lectures a waste of time?

[fijianpuppy]

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ok, im an M2 and with the ridiculous amount of material that needs to be memorized, im starting to think that lectures are no longer a high yield way to spend my time.

unless the prof's handouts/notes are awful and bareboned - i find that reading the handouts on my own and memorizing them are much more efficient. not to mention, i get tired from sitting in class and then i take the obligatory 1-2 hours off after class which equals substantially less self study time. besides the fact that the lecturer may stress what is or is not as important, it seems that sitting in class for five hours is not really worth it.

granted, i know i'm not much of an auditory learner and do the best memorization by reading and re-writing...

anyone else feel like this?

 

[alphaholic06]

ok, im an M2 and with the ridiculous amount of material that needs to be memorized, im starting to think that lectures are no longer a high yield way to spend my time.

unless the prof's handouts/notes are awful and bareboned - i find that reading the handouts on my own and memorizing them are much more efficient. not to mention, i get tired from sitting in class and then i take the obligatory 1-2 hours off after class which equals substantially less self study time. besides the fact that the lecturer may stress what is or is not as important, it seems that sitting in class for five hours is not really worth it.

granted, i know i'm not much of an auditory learner and do the best memorization by reading and re-writing...

anyone else feel like this?

I feel the same way you do. I think I went to about 3 non mandatory classes this year. I decided it wasn't worth it. Our first testing block proved me right.

 

[MilkmanAl]

I keep toying with not going to lectures since I tend to burn through the material pretty fast on my own. I'm basically in the exact same situation.

 

[alphaholic06]

I keep toying with not going to lectures since I tend to burn through the material pretty fast on my own. I'm basically in the exact same situation.

Go for it. It's the best move I've made relating to school.

 

[Severus]

I'm in the same boat. Last year I just never went to class and was totally that kid who just randomly showed up to take exams. It worked just fine. This year I thought I'd try to be -- I don't know -- more normal and go to class, and it was fun socializing, but ultimately a total waste of time for most classes b/c I'm still going to have to go home and memorize what drugs interact with what receptors. (ugh!)

 

[uncbluesky]

I still feel guilty about skipping class, but I've found that sometimes, it's just necessary. If I'm sleepy, I'm too busy trying to stay awake (or surfing the net) to get much out of lecture. And when I get home, I'm too sleepy to do work without taking a nap first, so I end up wasting most of my day either sleeping or fighting sleep, and because I napped, I can't fall asleep at a normal time and the cycle just gets uglier as the week goes on. Those days, it's best just to sleep in and wake up ready to work the rest of the day on my own. Overall though, lecture isn't too bad for me. Especially since I started reading before class, the additional pass through the information helps more things stick before I start to actively review for an exam.

 

[NRAI2001]

I'm in the same boat. Last year I just never went to class and was totally that kid who just randomly showed up to take exams. It worked just fine. This year I thought I'd try to be -- I don't know -- more normal and go to class, and it was fun socializing, but ultimately a total waste of time for most classes b/c I'm still going to have to go home and memorize what drugs interact with what receptors. (ugh!)

Hahah....I was that kid and still am "that kid"...though everyweek I tell myself i m going to start goign to class; not that it really helps, but more so that I can actually feel like i m in school.

 

[fijianpuppy]

I'm in the same boat. Last year I just never went to class and was totally that kid who just randomly showed up to take exams. It worked just fine. This year I thought I'd try to be -- I don't know -- more normal and go to class, and it was fun socializing, but ultimately a total waste of time for most classes b/c I'm still going to have to go home and memorize what drugs interact with what receptors. (ugh!)

TOTALLY AGREED! i mean no matter what the lecturer cant burn into your brain mundane details like this. im also speaking after spending 9 relatively productive hours at a coffee shop doing pharm (HUGE test next week)- which i dont think i would have done if i had gone to class this morning 🙂

 

[fijianpuppy]

AND , 90% of the time the lecturers are reading verbatim off their slide---which i can do, just as well. sorry im feeling quite cracked out but thanks for commiserating with me!!!

 

[njbmd]

If you know what works and doesn't work for you, then do what works for you. At this point, you have made the adjustment to medical school. Everyone learns to do what is most efficient in the long run. There are as many ways to master medicine as there are medical students. In the end, if it is getting the job done, then keep doing it.

After the first semester, I was very selective about the classes that I would actually attend. If it wasn't worth my time, I didn't go. I hated anything that was "mandatory" that I didn't deem "mandatory". After all, I was the one who was paying for the privilege of attending school.

