Skipping lectures entirely

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Spetzler-Martin

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Once I got my study plan down, I stopped watching lectures all together. If I absolutely felt I had to, it was a recording on 2-3x speed. Med school is all about maximizing efficiency
 
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I agree with stickgirl. As an M1, I didn't watch lectures for the most part except for one block where they just absolutely overloaded us with the low yield, like more than usual, lol. I had no choice but to watch them smh. Otherwise, it worked out pretty well.

But it also depends on what your goals are. If you're gunning for AOA and it's based on preclinical rank, then I'd recommend still watching the lectures unless you're 100% sure you can remain top 10-15% or whatever the requirement is without watching them. The caveat here is that if you're tested with only NBMEs and no in-houses, you can 100% ignore what I just said, lol.

Edit: I forgot that you said you still have the lectures in readable form, lol. Looks like you're looking more for peace of mind than anything haha. Have at it, man. Enjoy your newfound free time.
 
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Reading is more efficient. See attached pics:
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TheDavidLettermanShow said:
My school doesn't have AOA or ranking. Lol. But yeah, technically I won't be skipping lectures but just reading through the "reader" which is basically a more coherent version of the lecture in written format. I can get through it in half the time of a lecture with probably triple the understanding. It's just the idea of skipping lectures that has felt foreign to me, but I'll get used to it. I only know one other person at my school that skips lecture, so we're sort of like black swans. Haha
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Just edited my post. Yeah, I believe that in med school, you have do what works for you above all. It doesn't matter what your classmates are doing or how many tears these admins shed.
 
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In med school, I generally only went to campus if 1. an e-mail was sent out requesting we attend to make a good impression on a guest lecturer (because I am good at heart), 2. a group activity like anatomy lab or micro lab (if we all didn't decide to skip as a group because the hell with micro lab that's what pictures online are for), or 3. I was going to be on campus anyway and I felt like it.

I actually did find a lot of value in our lectures, I just found them more valuable after I slept in late and was able to watch the recordings at 1.5x speed.

1.5x speed is extremely flattering to the voices of elderly lecturers, but it also makes it hard to listen to them in person later.
 
I agree with this 100%. Just figured this out myself. Figure out what learning styles work best for you and just hammer that. I am visual and kinesthetic so lecture does absolutely nothing for me. It’s nice at my school they only test on what is explicitly contained on the PowerPoints, so nothing they say makes a difference.
 
Also no lecture watch train. It depends on your program, though. I mean for my school, it seems everything you must know is already in powerpoints, and if that is the case, then why even bother watching lectures...
 
TheDavidLettermanShow said:
MS1 here in my second block. I feel like I'm wasting my time in lecture and not doing enough reviews/ board prep/ active learning. My school is a bit unique in that they create "readers" for each lecture which are basically lectures in a readable form and are far more better than the lectures as the lecturers tend to gloss over/ assume we know key details. I can also read these readers in half the time and with far more understanding than listening to the watered down lectures where I constantly have to google things since the lecturers aren't explaining things in sufficient detail ( I don't blame them as there's only so much you can cover in an hour). Therefore, I feel that by just reading these readers, I can average significantly more sleep per week and get more time to do reviews and active learning which is the name of the game in med school.

Overall, does anyone else skip lectures and how is it going for you? I'm simply afraid of skipping lectures as it feels blasphemous and contrary to everything I have done in the past. I did very well in our first block. However, the efficiency wasn't great and I barely cut it in terms of the number of reviews and so I definitely need to change something. This approach would seem to yield the most returns out of anything that I can think of.

@slowthai I feel that we have similar pedagogical philosophies, so if I could hear from you that would be great as well.
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Pre-COVID, anywhere from50-90% of my students skipped lectures.

It's OK, you're an adult learner and know best about what is your ideal learning style. You're not an empty vessel awaiting your brain to be filled with knowledge by the "sage on the stage".

Active learning >>>>>> passive learning.
 
