Ubc Med 1St Year Schedule/workload

[kekappo 6]

Hi everyone!

 

Can someone kindly explain what the typical schuedle looks like at UBC med 1st year with the renewed curriculum? Also how is the workload like? How many hrs of lecture per week?? 

 

Thanks so much!

[kol26 22]

http://forums.premed101.com/index.php?/topic/88188-we-are-some-first-year-year-ubc-medicine-students-ask-us-anything/?p=1038985 

 

The answer you're looking for!

[Purkinje 2016 29]

Hi, just finished first year medicine at UBC.

 

On MWF we had small group case-based learning (CBL) where we worked through a different clinical case each week that was integrated into the lecture and lab material of each particular week theme.

 

We then had lectures from 10-12pm on Mondays followed by the new Foundations of Scholarship (FoS)/FLEX course lectures from 1-3pm on Monday afternoons. After that we had small group FoS/FLEX sessions from 3-4:30 covering a different scholarly theme each week (Quantitative, Qualitative research methods etc.)

 

Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8-12pm were protected study time except for weeks with stat holidays and Tuesday/Thursday afternoons would consist of either family practice office visits or small group clinical skills sessions from 1-5pm depending on your individual schedule.

 

On Wednesday and Friday from 10-2pm after CBL sessions we would have lectures, large group discussions of clinical cases and clinical decision making (CDM) sessions. From 2-5pm on Wednesday and Friday we had alternating gross anatomy, neuroanatomy and histology-pathology lab sessions depending on the week topic and body system that we were studying.

 

We got an hour for lunch from 12-1pm on MWF.

 

Hope that helps!

[kekappo 6]

Hi, just finished first year medicine at UBC.

 

On MWF we had small group case-based learning (CBL) where we worked through a different clinical case each week that was integrated into the lecture and lab material of each particular week theme.

 

We then had lectures from 10-12pm on Mondays followed by the new Foundations of Scholarship (FoS)/FLEX course lectures from 1-3pm on Monday afternoons. After that we had small group FoS/FLEX sessions from 3-4:30 covering a different scholarly theme each week (Quantitative, Qualitative research methods etc.)

 

Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8-12pm were protected study time except for weeks with stat holidays and Tuesday/Thursday afternoons would consist of either family practice office visits or small group clinical skills sessions from 1-5pm depending on your individual schedule.

 

On Wednesday and Friday from 10-2pm after CBL sessions we would have lectures, large group discussions of clinical cases and clinical decision making (CDM) sessions. From 2-5pm on Wednesday and Friday we had alternating gross anatomy, neuroanatomy and histology-pathology lab sessions depending on the week topic and body system that we were studying.

 

We got an hour for lunch from 12-1pm on MWF.

 

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the insightful info ! How did you find the workload? I believe that UBC does all its assessment at the end (one exam at the end of term)...was that stressful? Also going back to the schedule, woudl u say that the hrs of anatomy lecture per week is around 10hrs? 

 

thanks again

[Purkinje 2016 29]

Thanks for the insightful info ! How did you find the workload? I believe that UBC does all its assessment at the end (one exam at the end of term)...was that stressful? Also going back to the schedule, woudl u say that the hrs of anatomy lecture per week is around 10hrs? 

 

thanks again

 

I personally found the workload to be manageable, but I think that it is very important to determine an appropriate work/study/life balance that works for you as early as possible in medical school.

 

I didn't study every day of the week and took breaks to exercise, relax and socialize with friends and family when I most needed some time away from studying. Your classmates and upper year med students will also help you to strike a balance and keep things in perspective during the busier times of the year as well. My classmates and I helped to keep each other grounded, which made getting through exams and busier times less stressful and more fun.

 

In the renewed curriculum there are now midterms and final exams. This is actually a plus in my experience as you don't have to study all of the term material all at once. Having a midterm exam covering a fair portion of the material actually helps to reduce the stress and workload required of students towards the end of the term. However, the amount of material in any given week is still enormous and the amount of material on both the midterm and final exams is substantial and requires significant preparation and study time to prepare for the exams. Final exams are still worth more and cover more material than midterms, but by having an exam half way through the term students receive some feedback on their progress and have time to change their study habits if necessary. Again some other med students may prefer having exams all at the end of term so this is just my opinion.

 

For anatomy hours per week, I would say that on average you would have 3 hours of gross anatomy (plus a 1 hour anatomy lecture before the lab) per week. In some weeks you will also have histology-pathology labs as well which would also be about 3 hours of lab time/week. In second term when you are covering neuro/psych you will have neuroanatomy labs (3 hours/week) instead of gross anatomy labs.

[frenchpress 341]

@ Purkinje 2016  Somewhat related to the OP about 1st year schedule and workload... Are there anything content / concepts you wished you'd reviewed in the months before starting first year, that you just didn't feel you had enough time to refresh yourself on given the pace new topics were covered? Or did you generally feel that things were presented in a way that you were able to fill in any gaps in knowledge when you encountered them?

[Phosphorus 23]

@ Purkinje 2016  Somewhat related to the OP about 1st year schedule and workload... Are there anything content / concepts you wished you'd reviewed in the months before starting first year, that you just didn't feel you had enough time to refresh yourself on given the pace new topics were covered? Or did you generally feel that things were presented in a way that you were able to fill in any gaps in knowledge when you encountered them?

