How much did you study in undergrad?

<p>Each professor and class is different. Figure out how to study for YOUR specific class…</p>

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VERY TRUE for me as well! When learning new math concepts and techniques, I have to go at a very, very slow pace. Otherwise, I can never make the material my own. Good to know that I’m not alone.</p>

<p>Most of the intro classes should be fairly easy if you did the AP equivalent at a decent school.</p>

<p>For those classes, just practice, and practice some more (1 hr/day per class should be more than enough), in addition to psets. Most of them don’t involve crazy concepts/difficulties, so if you start deriving the maxwell-boltzmann distribution during a test/pset in your general chem, you are doing sth wrong. Efficiency is the key. Learn just enough, but learn it well (by well, I mean solve difficult problems regularly, until it’s an innate skill).</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

<p>As far as “regurgitation” classes are concerned, I don’t really know what to say. I don’t think there’s one class at MIT that i know of, I would qualify as a “regurgitation” class.</p>

<p>For the harder upper level class, or more theoretical ones, It’s extremely helpful to use a good, quality book, one that is concise and deep enough. The book by itself can make the whole difference.</p>

<p>BDM, “A’s in organic, the smarter kids are studying less than the average kids.” - not in case of my D. It is true that she does not need to spend a lot of time in classes like Math., Gen. Chem. and she is very fast and good writer, but she needed whole ton of time/effort in Orgo and Bio, she loves Bio, despite being challenging. So far (college junior) she has all As because she works very hard, not for any other mysterious reason.</p>

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<p>With memorization classes, intelligence is likely less of a factor than is general subject area background knowledge. Of course, as a general rule, those with higher levels of intelligence tend to be driven to gain as stronger background early on and are, therefore, likely to need less studying to achieve similar results in these types of courses. Still, “smarter” students tend to learn more quickly; that’s one of the hallmarks of intelligence. I think it’s also important to point out that a lot of being a “smart” student has to do with the ability to intuitively pick out the important points. Some students who get lower grades in a given class probably know far more about the subject matter [in a given course] than I do because they spend 3, 4, 5…10 times as much time studying as I did; however, while their minds were full of a bunch of trivial details, they didn’t get the underlying concepts and/or missed the key points and were, therefore, unable to apply what they had memorized and could only regurgitate it as a giant, unusable mess on a page. On the other hand, a “smart” student tends to pick out the important details and concepts quickly and only learns what matters to the instructor (which, presumably, is what would matter most to most other subject-matter experts in a given field). I have personally witnessed this in seeing friends’ notes vs. my own. Oftentimes, the student who works extremely hard for her A (and usually ends up w/ an A-/B+) has extremely detailed notes that, while well-organized and thorough, are simply too dense to be efficient. On the other hand, my notes tend to include the key points, reminders of important details, and an interesting example or two that I thought of during the lecture that I will write down to help recall exactly what the lecturer was saying. In other words, my notes have huge margins and would be useless to that A-/B+ student because most of the details are in my head with just a few quick review points actually written down to help jog my memory.</p>

<p>apumic describes my two oldest kids’ style fairly well. My oldest definitely worked harder in traditional academic subjects to achieve those As, whereas my son tended to float through (in reality, he would say he never wasted his time on unimportant things). I always attributed it to differences in interest and memorization skills… On the other hand, the one who had to work harder has far more creativity, is highly organized and self-sufficient.</p>

<p>All,</p>

<p>I found this thread and gathered some info from S1 on his freshman experience after 1st two weeks. </p>

<p>His foreseeable schedule (class time hrs/wk) is as follows:</p>

<p>Chem 1 (5 hrs + 3 hrs in lab) Study time: 15 hrs + 6 hrs for lab report
Molecular Bio (3 hrs + 3 hrs lab) Study time: 10 hrs + 3 hrs lab report
Two humanity courses ( 3+4 hrs) Study time : 11 hrs total
Dorm class (2 hrs) - 2 hrs/wk for the first 8 weeks for a lot of reading assignments
Research: 11 hrs
Two-three clubs: 3 hrs
Party: 4 hrs
Go to football home game + tailgating: 5 hrs
workout: 4 hrs
volunteering: none (not easy to find near campus)</p>

<p>The total is roughly 74 hours/wk.</p>

<p>One week has 168 hrs.</p>

<p>Sleep=50 hrs
class = 23 hrs
walking between classes = 7 hrs
meals + others = 14 hrs
168-50-23-7-14 = 74 hrs which just meets the required hours for study and EC’s.</p>

<p>Apumic had said that he only studied 1 hour/class hour. Does this include reading the textbook and doing the chapter review problems? How do most pre-meds manage their time? Does this look like the typical schedule for pre-meds?</p>

<p>^Studying for 15 hours for gen chem and spending 6 hours on lab report is preposterous. I would spend 15 hours a month studying for gen chem (I know this various, but still). Plus, freshman dont typically do research, so I’m not sure how relevant that is. </p>

<p>Sent from my DROIDX using CC App</p>

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<p>Perhaps a little strong, dwalker? One never knows how much Chem background one picked up in HS and thus how well one is prepared for the rigors of college science. My D did not have much Chem in HS, for example: total of ~20 weeks over two years in mandatory Integrated Science. (Dept. head is a moron, but that is a different story.) </p>

<p>Lab reports can vary as well. My D’s bio lab is a full year consolidated into one semester. Final lab report was capped at 20 pages. Six hours – no problem. One A per lab.</p>

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DS took an integrated science class. But the teacher was so incompetent in teaching the chemistry portion of the integrated science that he decided to spend much less time on it. This is because, as he told the students, the students would not learn much even if he had spent much time on it.</p>

<p>If DS did not have a luck of taking another chemistry class (which was taught by a competent chemistry teacher who set the standard much higher) later in high school, he might be in a deep trouble as a freshman in college.</p>