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Skipped all lectures possible and just ignored the mandatory ones while sitting in the lecture hall. Zero regret. Would recommend the free time and control over your schedule ASAP.

Don't be the person in your class who figures this out like 6 months in. There will be people like that and it is so confusing and sad.
 
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I was totally the opposite when I was in school--went to all the lectures and took notes, so I wouldn't have to focus on reading.
 
Neopolymath said:
Skipped all lectures possible and just ignored the mandatory ones while sitting in the lecture hall. Zero regret. Would recommend the free time and control over your schedule ASAP.

Don't be the person in your class who figures this out like 6 months in. There will be people like that and it is so confusing and sad.
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But sitting in lecture helps me focus! I can’t concentrate at home! I get distracted!

Go away.
 
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sloh said:
But sitting in lecture helps me focus! I can’t concentrate at home! I get distracted!

Go away.
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Sit in lecture hall with headphones on and do work. There is zero reason to listen to lectures at 1x speed with no ability to pause or rewind (aka live lecture) even if you need to be outside your house to focus.

It's purely time management. If I sit in lecture watching a person live that requires time of driving plus watching plus reviewing some things that were unclear later that I might have missed... Or I could sit at home and watch at 2x speed and minimize times I miss anything.

If you care about lecture content but use this method then you have twice the free time based on that alone (there are other tricks).

The real answer is to just ignore lecture completely though and really, really have more time.
 
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Lectures should be pre-recorded, and "class time" should be spent on active learning, assessment questions, and review, but I think @Goro and I are in the minority as compared to our colleagues with a different mindset.
 
Real McCoy said:
Lectures should be pre-recorded, and "class time" should be spent on active learning, assessment questions, and review, but I think @Goro and I are in the minority as compared to our colleagues with a different mindset.
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Not all students like the TBL format. I'm not crazy about the format either.
 
Goro said:
Pre-COVID, anywhere from50-90% of my students skipped lectures.

It's OK, you're an adult learner and know best about what is your ideal learning style. You're not an empty vessel awaiting your brain to be filled with knowledge by the "sage on the stage".

Active learning >>>>>> passive learning.
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If only more of my faculties share your view.
 
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Goro said:
Not all students like the TBL format. I'm not crazy about the format either.
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TBL is definitely one of the "trendy" curriculum delivery models. It has some merit, but I am more in favor of very short case presentations with multiple assessment/board questions to follow before moving onto the next case.
 
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I only go to the mandatory stuff. Haven’t watched lecture since the first half of the first block. Honored every block in M1.

Wanted to see if I could score even higher so I started watching lectures again this block, grades dropped and probably won’t be getting honors.
 
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Should students attend lectures in a unit they hope to specialize in? Neuro, MSK, Derm specifically as they are competitive. Are there advantages for networking? Disadvantages as in not showing interest?
 
blockrudder1 said:
Should students attend lectures in a unit they hope to specialize in? Neuro, MSK, Derm specifically as they are competitive. Are there advantages for networking? Disadvantages as in not showing interest?
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No. If you want to network, you do research with a physician in your department of interest.
 
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The issue with this is that some professors give oral cues about what’s most likely going to show up on exams from their lectures and what definitely isn’t. At least that’s how it is at my school.

I watch lectures at 2x speed just to note what the professor says is and isn’t “important” (i.e., to gauge what is or isn’t going to be on the next exam). While it takes time to watch the lectures, it would take me even more time to try to futilely memorize the random lists and tables that the instructors say in lecture are “only there for your information” or are “not worth worrying too much about.”
 
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Osminog said:
The issue with this is that some professors give oral cues about what’s most likely going to show up on exams from their lectures and what definitely isn’t. At least that’s how it is at my school.

I watch lectures at 2x speed just to note what the professor says is and isn’t “important” (i.e., to gauge what is or isn’t going to be on the next exam). While it takes time to watch the lectures, it would take me even more time to try to futilely memorize the random lists and tables that the instructors say in lecture are “only there for your information” or are “not worth worrying too much about.”
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Interestingly, about 10-15% of my students are hard core lecture attenders. They need the live verbal/visual/aural first pass at the material. It's unfortunate that current TBL style modes actually select against these types of learners.
 
