On average, how many hours do you dedicate to medical school each week (MS1's).

[Filibuster]

I'm just curious as to how much time your average MS1 puts into medical school during a typical week.

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[Long Dong]

I'm just curious as to how much time your average MS1 puts into medical school during a typical week.

When I was a first year M-F 5 hours/day and a 8 hour session on Sat. By 8 pm on Sat it was party time. So about 33 hours a week. This is studying time alone outside of the classroom and pbl/labs.

 

[Re3iRtH]

Are you including class/lab time as well?
Or just time you spend studying on your own?

 

[ericana_83]

I don't know about everyone else, but I spend almost 40 hours a week just in class and with my preceptor. I'm just realizing how much that sucks.

 

[Filibuster]

My intention of the poll was everything medically related. Including preceptors, small group, time watching or attending lectures, creating presentations (PBL again), dissection. Also, required activities only. For example, if you choose to shadow a surgeon and scrub in, but it's not part of the curriculum then I wouldn't count that.

 

[alwaysaangel]

I don't know about everyone else, but I spend almost 40 hours a week just in class and with my preceptor. I'm just realizing how much that sucks.

See I know there are schools like this but I really can't believe some schools can stretch it out so much. How much lecture time can you possibly have? I mean everyone is learning the same basic stuff, why do some take 4 hours to do it and others 8.

 

[Slide]

Let's see...
T/W/F - Class from 8AM to 5PM (sometimes 6). Two hours of break between those two, so 7 hours. --> 21 hours
M/Th - Usually 5 hours of class. --> 10 hours

Study habits:
4 hours a night M-Th --> 16 hours
Weekend - Try to shoot for 15 hours done over friday to sunday. Goal is to treat Saturday or Sunday like a regular school day and the other day as a half-day. Friday I try for 2 hours. Anything else is bonus.

Adding a few extra fudge hours for those days I stay past 5PM or when I have 6 hours of class on M/Th, that adds up to 63-64 hours. On the test weeks I have coming up, I up that to 80 hours.

Argh.

 

[geogil]

wow. That bites. We have class from 9-12 and complain the one day a week we have another class from 1-3. When do you study?

 

[Slide]

wow. That bites. We have class from 9-12 and complain the one day a week we have another class from 1-3. When do you study?

From 6-7ish PM to whenever (usually 11-12). Get up at 6:30, rinse and repeat. This is primarily though to gross anatomy, which eats up a lot of our time. Nowadays I see the weekend as the two days I have to actually learn the material and maybe commit it to memory. Don't get me wrong, I actually like gross anatomy now (yes I've turned back to my nerdy habits now), but that on top of 5 other classes makes it rough. Next semester I'll be happier because we'll have 5-6 hours of class per day instead of 7-8. Yay.

 

[goodoldalky]

I go to an old-school state institution that grades solely based on Z-score and on the curve. Gunner heaven. It is mathematically mandatory that some students will fail each exam. 10% honors, 20% high pass. I hate it and that probably colors the class but the IN-CLASS schedule is this:

MW 8-12, 1-4 (7 hours)
T, R, F 8-12 (4). Fridays 1-4 during anatomy core (I will leave that out).
One day at least T, R, F is preceptorship from 1-4 (3)
We occasionally had anatomy lab on Saturday and have all of our exams on Saturday, which is usually only twice a month but we did go four weeks in a row in Oct/Nov. Exams are 8AM-1PM (5 hr). Labs on Saturday were 9-12.

Overall required time is about 34 hours per week with no out of class time counted, slightly higher over the anatomy core.

My average study schedule (earns me a pass safely but no more usually) is about 3 hours a day during the week with 5 hours on each weekend day, a total of 25 hours out of class. So in total I average 59-60 hours a week, which, quite sadly, I'm sure is nowhere near the top of my class. On weekends when my girlfriend comes into town I will do nothing (about once every 5 weeks), but on weeks before exams I have regularly put in an extra 6 hours during weekdays or gone 8-10 on a single weekend day.

I haven't heard of a ****ter schedule myself, to be honest. I live with a med student who goes to the private school in my town and he seems to do fairly well, while skipping at least some class with regularity (3-4 days a week) and only being at school a max of 3-5 hours a day. His school grades 70%+ pass, very simple, which may contribute to the difference in atmosphere between our schools.

 

[dannylee718]

i study less than 30 hours a wk. god bless true P/F!!!

 

[wanabdoc]

All those who study less than 30 hours are wasting too much time on SDN

 

[alwaysaangel]

All those who study less than 30 hours are wasting too much time on SDN

See I tend the think its the opposite.

Anyone "studying" more than 30 hrs/week isn't really studying all that time. They're "studying" while watching TV, pausing to make snacks, typing on SDN, checking email, etc. etc.

No one is really doing 30+ hrs of FOCUSED studying per week. If you are then there's something very wrong with your style of studying.

EDIT: well maybe not 30 - but once you get into like 45+ there is no way a person is actually doing hardcore studying all that time.