 

[Severus]

TOTALLY AGREED! i mean no matter what the lecturer cant burn into your brain mundane details like this. im also speaking after spending 9 relatively productive hours at a coffee shop doing pharm (HUGE test next week)- which i dont think i would have done if i had gone to class this morning 🙂

After the first semester, I was very selective about the classes that I would actually attend. If it wasn't worth my time, I didn't go. I hated anything that was "mandatory" that I didn't deem "mandatory". After all, I was the one who was paying for the privilege of attending school.

Agreed x10. Some classes like pharm, MID, and imunno (most of the time) just need to be read, and memorized, and re-read and memorized. A lot of times, for me at least, I don't need someone to tell me what the big picture is... I've already got that... I just need someone to somehow cram 9 pages of CD3s and CD80/86s into my head. Sometimes, I really wish I had an Edgar Casey-esque gift where I could just sleep on a book and wake up with it completely memorized. 🙄

Class Skippers Unite!

 

[fijianpuppy]

I still feel guilty about skipping class, but I've found that sometimes, it's just necessary. If I'm sleepy, I'm too busy trying to stay awake (or surfing the net) to get much out of lecture. And when I get home, I'm too sleepy to do work without taking a nap first, so I end up wasting most of my day either sleeping or fighting sleep, and because I napped, I can't fall asleep at a normal time and the cycle just gets uglier as the week goes on. Those days, it's best just to sleep in and wake up ready to work the rest of the day on my own. Overall though, lecture isn't too bad for me. Especially since I started reading before class, the additional pass through the information helps more things stick before I start to actively review for an exam.

haha, and this is exactly the vicious cycle i grapple with daily. i agree, if you can read before class hearing it is definitely beneficial---but if you're not always on the ball, the extra sleep does you more good.

 

[NERDY]

At my school, lecture attendance is not required. Thus, I watch the videos online on double speed. I can pause, stop, and slow down as needed. Sometimes, it takes me longer but I know I got everything I needed from the lecture. It takes too much time in the morning to get ready, pack my bag, make my lunch, go to school, etc.

Plus, when I went to lecture, often I would have to rewatch at home to see parts I missed or parts that weren't clear, so I ended up using more time.

 

[DoctaJay]

I barely went last year and I'm on track for going to no more than 5 lectures total this school year. We do have 1 or 2 amazing professors who really help you understand stuff (like pathophys), but even then I have to make sure that I preread the notes before I go because if not then I still won't get anything out of the lecture. I think some people were born to be class goers and some were not. Unfortunately it seems like most of our professors were class goers.

 

[FutureDoc4]

Through the first 1.5 months of first year I've had a real problem with this. I really feel guilty not going, however, I get more done when I don't go... then I want to listen to the lectures later (thinking I might of missed something important), but even at double speed that takes me twice as long, because I pause and go back or stop/start.... blah, I wish I could just know which one would be better for me...Most of the time I do "preread" for lectures and that helps,but I still feel like my time might be better spend actually going at the material rather than listening to lectures

 

[da me ka don]

I still feel guilty about skipping class, but I've found that sometimes, it's just necessary. If I'm sleepy, I'm too busy trying to stay awake (or surfing the net) to get much out of lecture. And when I get home, I'm too sleepy to do work without taking a nap first, so I end up wasting most of my day either sleeping or fighting sleep, and because I napped, I can't fall asleep at a normal time and the cycle just gets uglier as the week goes on. Those days, it's best just to sleep in and wake up ready to work the rest of the day on my own. Overall though, lecture isn't too bad for me. Especially since I started reading before class, the additional pass through the information helps more things stick before I start to actively review for an exam.

uncbluesky, Are you me in another user name? I am up right now, because I napped this afternoon and I cannot sleep, and I will sleep right through class tomorrow. I think I might reconsider my going to class now. I don't really knows what works for me. I have been thinking about it all along, and I have been playing it safe all along. Except a significant portion of the class time (aka anatomy lectures.... not even lab) are mandatory cos we have to click in😡

 

[TMP-SMX]

If your lectures are streamed then watching at 2-2.5X speed is great. If your schools don't stream it's a judgment call. Some professors give you huge hints at what the test questions will be and what to focus on. If for nothing else, that is the value of lectures. For professors that don't tell you you are out of luck. It definitely depends. If you find someone else to study with that goes to lecture they can tell you anything important.

