Maximizing my studying efficiency - Please Help!!!

[Confused 20]

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I have been attempting to prepare for the first year of medical school by spending between 12-15 hours studying on Monday through Saturday. It was brought to my attention by a few people that studying 12-15 hours without a break is not good way to retain the material. Since some individuals feel that it is unwise to study 12-15 hours straight through, I was wondering if anyone could suggest when it would be appropriate to take I break from studying and how long each break should be so that I can maximize my studying efficiency? Would it be possible to study for 5 hours and then take a 10 minute break and still be able to study efficiently? If not, what would be the maximum amount to study before taking a 10 minute break?

Thank you in advance to anyone who is kind enough to offer any assistance. I am very interested in improving my study habits and maximizing my studying efficiency and any guidance on how I may be able to do this is greatly appreciated.

 

[Aphtalyfe]

I have been attempting to prepare for the first year of medical school by spending between 12-15 hours studying on Monday through Saturday. It was brought to my attention by a few people that studying 12-15 hours without a break is not good way to retain the material. Since some individuals feel that it is unwise to study 12-15 hours straight through, I was wondering if anyone could suggest when it would be appropriate to take I break from studying and how long each break should be so that I can maximize my studying efficiency? Would it be possible to study for 5 hours and then take a 10 minute break and still be able to study efficiently? If not, what would be the maximum amount to study before taking a 10 minute break?

Thank you in advance to anyone who is kind enough to offer any assistance. I am very interested in improving my study habits and maximizing my studying efficiency and any guidance on how I may be able to do this is greatly appreciated.

Why are you studying before medical school? Don't do that. You should enjoy what free time you have left.

 

[mfrizzo3]

 

[bambi]

I have been attempting to prepare for the first year of medical school by spending between 12-15 hours studying on Monday through Saturday. It was brought to my attention by a few people that studying 12-15 hours without a break is not good way to retain the material. Since some individuals feel that it is unwise to study 12-15 hours straight through, I was wondering if anyone could suggest when it would be appropriate to take I break from studying and how long each break should be so that I can maximize my studying efficiency? Would it be possible to study for 5 hours and then take a 10 minute break and still be able to study efficiently? If not, what would be the maximum amount to study before taking a 10 minute break?

Thank you in advance to anyone who is kind enough to offer any assistance. I am very interested in improving my study habits and maximizing my studying efficiency and any guidance on how I may be able to do this is greatly appreciated.

It is crazy to be studying like that before you even start med school. Anyway, to answer your question, most people only really study effectively for 45-50mins at a time. Most people don't take breaks that often but probably should.

 

[WDeagle]

Dude are you serious? They only time i studied 12-15 hours a day was the two weeks before boards and maybe before a couple of finals. All you are doing is ensuring that you're gonna burn out.

I never had a system for taking breaks. It sounds like a good idea but you're brain is gonna take a break when it wants a break. Just make you study in a place where you arent gonna be distracted for too long.

 

[beyondbethany]

I agree with the other posters, you should not even think of studying prior to school. Unless you are in some type of summer school? I can't even imagine what you would torture yourself with for 12-15 hours a day before school. You need be out in the sun or drunk or both as much as possible.

Anyway, I stick to a 50 minute study/10 minute break schedule in 3-4 hour blocks. My typical day:
8-noon - 4 50-minute study blocks with consistent 10 min breaks
1-5 - 3/4 50-minute blocks
8-11 - 3 more 50-minute blocks (sometimes I will take the evening off, depending on my schedule)

That is how I manage to study for 10+ hours a day without hating my life. I have seen a lot of other SDN posters who also use some type of 50-10, 45-15 arrangement. If you don't take regular breaks, your study time will be less effective and much more arduous.

 

[Mr hawkings]

I have been attempting to prepare for the first year of medical school by spending between 12-15 hours studying on Monday through Saturday. .

WOW. I'm usually not one of those people who tells people they're crazy for reading before med school starts but this is crazy. You're going to have a physical or mental breakdown by the time your first exam comes around if you keep this up.

 

[DrReo]

Studying before medical school? What on earth are you doing.

Go to medical school and do what worked for you to get there. Relax.

 

[UAAWolf]

 

[Bernoull]

I have been attempting to prepare for the first year of medical school by spending between 12-15 hours studying on Monday through Saturday. It was brought to my attention by a few people that studying 12-15 hours without a break is not good way to retain the material. Since some individuals feel that it is unwise to study 12-15 hours straight through, I was wondering if anyone could suggest when it would be appropriate to take I break from studying and how long each break should be so that I can maximize my studying efficiency? Would it be possible to study for 5 hours and then take a 10 minute break and still be able to study efficiently? If not, what would be the maximum amount to study before taking a 10 minute break?

Thank you in advance to anyone who is kind enough to offer any assistance. I am very interested in improving my study habits and maximizing my studying efficiency and any guidance on how I may be able to do this is greatly appreciated.

