prosection sounds incredibly boring compared to dissection, if you ask me. I'll be looking for schools that still do it the old-fashioned way.

Prosection >>>>> dissection (and this is coming from someone doing a surg internship)

 

[iceman132]

Does each consecutive year get easier in med school?

My friend in law school said the first year was hell but 2nd and 3rd were easy.

 

[sector9]

we go 8-3, but realistically we get out at noon half of the days

Invite today at 10am! OOS 3.7/3.6/29R(8,10,11) Complete I believe on 6/23/11. Anyone interviewing with me on 11/11/2011 : )?

😕

 

[gettheleadout]

Dissection is a huge time sink, as most of the time is spent skinning the area, and then cleaning out the fat and connective tissue.

My school is mainly dissection, but we do have some prosections mixed in. The prosections seemed more efficient in terms of time spent learning vs. time standing around not learning.

I suppose both methods probably have their pros and cons though.

Prosection >>>>> dissection (and this is coming from someone doing a surg internship)

FYI, I'm just going off of what lab faculty have told me. (not undergrad faculty)

 

[UnclePhil]

Prosection sounds incredibly boring compared to dissection, if you ask me. I'll be looking for schools that still do it the old-fashioned way.

You really don't learn much during dissection. A lot of the time is spent blindly poking around and figuring out if you've accidently destroyed a key structure or not. It may seem more hands on and "fun," but what you typically don't retain much of what you pick up during dissection. I don't ever remember a thing from dissection and only know the material when I go back with an atlas and identify the structures later.

 

[girlofgrace7]

FYI, I'm just going off of what lab faculty have told me. (not undergrad faculty)

As someone said above, there are pros and cons to dissections and prosections. My school uses both.

Prosections do not take you time to do (dissections take 2-8 hours a piece), and you can actually SEE structures because they are cleaned off and intact.

Dissections are helpful in that you will remember the object you spent 2 hours looking for only to find that pieces of it are sitting in the pile of removed fat and skin.

 

[NickNaylor]

Dissection sucks. It's primarily a waste of time because most time is spent digging through fascia and "cleaning" structures rather than exploring their spatial and structural relationships. In our three hour lab we barely have enough time to really study the cadaver. Most of the time is spent digging the important structures out and preparing them for study.

 

[bookfreak89]

Does each consecutive year get easier in med school?

My friend in law school said the first year was hell but 2nd and 3rd were easy.

Law school and medical school are two completely different beasts.

 

[alexfoleyc]

Does each consecutive year get easier in med school?

My friend in law school said the first year was hell but 2nd and 3rd were easy.

Can any of you med students comment on this? I also heard the same thing from few med students.

 

[DrYoda]

Does each consecutive year get easier in med school?

No. Second year is harder than first year. And third is hard in a way that's not easily comparable to the first two. Fourth year for many people is pretty cush, but it depends what rotations you elect to take.

 

[ejw5075]

Can any of you med students comment on this? I also heard the same thing from few med students.

I've heard the opposite. The second years at my school have a good deal more work than we do and they are in class more/have additional responsibilities. Third year is a different kind of hard and from what I've heard the most time consuming. Apparently it gets easier fourth year.

 

[NickNaylor]

Can any of you med students comment on this? I also heard the same thing from few med students.

I've heard that, at our school, actual time in class in second year is less though the courses are much more difficult. Third year is a bitch, but fourth year seems to more or less be a vacation with the exception of clinical electives and sub-internships.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

studying is for amateurs yo

 

[235788]

😕

smp brosiph!

 

[NickNaylor]

studying is for amateurs yo

True, I just pay attention in class and don't study at home.

 

[gettheleadout]

As someone said above, there are pros and cons to dissections and prosections. My school uses both.

Prosections do not take you time to do (dissections take 2-8 hours a piece), and you can actually SEE structures because they are cleaned off and intact.

Dissections are helpful in that you will remember the object you spent 2 hours looking for only to find that pieces of it are sitting in the pile of removed fat and skin.

Yeah, after hearing what everyone has said here I'm thinking it'd be best to have prosected structures to look at while dissecting for them. Or something...

 

[UnclePhil]

True, I just pay attention in class and don't study at home.

I did this the for the first exam and studied maybe an hour a day at home max after class (except for a last minute histology cram session) and did well on the first exam.

