<p>I figured out that I get better grades and do much better on exams when I get a good night's sleep before a test. But this week is going to be really rough for me, and I might have no choice but to sacrifice sleep. The problem is that I have an exam on Friday. If I sleep less than 5 hours tonight and tomorrow and Wednesday nights, then, by Thursday night, I'd have accumulated approx. 10 hours of sleep dept (assuming 8 hours is the norm and I sleep 4-5 hours until Thursday). In consequence my body will need additional 8 hours for a total of 18 hours of sleep to pay back the debt on Thursday night. But even if I slept 8 hours on Thursday night, I'd still have 10 hours of sleep debt remaining on Friday, and I'm wondering if this unpaid sleep dept will interfere with my performance on the Friday exam. The question is, would my brain's function on Friday be as good as if I slept 7-8 hours daily from Monday to Friday? Sorry if this question is weird.</p>
<p>Supposedly with research they've done on residents the sleep debt will decrease your performance. If I remember correctly (and I'm not sure that I do), there are performance deficits with as little as 3 hours of sleep debt. Not major problems, but some decrease in function - it might be something that doesn't affect your grade at all (ie you take a longer time to complete the test than you otherwise might, but you get the same grade).</p>
<p>Also, I'm pretty sure that you can't make up all of a sleep debt in one night - usually need at least 3-4 nights. </p>
<p>All that said...get used to being chronically sleep deprived if you want to be a doctor. It's a fact of life, even in an 80 hour week work rule world.</p>
<p>Why are you getting so little sleep during the week? If you need to do well on your exam, don't sacrifice your sleep. Sometimes getting more sleep can be better for your grade than studying.</p>
<p>The other problem is: if you are really having to work this hard early in college, then something needs adjusting -- because it certainly gets much harder from here, and it will be too much.</p>
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Why are you getting so little sleep during the week? If you need to do well on your exam, don't sacrifice your sleep. Sometimes getting more sleep can be better for your grade than studying.
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I do it only at critical times like this week. I've been getting enough sleep almost every other week.</p>
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The other problem is: if you are really having to work this hard early in college, then something needs adjusting -- because it certainly gets much harder from here, and it will be too much.
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Actually, I never had to work this hard in previous semesters. It's just that my courseload this semester is pretty tough than ever before: orgo 2, orgo 2 lab, biochem 2, inorgo, calc 2, and phil. (Orgo 2 and biochem 2 consume most of my time :()</p>
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The other problem is: if you are really having to work this hard early in college, then something needs adjusting -- because it certainly gets much harder from here, and it will be too much
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<p>Well that depends on the gpa the student is trying to attain. Its not a linear scale. It can be significantly more difficult and time consuming to get a 4.0 than a 3.5 in these type of courses due to factors such as bell curving. Even though the latter gpa would suffice for many med-schools.</p>
<p>Yes, but it's quite excessive to start 4-hour sleep nights 3 days before the test. Everyone has times when we have to go on 3 or 4 hours of sleep. But, that should be the night before the test, not 3 straight nights before the test.</p>
<p>That also could depend on the severity of procrastination involved. Don't forget, sometimes freshmen can procrastinate to the precipice of academic probation.</p>
<p>But how is he going to handle medical school?</p>
<p>Well, peoples learning rates do improve. For example, I found that I can memorize much more in a given unit of time than I could have in high school. So why not expect the same in the future?</p>
<p>Because it takes much more than "much more."</p>
<p>So are you implying that in order to succeed in med-school, one has to find undergrad easy?</p>
<p>Basically, yes. Or at least not as hard as the OP is describing.</p>
<p>We don't know his grade in the class. He could be under significant pressure to score in the high 90s on this next exam.</p>
<p>It should still not take this long.</p>
<p>Even if that is true, it can't cause any harm. Think of it as reassurance.</p>
<p>That's like saying OCD people should wash their hands compulsively because it's just reassurance.</p>
<p>No thats different. As an undergrad in a curved course where one is in direct competition with others, he faces more risk. Its more uncertain than washing ones hands. Sure we can have a roundabout estimate of what it takes to get an A. But that occasionally varies from midterm to midterm, from class to class. Thats why even top students occasionally gets Bs on midterms.</p>
<p>And there might conceivably be some germs on his hands. Studying in the amount the OP described should never be necessary, even to beat a curve. If the OP is maxed out in undergrad coursework, there's no way he'll be able to handle an actual medical school class. And if he's studying that hard and he's not maxed out, then he's approaching things wrong.</p>
<p>I should've mentioned beforehand, but the main reason I feel a need to sacrifice sleep this week is not solely because I feel I need to prep more for the Friday exam, but rather because of the two problem sets simultaneously due this Wednesday. The prob sets were posted last Wednesday, and they're taking much more time than I previously expected. Why it takes such a long time for me to do these things is probably because I aimed to score over 90% on those prob sets and the Friday exam. I can just decide to sleep 7 hours until Friday and get 80% or less on the prob sets and the exam, but I don't want that.</p>