is going to class worth it?

[Bevo]

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Im in the 2nd half of my 2nd year. But this has been my most challenging semester yet. I find that with all the class time we have now that I can no longer keep up with the material.

I find myself already trying to catch up in patholgy and am about to get dumped with a lot of respiratory pathology this upcoming week.

I experimented taking duties taking notes with friends for certain classes, but that doesn't look like it will last. None of them really ended up going or if they did taking any kind of worth while notes.

I dont find every class worth while, but I am afraid that sometimes a few of the professors do drop hints here and there about what they believe are the important subjects.

I do find class can be helpful, but Im thinking that the opportunity cost of attending class these days is too high.

so confused.

😱
I dunno. I dont think Ive ever thought about not never going to class and just covering the topics as best as I can on my own.

 

[DrMom]

I would pick & choose which classes to go to. There were some classes that I never went to because I could use that lecture time much better than the professors could. For others, I got more out of the lecture than I could on my own in that hour. I kept a study room by the lecture hall so that I could go back & forth easily. 🙂

 

[Quimby2]

Yea, I've gotta second that opinion. If the class is low yield, stay home and study. This is especially true around Board study time. Sitting in class for 1hr just to learn one fact makes no sense if you can stay home and learn 20.

 

[Bevo]

bleh, I guess its one of those things I gotta struggle through. Feels like every lecture is worth going to these days.

 

[leorl]

I used to be the same way. I don't do very well in a lecture setting and fall asleep or fidget in every class. I used to question the value of going to class, especially if the notes are on the web or handed out. But I figured out that they are worth going to because you can pick up hints from the lecturer's tone of voice, something that says "You REALLY want to learn this, it'll be on the exam" . You know if he goes into a lot of extra detail outside the notes or expounds on a certain point, it's pretty important. That kind of thing...you can pick up a lot based on tone and body language, even for someone like me who falls asleep in every class.

 

[MSV MD 2B]

I used to be the same way. I don't do very well in a lecture setting and fall asleep or fidget in every class. I used to question the value of going to class, especially if the notes are on the web or handed out. But I figured out that they are worth going to because you can pick up hints from the lecturer's tone of voice, something that says "You REALLY want to learn this, it'll be on the exam" . You know if he goes into a lot of extra detail outside the notes or expounds on a certain point, it's pretty important. That kind of thing...you can pick up a lot based on tone and body language, even for someone like me who falls asleep in every class.

i foudn i couldn't pick up any sort of hints if i was asleep. in most classes i found that my grades were inversely correlated to how much i went to class. 🙄 you go to class and then you still have to study the material. so i just skipped class and studied the material. i found that it worker really well if i skipped as long as i read over the material for that class for that day. i study best int he morning when most classes are so that settled it for me.

 

[sdude]

This discussion has been really helpful to me.

I'm a math graduate student right now, and I have to admit that I've been freaked out by pre-clinical schedules. My biggest concern has been how I would find time to actually learn the material.

As you all know, many lecture classes are nothing more than the prof. rephrasing the text. For years I've just taken it for granted that I'm going to learn the material from books and by working problems. Fortunately, class time in college or grad school is not likely to get in the way of homework time.

I literally can't grasp the concept of 8-5 classes. It sounds like high-school (not a happy memory). I understand the long labs, but long lecture times for subjects like biochem make no sense to me. Biochem is not philosophy; there is nothing to discuss. Two hours writing out nasty chemical pathways will do anyone a lot more good then trying to stay awake during a powerpoint presentation on the same topic, IMO.

At any rate, I'm glad to hear that med students often have similar issues and find ways to maximize their study time.

Out of curiosity, can anyone tell me why most med schools have so much time devoted to lecture?

 

[Docgeorge]

One word: NOTEPOOL

The real porblem is getting off my but and studying when I'm not in class.

 

[leorl]

The problem with studying from the book only is that you study way too much information, because some topics aren't going to be needed or aren't strictly related to medicine (like learning all of Voet,Voet & Pratt when you're not a biochemist and only need clinical biochem-related stuff), and syllabi tend to be vague on exactly how much detail or which topics you need to know. So that in itself is a waste of time. My problem is that if I don't go to class, the time isn't spent studying, but spent doing something else (training). At least if I go to class, things could be heard whether subconscious (like when I fall asleep) or if I'm actively listening.

 

[QuothTheRaven]

probably not worth it.

 

[daisygirl]

Out of curiosity, can anyone tell me why most med schools have so much time devoted to lecture?

I would venture a guess and say it is a mix of ego (lots of that in medicine and amongst phd's) and the fact that schools are slow to change their curriculum.

