Time Management

Started by MissionStanford
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MissionStanford

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I just started classes, and I already have 120 pages of organic chemistry I reading, 60 pages of genetics reading and 30 pages of physics reading. I'm supposed to finish all this reading within the next 2 days to be prepared for next class. I'm a slow reader, and the reading is dense, plus I have other classes to attend over the next two days among other things to do. How would you balance this?
 
Venom5 said:
What do you mean by balance? Either do it all or don't do it all. You have 48 hours. Chop chop, get to work premed.
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I meant that I'm just overwhelmed by the work and was looking for possible suggestions as to how to go about accomplishing this.
 
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MissionStanford said:
I meant that I'm just overwhelmed by the work and was looking for possible suggestions as to how to go about accomplishing this.
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Don't listen to venom. You need to find your groove and figure out what works best for you. Typically, doing all the "required" reading is the most inefficient way to handle your homework. Things will be a little easier after your first test, because you will better understand what the prof is looking for. Until then, just preview the PowerPoints before lecture (if you even preview at all) then study what is focused on in lecture.
 
blub1212 said:
Don't listen to venom. You need to find your groove and figure out what works best for you. Typically, doing all the "required" reading is the most inefficient way to handle your homework. Things will be a little easier after your first test, because you will better understand what the prof is looking for. Until then, just preview the PowerPoints before lecture (if you even preview at all) then study what is focused on in lecture.
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Maybe I misunderstood his question... but you can't find a way to balance that much reading in that short of a time. Its kinda like trying to ride a seesaw thats 2 feet long. Doesn't work.

Didn't know OP wanted a general method of studying his courses for the rest of the semester.

But seriously... make an estimate of how long each thing will take, then make a rank of how important the things are. Then compare the two lists and find the best order to do things in with the time allotted.
 
blub1212 said:
Don't listen to venom. You need to find your groove and figure out what works best for you. Typically, doing all the "required" reading is the most inefficient way to handle your homework. Things will be a little easier after your first test, because you will better understand what the prof is looking for. Until then, just preview the PowerPoints before lecture (if you even preview at all) then study what is focused on in lecture.
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Thanks for actually giving me some advice.
 
Venom5 said:
Maybe I misunderstood his question... but you can't find a way to balance that much reading in that short of a time. Its kinda like trying to ride a seesaw thats 2 feet long. Doesn't work.

Didn't know OP wanted a general method of studying his courses for the rest of the semester.

But seriously... make an estimate of how long each thing will take, then make a rank of how important the things are. Then compare the two lists and find the best order to do things in with the time allotted.
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Alright, thanks. Guess I should have worded my question better.
 
Being that the semester just started, this may be hard to determine, but some of that reading can be cut out. First off, if there is no pre-lecture quiz or anything on it, then that means you can skim some unimportant sections. Also, depending on the subject and professor, the reading may be unnecessary all together.

For example, when I took those three classes, I didn't read physics at all because it was too dense for me. I simply studying notes and powerpoint slides, and did problems. For OChem, I skimmed the text quickly, and focused on diagrams and reaction mechanisms instead. And for genetics, because that had a lot of terminology, I thoroughly read the material. By doing this, it makes things more manageable, and it saves you time/sanity. The key is knowing what to cut and how.
 
The only reading here that might really be vital to do is Genetics, since there is no real way of practicing "Genetics". Physics and Orgo you can pick up by doing practice problems, and you might be better served skimming those readings for concepts/equations instead of really diving into the nitty-gritty.

From my own experience: I didn't ever read my physics textbook (lecture was enough), and read my Orgo chapters maybe twice, thrice. Worked for me, but I would play it safe at first, figure out what would work best for each class and keep refining it as the semester goes on. You're not going to find a catch-all right off the bat.
 