 

[wanabdoc]

All those who study less than 30 hours are wasting too much time on SDN

 

[Shredder]

We're probably just getting more out of those 30 hours

 

[Law2Doc]

No one is really doing 30+ hrs of FOCUSED studying per week. If you are then there's something very wrong with your style of studying.

I'd have to disagree with both these statements. There are absolutely people who spend as much time focused on med school as a long houred full time job. Which is well over 30 or even 45 hours. I know quite a few folks who, with class time, are topping 80. (And yes, they are focused, not playing with computers or videogames or TV). Everyone studies differently, and different things work for different people. There will be some people who will have to study 30-45+ hours just to pass and some who have to study 30-45+ hours to do well (and who are matching into amazing programs). Some people find certain things more effective than others. There are definitely folks for whom if they don't do a sixth pass of the material before the test, they simply don't have the material down. Doesn't mean there is something wrong with their style of studying -- it may in fact be the very best style for that particular person. Also doesn't mean someone else whose brain is wired differently can't do it in less or more. The key in med school is to keep your eyes on your own plate, and not worry about what anyone else is doing. If something works for you, it works. If it doesn't, change it up. It's silly to assume that what you are doing is what everyone else is, or to deny the existence of more disciplined study efforts, so if you are not putting in 30-45 hardcore hours, it really doesn't mean someone else in the class isn't. Also yet it also doesn't mean you should if you are doing well.

And honestly, when you get to boards and to the wards, you may wish you spent more than the < 30 you claim is all that is necessary. Passing your courses is the immediate goal, but really learning the info can pay dividends as well.

 

[alwaysaangel]

I'd have to disagree with both these statements. There are absolutely people who spend as much time focused on med school as a long houred full time job. Which is well over 30 or even 45 hours. I know quite a few folks who, with class time, are topping 80. (And yes, they are focused, not playing with computers or videogames or TV). Everyone studies differently, and different things work for different people. There will be some people who will have to study 30-45+ hours just to pass and some who have to study 30-45+ hours to do well (and who are matching into amazing programs). Some people find certain things more effective than others. There are definitely folks for whom if they don't do a sixth pass of the material before the test, they simply don't have the material down. Doesn't mean there is something wrong with their style of studying -- it may in fact be the very best style for that particular person. Also doesn't mean someone else whose brain is wired differently can't do it in less or more. The key in med school is to keep your eyes on your own plate, and not worry about what anyone else is doing. If something works for you, it works. If it doesn't, change it up. It's silly to assume that what you are doing is what everyone else is, or to deny the existence of more disciplined study efforts, so if you are not putting in 30-45 hardcore hours, it really doesn't mean someone else in the class isn't. Also yet it also doesn't mean you should if you are doing well.

And honestly, when you get to boards and to the wards, you may wish you spent more than the < 30 you claim is all that is necessary. Passing your courses is the immediate goal, but really learning the info can pay dividends as well.

I didn't say its what I'm doing. Personally, I'm a non-focused studier. I grew up watching TV while doing homework (not letting my kids do that!) so I can't study without noise. I'm probably at my desk 60-80hrs/week but I'm usually doing more than just studying.

And I have never met someone that can actually sit and do focused studying for longer than about 6 hrs/day (which would be about 42 hrs/week) Also notice I was talking studying - not class time. The people you're saying top 80hrs of "focused" studying probably have a very traditional lecture schedule.

Even the smartest most studious people at my school who sit on campus from like noon to 10pm at night studying and are honoring all their classes are usually doing it in groups and do a ton of screwing around.

Could the people you describe exist? Sure, but I've never seen one.

And I still stand by my statement that the people studying less than 30 hrs/week are probably doing pretty damn good focused studying (or are failing their classes), while people actually studying more than 45hrs/week or so (not including class time) are probably doing a lot of screwing around that they call studying.

 

[maxbaner]

I didn't say its what I'm doing. Personally, I'm a non-focused studier. I grew up watching TV while doing homework (not letting my kids do that!) so I can't study without noise. I'm probably at my desk 60-80hrs/week but I'm usually doing more than just studying.

For me, I usually can't study with noise.

 

[Occams Razor]

Does dreaming about pathways, test questions, and dissections count?

 

[frickengeniusMD]

I put in 169 hours per week..........

 

[guitarguy23]

I worked about 70ish hours a week. Sat and Sun all day every weekend, except for one or two times. I did make straight A's first semester-whatever that means to you.

 

[notbobtrustme]

all together, including labs/lecture videos, about 35 hours a week.

 

[GalenAgas]

When I was a first year M-F 5 hours/day and a 8 hour session on Sat. By 8 pm on Sat it was party time. So about 33 hours a week. This is studying time alone outside of the classroom and pbl/labs.

Is that really a picture of you with the tattoo?

 

[Pqrs]

Is that really a picture of you with the tattoo?

Lol @ a gigantic tattoo of the caduceus instead of the rod of asclepius

 

[armybound]

Is that really a picture of you with the tattoo?

That guy hasn't logged on to SDN in over a year.

 

[Lanolin]

lol @ the guys claiming they average 90 hours of work during the MS1 year. That's 13 hours of work/day for 50 weeks.