Typical day in YOUR life as a med student

[FakeEmpire]

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I just want to throw this out there that I really like this thread. It's great to see how everybody gets by in their own way. You hear so many horror stories, albeit there are some prevalent here, it's refreshing to see not everyone is the same.

 

[amazing tekkers]

share your typical med lives once more

 

[darkjedi]

Well right now I'm in a foreign country, learning a language, and living with a host family, so thats pretty cool.

Med school has it's bright spots too.

 

[hmockingbird]

Entering second year... so my first year approach was:
-If class was required or I liked the lecturer I went to class (or if I liked the lecturer but had to miss class for some reason I'd listen to it online).
-If it was not required and I didn't like the lecturer, I would take notes from the readings for that day (if there were a days coming up where I wasn't planning on going to class I would just try to get as much done per day as I could in hopes of working ahead to give myself more time before the test to study everything rather than learn new material)
-After getting the work I needed to do for that day accomplished sometimes I would try to work ahead, or I would use that time to read over my notes and start re-organizing them into flowcharts, charts etc. Or I wouldn't do anything else school-related. Depending on how motivated I felt or how close it was to the test.
-Weekends were for catch-up or closer to a test, for studying. I took a LOT of weekends off. Or I would take a day off in the middle of the week and make up for it during the weekend.
-I tried to get far enough ahead that I had about 5 days minimum to study/not learn new material before the test.

I would basically get up and go to bed whenever I felt like it but I'm trying to change that this year because it screwed me over when we'd have required class at 8am. lol Times for classes varied on the unit/professor and if I wasn't going to class I would just start studying whenever I felt like it. I'd guess that the 6 hours someone threw out earlier in this thread is a good average, but I tended to have binges where I'd spend nearly all day taking notes or studying one day, and then give myself the day off or do very little the next.

 

[bored]

Entering second year... so my first year approach was:
-If class was required or I liked the lecturer I went to class (or if I liked the lecturer but had to miss class for some reason I'd listen to it online).
-If it was not required and I didn't like the lecturer, I would take notes from the readings for that day (if there were a days coming up where I wasn't planning on going to class I would just try to get as much done per day as I could in hopes of working ahead to give myself more time before the test to study everything rather than learn new material)
-After getting the work I needed to do for that day accomplished sometimes I would try to work ahead, or I would use that time to read over my notes and start re-organizing them into flowcharts, charts etc. Or I wouldn't do anything else school-related. Depending on how motivated I felt or how close it was to the test.
-Weekends were for catch-up or closer to a test, for studying. I took a LOT of weekends off. Or I would take a day off in the middle of the week and make up for it during the weekend.
-I tried to get far enough ahead that I had about 5 days minimum to study/not learn new material before the test.

I would basically get up and go to bed whenever I felt like it but I'm trying to change that this year because it screwed me over when we'd have required class at 8am. lol Times for classes varied on the unit/professor and if I wasn't going to class I would just start studying whenever I felt like it. I'd guess that the 6 hours someone threw out earlier in this thread is a good average, but I tended to have binges where I'd spend nearly all day taking notes or studying one day, and then give myself the day off or do very little the next.

So technically, you don't have to go to classes unless you are writing an exam?

 

[SoulinNeed]

Does P/F help with things? I'll be starting at a pure P/F school soon, and I'm just worried at so many of these times. I can do 3-4 hours of studying a day, outside of class, but beyond that, damn.

 

[KnuxNole]

Does P/F help with things? I'll be starting at a pure P/F school soon, and I'm just worried at so many of these times. I can do 3-4 hours of studying a day, outside of class, but beyond that, damn.

You'll learn to adapt and once you get settled in, will find that you'll be able to handle studying for a longer period if needed. The key is to take breaks, to prevent burnout. A 50 mins of studying + 10 mins of a break is one way.

A pure P/F can help alleviate neurotic thoughts and focus on learning as much as you can. However, don't fall into a trap of thinking Pass equals getting by with the bare minimum. Work hard, so you'll rock Step 1 and have a good baseline knowledge for rotations.

 

[loltopsy]

So technically, you don't have to go to classes unless you are writing an exam?

Varies school to school. My school has conferences, which aren't taped, but contain new material. Effectively required lecture but not technically. There's also labs (again, no attendance but random open book pop quiz). Occasional mandatory meetings for bureaucratic things.

 

[hmockingbird]

So technically, you don't have to go to classes unless you are writing an exam?

At my school we have a few required-attendance classes (ethics, clinical skills, etc.) and then we also do problem-based learning type things which are usually once a week (not required attendance but you were graded on the quizzes so you basically had to go). Otherwise, you do not have to go! All of our lectures are recorded. It's really nice because unless I really like a lecturer's style, I tend to learn more from just doing the readings myself.

None of our labs were required except for anatomy, but it's kind-of silly not to go because you're tested on the material. I had to miss some because I was sick so it was nice not to worry about being penalized for that, but I did make-ups with the TA.

 

[csx]

Let me rephrase the question a little since everyone's schedule varies so greatly:
how many hours a day would you say you studied for your 1st yr on a non-test week? your 2nd? etc

what would you guess to be the average for the average medstudent?

 

[ghboyd25]

bump

 

[def1]

Current first year

Typical weekday:

6:50 am: Wake up/eat/get ready
7:30 am: Leave to school
8:00 am: Start classes
12:00 pm: Play foosball in student lounge/Eat/Go home
1:00 pm: Chill/Watch TV/Nap
2:00 pm: Start studying
8:00 pm: Stop studying/Watch TV/Go out with friends/Go to the gym
11:00 pm: Shower/Start getting ready to go to sleep

Typical weekend:
After my quizzes on Thursday, I don't do any studying or school related stuff til Sunday.

Weekends I sleep in, Party, and pretty much live life like I did back in college.



So far there has been plenty of time to hang out with friends, meet new people, go out, and live a relatively normal life. Honestly if you've ever had a full time job, med school isn't that different. At least, for me so far this has held true.

It also depends on how effective your studying is. I know people who are struggling right now so they are forcing themselves to study every day including weekends, but I feel like this is mostly the people who haven't found a good study game plan yet.

I haven't had a test yet so Im not sure how much my schedule will change during that week. The good thing is my school gives us several days off before our tests, so that should allow plenty of time to study and still fit in some free time to do stuff.

 

[Godlovesyou]

That schedule sounds amah-zing! PBL curriculum?

 

[def1]

That schedule sounds amah-zing! PBL curriculum?

No, we have mainly lectures, but classes are usually until 12:00 pm. The rest of the day is considered "self-study". The instructors are usually available the majority of the day if you want extra help. I know one time one of our instructors stayed til 9 pm helping out students. The school mainly focuses on self study but they are always available to help if anyone needs it.

That and the fact the school is P/F makes it a really laid back environment and its really up to the individual how much they want to study.

 

[Skyforever]

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