 

[fijianpuppy]

so yes our school definitely streams the lectures and you can watch them at 2x speed, etc. but my laptop at home won't do it---it plays the lecture at 1.0 speed but when i make it any faster, there's no sound.

i think i have the newest version of windows media player (11?)

can anyone help?

 

[go lakers]

our school wont even do audio recordings.. incorrigible

 

[Law2Doc]

... it's best just to sleep in and wake up ready to work the rest of the day on my own. ...

You have to be careful with this and know your self motivation level. I'd say about half the people who stopped going to lecture had to come back after an exam or two because, whether they liked it or not, the lecture got them up early and already getting exposed to the material once, rather than sleeping in. If you are the kind of person who instead of going to class, goes to the library and puts the same kind of hours in as you did before, then by all means give self study a try. If, however, you are the kind of person who is going to sleep in, then have a leisurely breakfast, run a few errands, work out, watch TV or talk on the phone and by the time you actually start studying the lectures would be over anyhow, then absolutely do not do this -- you are missing out on one pass through the material, boring though it may be, and in fact won't have accomplished your goal.

There are things you can do to make the lecture work for you. Preread the material. The lectures are more boring if you aren't engaged in the material, thinking about it. A pass through the material the night before helps. Also leave your distractions at home -- don't play on the net or text or email or sit with friends, etc. -- because obviously you need no distractions. I can't tell you how many people sit in lecture texting and playing computer games for a few hours and then whine about how they get nothing out of lecture. Duh.

I'd say that most of the top students I know attended class pretty regularly, but certainly not all of them. But those that didn't definitely put in those same hours in the books, not in bed or the gym. You have to go with what works based on who you are. But if you aren't going because it's "too boring" or you feel like you need to sleep in more, then I'd say those are warning signs that you aren't wanting to go for the wrong reasons, and are setting yourself up for failure. The primary goal shouldn't be to get more free time, it should be to learn the material better. But if you aren't going because you have a game-plan for those same hours, and you plan to be in the library when the lecture would normally start, because you think you can master the material better on your own, then sure, go for it. But the second that doesn't seem to be panning out, be prepared to return. A lot do.

 

[TMP-SMX]

so yes our school definitely streams the lectures and you can watch them at 2x speed, etc. but my laptop at home won't do it---it plays the lecture at 1.0 speed but when i make it any faster, there's no sound.

i think i have the newest version of windows media player (11?)

can anyone help?

Do you not have the enhancements: play speed in WMP? Right click the bottom bar and you should be able to select the enhancements.

 

[mrantarctica]

"it depends" is probably the best answer for your situation. I think this is one of the central dilemmas in medical teaching. It really depends on the style of lecturer, and content that you are learning.

Some of our lecturers talked about a lot of different things, and used good analogies, and witty stories to help us remember things - while others just spat verbatim from their slides of this action potential or that channel etc. Occasionally, our lecturers would hint at what may come up in exams, which is why turning up usually helps.

For most of my first year of didactic learning, I went to lectures and tried to keep up. My second year of this, I actually just slept in more, and read up stuff at home, and only really came to lectures I thought might be useful. Thankfully for us, each segment we did (e.g. cardiovascular physiology, or anatomical path) usually had a review session at the end where we could go an ask questions about any material we were unsure of. These are great to make sure you understand the concepts.

It's really important that if you just stay home and "memorize", that you try and understand the general idea about something rather than purely memorize the facts. More often in medicine, its the principle that will help you, not the nitty-gritty details.

 

[rachmoninov3]

Only thing I feel "guilty" about when it comes to not going to class is that I moved down here so I wouldn't have a 60 minute bus-ride to and from everyday...and I'm still homesick after a year.

That said, I can read through one lecture and the rest of the week's material in the time it takes the professor to drudge through it in class.
Plus, while I'm celebrating the last 10 weeks of formal, lecture based education in my life...I know these will be the last 10 weeks I get to sleep in, not dress 'professionally', and have a very low risk of being bit, kicked, screamed at, bled, pooped or peed on [when rotations start].

 

[Jolie South]

about a third of my class is goers, and i count myself amongst them. there are a few reasons why:

1. i would not get up and get through the material at the same time if i didn't go.
2. that first trudge through the material is rough. i go and let it wash over me in class so that my studying is easier and more focused later.
3. when professors say things, i capture certain parts in my brain and can picture certain tidbits on the exam because of that.
4. the more perspectives/ways to get the material in, the better for me.

everyone is different though. you have to just do what works. 🙂

 

[fijianpuppy]

Do you not have the enhancements: play speed in WMP? Right click the bottom bar and you should be able to select the enhancements.

hey, yep- i have the enhancements and the slide bar to slide it to 1.4x, 2x etc but once i slide it past 1 - i no longer hear sound

 

[78222]

It took you till second year to figure that out?

