"Not going to lecture" follow-up: if your not going to lecture what do you do all day?

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plateletfactor5

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Hi Everyone,

I was reading through the thread from Hemlocktree on "why do I always hear about people not going to lecture?" and I guess I was just surprised.

I had a friend who is now a resident and he never when to lecture, got out of medical school by the skin of his teeth and I thought he was the minuscule minority . If you are a med student doesnt go to lecture what do you do all day? I am really curious....
 
Watch the recorded lecture that I missed from the class prior, gym, study and sleep in a little later. Sleep is crazy underrated.
 
In the first part of a block, read a review resource like a BRS book or Kaplan videos (first year), or Pathoma / Goljan (second year). In the middle of the block, do practice questions at the end of chapters or the online companion questions that correspond to the review book. At the end of the block, do review questions from a Step1 resource like Kaplan or USMLERX that really ties together subjects. Day before the the exam, maybe review the slides from lecture.

Not gonna lie, it feels a little ballsy to create your own curriculum and then hope it somewhat matches the curriculum of the school. But in the Venn diagram of med school, the circle of "what the school wants", the circle of "what I know", and the circle of "what the Step1 exam expects" overlap enough to get by. Make sure that the first two circles overlap 70% of their surface area, and the last two circles overlap as much as possible.

As a second year med student I probably study 5 or six hours a day, and have plenty of time off for extra-curricular activities like concerts, sports events, and getting married to a non-med student.
 
You aren't goofing off if you're doing it right. I woke up everyday at 7am or 8am, watch the previous day's lectures and review the material for the upcoming exam. You can be done with everything in 3-4 hours, more if it's particularly complex or heavy (eg heavy pharm unit). That way you're done at 12pm/1pm, and the rest of the day is yours.

In contrast, people who do go to lecture have to sit through 50 minutes of lecture (whereas I can get them done in 35 minutes or less) and have a 10 minute break inbetween, whereas I take a 2-3 minute stretch and grab some coffee or something. I don't miss anything if I have to check a resource (eg is it hyperkalemia or hypokalemia that causes peaked T waves that the guy just breezed over) or go to the bathroom. If the guy is particularly poor at lecturing (definitely not uncommon), I'll hit up another resource instead. Youtube has plenty of great videos for micro/pharm, pathoma is amazing for pathology, and if all that fails, hit the notes and hit the review books instead of wasting another 30 minutes listening to a guy you can barely understand.

Med school is an exercise in time management, not intelligence. Anyone who gets this far knows how to succeed. The question now is how well do you manage your time when you have 50 different things to juggle. Watching lectures instead of attending them is a great way to save many hours a week.
 
In undergraduate it seems like I learned mostly from going to class. I know med school and undergrad are different. Is there anyone who always went to class in undergrad (I never missed a class), but finds it better to watch the recorded class and study on their own? It seems like studying on my own would be much better because of the time I could save.
 
I didn't have the luxury of recorded lectures many undergraduate students have now. I went to class but I have noticed I'm doing much better in medical school because I have recorded lectures and can watch a lecture much faster than spending 8-5 in lecture. I can pause whenever I want, slow it down, speed it up (1.5-2x). I can't do that in live lecture. And if I missed something I would have to rewatch it at home, which is clearly inefficient.
 
I just read through the handout for each lecture that day (that's a thorough, meticulous read through). If I have anatomy lab I'll read grants dissector to review for our quiz and save the other studying for later. I usually spend from about 4:30pm to 8pm at home with my wife and daughter, then study after my daughter goes to bed if I haven't finished that day's lectures. I'll listen to some lectures on 2x speed as my read through if it's a simple class like nutrition or our complete DO course where they talk about social and interview skills, evidence based medicine, etc. It works great for me!

The week before a block exam, I'll just come home for an hour at lunch and dinner and study about 9-13 hours a day.
 