OP, I've read some of your prior posts and I'm concerned that you need to work out some underlying issues u're contending with. I'll strongly suggest counseling/therapy. U've been freaking out about a number of things and I really hope you get an handle on these things b4 med school kicks!! Things will only get more challenging/demanding and you will need ur "A game" in all respects to survive and excel.

Please stop the pre-studying and instead, invest the time to care for yourself and get all the help you need. IMHO, this is serve u much better both for now and for years to come. You need to be healthy for med school.

Personally I've lived with a family member who had identical psychiatric conditions) and getting help/treatment made all the difference in the day-to-day functioning and being on "A game". Also, when treatment was arbitrarily stopped, they were completely dysfunctional. Getting help is a sign of strength not weakness; we all have limitations/challenges, recognizing and addressing this fact only speaks to our maturity, strength and self-awareness. Therefore and again, I advise that see a counselor, be compliant with ur treatment (even on days/times u don't feel like it) and get ur nerves under control, otherwise med school will burn u out.

Again, I mean no offense but just wanted to offer friendly advice b4 things get out of hand. I empathize with you, because I've witnessed something very similar over a 4 yr period. My hats off to you for getting this far and I admire ur work ethic, now u need outside support to complement ur efforts and ensure success for the future!!

Keep ur head up and i wish u the very best of luck!!!

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6628830#post6628830
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6788311#post6788311
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6845239#post6845239
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=8514200#post8514200
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=9685277#post9685277

 

[silverhorse84]

At the beginning of school, our academic adviser told us we should be doing school work 12 hrs a day (that included class time), and I tried to do it. I lasted about a week - way too much. After that, I studied what I felt was necessary and it never got to 12 hrs a day! And I did just fine for the first year. Calm down, you're going to burn out before school even starts!

 

[abmd]

Um i'm sure some people do. But most people do not study 12-15 hours in medical school. At least not in M1 year. That is crazy. Take a chill pill, relax, enjoy the summer so you are refreshed for med school

 

[avatarftw]

a

 

[shreypete]

That's crazy. Studying such long hours before medical school is just not advisable (you'll just end up burning out early in the year.) If you do plan to study, then you could try and do it for like 2 hours or may be 3 but don't over do it. I had a very similar problem like you. I did this prior to joining law school and I ended up hating law early in the 1st year.

But now that I'm taking things one at a time, things have certainly improved for me. Your schedule of 12-15 hrs is more ideal for a medical student studying for an exam (I usually spend around 17-18 hrs during exam time but even then, I take breaks quite often.)

 

[Guyton Killah]

What exactly are you studying?
😕

 

[thepoopologist]

.

 

[red10]

What exactly are you studying?
😕

obviously not female anatomy...

 

[QuizzicalApe]

You might be the very first person to burn out on med school before it actually starts, while gaining little to nothing of academic use in return.

Congratulations on your achievement in mad futility, enjoy the utter waste of your precious free time.

 

[KeyzerSoze]

(I usually spend around 17-18 hrs during exam time but even then, I take breaks quite often.)

You're almost as crazy as the OP. 17-18 hours? What do you consider exam time, a day or two before, or a week or two before?

 

[theVster]

You guys are nuts. Stop this prestudying crap. It's not going to be retained and it's completely unhelpful.

 

[shreypete]

You're almost as crazy as the OP. 17-18 hours? What do you consider exam time, a day or two before, or a week or two before?

Exam time to me would be around 2 weeks before the exam. Before that (usually 1-1 1/2 weeks before the 2 weeks of core-studying), I just spend around 12-14 hours...not too bad.

I would also like to point out that I wasted a lot of time during school year, which is why I had to spend extra time getting in all this stuff. I guess I should procrastinate less and prioritize/compartmentalize my study tasks more.

 

[Go Ducks]

Notes from just an M0 who isn't talking from experience:

My father was told at a work seminar that it takes 20 minutes to get into a zone (where you're hyper-focused and efficient), but only 2 minutes of distractions to get out of it...

 

[Brigade4Radiant]

Actually you can study for Medschool before it starts. You can study the anatomy of the leg, Cellular physiology and little bits of endocrine. The problem is that it won't really be retained or at the pace that medschool has it.

The shock about M1 is how much material you are given. If you study a bit nearly everyday you should be fine for your first year.

 

[quiz]

really? what are you studying? with your last days of freedom?

take a break and enjoy this summer. you'll be inside studying for enough hours when you start.

i only approached 12-15 hours 2-3 days before tests.

also no one can study 5 hours at a time and retain what they're studying, it's decreasing productivity and return. how much time do you spend staring at the text?

except for during the last 4 weeks, first year i had time go take road trips on the weekends and do activities in the evenings. i also skipped a week's worth of class twice to travel cross-country and overseas - studying on the plane, by the pool but probably only 4-6 hours a day. granted, i wasn't shooting for honors, but in exchange, i got a life. i'm far from the smartest person in our class and it's been 8 years since i was last in school full time so really, it is possible for the average med student.