 

[TMP-SMX]

That's really weird. You are using Windows right? Doesn't make sense to me.

 

[FoundationsFan5]

Most things in medical school are not a "waste of time", but it's important to remember that you are not a robot and you can't do it ALL every single day.

That said, there are usually decisions that need to be made by you and you alone, on what things to attend or what sources to read / study from. Attempt to do it ALL, and it could actually backfire.

 

[sprinkibrio]

Most of my classmates seem to be forgoing class this year. I find it really useful, most likely because I preread then highlight only what is mentioned in class. I think I would find everything more overwhelming if I tried to guess what was going to be important out of all the crazy crap that is listed in our syllabus. I don't even bother studying things that aren't mentioned in class and it makes my life much easier.

Second year sucks btw. I don't see enough people on this board complaining about it. At my school it takes a whole nother adjustment.

 

[nogolfinsnow]

I'm a recent convert to the stay at home method after going to almost every class last year and the first two units of this year. A lot of our units are front loaded, and I found that I wasn't able to pre-read for lecture and therefore lectures with brand new material were pretty much a waste of time. Now I stay home, look through the slides, read the accompanying material in the book, then listen to the lecture at about 1.5x to see if I skipped over anything the prof deems important. I think I'm getting a more solid chunk of studying done each day, as 50 minutes of lecture is usually lower yield than 50 minutes of studying.

 

[172858]

Lecture = biggest waste of time ever. Burn through the notes/outlines/slides on your own, listen to/watch the podcasts, and read the suggested reading if you need to.

But do NOT go to lecture if it's not mandatory. It's futile.

 

[njbmd]

so yes our school definitely streams the lectures and you can watch them at 2x speed, etc. but my laptop at home won't do it---it plays the lecture at 1.0 speed but when i make it any faster, there's no sound.

i think i have the newest version of windows media player (11?)

can anyone help?

It's called USB microphone. You can order this to plug into your USB port. Records nicely and directly into your Windows Media Player without cords.

our school wont even do audio recordings.. incorrigible

Purchase a digital tape recorder and have one of your classmates record lectures for you. The recorders are around $50, weigh less than 1oz; use 1 AAA battery. My digital recorder has more than 60 hours recording space. You can easily share the files with others in the class so that this can be a group project in terms of taking turns at who stays home and who attends and records each week.

If your school isn't providing digital audio, make your own or do the service yourself. My school had streaming audio and vids available at times which was great for those who didn't need or want to attend class. Their feeling was that they didn't care if you learned the material off of a bathroom wall, as long as learning was going on.

 

[novastorm]

Basically if your not audio + visual lecture is probably not for you. If your not familiar with the material and its dense it will not be high yield. If you become familiar, NOT STUDY, the material before the lecture you may find your not wasting your time.

 

[alan06]

I totally agree that some lectures are waste of your time. I'm in my first year so I can't speak of the 2nd year, but so far I attend only the selective ones, mostly clinical applications. That is I attend around 20% of lectures. I'm fortunate to have a strong science background, so I feel that all the basic science courses are not difficult to comprehend. I'm more productive of learning on my own. So far, I have done pretty well and honoring all my exams, so you don't have to attend to do well. Also, don't feel guilty because you are skipping classes...it all ends up how well you practice the art of medicine right?

 

[yaah]

I found that I had to study far less and had most of my evenings free by going to every class and paying attention and consolidating what I learned right afterwards. In my class, the people who skipped classes were always the ones cramming all night for exams and whose only grasp on the material was in terms of memorizing facts (which may help you pass the test but doesn't really teach you anything). To me, lectures were a great way to get the full context and learn things better.

Too many people who skipped lectures in my class seemed to do so so that they could sleep in or do whatever else they were doing. That would not be recommended.

 

[GZA]

I found that I had to study far less and had most of my evenings free by going to every class and paying attention and consolidating what I learned right afterwards. In my class, the people who skipped classes were always the ones cramming all night for exams and whose only grasp on the material was in terms of memorizing facts (which may help you pass the test but doesn't really teach you anything). To me, lectures were a great way to get the full context and learn things better.

Too many people who skipped lectures in my class seemed to do so so that they could sleep in or do whatever else they were doing. That would not be recommended.

