Really need some advice

[jesse14]

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I need to know how most med students manage their time. I'm finding it impossible (yes, i mean that) to fit in what i'd like to get done in the day without feeling exhausted. I have class usually from about 8:30-6:00 with maybe an hour to an hour and a half break. Today, i had class from 8:30-7:00with two seperate one hour breaks. When i get home i'm so whiped that i literally can't read a word on a page. I know i need to study and i force myself to, but i know the quality of my study is weak at best since i'm so tired. Maybe i have a chemical imbalance, since i find myself being tired to the point of falling asleep in class alot... is that common? Does this all just take some getting used to on my part?

Please, any advice or thoughts would be great.

 

[MrBurns10]

That's a hell of a lot of lecture time you get. Two questions come to my mind:
1) do you have to go to class?
2) does it help to go to class?

If the answer to 1 and 2 are "no", don't go. I stopped going about a month or two into school and I was able to study effectively for a lot longer each day.

If you answered yes, then take some time off when you get home to eat dinner and chill, then read for another hour or two before you go to bed. If you truly are learning when you're in class, that's just as good as reading from a book/slides.

 

[GreenShirt]

Yikes, that is a lot of class time! I personally avoiding schools that had 8 hr+ lecture days because I knew that I'd be too pooped to study when I got home. Here's some my tips:

1) Don't go to class if it's not mandatory and you don't retain much from lectures (to reiterate the above poster).
2) Try to do some studying in the morning before classes start. You'll be pretty fried by the end of lectures but then you can go home and crash and then wake up early to study again when your mind is fresh.
3) Tap a cat nap after class to refresh yourself (If you're not careful with this you can get into a vicious cycle with napping where you go to bed later and later and need that nap more and more).
4) Don't do any hard core studying during the week. Skim through power points or readings but save the real "bang your head against the textbook" studying for the weekends.
5) Make flashcards during lecture. Spend an hour or two reviewing them before bed.
6) Get some exercise.

If you figure out a system that works for you it will pay off in your third and fourth years when you'll have to spend the night reading after spending all day in clinic.

 

[DCDAWG]

Whenever I feel down about studying and my workload, I come onto these boards and see people who have to sit in class from 8-6 everyday and I feel a lot better. What med school in hell do all these people go to? Thats absurd.

Anyway, sorry to hear that. Id suggest not going to class.

 

[silas2642]

I need to know how most med students manage their time. I'm finding it impossible (yes, i mean that) to fit in what i'd like to get done in the day without feeling exhausted. I have class usually from about 8:30-6:00 with maybe an hour to an hour and a half break. Today, i had class from 8:30-7:00with two seperate one hour breaks. When i get home i'm so whiped that i literally can't read a word on a page. I know i need to study and i force myself to, but i know the quality of my study is weak at best since i'm so tired. Maybe i have a chemical imbalance, since i find myself being tired to the point of falling asleep in class alot... is that common? Does this all just take some getting used to on my part?

Please, any advice or thoughts would be great.

I have a fraction of the lecture time that you do, and I still don't go. I'm definitely with the others here in saying that if it isn't mandatory and if you're not retaining much, don't go. Stay home and read the syllabus. Are your lectures recorded? If you are having trouble understanding a concept, then go back and listen to a lecture.

 

[DEdm]

Although I am currently not in medical school, I understand the issue of going non-stop throughout the day and being expected to go home and study all night. Here is what helped me through it... exercise. Seriously. I know that it sounds as if it would make things worse, but it frees your mind so your study quality is much better. Also, it can help you build stamina so the long days don't bother you as much.

 

[deleted77919]

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[cathbig]

Not going to class really is great. I honestly don't understand why people go at all at my school, where our lectures are streamed online and you can access em anytime you want, at whatever speed you want, and can pause it whenever you want etc. So if your school records the lectures and puts em online for you, I strongly suggest you try just not going.

Like some posters above, I tried going to class at the beginning but when I switched to not going at all, my grades improved significantly. I score in ~the upper third of my class now, while before I was scoring in about the bottom 40%. I only go for things like labs, mandatory classes, and maybe high-yield lectures by good lecturers.