Regarding Med school

[shaq786]

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Ok I am a prospective med school student...heres my question:

I am taking human physiology(for pre med folks) right now and the chapters are like 50 pages long. My guess is that med school chapters are also probably 50 pages long or so.

Do you guys cover the WHOLE chapter? If so, how do you manage to read 50 pages like that considering that you also probably have 3 other medical school classes that have books with chapters of 50 pages as well. And lets say you do like 1 chapter a week in each class, that amounts to 200 pages a week (4 classes) of reading and being able to understand it. Then you got to memorize it.

The situation is quite different in my college level human physio class becuase we dont cover the WHOLE chapter. And my teacher tells me this class is going to be like med school, but the its very unusual becuase WE DIDNT COVER THE WHOLE CHAPTER.

So what is med school going to be like? Am I going to be reading all 50 pages of every chapter for every class each week or am I going to be only reading certain parts of the chapter and keeping it light?

 

[synapse lapse]

Well, we don't use a text but yes you cover probably 20-40 pages a day in your syllabus and we do this every day of the week, test about every 2-3 weeks for each class. You certainly won't be keeping anything light.

 

[nutmegs]

I didn't read any textbooks at all the first 2 years, just the class notes. It depends on your own style.

 

[tupac_don]

Ok I am a prospective med school student...heres my question:

I am taking human physiology(for pre med folks) right now and the chapters are like 50 pages long. My guess is that med school chapters are also probably 50 pages long or so.

Do you guys cover the WHOLE chapter? If so, how do you manage to read 50 pages like that considering that you also probably have 3 other medical school classes that have books with chapters of 50 pages as well. And lets say you do like 1 chapter a week in each class, that amounts to 200 pages a week (4 classes) of reading and being able to understand it. Then you got to memorize it.

The situation is quite different in my college level human physio class becuase we dont cover the WHOLE chapter. And my teacher tells me this class is going to be like med school, but the its very unusual becuase WE DIDNT COVER THE WHOLE CHAPTER.

So what is med school going to be like? Am I going to be reading all 50 pages of every chapter for every class each week or am I going to be only reading certain parts of the chapter and keeping it light?

My experience is that if you try to read all 50 pages and try to memorize everything, you will be very stressed and you might do well but you will be working very VERY hard. One thing you have to understand that not everything that they give you to read will be equally emphasized, also notes are usually used in med school not textbooks. A lot of the times they will suggest a textbook as a reference, but that will only slow you down and confuse you. Using just notes is the way to go and maybe some board books. Key thing is to focus on what professor wants. B/c enormous amount of material is covered, that you simply don't have the time or the luxury to memorize every single thing. Therefore you must pick and choose what you will memorize. In med school, you may easily cover say 200-300 pages in 3 weeks or so. But remember you don't have to know every single thing. You memorize the meat and potatoes and then whatever else you can. You have to study smart and hard in med school, not just hard. What I notice many people have trouble with is they get really overwhelmed with material if they don't study regularly, and then when they try to cram in like a week, they are like a deer in the headlights (they don't know what to do, ie. they don't know what to focus on) so they try to study as much as they can, and then get overwhelmed, and their knowledge is diluted. Best strategy is to follow lectures closely for tips on what's imp and what's not, but not neccessarily go to lectures (stay home and get scribe notes or listen to mp3z). As long as you strategize you will be A ok.

 

[excalibur]

In med school, there will be class notes from every single lecture. Most schools have this. You put up some money at the beginning of the semester, and notes are made in outline format for every lecture. Copy of each noteset is then distributed to all those who participated in the notetaking service. Most students study the notesets, and then use the texts for reference if they don't understand something in the noteset. Don't worry med school studying is totally doable. The students aren't doing anything superhuman. They're just putting in a little more time studying then they did in college. You won't be reading 50 pages a night from evil textbooks. Instead, you'll be reading like two notesets or so a night, and trying to understand the big picture. Later.

