Why should I NOT Pre-Study?

[TexasBelle87]

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With the massive amount of material I will have to know come next fall, why should I NOT spend the next 8 months reviewing? I have read on SDN several times to not pre-study but I'm so paranoid I feel like I should...What do ya'll think?

 

[MCAT guy]

With the massive amount of material I will have to know come next fall, why should I NOT spend the next 8 months reviewing? I have read on SDN several times to not pre-study but I'm so paranoid I feel like I should...What do ya'll think?

I am an advocate of learning some medical terminology, so I'm definitely not against learning before the fall. But I'll tell you why people will say you shouldn't study:

• You will soon be studying so much that it will consume your life, so enjoy your free time while you still have it.
• Medical school is a 10,000 mile race. Since you don't understand the pace, your pre-study will amount to a 5 or 10 mile head start. In other words, you will NOT have any meaningful advantage compared to someone who doesn't study anything (and possibly a disadvantage if you aren't as fresh from relaxation).
• You don't know what to focus on, therefore your studying can be largely inefficient.

I think those are the key ideas. That is why I would advocate medical terminology, as learning words is something that will be easy to retain and will not take up much time. Studying any rote memory material is worthless because you will not retain it.

Conclusion: Do what you want, but realize the risks and consequences.

 

[Asyouwereatrio]

With the massive amount of material I will have to know come next fall, why should I NOT spend the next 8 months reviewing? I have read on SDN several times to not pre-study but I'm so paranoid I feel like I should...What do ya'll think?

I don't know if you're being serious or not, but assuming you're a traditional student, I would say you should NOT pre-study because most, if not all courses, are designed to be taken within the timeframe of the quarter/semester. The reason why I say that is I think you should be able to manage the material from your courses within the timeframe of the semester. These winter/sring/summer breaks are meant to be exactly that, breaks!

Relax, don't study ahead of time..just take your courses as they go.

 

[eli20]

Because you'll be "that person" and all your new sane classmates will hate you.

😉 Teasing of course. But don't do it. I know I'm not. I wouldn't even know where to start if I wanted to. And there's something to be said about a virtually universal consensus from all the med student posters of SDN.

 

[gettheleadout]

Why shouldn't you search first? This stupid question is definitely present in raffle's Stupid Questions thread.

 

[Dr Oops]

With the massive amount of material I will have to know come next fall, why should I NOT spend the next 8 months reviewing? I have read on SDN several times to not pre-study but I'm so paranoid I feel like I should...What do ya'll think?

If you've read all those threads then you should know why. But since you don't believe others before you go ahead start studying. Why don't you report back 1/2 way through M1. Although it likely won't matter because apparently Nobody can do a search

 

[ShinyDome19]

I considered pre-studying before I started...glad I didnt though. Really, since I started med school I have not gone a whole day without doing any studying...and in reality, the information that you can cover over the summer will probably be covered in less than a week of class...not worth it. Enjoy your next few months before you start class

 

[jvesco22]

With the massive amount of material I will have to know come next fall, why should I NOT spend the next 8 months reviewing? I have read on SDN several times to not pre-study but I'm so paranoid I feel like I should...What do ya'll think?

Dumb question is dumb...

 

[indianjatt]

Tbh pre studying 8 months in advance is not going to help much, but pre studying during your 3 week break before the next quarter/semester is reasonable. In fact, I usually spend about 1 hour a day studying chemistry for next quarter and it REALLY helps because you'll be able to figure out things you still do not understand and what to focus more on.

 

[s1lver]

If I have nothing else to do, I'd pre-study, too (I already have the syllabus for next sem). But, unfortunately, I have to catch up on the 11 books that I bought this year.

 

[ACSurgeon]

I am an advocate of learning some medical terminology, so I'm definitely not against learning before the fall. But I'll tell you why people will say you shouldn't study:

• You will soon be studying so much that it will consume your life, so enjoy your free time while you still have it.
• Medical school is a 10,000 mile race. Since you don't understand the pace, your pre-study will amount to a 5 or 10 mile head start. In other words, you will NOT have any meaningful advantage compared to someone who doesn't study anything (and possibly a disadvantage if you aren't as fresh from relaxation).
• You don't know what to focus on, therefore your studying can be largely inefficient.

I think those are the key ideas. That is why I would advocate medical terminology, as learning words is something that will be easy to retain and will not take up much time. Studying any rote memory material is worthless because you will not retain it.

Conclusion: Do what you want, but realize the risks and consequences.

Pretty much this. I would sum it up with burn out and low yield.

 

[HumbleMD]

With the massive amount of material I will have to know come next fall, why should I NOT spend the next 8 months reviewing? I have read on SDN several times to not pre-study but I'm so paranoid I feel like I should...What do ya'll think?

Dude, get a life.

Regardless of how much a loser you are, you will have no idea what you should be studying to do well on your first crop of tests.