med school classes

[spanky]

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I'm entering med school this fall and am wondering how med school classes are structured. After reading the thread on how everyone is skipping class, I'm wondering how everyone can keep up. In my undergrad classes, skipping class was impossible because the notes given in lecture were essentially the only study material available. Most teachers did not use the required textbook and study guides were misleading, if not incredible overly simplified versions of what was required to know for the exam. Do the professors provide study guides that include everything that is necessary for the exams? I know that it is to the benefit of med schools to have as many students pass exams as possible, whereas many undergraduates schools try to weed out students by making up exams that covered material that was never presented. Do med schools use a standard bell curve in exam grading, so that only 50-60% will end up with a passing grade on the tests?

Any insight would be appreciated!!!

 

[IlianaSedai]

In my undergrad classes, skipping class was impossible because the notes given in lecture were essentially the only study material available. Most teachers did not use the required textbook and study guides were misleading, if not incredible overly simplified versions of what was required to know for the exam. Do the professors provide study guides that include everything that is necessary for the exams?

Frequently-- but not always-- the lecture notes provided by the professors are given out in advance in huge packets. Usually at my school-- though not always-- the exams follow the professor's lecture notes word for word. So I follow the lecture notes and use a textbook to clarify any questions I have about unclear things.

So we have to follow the lecture notes. If I learn everything in the review book (Board Review Series or High-Yield series by Lippincott, or Crash Course series by Blackwells, and many others) or in the textbook instead of the lecture notes, I still wouldn't do very well on the test. So I just learn the lecture notes verbatim.

Note: This is the rule of thumb, but doesn't apply to all classes and all professors. There is some variation. But in all likelihood, you will get good lecture notes in advance <I>most</I> of the time. Generally speaking, most of the time material that is not in the lecture notes will not be on the exam.

BUT be very suspicious if your lecture notes are fewer than 5 or 6 pages per lecture. If it's one or two pages, that's an indication that more will appear on the exam than the notes indicate.

So as you can see, if the class has good lecture notes, I spend about 80% of my time learning the lecture notes and and the remaining time with other things, like textbook or review book. I don't always read ALL of the assigned reading if the notes are good.

 

[Wednesday]

I have found that the main difference between med school and undergrad (at least in the way classes are run) is that the classes are syllabus based rather than textbook based. The books are more for reference if you don't understand something. This is why you see all those threads that say, "what's the best book for neuro"--something that confused me a lot before I started med school. Another helpful resource, at least at my school, is the note service. You subscribe and someone scribes each lecture (actually we take turns) so if you don't go you can see exactly what was said.

As for a curve, we don't have one at my school. Above 70 is passing, period.