 

[nutmegs]

at some schools they're free 🙂

 

[OSUdoc08]

Ok I am a prospective med school student...heres my question:

I am taking human physiology(for pre med folks) right now and the chapters are like 50 pages long. My guess is that med school chapters are also probably 50 pages long or so.

Do you guys cover the WHOLE chapter? If so, how do you manage to read 50 pages like that considering that you also probably have 3 other medical school classes that have books with chapters of 50 pages as well. And lets say you do like 1 chapter a week in each class, that amounts to 200 pages a week (4 classes) of reading and being able to understand it. Then you got to memorize it.

The situation is quite different in my college level human physio class becuase we dont cover the WHOLE chapter. And my teacher tells me this class is going to be like med school, but the its very unusual becuase WE DIDNT COVER THE WHOLE CHAPTER.

So what is med school going to be like? Am I going to be reading all 50 pages of every chapter for every class each week or am I going to be only reading certain parts of the chapter and keeping it light?

Yes, you cover a chapter os so per lecture. However, in medical school, you do not use textbooks as a primary source as in college. You use the textbook as a secondary source for additional information that you do not understand only.

Unlike in college, notes are typed up for you in medical school, and you use these to study for the exams.

Point being, it is actually easier.

 

[Kazema]

We get a course syllabus at the beggining of each module that includes all of the notes for every lecture. We have to know what's in those notes (and anything a professor says we have to know in lecture that he or she forgot to put in the notes) and nothing else. Books are references only - I only look at a book if the notes are vague or I need another angle at some topic.

With some very notable exceptions, most of our lecturers understand that we're here to become physicians, not bench scientists. So as long as we understand the overall concepts and memorize some key parts that's good enough.

Most of what's in a textbook is way too detailed for what you'll need to know in medical school. If you spend much time reading textbooks you'll just end up knowing too much about not enough, and being really stressed and sleep-deprived. I've found that how I study in med school is radically different from how I studied in undergrad - I used to read every assigned reading and do every practice problem in the book. Sure, doing that in medical school would give me a really solid understanding of the material, but I'd also be wasting a ton of time.

I'd say that medical school coursework is less difficult than a lot of my undergraduate courses, but there's just a lot, lot more work. So you don't need as deep an understanding of the material - you just need to know more of it in less time.

 

[lilmo]

Point being, it is actually easier.

I wish I went to your school! I miss the lazy undergrad days of shopping, sunshine, and relaxation.

 

[mineshMD]

What's up with textbooks? If all we had to do was read from the textbooks, then we would not need to go to class or even have a lecturer. I feel lectures are only good if you can't figure out stuff on your own. Lectures for courses that only require rote memorization, e.g. biochemistry or immunology, are worthless - they read straight from the notes/PPT's anyways. (I think only 20% of my classmates go to each and every lecture). That's why I only go to my physiology class, probably b/c it's the most enjoyable. We have a notes system so I get notes from classes (BTW those can add up to be around 150-200 pgs/course) and a syllabus that includes all the lecturer's handouts and PPT's (that's what I really use to study). So I don't stress about going to class nor about reading any textbooks (except for Board Review books- they're the best and a must buy b/c they summarize the "meats and potatoes" for you). Not buying textbooks has saved me money that I have used on other things- like a mp3 player and in the future a XBOX360. Also, I keep up with material by understanding it first. I only start to memorize stuff one week before exams or the weekend before exams. Good Luck!

 

[Rugby MD]

I actually found that I did better when I didn't read the book and stuck to the sylabus only. Any time that I would go to the book, I would get caught up on the details and not focus on what the professors expected of me.
good luck.

 

[kayakgirl]

My school's syllabi/class notes are useless- so I have become a book learner. The key is not to read every single detail, I sort of skim through until I find a section that relates exactly to what we're covering in class and read that part.

The other great thing about med school as opposed to undergrad is there are about 5-10 USMLE review books that cover most med school subjects pretty well and much more concisely.

I rarely use actual textbooks except as an occasional reference and study from BRS, NMS, and Lippincott reviews.