Procrastination and Medical school

[Iridescent]

For me, undergrad was a cram fest. Cramming 2-3 weeks worth of material in 2-3 days worked well for me. Will medical school destroy a person with these habits? To my fellow procrastinators and last minute doers, were you able to change these habits upon entering medical school? If so, how did you go about that?

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[trino]

You're not alone, many people in undergrad were this way and change in medical school. If you keep these habits, med school will destroy you...but you won't keep them. I recommend going into school with a hard working mindset. Don't procrastinate, treat the first few tests like the MCAT. From those tests you'll find out how to study and what works best for you. Then you can decide how much you want to procrastinate.

 

[Kelevra]

Well first...eh, I'll tell you later.

 

[NontradCA]

I'm gonna beat a dead horse and say that you need to be efficient. Make sure that the time you spend looking at any medical knowledge is active learning and you'd be surprised at how much you'll retain when it comes to cramming towards the approaching test. What's worked wonders for me is googling a topic; the act of searching equaled inquisitorial learning and I'd spend 3 minutes going over something I could otherwise drudge over for an hour. But YMMV. The key to medical school is learning how to learn. You'll eventually figure out what works for you.

 

[postbacpremed87]

It is really dependent on the individual. I know some people can take the whole first week off of a block and then go crazy in the final week. These people still end up in the Top 10%.

 

[05silvergt]

It isn't completely impossible to cram your way through first and second year. I would imagine the majority of second year I stayed caught up with the material then turned it on for the last ~5 days prior to the exam.

Try it out for your first exam and see what happens. One of two things most likely:
1. You do well and you should keep it up.
2. You get crushed and fear drives you to study harder and more often.

 

[spicysoup55]

Join study groups. I know it's not for everyone but done effectively, it can keep you on track.

 

[TheShaker]

I did the cramming method that I did from undergrad in the first semester and I did well enough but I'm fairly certain that it'll come back to haunt me during Step 1. You don't retain the material as well when you cram hard so it's going to hurt you on the test that matters most. Second semester I had a more constant study schedule and I feel like I actually know the material much better. Aside from that, I don't think I could've crammed for the harder blocks even if I tried. There's just too much material to learn through the first pass if you fall too far behind.

 

[Tintinnabula]

For me, undergrad was a cram fest. Cramming 2-3 weeks worth of material in 2-3 days worked well for me. Will medical school destroy a person with these habits? To my fellow procrastinators and last minute doers, were you able to change these habits upon entering medical school? If so, how did you go about that?

Okay just saw this. While I'm just this summer entering medical school, as a former procrastinating crammer (first Bachelor's) I can tell you that the leopard CAN change his shorts. </Pratchett geekery>

Up through receiving my first degree I was a procrasti-crammer, with very few exceptions. I pretty much coasted to an easy though low 3.x GPA with my first degree doing that (well, for values of "coasted" that approach "studied around the 30+ hours a week I worked to somewhat self-support, unless I was too tired"). When I decided on medicine and went back for post-bacc work *mumblety* years later to cover math and science prereqs, I knew I couldn't do that anymore and that it would be self-sabotage. I stopped it, experimented with the study methods that worked for me, altered them on the wing to fit the study needs of a given class,etc. I was a much, much better student for the change; the student I was the first go 'round could never have made it into med school, much less had a chance to prosper there.

 

[Jabbed]

For me, undergrad was a cram fest. Cramming 2-3 weeks worth of material in 2-3 days worked well for me. Will medical school destroy a person with these habits? To my fellow procrastinators and last minute doers, were you able to change these habits upon entering medical school? If so, how did you go about that?

I was very successful in undergrad as a crammer. I crammed for virtually every exam within 24 hours of the test with the notable exceptions of orgo and physics, which took 2-3 days of cramming each. But that's just not possible in med school. Not only is there vastly more material, but the competition is so much tighter in med school as your classmates have already been sifted through the right end of the bell curve several times over.

Ironically though, I would say that cramming during undergrad has prepared me well for medical school. Compared to many classmates, I'm far more comfortable with the idea of covering a lot of information quickly within a short span of time under high stress. Another huge benefit is that I didn't come in with many bad habits to break (i.e. making notes/outlines, needing to read material more than once). For me the biggest key to transitioning from undergrad to med school was coming up with an independent and cohesive plan on how I wanted to approach each course or module. Setting my own goals and choosing my own resources really helped me become more invested in the longitudinal commitment that's required to succeed here.

 

[baxt1412]

treat the first few tests like the MCAT

woahhh, honestly this clicked for me. i'm an incoming M1 and have been mildly stressing out about how i'm going to study in med school because i know my undergrad was EXTREMELY too easy. not in the sense that i was way too smart for it, but rather that they didn't push us hard at all. however, i raised my MCAT from a 24 to a 30 by really diving in and going at it for 4-10 hours per day and it clearly paid off.... i'm not saying i'll be studying for 10 hours a day in med school, but i think this really spoke to me as to how i can approach it.