Wait till med school, we were dumped with almost 3,000 pages of material on the first day. The tests at the end of that month, will be testing all of that material. Oh those are just the slides and notes too, don't forget about the supplemental textbook readings too.
 
darkjedi said:
Wait till med school, we were dumped with almost 3,000 pages of material on the first day. The tests at the end of that month, will be testing all of that material. Oh those are just the slides and notes too, don't forget about the supplemental textbook readings too.
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Lol? That's like 100 pages of complicated medical crap a day. I guess you have to sort through that stuff and find whats relevant? Or turn into Lt. Cmdr. Data.... (star trek reference)
 
Why are you taking Organic Chemistry, Physics, and Genetics all together? That's your first mistake. But assuming you really have to take these classes, it's going to be rough, no way around that. Buckle down and maybe make a schedule and plan things out - what you will do, when and for how long.
 
Venom5 said:
Lol? That's like 100 pages of complicated medical crap a day. I guess you have to sort through that stuff and find whats relevant? Or turn into Lt. Cmdr. Data.... (star trek reference)
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I've been told that it's just impossible to know everything and that you just need to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. I'll accept that.... one day... probably soon....
 
darkjedi said:
Wait till med school, we were dumped with almost 3,000 pages of material on the first day. The tests at the end of that month, will be testing all of that material. Oh those are just the slides and notes too, don't forget about the supplemental textbook readings too.
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When I saw all the reading I had to do, I was thinking to myself, "Med students probably have to manage way more than this, so it must be possible." I don't know how you do it though. Any tips?

Irish Football said:
Why are you taking Organic Chemistry, Physics, and Genetics all together? That's your first mistake. But assuming you really have to take these classes, it's going to be rough, no way around that. Buckle down and maybe make a schedule and plan things out - what you will do, when and for how long.
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I'm in an accelerated medical program. My curriculum was set ahead of time. I only get to choose one elective. Thankfully I was able to get an easy one.
 
Well doesn't it kind of make sense that in an "accelerated medical program" you are trying to cram a lot more material into a smaller amount of time? Obviously there will be consequences including "too much stuff" to learn in too short of a time. Not saying it's impossible but good luck OP. (Sorry for not providing too much advice)
 
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MissionStanford said:
I just started classes, and I already have 120 pages of organic chemistry I reading, 60 pages of genetics reading and 30 pages of physics reading. I'm supposed to finish all this reading within the next 2 days to be prepared for next class. I'm a slow reader, and the reading is dense, plus I have other classes to attend over the next two days among other things to do. How would you balance this?
Click to expand...

I took a similar schedule my sophomore year with cell bio instead of genetics. It is doable! What I did was leave the book reading until exam time for physics and cell bio, and actually read the organic text as the course progressed. For physics I studied the lecture slides and did practice problems until test study time. For cell bio I memorized the lecture slides until test study time. Organic... I did everything for that course all semester long! Good luck!
 
MissionStanford said:
When I saw all the reading I had to do, I was thinking to myself, "Med students probably have to manage way more than this, so it must be possible." I don't know how you do it though. Any tips?
.
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The required reading in med school is a completed joke and waste of time. As long as you have good teachers, you can just study off the PowerPoints (which still gets ridiculous at times). The biggest tips for med school are: 1. Understand you can't know everything and 2. Start big picture and move smaller with each pass through the material. You can guess a lot of questions right if you really get the big picture.
 
You can skim through the textbook. Just look at section headers, main points, diagrams, and then read the summary in the back of the chapter. It is very inefficient to plod through a dense textbook.
 
How many science classes are you taking? I did 2-3p per semester. You may be overloaded...

For the science, just go straight to looking at the problems to see what is important, then you can focus your reading on those topics. This always helped me.
 
Praefectus said:
You can skim through the textbook. Just look at section headers, main points, diagrams, and then read the summary in the back of the chapter. It is very inefficient to plod through a dense textbook.
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this.

in undergrad i found that most of the material that we were required to know for exams (i.e. what we should be capable of understanding at this point in our education) and such was taught/gone over in class. we were assigned reading that mirrored what we would go over in class. Having mostly good professors, I was able to rely on class notes when it came to studying for exams. If something didnt make sense or i couldnt read my notes, I would then go to the text book and try to sort it out from there. I found this method quite rewarding, and it saved me a lot of time, without cheating myself of learning anything.
 