 

LOL! Do yourself a favour and relax... go somewhere nice and just relax.

[Purkinje 2016 29]

@ Purkinje 2016  Somewhat related to the OP about 1st year schedule and workload... Are there anything content / concepts you wished you'd reviewed in the months before starting first year, that you just didn't feel you had enough time to refresh yourself on given the pace new topics were covered? Or did you generally feel that things were presented in a way that you were able to fill in any gaps in knowledge when you encountered them?

 

This is a very difficult question to answer as everybody has different interests and strengths in different areas of medicine, so you may find certain weeks and topics easier to cover and review compared to other people who may find a particular week more challenging. So short answer is it depends on the individual and the material being covered in a particular week of the curriculum.

 

I also agree with Phosphorus' comment above that you want to relax up over the summer and have a good break and take time off before you start school in August. No point in burning yourself out before classes start. Have a relaxing summer and enjoy yourself!

[Mithril 159]

@ Purkinje 2016  Somewhat related to the OP about 1st year schedule and workload... Are there anything content / concepts you wished you'd reviewed in the months before starting first year, that you just didn't feel you had enough time to refresh yourself on given the pace new topics were covered? Or did you generally feel that things were presented in a way that you were able to fill in any gaps in knowledge when you encountered them?

Please don't review things in the summer before med school. Like at all. You should be having fun unless you really consider doing that fun. Most of the stuff you learn in first year is not really relevant to clinical medicine.

[Dr. Zoidberg 5]

With that schedule, do you normally make time for observerships and shadowing specialties on the weekends or do most students do that in summer and other break periods?

[frenchpress 341]

Please don't review things in the summer before med school. Like at all. You should be having fun unless you really consider doing that fun. Most of the stuff you learn in first year is not really relevant to clinical medicine.

I appreciate everyone's concern about taking time to relax ! Don't worry, that's a top priority for my summer!

 

I guess the goal of my question wasn't so much 'what should I study,' because I wasn't intending to do any review. What I really meant to get at was more along the lines of, how people who have gone through the renenwed curriculum have found the pacing, and the extent to which you felt you were building off background knowledge in recommended science courses vs. tackling a lot of concepts that felt really new or different.

 

Obviously that's going to vary person to person based on your past experiences -- but coming in as a non-trad without several of the recommended science prerequisites, I'm curious to what extent people feel like that background was relevant / helpful or not?

[Torntoiletpaper 28]

Just piggybacking off of this thread. Does anybody know the approximate 1st semester exam schedule (what date the exams end and what day we have to be back in school)? Trying to book a trip with friends. 

[Purkinje 2016 29]

With that schedule, do you normally make time for observerships and shadowing specialties on the weekends or do most students do that in summer and other break periods?

You do have time to shadow and do observerships during the school year because we do get Tuesday and Thursday mornings off for independent study time. I personally having been shadowing a lot more now in the spring after most of our exams were over in April. However,you could do both and shadow during the school year and in the summer depending on your preferences.

[Purkinje 2016 29]

I appreciate everyone's concern about taking time to relax ! Don't worry, that's a top priority for my summer!

I guess the goal of my question wasn't so much 'what should I study,' because I wasn't intending to do any review. What I really meant to get at was more along the lines of, how people who have gone through the renenwed curriculum have found the pacing, and the extent to which you felt you were building off background knowledge in recommended science courses vs. tackling a lot of concepts that felt really new or different.

Obviously that's going to vary person to person based on your past experiences -- but coming in as a non-trad without several of the recommended science prerequisites, I'm curious to what extent people feel like that background was relevant / helpful or not?

Now I understand your question better I will try to give a clearer answer.

 

The pacing of the new curriculum is fairly quick and you do learn a lot of new material in a given week. New information meaning clinically-relevant information or material that was never taught in the pre-requisite courses. So during the school year you will find yourself looking lots of things up on websites like UpToDate or other clinical databases. However, I would say that the pacing is not unreasonable and the curriculum is designed to help you understand the material with CBL, Lecture and labs. Also working with your classmates and teaching each other material is a great way to learn.

 

I personally found that physiology, anatomy, histology and pharmacology were more useful background information for the first year courses than other prerequisite material just because I felt they had more clinical applications than other material I knew or learned about.

[MedZZZ 13]

Thanks for sharing that info about course schedule. I was wondering if it's common for people to work during medical school or if it's something that is not recommended? Thanks

[Purkinje 2016 29]

On 2017-05-31 at 11:29 PM, UBC_GRAD said:

Thanks for sharing that info about course schedule. I was wondering if it's common for people to work during medical school or if it's something that is not recommended? Thanks

I know a few of my classmates who worked part time during their first year, but it wasn't particularly common for first year med students to be working in addition to classes. Those people who were working had a flexible work schedule that allowed them to work some hours during the week or at the weekend. However, the first year med schedule is quite heavy with classes from 8-5 MWF and clinical skills or family practice office visits TTh from 1-5PM. I personally chose not to work during my first year, but I did pursue extracurricular and social activities that I enjoyed doing in addition to attending classes and studying. Try to establish your work, study, life balance early on in the school year and make adjustments if necessary so you avoid potential burnout.