I started off going to class and after the first set of exams (got Cs) realized I needed to do something to make myself more time efficient. We have the luxury of having all recorded lectures, which are posted a couple of minutes after the lecture ends. Being able to listen to them at my pace, rather than listening to a prof go way too fast for me to understand or way too slow/wasting my time, I speed them up or slow them down/pause/rewind them if need be. Therefore, i go through a lecture very thoroughly the first time and it wastes less time. I actually don't know how people can sit through a full day of lecture and try to study at the end of the day. I usually break up the monotony of lecture listening with other random activities (workout, eat, errands, etc), instead of sitting through 4 or 5 straight hours in a lecture hall. Because let's be serious, can you give your full attention to that all day everyday? No.

I think it's actually a poor assumption to think non-class go-ers are lazy. I haven't been to class in about 10 weeks and my initial C grades went to As because of my time efficiency. Just find out what works for you quickly and stick with it! 🙂
 
I just read through the handout for each lecture that day (that's a thorough, meticulous read through). If I have anatomy lab I'll read grants dissector to review for our quiz and save the other studying for later. I usually spend from about 4:30pm to 8pm at home with my wife and daughter, then study after my daughter goes to bed if I haven't finished that day's lectures. I'll listen to some lectures on 2x speed as my read through if it's a simple class like nutrition or our complete DO course where they talk about social and interview skills, evidence based medicine, etc. It works great for me!

The week before a block exam, I'll just come home for an hour at lunch and dinner and study about 9-13 hours a day.

I hope I'm able to adapt a system like that so I can spend that much time with my wife and children. Are they only classes you attend the OMM class and anatomy lab?
 
In undergraduate it seems like I learned mostly from going to class. I know med school and undergrad are different. Is there anyone who always went to class in undergrad (I never missed a class), but finds it better to watch the recorded class and study on their own? It seems like studying on my own would be much better because of the time I could save.

Pretty much what happened to me. Went to a lot of my upper-division sciences in undergrad, but here I find lectures are either paced far too slow within the hour, or (much more often) firing more information at me than I can handle, which causes me to sort of check out. Just the nature of the beast. So I spend a lot of time in the lecture handouts/slides and sometimes go back and try to follow along with the lecture recordings.
 
Reading all of this makes me want to withdraw my application from every mandatory lecture requiring school.
 
I slept until noon, got lunch, got Starbucks, studied for a little bit, played some video games, went to the gym, and maybe studied some more if there was a test anytime soon. I enjoyed medical school.
 
Reading all of this makes me want to withdraw my application from every mandatory lecture requiring school.

This is why mandatory attendance schools are on the bottom of my list along with dress codes
 
I slept until noon, got lunch, got Starbucks, studied for a little bit, played some video games, went to the gym, and maybe studied some more if there was a test anytime soon. I enjoyed medical school.

Haha nice.
 
SO ACOMDO im guessing you're at ACOM, does ACOM have mandatory lecture?
 
So this account is used by multiple people so that no one person can get in trouble for something they post. At this point I'm not sure how many people have access to this account. I preface with that because, yes ACOM does have an attendance policy, its just a little ambiguous.

We have to go to labs and certain classes are deemed mandatory, but the rest of them are part of the general attendance policy that states we are supposed to attend 80% of lectures. Now the ambiguous part is that the course directory of every class can enforce the attendance policy at their discretion, and from what I have seen none of the current classes state that they require 80% attendance. Also, until recently the recording of attendance was pretty spotty. So take what you will from that.

I am going to erase their comment because I don't want anyone to get in trouble.
 
Would you mind elaborating on this?
Sure...

So Alabama is were you'll go
Then social media is your foe
One small slip and your dreams may end
That cherished acceptance they will rescind
Now you don't need to take advice from me
But if you don't an ACOM doctor you might never be

cat-in-the-hat.jpg
 
Sure...

So Alabama is were you'll go
Then social media is your foe
One small slip and your dreams may end
That cherished acceptance they will rescind
Now you don't need to take advice from me
But if you don't an ACOM doctor you might never be

cat-in-the-hat.jpg
I has man crush with your posts.
 
Sure...

So Alabama is were you'll go
Then social media is your foe
One small slip and your dreams may end
That cherished acceptance they will rescind
Now you don't need to take advice from me
But if you don't an ACOM doctor you might never be

cat-in-the-hat.jpg
Brilliant!
 