Usually:
Study is 8-12.

break to make lunch 12-2,

study 2-5

break to do dinner, hang out, work out. waste time.

study 8-11

even with all those breaks that's about 7-8 hours of actual studying.

sometimes it's 8-11, 1-5, 9-12. or whatever, my dog usually determines when i take breaks. i'd probably need less if i wasn't so distracted while studying (which hopefully you are). sometimes i cook breakfast while listening to lectures at home. i'm ADD so lots of random breaks. Sometimes its 30/10, 45/10, 10/10. sometimes i run in circles in the living room while listening to lectures. i have binoculars at my desk by the window to check out the birds.

even then, my (undergrad) roommate thinks i'm crazy for studying so much. no one should have to study so much, not when there's a fire, bear, and bbq outside. and he's right. so do it when you need to, but not before. enjoy your life and your friends before you get into the life suck that is med school.

really, you need to get out and run, walk, sometime, or eventually, if your mind doesn't blow up, your body will.

i hope one day, you will discover there are many more important things to life than school. what do you want to do AFTER? don't forget you'll need skills for that too.

 

[Bartender]

Lol I'm pretty sure this is a trollllll.

But if not- here is some good advice from one of my mentors:

http://wellnessrounds.org/

Go beyond how much to study. Start eating right and exercising. Work smart, don't just work hard.

 

[Opcn]

We have known since the times of Adam Smith that a man who works a long hard day needs 2 days a week to rest. Jobs that run 12-16 hour days 7 days a week go 2 on 2 off. If you are going to work that hard then at least be sure to switch up subjects often. Keep in mind that human memory is highly context dependent so what you learn by slogging through a book will be clearest in your mind while slogging through a book. If you learn and take a break and eat an orange then you have a higher likelihood of remembering when you eat an orange, so next time you eat an orange you can access that memory and work on remembering it better.

 

[Vivid03]

obviously not female anatomy...

Hahhaha .

OP: You are joking right. How does anyone study more then 5-6 hours a day. Even now my max is like an hour or two with a million breaks in between..

 

[shreypete]

Hahhaha .

OP: You are joking right. How does anyone study more then 5-6 hours a day. Even now my max is like an hour or two with a million breaks in between..

If this is the case, then medical schools in the US must be a joke. But since they're not, I'm sure there are many students out there who can study for more than 6-7 hours a day. It's not that hard once you train yourself, and yes, even with the breaks (you just have to shorten your break time.)

 

[vancouvergeorge]

If this is the case, then medical schools in the US must be a joke. But since they're not, I'm sure there are many students out there who can study for more than 6-7 hours a day. It's not that hard once you train yourself, and yes, even with the breaks (you just have to shorten your break time.)

Most med students in the US study more than what some of the posters here are saying. For every person who brags about studying a lot, is another person who brags about studying very little (making him look innately brilliant). The truth is probably somewhere in between.

Different people have different goals. Some are shooting for 260+ and some just want to pass.

And when people say they are studying 12 hrs a day, they could also consider studying to be sitting in front of a desk staring at a book with Facebook, Gmail and Youtube in front of them. And when someone says they study no more than 4 hrs a day, they could be talking about solid, in the zone studying with no distractions.

 

[Don Draper]

Most med students in the US study more than what some of the posters here are saying. For every person who brags about studying a lot, is another person who brags about studying very little (making him look innately brilliant). The truth is probably somewhere in between.

Different people have different goals. Some are shooting for 260+ and some just want to pass.

And when people say they are studying 12 hrs a day, they could also consider studying to be sitting in front of a desk staring at a book with Facebook, Gmail and Youtube in front of them. And when someone says they study no more than 4 hrs a day, they could be talking about solid, in the zone studying with no distractions.

Truth.

 

[ohgodidonteven]

Mother of god, you're like the king of gunners.

 

[Marathon Doctor]

OP, I've read some of your prior posts and I'm concerned that you need to work out some underlying issues u're contending with. I'll strongly suggest counseling/therapy. U've been freaking out about a number of things and I really hope you get an handle on these things b4 med school kicks!! Things will only get more challenging/demanding and you will need ur "A game" in all respects to survive and excel.


http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6628830#post6628830
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6788311#post6788311
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=6845239#post6845239
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=8514200#post8514200
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=9685277#post9685277

I agree with you, the OP really needs to work on his underlying issues. Some of the posts that seem really crazy and sad. At the beginning, I tought it was a guy trolling, but now I see what this guy is seeing.

Medical School is the least of your priorities in my mind. Seek counseling and talk to your family and friends.

 

[PreMedder]

I agree with you, the OP really needs to work on his underlying issues. Some of the posts that seem really crazy and sad. At the beginning, I tought it was a guy trolling, but now I see what this guy is seeing.

Medical School is the least of your priorities in my mind. Seek counseling and talk to your family and friends.

this, or very determined troll.