Problem is, I've stopped going to lecture, but can't seem to motivate myself to study at home, and we have about 2x as much material as the first exam so I might be ****ed for the 2nd test.

 

[235788]

I did this the for the first exam and studied maybe an hour a day at home max after class (except for a last minute histology cram session) and did well on the first exam.

Problem is, I've stopped going to lecture, but can't seem to motivate myself to study at home, and we have about 2x as much material as the first exam so I might be ****ed for the 2nd test.

whoaa. do you think its better not to go to lecture?

 

[UnclePhil]

whoaa. do you think its better not to go to lecture?

For me? No, I don't. Some people don't go and that works for them, but if I don't then I basically just won't get the information so I'm trying to ween myself back to going to lecture. I'm doing things a little differently compared to undergrad, I never take notes in lecture now (no need since they are recorded anyway) and try to understand it the first time around (ie. actually paying attention in lecture), whatever I'm unclear on I'll go back and review later.

I did well on the first exam (this is a relative term, I say well compared to how much I prepared, I didn't get honors or anything which is 94+ at my school), but not easily. The way I studied, I "sort of" knew just about everything but I had very few concepts down cold. I was nervous before, during and after the exam and did not have any confidence about it.

 

[gettheleadout]

I did well on the first exam (this is a relative term, I say well compared to how much I prepared, I didn't get honors or anything which is 94+ at my school), but not easily. The way I studied, I "sort of" knew just about everything but I had very few concepts down cold. I was nervous before, during and after the exam and did not have any confidence about it.

Yikes... 🙁

 

[NickNaylor]

I can't believe people actually score 94+ on an exam. I aim for an 80+, anything above an 85 and I'd call that fantastic. Then again, we're P/F where passing is a 65% and few if any people get 90+.

 

[addo]

I can't believe people actually score 94+ on an exam. I aim for an 80+, anything above an 85 and I'd call that fantastic. Then again, we're P/F where passing is a 65% and few if any people get 90+.

and i bet some gunners still kill themselves studying to get a 90 on a P/F system

 

[Morsetlis]

It gets harder, not easier.

However, you get more used to it, and after Anatomy it becomes more conceptual rather than brute memorization.

Of course then Pathology comes along in 4th term 😡

 

[SoundofSilver]

I can't believe people actually score 94+ on an exam. I aim for an 80+, anything above an 85 and I'd call that fantastic. Then again, we're P/F where passing is a 65% and few if any people get 90+.

Dang, I'd love to have the pass rate at 65. My school (honors/pass/fail) is 75% but can be adjusted downward at the end of the course based on how everyone did.

 

[willen101383]

Yall need to stop going to class!

My day usually works like this:

9-10 wake up
10-11 drink coffee and surf the intarwebz
11-12 usually still surfing said intarwebz
12-3 lifting/get home shower and eat lunch
3-645 watching the lectures from the day in .5-.75% of the speed via webstream.
645-bed chill with my dogs and my fiance and usually watch something along the lines of: a movie/pawn stars/something on natgeo/disc/history/bio.

If this is friday fill in 345-X with trip to either the outdoor or indoor range and cleaning guns/brass/reloading.

If I have an exam within 2 weeks 645-945 would be studying, and the 11-12 intarwebz session would be replaced by studying.

I got mid 80s on pretty much all exams (did last year i havent had any this year)...and life is stress free and good. I have one lab a week and dont have to see other medical students unless I want to (outside of my pals of course.)

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Yall need to stop going to class!

My day usually works like this:

9-10 wake up
10-11 drink coffee and surf the intarwebz
11-12 usually still surfing said intarwebz
12-3 lifting/get home shower and eat lunch
3-645 watching the lectures from the day in .5-.75% of the speed via webstream.
645-bed chill with my dogs and my fiance and usually watch something along the lines of: a movie/pawn stars/something on natgeo/disc/history/bio.

If this is friday fill in 345-X with trip to either the outdoor or indoor range and cleaning guns/brass/reloading.

If I have an exam within 2 weeks 645-945 would be studying, and the 11-12 intarwebz session would be replaced by studying.

I got mid 80s on pretty much all exams (did last year i havent had any this year)...and life is stress free and good. I have one lab a week and dont have to see other medical students unless I want to (outside of my pals of course.)

You are a god.