Osminog said:
The issue with this is that some professors give oral cues about what’s most likely going to show up on exams from their lectures and what definitely isn’t. At least that’s how it is at my school.

I watch lectures at 2x speed just to note what the professor says is and isn’t “important” (i.e., to gauge what is or isn’t going to be on the next exam). While it takes time to watch the lectures, it would take me even more time to try to futilely memorize the random lists and tables that the instructors say in lecture are “only there for your information” or are “not worth worrying too much about.”
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Just gotta find that one student that religiously goes to lectures and ask them what the professor emphasized is going to be on the exam. Buy the peer some coffee or something
 
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Several people at my school just read the lecture transcripts and it saves them time. I personally would fall asleep but it seems to work great for them.
 
Osminog said:
The issue with this is that some professors give oral cues about what’s most likely going to show up on exams from their lectures and what definitely isn’t. At least that’s how it is at my school.

I watch lectures at 2x speed just to note what the professor says is and isn’t “important” (i.e., to gauge what is or isn’t going to be on the next exam). While it takes time to watch the lectures, it would take me even more time to try to futilely memorize the random lists and tables that the instructors say in lecture are “only there for your information” or are “not worth worrying too much about.”
Click to expand...

There are ways around this. There should be some high yield notes or lecture decks being shuffled around the class. Either that, or your upperclassmen are holding out, lol
 
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Osminog said:
The issue with this is that some professors give oral cues about what’s most likely going to show up on exams from their lectures and what definitely isn’t. At least that’s how it is at my school.

I watch lectures at 2x speed just to note what the professor says is and isn’t “important” (i.e., to gauge what is or isn’t going to be on the next exam). While it takes time to watch the lectures, it would take me even more time to try to futilely memorize the random lists and tables that the instructors say in lecture are “only there for your information” or are “not worth worrying too much about.”
Click to expand...

Yeah they do that at my school too, but my grades went up when I stopped watching school lectures, including on in-house exams. I tried watching them again for the final last module to see what would happen and my grade on my in-house exam went down (nbme stayed the same).
 
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MS3 and MS4 lectures were nice. Our rotations diluted students in a way that sometimes we were only 3 students in a set rotation. Classes felt more personalized, basically just having a conversation with the attendings/cheifs of department. For Internal Medicine we would meet at a café near the hospital and have our lecture while eating brunch. It was nice after you had a 24hour+ shift.

MS1/MS2...meh..
 
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I found that I paid attention in lecture for like 5 minutes/hr, so I bailed and just read the assigned texts and look over the lecturer's powerpoint. This worked out great for me because I could get so much more learning in during the time I would have been in class. Our school eventually gave up on lectures altogether based on some evidence that lectures are a bit too passive, so now they primarily just assign readings - not always a great option, but the point is that you shouldn't feel bad if lectures aren't working for you. There aren't enough hours in the day as it is.
 
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Taking notes in general is dumb. I’ll only write stuff out to make sure I’ve accurately remembered something and never actually refer back to what I’ve written once I’ve gotten it. There’s way prettier text that someone else has spent hours typing up to read if I don’t get something.
 
TheDavidLettermanShow said:
Yup. That's exactly what I do, go through the readings and then quickly go through the slides afterwards. Not sure why reading is a lot faster until @sloh 's comment above. Also, I hardly have to take any notes with our school's assigned reading which saves a dramatic amount of time. Overall, I've seen significantly more free time, had time for research, been able to review more, incorporate board material more efficiently, and have managed to get 7-8 hours to sleep per day all the while seeing all of my classmates constantly moan about how "hard" this block is.
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Good to hear. If you guys dive into the cognitive science and learning literature, learning styles is also a myth.
 