I never went to lecture. Attendance was obviously not mandatory. I woke up around 530. Went to the gym. Took my test or quiz which you invariably have everyday at CCOM. Studied literally all day (Ok, maybe 40 minutes to every hour and 20 minutes of **** off time), then went back to the gym, ate dinner, and called it quits.
 
Is there anyone who attended class regularly and enjoyed it? I'm seeing an overwhelming majority in favor of non-mandatory lecture attendance. I'm stuck deciding between a school that has mandatory attendance and one that does not but I'm partial to the one with mandatory attendance 8/
 
Go to the school you feel best about. Mandatory vs non-mandatory attendance is not that big of a deal. If you feel you study best on your own then tune them out and go about your day. They say you have to be there - which helps structure your time - but they cannot dictate what you are doing in class. If you need the lecture then it is there, if not then hit up your own resources. The only way they would have an issue with that is if you are disruptive with it.
 
Is there anyone who attended class regularly and enjoyed it? I'm seeing an overwhelming majority in favor of non-mandatory lecture attendance. I'm stuck deciding between a school that has mandatory attendance and one that does not but I'm partial to the one with mandatory attendance 8/
I think it comes down to what your learning style is. I am not a good self studier and would always find other stuff to do at home, be with the kids, etc rather than crack the books. I did not have time that could be wasted so I viewed going to class as my job. Treated it like going to work everyday. It sometimes was boring but I worked on my notes or wrote potential test questions while in class. It was social for me and got me out of the house. I was always worried about missing what was important if I didn't go to class as I'm not the greatest test taker either. For me medical school was a great struggle and going to class kept me focused. After perusing this thread one thing I have to say is I attended school before lectures were taped. There wasn't youtube or facebook, etc. The best you got on the internet was the powerpoints and maybe the scribe notes. Things have changed a ton in the last 11 years as far as learning styles and information availability.
 
Is there anyone who attended class regularly and enjoyed it? I'm seeing an overwhelming majority in favor of non-mandatory lecture attendance. I'm stuck deciding between a school that has mandatory attendance and one that does not but I'm partial to the one with mandatory attendance 8/
A good majority of my classmates appear to be regular attendees. I think we're the exceptions, not the rule.
 
In undergraduate it seems like I learned mostly from going to class. I know med school and undergrad are different. Is there anyone who always went to class in undergrad (I never missed a class), but finds it better to watch the recorded class and study on their own? It seems like studying on my own would be much better because of the time I could save.

I never skipped lecture during undergrad and could only learn if I was in the classroom... Since starting medical school, I haven't attended a lecture since the first week. I enjoy sleeping in a bit later, for starters. And all lectures are recorded so you're not missing anything. I do go to campus to study because I procrastinate too much at home. I really don't know how people can attend all the lectures then study afterwards... I would be so burnt out.
 
I never skipped lecture during undergrad and could only learn if I was in the classroom... Since starting medical school, I haven't attended a lecture since the first week. I enjoy sleeping in a bit later, for starters. And all lectures are recorded so you're not missing anything. I do go to campus to study because I procrastinate too much at home. I really don't know how people can attend all the lectures then study afterwards... I would be so burnt out.

I may start by going to all classes during the beginning and then start to watch at home a few days a week to test the waters. It seems like a major downside of watching at home is the lack of social interaction with classmates, but maybe anatomy lab takes care of that.
 
im suddenly even more excited that i'll be going to GA-PCOM lol..no attendance req. I still don't understand how some of you were able to get by only studying 3-4 hours a day...I see med school being at least a 50 hour a week gig. Could i be wrong??
 
im suddenly even more excited that i'll be going to GA-PCOM lol..no attendance req. I still don't understand how some of you were able to get by only studying 3-4 hours a day...I see med school being at least a 50 hour a week gig. Could i be wrong??
Yea, you're wrong.
 