I would not associate this as being caused by not going to class... probably more to do with other study habits.

 

[yaah]

I would not associate this as being caused by not going to class... probably more to do with other study habits.

I didn't say it was caused by not going to class. I said it was associated. Many people who do not go to class are very effective students who will excel in the future careers. Just like many people who do go to class will not be able to diagnose a tick bite if the tick is still attached.

 

[45408]

You have to be careful with this and know your self motivation level. I'd say about half the people who stopped going to lecture had to come back after an exam or two because, whether they liked it or not, the lecture got them up early and already getting exposed to the material once, rather than sleeping in.

I don't know anyone who started going back to lectures once they started skipping.

 

[GZA]

I don't know anyone who started going back to lectures once they started skipping.

Even so, this says nothing to the topic of the thread "are lectures a waste of time". Instead, it implies that these students needed petty motivations to get them out of bed earlier in the morning. It still could be that they would have gained more from self-study, they just wouldn't do it...

 

[alan06]

I found that I had to study far less and had most of my evenings free by going to every class and paying attention and consolidating what I learned right afterwards. In my class, the people who skipped classes were always the ones cramming all night for exams and whose only grasp on the material was in terms of memorizing facts (which may help you pass the test but doesn't really teach you anything). To me, lectures were a great way to get the full context and learn things better.

Too many people who skipped lectures in my class seemed to do so so that they could sleep in or do whatever else they were doing. That would not be recommended.

How do you know that ppl don't go to lectures cram at the last minutes? since they are not there in the class anyway...lol..I definitely don't recommend everyone to skip lecture, but like many said before everyone has their own style. Some like to learn by themselves, for me I feel I learn more materials from the books because sometimes I feel professors missed out important stuffs from the book. And that is the difference btw A and B+ range.

 

[Jolie South]

How do you know that ppl don't go to lectures cram at the last minutes? since they are not there in the class anyway...lol..I definitely don't recommend everyone to skip lecture, but like many said before everyone has their own style. Some like to learn by themselves, for me I feel I learn more materials from the books because sometimes I feel professors missed out important stuffs from the book. And that is the difference btw A and B+ range.

that depends. we're tested on what's covered in lecture. if it's not in the slides, it's not on the test.

i agree that books have their role in helping you get the overall picture (that's how i use them), but using them to focus on tons of inane details that might or might not be covered is a waste of time IMHO.

 

[MCAT3xpert]

ok, im an M2 and with the ridiculous amount of material that needs to be memorized, im starting to think that lectures are no longer a high yield way to spend my time.

unless the prof's handouts/notes are awful and bareboned - i find that reading the handouts on my own and memorizing them are much more efficient. not to mention, i get tired from sitting in class and then i take the obligatory 1-2 hours off after class which equals substantially less self study time. besides the fact that the lecturer may stress what is or is not as important, it seems that sitting in class for five hours is not really worth it.

granted, i know i'm not much of an auditory learner and do the best memorization by reading and re-writing...

anyone else feel like this?

yes, I found that if I read the slides, I get the same exact information that I would get if the lecturer read the slides. It is funny that you gotta take learning in your own hands regardless of pbl or whatever curriculum. Every school has their theory of how people learn, but really it doesn't matter what they do.

 

[libertyyne]

yes, I found that if I read the slides, I get the same exact information that I would get if the lecturer read the slides. It is funny that you gotta take learning in your own hands regardless of pbl or whatever curriculum. Every school has their theory of how people learn, but really it doesn't matter what they do.

The person you quoted, graduated medical school and is probably a neurosurgery attending at this point.

 

[jrmjrm]

Incoming MS1 here. I know that for most, skipping lecture and self-studying seems to be most efficient and beneficial in the long run. When should one start skipping lecture? After the first few blocks? Few weeks? Few days? Not so sure about the timing. Thanks!

 

[Goro]

Incoming MS1 here. I know that for most, skipping lecture and self-studying seems to be most efficient and beneficial in the long run. When should one start skipping lecture? After the first few blocks? Few weeks? Few days? Not so sure about the timing. Thanks!

Only you can answer this, because your learning style is unique to you. About 10-15% of my students still come to lecture because they like having that as their first pass.

 

[Sterling_Archer]

Incoming MS1 here. I know that for most, skipping lecture and self-studying seems to be most efficient and beneficial in the long run. When should one start skipping lecture? After the first few blocks? Few weeks? Few days? Not so sure about the timing. Thanks!

No one will care if you stop going after the first week or the first year