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For those of you who don’t watch lecture and don’t take notes, how do you learn and connect the information? I’ve tried not taking notes and only using Anki, but I completely lose sight of how everything fits together. But when I do take notes, it takes way too long and feels like a waste of time...
 
I could probably just read slides if I really wanted to but I always feel more comfortable watching them still. I have read just slides for a couple of lectures before. I was able to synthesize but I felt like I weighted all the information equally compared to a lecture where the professor tells you what's important.

I'll see how long I feel like lectures are useful.
 
cheese puff said:
For those of you who don’t watch lecture and don’t take notes, how do you learn and connect the information? I’ve tried not taking notes and only using Anki, but I completely lose sight of how everything fits together. But when I do take notes, it takes way too long and feels like a waste of time...
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That's where BnB comes in. Wholesale replacement for school lectures.
 
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cheese puff said:
For those of you who don’t watch lecture and don’t take notes, how do you learn and connect the information? I’ve tried not taking notes and only using Anki, but I completely lose sight of how everything fits together. But when I do take notes, it takes way too long and feels like a waste of time...
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I haven't taken a note since I started (MS3 now), practice questions and anki is the answer. Do 15000+ practice questions, see which are your weakest subjects then do even more in those areas while keeping up with anki.

If you come across a question you have no idea on, answer it and then go through it properly to figure out why that's the answer.
 
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IMG69 said:
I haven't taken a note since I started (MS3 now), practice questions and anki is the answer. Do 15000+ practice questions, see which are your weakest subjects then do even more in those areas while keeping up with anki.

If you come across a question you have no idea on, answer it and then go through it properly to figure out why that's the answer.
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What did you use for practice questions? I agree practice questions are a great way to go, but my school doesn’t really provide any. I thought about getting a step qbank just so I would have something to practice with, but not sure if that’s a good idea so early on (I’m an MS1).
 
cheese puff said:
What did you use for practice questions? I agree practice questions are a great way to go, but my school doesn’t really provide any. I thought about getting a step qbank just so I would have something to practice with, but not sure if that’s a good idea so early on (I’m an MS1).
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The preclinical review books: BRS, Guyton, Pretest, Thieme's, Lippincott, and the BnB qs.
 
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Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Also rx is good ime.
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I mean, I guess it depends on the curriculum. If they're getting path as they go then it wouldn't be a bad idea. But if they get it second year, I would hold off until then.
 
slowthai said:
I mean, I guess it depends on the curriculum. If they're getting path as they go then it wouldn't be a bad idea. But if they get it second year, I would hold off until then.
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Yeah I’m assuming a systems based curriculum like mine, but I guess not everyone has that.
 
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slowthai said:
The preclinical review books: BRS, Guyton, Pretest, Thieme's, Lippincott, and the BnB qs.
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would you recommend doing those if school TAs offer review questions? system based curriculum. I’ve tried some of the BnB questions but they often include stuff we haven’t covered yet (pharm, labs, other systems)
 
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Cornfed101 said:
would you recommend doing those if school TAs offer review questions? system based curriculum. I’ve tried some of the BnB questions but they often include stuff we haven’t covered yet (pharm, labs, other systems)
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Are you doing the BnB questions after each video, or doing a whole section at once?

Sometimes our professors do practice questions, sometimes they don’t. I like BRS and Guyton & Hall for phys questions. We only cover intro path and pharm first year, and go heavier second year.
 
Cornfed101 said:
would you recommend doing those if school TAs offer review questions? system based curriculum. I’ve tried some of the BnB questions but they often include stuff we haven’t covered yet (pharm, labs, other systems)
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It depends. If you feel that's enough practice to score where you would like, then fair play. If you're like me and you just want to go blitzkrieg on questions regardless, I would recommend them. I will say they were the most helpful for the more difficult, physics heavy subjects (cardiovascular, respiratory, and renal phys). They were also good for the mechanism heavy endo/repro stuff.

About BnB, yeah feel free to forego those if you haven't covered that stuff yet.
 
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