<p>Also, the lab in high school is often like a “joke” as compared to a college-level lab.</p>

<p>@mcat,

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<p>High school experiences can vary widely in this country. I had a national board certified teacher for AP Chem and was well prepared for the AP exam. If only this could be true for everyone.</p>

<p>Chem 1 (5 hrs + 3 hrs in lab) Study time: 15 hrs + 6 hrs for lab report</p>

<p>That seems a bit much… </p>

<p>I realize that some students had a poor high school experience, but if a Gen Chem kid is experiencing this during the first 2 weeks, I’d petition to have the high school teacher fired. The first 2 weeks is largely review. </p>

<p>*I had a national board certified teacher for AP Chem and was well prepared for the AP exam. If only this could be true for everyone. *</p>

<p>My kids had an excellent AP Chem teacher…and APChem was a 2 period class…one period for lecture and one for lab…if no lab that day, then double lecture. Since they were on a modified block schedule, that meant 3 hours each meeting.</p>

<p>^ This points to the importance of parents being able to live in a “good enough” school district.</p>

<p>To the parents of potential premeds here: If your loved one struggle in his/her beginning science class at a college, it may be you who is to blame, not your loved one. This may be because you can not afford to send him/her to a high school that would prepare him/her well enough to compete with his/her peers in freshmen classes.</p>

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<p>Definitely true at our HS. I think the students only completed 6/7 of the recommended 10 Bio labs. In AP physics it was three completed labs, if I recall. OTOH, Chem was decent.</p>

<p>Regardless, the point is that everyone arrives on a college campus with different backgrounds; some students attended elite prep schools or, if in central NJ, could take AP courses in campus @ Princeton. Other students were lucky to attend no-name HS which had more shop classes than AP’s. To make a blanket statement that studying 5 hours is “preposterous” is well, preposterous. :)</p>

<p>*To the parents of potential premeds here: If your loved one struggle in his/her beginning science class at a college, it may be you who is to blame, not your loved one. This may be because you can not afford to send him/her to a high school that would prepare him/her well enough to compete with his/her peers in freshmen classes. *</p>

<p>Well, that’s one reason why parents do care whether they’re in a good school district or they can afford private education. </p>

<p>Those who didn’t may need to take more circuitous route…like take the non-majors sciences first…and then take the harder ones. It might take longer, but you’re having to make up for a lack of a decent high school education.</p>

<p>Thanks for the comments. Some more info:</p>

<p>S1 had 4’s on AP Chem/Bio and 5’s on Calc AB/BC. He and I decided that there was no need to prepare for the AP Chem test since he was going to take it anyway in the UG. </p>

<p>1) The Honors Chem has 50 some students with the best placement test scores out of everyone who want to take the honors version of Chem 1 (~ 600 students taking the regular Chem 1 for science majors every semester). Lab report includes preparation before the lab and report after the lab. Professors gave generous grades; but, extra work is expected.
2) He has been invited to join a Biochemistry laboratory after a couple of months of trial period in this summer. His professor is very pleased with his performance. The lab has three postdoctors, 6 graduate students, and two seniors working during the summer. His professor has briefly discussed with S1 about his expectations for S1 over the next four years. He enjoys the research topics, prospective assignments, and the working relations with others in the lab. He has got a lot of help from his postdoctoral mentor on deciphering published papers in the related topics. Nonetheless, he has not mentioned his pre-med intention. I don’t know when would be a good time to do that. Perhaps he may go to graduate school after all. </p>

<p>The schedule is preliminary. Some previous post has showed that study time = 3x the class time. Thus, 15 hours of study time for a five-hour class seems to be prudent. He understands that he needs to be in the top 10-15% in the honors Chem class just in case the professor decides not to curve the grade as generously.</p>

<p>Some previous post has showed that study time = 3x the class time. Thus, 15 hours of study time for a five-hour class seems to be prudent.</p>

<p>I’ve seen a few people post that, but I think they’ve misheard or something.</p>

<p>When H and I were in college (UC & a Big 10 schools) we were told 1-2 hours study/homework per 1 unit/credit of class per week…and that has held true for our kids (one graduated from college last May and one is a junior in college.). </p>

<p>Anyone who is taking 17 credits per semester wouldn’t have time to dedicate 51 hours per week (and you have that as in addition to homework for ONE class…which you have as 6 hours). </p>

<p>My kids have always worked 8-12 hours per week…as many kids do…since many kids have work-study. There’s no way these kids are studying that much in addition to homework, part-time jobs, and some kind of R&R.</p>

<p>^Exactly, who here can say they on average studied 15 hours a week for gen chem? Idc what your background is that is just ridiculous and unsustainable if your a premed, meaning you are taking a full course load with other science/math courses you should focus on. @bby I never said 5 hours was preposterous, I clearly said 15 a week was preposterous. Eventually some class its going to feel the effect of studying that much for one class. Yes, a few may HAVE to study that much, bet they wont make it to med school or through med school if some how they do. Since med school is like taking 6 science courses, that would mean 90 hours a week of studying alone for that individual! Not realistic nor sustainable. Geez how long do they study for ochem…20+! </p>

<p>Sent from my DROIDX using CC App </p>

<p>Sent from my DROIDX using CC App</p>

<p>^I am not sure I understand general estimation. Different people require different time studying for different classes. While math might be very easy for some, Orgo might be very difficult for the same group, while other group will have opposite experience. D. has mentioned that some people (hard to believe!!) have harder time with Gen. Chem. than Orgo. It was very hard for her to understand, but she concluded that people have different strengths and weaknesses. I agree with her opinion. People can afford spending more time on some classes because other classes require practically no effort/time. I believe that it is true for most.</p>