Managing your Time

One of the biggest challenges we've seen with students who are struggling in medical school is how they manage their time.   Many students believe that the same time management skills that they used in their undergraduate education will work in medical school.   This may or may not be true.  To handle the volume of information that you will be memorizing, you have to be more precise with how you use your time than at any other time in your life.  While there is no one "perfect" schedule and it will depend on your personal preferences (are you a morning person or night owl), you should treat medical school like a 50-60 hour per week job ... 8 to 5 (8 hours), plus another 2-3 hours in the evening to study.   Once you subtract 7-8 hours for sleep, you still have 6 hours for personal stuff ... eating, working out, family time.   The key will be the discipline to follow a strict schedule, and the wisdom to know when you need to adjust.  As you compare notes with your classmates and the 2nd year students, you will find the schedule that works best for you.