IncognitoGuy said:
The only reading here that might really be vital to do is Genetics, since there is no real way of practicing "Genetics". Physics and Orgo you can pick up by doing practice problems, and you might be better served skimming those readings for concepts/equations instead of really diving into the nitty-gritty.

From my own experience: I didn't ever read my physics textbook (lecture was enough), and read my Orgo chapters maybe twice, thrice. Worked for me, but I would play it safe at first, figure out what would work best for each class and keep refining it as the semester goes on. You're not going to find a catch-all right off the bat.
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This ^. Practice problems for problem solving classes. For Genetics, you should probably focus on ppt slides and go to the book for details if need it and/or if you want to clarify a concept. Also find out what does your professor uses for exams: ppt and/or book chapters. Good luck.
 
Maybe I learn differently from everyone in this thread, but I always read textbook chapters and usually did better than my friends who didn't. Of course the material is dense. The textbook is explaining everything about intro organic chemistry and genetics and physics. However, what you're reading sounds like a chapter of physics, 2 chapters of genetics and 3 chapters of orgo (chapters in my books are usually 30-40 pages).

That really isn't "a lot" of reading. You can expect at least a chapter a week from almost any class if you keep up with the textbook. If it's taking you more than 2 hours to read each chapter, you're doing something wrong. I'd suggest looking for ways to improve reading speed or start skipping really unimportant and very detailed sections. But even if it takes you 2 hours, that's 12 hours over 2 days. It's a lot, but welcome to an accelerated program. If anything, skip reading physics. Practice problems should be enough to get you by.

Things won't get easier from here. If you struggle with 200 pages in 2 days, you'll only struggle later. And if you aren't being quizzed on any readings this week, use the weekend to catch up.
 
MissionStanford said:
I just started classes, and I already have 120 pages of organic chemistry I reading, 60 pages of genetics reading and 30 pages of physics reading. I'm supposed to finish all this reading within the next 2 days to be prepared for next class. I'm a slow reader, and the reading is dense, plus I have other classes to attend over the next two days among other things to do. How would you balance this?
Click to expand...

Find what works for you, as our suggestions will probably not be perfect for your learning style. Maybe you are a slow reader but digest lectures and notes easily...that's great, so skim on reading and make sure to never miss class and review your notes. "Assigned" reading for science courses is rarely must-read material. I like textbooks for second sources to my notes and for different explanations and images than my professors provide, but some people never even buy them.

In any event, figure out your time-managment/study skills now. We have 600+ pages, front and back, of syllabus material. There is suggested readings from textbooks as well. All this needs to be digested and tested on in 6 weeks. It doesn't get easier.
 
Who actually reads the textbooks? My school must be really easy compared to real schools because I usually get A's just by going over lectures. I rarely ever look at the textbooks. I can't be the only one?
 
lobo12 said:
This ^. Practice problems for problem solving classes. For Genetics, you should probably focus on ppt slides and go to the book for details if need it and/or if you want to clarify a concept. Also find out what does your professor uses for exams: ppt and/or book chapters. Good luck.
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Are you serious? How are you gonna practice doing p^2 + 2pq + q^2 if you don't... practice? It's math.

How are you gonna differentiate between recessive inheritance and imprinting if you don't look at a lot of genealogy trees?

A lot of people in my class actually ran out of time, including my roommate, on the Genetics midterm. They thought they were good at math. They're not.
 
Getting an academic planner that broke everything down to the hour helped me a lot for figuring out how to manage my time. I highlight class and meeting times and then I get a visual of what my week looks like and can plan my studying that way. I love my planner and don't think I will ever go without one again.

I also bought the Emergent Task Planner by David Seah on amazon for like $12 and that helps me set three major goals a day and get them done. It also helps me track how I organize my time.
 
Permavirgin said:
Who actually reads the textbooks? My school must be really easy compared to real schools because I usually get A's just by going over lectures. I rarely ever look at the textbooks. I can't be the only one?
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There was a thread about that earlier, just search it and you'll see others in your position.
 