 

[nascentdoc]

Thanks for your input guys. This helps, especially since at my school we'll have class 9-5 every freaking day. Now, I can understand the efficiency of working independently. However, how do you know what material to concentrate on, or is it just "read chap. 1-20" and that's all that you need to know for the test? The reason I'm confused is because in many of my college classed the profs. would give out notes and some material was not even in the book, or covered it partialy. So, how do you know what to study and whether is enough or even the right material without going to class? Thanks again and pardon my ignorance 🙂

 

[Samoa]

Thanks for your input guys. This helps, especially since at my school we'll have class 9-5 every freaking day. Now, I can understand the efficiency of working independently. However, how do you know what material to concentrate on, or is it just "read chap. 1-20" and that's all that you need to know for the test? The reason I'm confused is because in many of my college classed the profs. would give out notes and some material was not even in the book, or covered it partialy. So, how do you know what to study and whether is enough or even the right material without going to class? Thanks again and pardon my ignorance 🙂

Note Service.

 

[AlexRusso]

Thanks for your input guys. This helps, especially since at my school we'll have class 9-5 every freaking day. Now, I can understand the efficiency of working independently. However, how do you know what material to concentrate on, or is it just "read chap. 1-20" and that's all that you need to know for the test? The reason I'm confused is because in many of my college classed the profs. would give out notes and some material was not even in the book, or covered it partialy. So, how do you know what to study and whether is enough or even the right material without going to class? Thanks again and pardon my ignorance 🙂

In some classes its really easy to figure out what to study..i.e. if your path test is on renal and endocrine, read the relavant chapters in Robbins and do the some questions (preferably old questions from the same prof)

In classes where its not so clear what you need to know i.e. biochem refer to the class notes (distributed by the school or note service) and you can usually figure it out.

All else fails, ask someone who went to lecture. 🙂

 

[daisygirl]

I second note service. I also studied from the syllabus (if it was good- you will learn how to figure this one out), used old exams to see if I was actually learning the material, and I did read texts here and there. If I did go to class, I would never have been able to get through all of the sources I used. Also, speak to your upperclassmen if you are in need of some advice regarding classes.

 

[Rod Farva]

No. You will be a much happier person if you don't go to class... you will still have to study the stuff even if you get up early to go to lectures, so why not just sleep in and enjoy your free time... there is a lot more time to study when you are not subject to the constraints of lectures, not to mention a lot more time to go out or do whatever you want to do with your free time.

 

[Bevo]

i WISH we had a note service. but we don't unfortunatly.

Im basically trying this block splitting and forcing myself not to go to class otherwise. We'll see how my first test turns out. It'll be interesting.

My biggest fears are when the professor says "you'll probably see something similar to this on the test" or something like that. or this sounds like a great test question. Of course some of them don't do that stuff, but others do in their subtle way, ie telling personal stories or explaining to us how they remember things.

 

[macdown]

Personally I never miss class. The instructors are your most important resource. They will tell you what they feel is most important in their lecture, and they will steer you in the direction you need to study. If you have a hard time staying awake during class, than don't go to bed so late. I'm not sure how it is at other schools but at Creighton almost everyone shows up to class daily. I can count the people who are no-shows on one hand. It really shows in our grades as well, we have been the most competitive class at Creighton ever.

Just go to class, you will be amazed at how much you pick up even if you don't think you are.

 

[WatchingWaiting]

If you care about your course grades and you aren't getting good lecture notes, I would say time in class is pretty important. If you're on pass/fail and getting good syllabi, the USMLE is what matters, and worthless crap, like when the lecturer's tone increases because he's doing research in this area and thinks it's really important, is not something that should be guiding your studying.

 

[xaelia]

I've been attending, perhaps, 40% of my lectures this year...which is probably one of the worst attendance records in our class. All the handouts and most of the powerpoint presentations are online, so there's not much I'm not seeing. While I suppose I may be missing perhaps whatever particular detail a professor might mention on a test, I don't sweat just studying to learn the material and not to answer test questions.

How can you argue with playing golf at least twice a week and coasting along several points above the class average?

 

[EctopicFetus]

= a waste of time!! 😛

 

[MSV MD 2B]

Personally I never miss class. The instructors are your most important resource. They will tell you what they feel is most important in their lecture, and they will steer you in the direction you need to study. If you have a hard time staying awake during class, than don't go to bed so late. I'm not sure how it is at other schools but at Creighton almost everyone shows up to class daily. I can count the people who are no-shows on one hand. It really shows in our grades as well, we have been the most competitive class at Creighton ever.

Just go to class, you will be amazed at how much you pick up even if you don't think you are.

that's just if. if i went to class i woudl have to go to bed even later and get less sleep becuase no matter what i still have to study. they say that there is a direct correlation between attendacne and grades but for me it is an inverse correlation. 😕 so i guess it depends on how you learn.

 

[Bevo]

problem with spending a lot of time in class. With microbiology, I know that attending correlates with my grade. But on subjects like Pharm and Path, where they will skip through subjects sometimes that we have to make up that time elsewhere. Thats where the trouble begins and is why this thread started.

 

[daisygirl]

problem with spending a lot of time in class. With microbiology, I know that attending correlates with my grade. But on subjects like Pharm and Path, where they will skip through subjects sometimes that we have to make up that time elsewhere. Thats where the trouble begins and is why this thread started.