Yea, you're wrong.
You seriously played video games and had time to workout , etc? That sounds pretty awesome. Are you a genus, because that's gonna be the deciding factor. I'm not a genius lol
 
You seriously played video games and had time to workout , etc? That sounds pretty awesome. Are you a genus, because that's gonna be the deciding factor. I'm not a genius lol

My school had tests every 4 weeks. I usually didn't study for the first two weeks and then started to cram during weeks 3 and 4. I'd stay up all night studying during the 4th week. I did well.

I had plenty of free time, but I definitely went out less than other people in my class.
 
My school had tests every 4 weeks. I usually didn't study for the first two weeks and then started to cram during weeks 3 and 4. I'd stay up all night studying during the 4th week. I did well.

I had plenty of free time, but I definitely went out less than other people in my class.

I thought med students advocate avoiding this?

Then again, you did end up in a good position for residency so I suppose cramming can be effective for some people.
 
I may start by going to all classes during the beginning and then start to watch at home a few days a week to test the waters. It seems like a major downside of watching at home is the lack of social interaction with classmates, but maybe anatomy lab takes care of that.

You'll have plenty of other opportunities to meet people and socialize, definitely.
 
im suddenly even more excited that i'll be going to GA-PCOM lol..no attendance req. I still don't understand how some of you were able to get by only studying 3-4 hours a day...I see med school being at least a 50 hour a week gig. Could i be wrong??

I see it being at least 65-70 hours per week (including class). Only studying 3-4 hours per day would be terrific, even if its after going to class.
 
My school had tests every 4 weeks. I usually didn't study for the first two weeks and then started to cram during weeks 3 and 4. I'd stay up all night studying during the 4th week. I did well.

I had plenty of free time, but I definitely went out less than other people in my class.

I don't think I'd ever be brave enough to try this.
 
The key to good grades in medical school is repetition. You need to go through your notes 3 or 4 times before the test. In order to do that, you need to be as time efficient as possible. The best way to do this, in my opinion, is to not go to class, but instead listen to the lectures at 2x speed and annotate your classnotes/scribe notes as you go. You'll get through 5 hrs of lecture in 3 hrs or so.
 
On a srs note, what is the recommendation on figuring out what's the right study method for you? Go to classes the first week and see if it sucks? I know I'm a person who can't study for long periods of time at home, I get wayyyy to distracted.
 
On a srs note, what is the recommendation on figuring out what's the right study method for you? Go to classes the first week and see if it sucks? I know I'm a person who can't study for long periods of time at home, I get wayyyy to distracted.

I don't know if u want to wait this long, but for me the first round of tests were my way of figuring out. If what ur doing doesn't help with your test scores, change it. I knew I didn't have enough time to review all of the necessary material and it's because going to class all day then trying to study all night wasn't working. That's how people burn out, in my opinion. I also get really distracted, so when I study/listen to lectures I take a lot of breaks. I'll listen to a lecture, and then do something else (workout, clean, eat, etc.) and then go back to a lecture and do the cycle over. Not sure if that'll work for other people, but it's what helps keep me focused while letting my put other things into my day. Hope that helps!
 
im suddenly even more excited that i'll be going to GA-PCOM lol..no attendance req. I still don't understand how some of you were able to get by only studying 3-4 hours a day...I see med school being at least a 50 hour a week gig. Could i be wrong??

Completely depends on when you're next exam is. As long as you stay on top if the material and don't have a test coming up, you're fine. Week before a test is usually study non-stop for me. Also depends if you want to gun and be the top of your class or want to actually enjoy medical school. I chose the latter.
 
I don't know if u want to wait this long, but for me the first round of tests were my way of figuring out. If what ur doing doesn't help with your test scores, change it. I knew I didn't have enough time to review all of the necessary material and it's because going to class all day then trying to study all night wasn't working. That's how people burn out, in my opinion. I also get really distracted, so when I study/listen to lectures I take a lot of breaks. I'll listen to a lecture, and then do something else (workout, clean, eat, etc.) and then go back to a lecture and do the cycle over. Not sure if that'll work for other people, but it's what helps keep me focused while letting my put other things into my day. Hope that helps!

That's how I see it too. While I don't mind going to lecture, I can see burn out being an issue if you're in class from 8-4 and then still need to put in another 4 hours every night.
 
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