 

[trino]

woahhh, honestly this clicked for me. i'm an incoming M1 and have been mildly stressing out about how i'm going to study in med school because i know my undergrad was EXTREMELY too easy. not in the sense that i was way too smart for it, but rather that they didn't push us hard at all. however, i raised my MCAT from a 24 to a 30 by really diving in and going at it for 4-10 hours per day and it clearly paid off.... i'm not saying i'll be studying for 10 hours a day in med school, but i think this really spoke to me as to how i can approach it.

I think you have to put a complete effort into the first few tests, because med school tests are a lot harder than undergrad. Sure, people will tell you they are easy, but they may just seem easy to them. They may have been 9-5 studyers in undergrad and med school is more or less the same. I'm positive that your best effort is more than enough, but make sure you know where you stand with the first test and then you can tone it down for your sanity. Good luck to you!

 

[jqueb29]

I am someone who procrastinated all through college, often first looking at the material the day before the test. In medical school, being able to procrastinate depends on the structure of the course you are in. I have had some classes where we have a test every Monday, and then I've had others where we would only have one every 2-3 weeks. I have found it quite difficult to procrastinate in the former but exceedingly easy to do so in the latter.

 

[drmak89]

I was very successful in undergrad as a crammer. I crammed for virtually every exam within 24 hours of the test with the notable exceptions of orgo and physics, which took 2-3 days of cramming each. But that's just not possible in med school. Not only is there vastly more material, but the competition is so much tighter in med school as your classmates have already been sifted through the right end of the bell curve several times over.

Ironically though, I would say that cramming during undergrad has prepared me well for medical school. Compared to many classmates, I'm far more comfortable with the idea of covering a lot of information quickly within a short span of time under high stress. Another huge benefit is that I didn't come in with many bad habits to break (i.e. making notes/outlines, needing to read material more than once). For me the biggest key to transitioning from undergrad to med school was coming up with an independent and cohesive plan on how I wanted to approach each course or module. Setting my own goals and choosing my own resources really helped me become more invested in the longitudinal commitment that's required to succeed here.

Is this really a bad habit though for med school? This is how I studied (and did extremely well) in my post bacc classes! I have been so worried about if/how to make the switch from this kind of method.

Gosh, i'm in for a world of hurt then...

 

[GUH]

Is this really a bad habit though for med school? This is how I studied (and did extremely well) in my post bacc classes! I have been so worried about if/how to make the switch from this kind of method.

Gosh, i'm in for a world of hurt then...

Some of my classmates made notes/outlines and did very well in the preclinical coursework. The key is to make them high-yield, which some people are unable to do since they like to write down everything.
So yes, it can work if you are good at making concise notes and sorting out the important stuff from the filler. It might take you some time once you're in medical school to be able to distinguish between the two.

 

[MedSchoolSurvivor]

It's hard to change. Procrastination still works for me, but just barely. Looking back, I feel like I've retained very little of what I've learned.

Procrastination can work in medical school in the sense that you can still get grades as good as anyone else. But to agree with above, among other things, there are some problems with cramming. It will take far more out of you in medical school to cram then it did in undergraduate studies. Secondly, the long term retention is inferior due to less learning repetitions. Someone who took their time to study a topic and went over it multiple times is more likely to retain the knowledge than someone who started at it the night before. You should care about long term retention, some of the knowledge you will be learning will help you care for someone some day. Lastly, it is just plain inefficient as concepts need time to take hold, and your brain can only successfully absorb so much information in one sitting.

 

[NavyDoc23]

We have a test every week for each block, so it kind of keeps you in line. However, the day of the week the test was on dictated how I studied for it. One block we had tests on Fridays.. it sucked because we didn't have weekends to study and you couldn't really cram on Thursday. The majority of the blocks, however, have had tests on Mondays, so we had weekends to study. It makes the weekdays way less stressful. With this set up, I think cramming is definitely possible, especially if you can put in long hours of studying on the weekends. However, that isn't fun either, because then you're wasting your weekend studying. That's why I advise staying consistent with your studying. Do 2-4 hours of studying a day outside of class on the weekdays, maybe a little more (3-5) on the weekend, and do fun things on the weekends so you don't lose your sanity.

 

[Jabbed]

Is this really a bad habit though for med school? This is how I studied (and did extremely well) in my post bacc classes! I have been so worried about if/how to make the switch from this kind of method.

Gosh, i'm in for a world of hurt then...

It depends on the person. The key thing to realize is that this can represent a substantial time commitment. Get in the habit of thinking of time as your most valuable resource in medical school. The extra two hours that you spend outlining a lecture means that you lose two hours of what would otherwise be time spent reviewing, covering other material, relaxing, sleeping, etc.