Hi Imbebo,

You should only go to class if you are getting something out of it. If path is taught well at your school, it may be worth going to since professors tend to show lots of pictures and this helps sometimes since you have a visual cue in order to remember what the hell they were talking about. IMHO, it is really hard to learn a bunch of disjointed facts and things that were named after some freakin' person if I'm not shown some sort of picture. Having then seen the pictures, and heard how some of minutae relates to these pictures may help you learn the stuff faster when you review it on your time- it may also help you relate stuff that was not spoken about directly in lecture.

On the other hand, pharm is a topic of PURE MEMORIZATION. Pharm is hard- you need to understand the physio behind it, the path, and learn the intricacies of the drugs. When I took pharm, it made me realize just how inadequate I was in physio and biochem (well a I always knew I sucked in biochem- the cancer drugs just substantiated it further). When I finally got through the physio and the path, I felt completely screwed b/c learning the drugs takes a great deal of time (this may not apply to you if you are good at rote memorization- learning the drug names is seriously like learning a new language, and logic will not help you out with regards to those horrible names). Pharm was really painful for me, and I never once attended class. However, I worked my butt off on my own and did learn a great deal (except the anti-arrythmics- I never once looked at those damn things).

Pharm and path are completely different entities, so base your decision on what suits your learning style best.

 

[daisygirl]

One more thing since I realized your school does not have a note service. I would highly recommend Lippincott's pharm text (all I remember is that it has a red cover) and Lippicott's pharm cards. Read the text and then make notes on your pharm cards. If you need to relearn portions of physio, use the purple physio text by Costanzo (I love that text!). I HIGHLY recommend avoiding Katzung's pharm texts. They are big and full of crap. Some people love them, but I hated them. I bought Baby Katzung and literally opened it maybe twice. If you have to take the pharm shelf, reviewing the pharm section in first aid is more than enough. I actually found the pharm shelf to be one of the easiest shelf exams adminstered.

I'm spending way too much time on this damn website. I've posted more in the past two weeks than I've posted in two years. I really need to stop procrastinating since I'm screwed for step I 🙁

 

[Stinger86]

Most of my courses were very poorly taught (anatomy and pharm being the only exceptions), so I rarely went to class, but any chance I had to attend a good speaker's lecture, I took advantage of it.

Only attend a lecture if you're going to get something out of it. Even if it's a good lecture, but you find yourself bored and inattentive, just stay home and study, or sleep in.

 

[siempre595]

Find out from upperclassmen what lecturers/classes are worthwhile. Or else just go to the first few and see for yourself. If everything is supposed to be in the coursebooks or the slides they give you (this is generally how it works for us), then it's generally more time-saving to just study on your own rather than be in class all the time, where you're likely to just fall asleep anyhow, unless you really learn a lot in class (I don't think most people really do). But some lectures are really good and the lecturers put a lot into them, so you should find out which ones those are, the rest of them are just not a good use of time.

 

[Bevo]

thanks for the advice.

I'll see how it works out. At Ross, everything works on a semester basis. ive already takent he 1st half of pharm, path and micro. But the professors change somewhat from semester to semester, esp in path. All the upper classmen are in miami now, while I languish(sp?) in dominica at the moment. Except those who failed. And honestly, I wouldn't trust someone who failed for their academic advice.

I think pharm is probably a course I can skip. Im still learning the path professors. Micro seems like a must to go to. ICM varies.

splitting note taking duties these past 2 weeks has not worked well at all.

ah well.

2 more months

 

[rchrest1]

All you have to do is get the notes from someone in the class ahead of you. Docs rarely change the handouts, so just get the big stack of notes and you'll never have to go to a class.... It is tough to use that time to study instead of sleeping. I sleep.

 

[Bermiedoc]

except if you are in my class then the notes will get changed and you will get caught by this. 😎

 

[thewebthsp]

except if you are in my class then the notes will get changed and you will get caught by this. 😎

Isn't class required (i.e. attendance is taken or there are quizzes), at least some of the time?

 

[Bevo]

some classes are. school states 80% attedance is required. But unless its lab, no one ever checks here.

 

[dynx]

As I am just wrapping up my first year I can say that so far classes were a complete waste of my time. The only reason to go to class is to remind yourself how useless classes are so that you can avoid that guilty feeling of not attending. There is a reason that people get their physiology and clinical biochem books published...it's because they wrote a good explanation of the subject and its coherent and relevent. If your lecturer was all that fab he would have a book out. So in conclusion study the notes and the text and screw lecture.

As a side note I am proud to say that my class voted me "least likely to show up for class"

 

[Lo5]

Originally posted by Rod Farva
I second note service. I also studied from the syllabus (if it was good- you will learn how to figure this one out), used old exams to see if I was actually learning the material, and I did read texts here and there. If I did go to class, I would never have been able to get through all of the sources I used. Also, speak to your upperclassmen if you are in need of some advice regarding classes.

Old tests you say? How can I get my hands on old tests, I wonder. Is that legal/ethical? I'm curious.

 

[idq1i]

Old tests you say? How can I get my hands on old tests, I wonder. Is that legal/ethical? I'm curious.

Old tests/keys are provided to us by the faculty