Is 80 hrs enough?

[petomed]

I read a lot before diving down this path and settled on a personal 80 hour rule. That is, putting in on average 80 hrs, a true 80 hours--is what I should be prepared for. Some weeks will be longer, some shorter. But being prepared for consistently 80 hours seemed like a good goal to make plans around.

I've been accepted and am working on the details with my family and am wondering what the thoughts are during those first two years. When you reflect, do you think putting in a weekly 80 hrs of efficient studying set you up well for your program? I understand there's an endless pit of information and that some people have photographic memories, etc. But do you think if everyone in your class put in consistently 80 hrs of efficient studying that each of them would be poised for good results on their boards?

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[Goro]

It's really going to depend upon you.

 

[Bonne Nuit]

I read a lot before diving down this path and settled on a personal 80 hour rule. That is, putting in on average 80 hrs, a true 80 hours--is what I should be prepared for. Some weeks will be longer, some shorter. But being prepared for consistently 80 hours seemed like a good goal to make plans around.

I've been accepted and am working on the details with my family and am wondering what the thoughts are during those first two years. When you reflect, do you think putting in a weekly 80 hrs of efficient studying set you up well for your program? I understand there's an endless pit of information and that some people have photographic memories, etc. But do you think if everyone in your class put in consistently 80 hrs of efficient studying that each of them would be poised for good results on their boards?

80 hours per week would probably be the very maximum amount you'll need to study in M1. That's what my weeks looked like leading up to my first few major anatomy exams and practicals. So, in other words, pure hell. But the amount you study can and should decrease as you gain more familiarity/fluency with the organ systems and the general language of medicine.

As an M2 I'm now a LOT more efficient with my studying. I probably max out at 50 hours per week of Anki + questions + Sketchy/B&B/Pathoma + very high-level review of lecture slides. I had a magical 30 hour week in September because the material just really clicked on the first pass for whatever reason. These efforts place me somewhere in the top half of my class and I'm already within passing range for Step 1 with about 6 months to go. If a medical student were still needing to pull 80 hour weeks to pass M2 exams and/or Step 1, I'd have concerns.

 

[petomed]

80 hours per week would probably be the very maximum amount you'll need to study in M1. That's what my weeks looked like leading up to my first few major anatomy exams and practicals. So, in other words, pure hell. But the amount you study can and should decrease as you gain more familiarity/fluency with the organ systems and the general language of medicine.

As an M2 I'm now a LOT more efficient with my studying. I probably max out at 50 hours per week of Anki + questions + Sketchy/B&B/Pathoma + very high-level review of lecture slides. I had a magical 30 hour week in September because the material just really clicked on the first pass for whatever reason. These efforts place me somewhere in the top half of my class and I'm already within passing range for Step 1 with about 6 months to go. If a medical student were still needing to pull 80 hour weeks to pass M2 exams and/or Step 1, I'd have concerns.

Thanks for the detailed response. Just to be clear, that 50 hrs includes the time you spend in lecture if you must be there or reviewing recorded lecture material, correct? When I say 80 hrs I mean that anything left over is not going towards medicine in any way, shape, or form.

 

[Bonne Nuit]

Thanks for the detailed response. Just to be clear, that 50 hrs includes the time you spend in lecture if you must be there or reviewing recorded lecture material, correct? When I say 80 hrs I mean that anything left over is not going towards medicine in any way, shape, or form.

Yes, 50 hours/week also includes lecture review. My school does not have mandatory attendance and I never go, but I will glance over the slides or listen to the lecture on 2x speed. I’d estimate I spend maybe 5 out of those 50 hours on lecture.

 

[TragicalDrFaust]

I study 40-50 hours a week (counting live lecture attendance) and get low A’s this year. I use a timer and don’t count breaks so that is strictly the amount of time I’m either in lecture or studying. That amount of time, for me, eats up most of my physical and mental energy so I definitely feel like all I do is study. Most of my classmates claim to study more. The lowest scoring student I know claims to study about 35-45 hours per week. Other students claim to study from 8am-11pm but admit to taking breaks so the precise amount is unclear. Most students say they study 5-7 hours per day. Oddly this figure doesn’t change whether people watch lecture or not, meaning the people who watch lecture could actually be studying 9-14 hours per day? My cap is about 8-9 hours so if there are 7 hours of lecture I might study one hour on top then catch up on the weekend.

If you can handle a full time job and your grades and MCAT are ok, you can handle medical school. 80 hours is a ridiculous standard figure in my opinion unless you consistently struggle to keep pace with your peers academically.

Edit: typo

 

[Dral]

If you can handle a full time job and your grades and MCAT are ok, you can handle medical school. 80 hours is a ridiculous standard figure in my opinion unless you consistently struggle to keep pace with your peers academically.

I agree with this. Other than the first portion of first year and just before exams, if you are studying 80 hours a week, you are likely not studying efficiently (efficiently enough to excel). I suppose there are some who need that much time for repetition (um, me and pharm. ugh). But in general, that is more than what is needed.

I was middle of the road/a little above average and put in probably 50 to 60 hours a week. For step I, I however for a month or two straight did probably 80 hour weeks.

Lecture time will vary. When I was in school, it was just when a lot of these online resources were becoming common. So my school still had a mostly traditional curriculum. Think of that as your framework. Some schools now are using these other curriculum models as they realize (at least in my opinion), that people can pretty much get a year 1 and 2 medical education online if they know what they are doing.

 

[petomed]

I've always found that becoming overwhelmed or burnt out is largely driven by a misalignment between expectations and reality. Getting the upper band close to correct for number of hours committed to studying is, in this way, important for me to not feel overwhelmed. It's really great to see the consensus here is that an expectation of 80 hrs is likely to come in as a conservative estimate on a regular basis. Seeing also that 80 hrs is close to par for those major exams is also great. I think I will stick with the 80 hr rule in order to not be disappointed.