Ashley1989 said:
Getting an academic planner that broke everything down to the hour helped me a lot for figuring out how to manage my time. I highlight class and meeting times and then I get a visual of what my week looks like and can plan my studying that way. I love my planner and don't think I will ever go without one again.

I also bought the Emergent Task Planner by David Seah on amazon for like $12 and that helps me set three major goals a day and get them done. It also helps me track how I organize my time.
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Google Calendar is also very, very useful, even more so if you have a smartphone to sync it to.
 
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Morsetlis said:
Are you serious? How are you gonna practice doing p^2 + 2pq + q^2 if you don't... practice? It's math.

How are you gonna differentiate between recessive inheritance and imprinting if you don't look at a lot of genealogy trees?

A lot of people in my class actually ran out of time, including my roommate, on the Genetics midterm. They thought they were good at math. They're not.
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Maybe we took a different genetic classes than others. My class is full of problems solving requiring basic statistics. Tests are also problem-based.
OP just read faster lol, it's good practice for VR.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
MissionStanford said:
I just started classes, and I already have 120 pages of organic chemistry I reading, 60 pages of genetics reading and 30 pages of physics reading. I'm supposed to finish all this reading within the next 2 days to be prepared for next class. I'm a slow reader, and the reading is dense, plus I have other classes to attend over the next two days among other things to do. How would you balance this?
Click to expand...

Prioritize
Only do what you need to
Learn what each prof wants...


And figure this out now because you ain't nothin' yet! Just wait....
 
Permavirgin said:
Who actually reads the textbooks? My school must be really easy compared to real schools because I usually get A's just by going over lectures. I rarely ever look at the textbooks. I can't be the only one?
Click to expand...

Where I am, I have to read the textbook for some classes and for others I can pass without reading the text.
In fact, there was one class that I had that I tried to read the textbook and take the exams, but I wasn't doing well because the exams did not cover what was in the textbook at all! haha I had to go over the powerpoints.
 
What do you mean by "just started"?
Is there a syllabus? My professors give out a syllabus at the beginning of each semester. I try to stay ahead of the game. If it says homework and reading assignments aren't due until the 5th, I don't wait until the 4th to begin it.
I know that sounds really obvious, but just try to stay ahead of the game.
Good luck with all of this! 🙂
 
NCOldie said:
What do you mean by "just started"?
Is there a syllabus? My professors give out a syllabus at the beginning of each semester. I try to stay ahead of the game. If it says homework and reading assignments aren't due until the 5th, I don't wait until the 4th to begin it.
I know that sounds really obvious, but just try to stay ahead of the game.
Good luck with all of this! 🙂
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Honestly, you've got to figure out what works for you. I am glad this method worked for this poster. For me, I would waste a TON of time if I started more than a couple of days before the exam. For med school, I tried this and found I cannot do what they tell you to do. Instead, I have to "cram" each day for the next day and each week for the next week. I have to sort of think of it as though there is an exam the next day and just learn the information. I also go to class religiously. I do not make flash cards, rewrite notes, pre-read, etc. Those things all tend to bog me down. (In case anyone is about to come out and say that's ok if you just want to get by, I am currently in the top quartile of my class, so I am not saying this as a "P = MD" med student and I do, in fact, put in an average of about 5-10 times as much studying in each day as I did as a UG....)
 
Physics reading? Are you taking history of physics or something?

Sort of same thing with O-chem to an extent.

The physics and o-chem books at our school were pretty much 75% pictures explaining a concept, 10% words defining what the concept actually was (and maybe some marginal info about the dude who came up with the concept and what year that was or whatever... ) then the rest was just practice problems.

If there are practice problems at the ends of the chapters for physics and o-chem just skip straight to those then figure out in reverse how to do each kind of problem presented. I think that's going to be the highest yield for you with only two days left.

If there are genetics problems/formulas, know those too. I'd read all of genetics because you're probably going to have some pure memorization questions like "who was this guy, what did he do?" "What does this term mean?" You're more than likely not going to have ANY questions like that in physics/o-chem, so don't bother reading, just figure out how to solve the problems.
 
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