Charles Uni 1st Faculty

[huskyKamp]

Any current students want to share what an average week is like in terms of workload?

[shrey]

Hey there huskyKamp, as of now our final exams are going on so we all have to study like crazy (at least 8-14 hrs. a day)..

But in general, I study for at least 4 hours a day during regular days (I'm gonna put in 5-6 hrs. from next year).

The work load is quite a lot because you always have some sort of test in some subject every week so you're forced to study. Exam time is the most stressful as there's just so much to study and so much to review.

Many students however, get by putting in atleast 2-3 hours a day (but in the long-run they have so much more to catch up); other procrastinate and just quit as they realize it's too late to learn so much and can't catch up; and there are those who study a solid 4-5 hours a day whether it's for reviewing the stuff they did that day or reading a new chapter....

The courses get much more intense as the months go by and many people think that in medical school, it gets easier after the 1st year but from what I heard from my upperclassmen, it's just gets worse...the only reason why one doesn't complain as much is because they're used to putting in many hours of study

Hope this helps...

[huskyKamp]

Thanks again for the replies.

I just finished reading the Pragueress and Miseducation of Dan Kameny. His blog painted a pretty grim impression of life at Charles. I hope he is just extremely pessimistic.

Anyway, good luck on finals

[shrey]

Hey again, I can understand your doubts coz the blog does send out a very pessimistic message...I know tons of people who are completely fine with Charles University. It's just really tiring coz it's 6 looong years and every year is just so much hard work and one tends to get heavily burned out at the end of the year (and this school is way harder than many of the American/British/Australian medical schools)

In fact the grading standards are so extremely high that getting a 3 (which is a pass) is equivalent to somewhere around 85%!!! So you can imagine how extra hard the exams are. That being said many of the students do pass (although 10-15-20 students fail out every year). The ones who have failed out are either those who didn't plan out their time well or those who procrastinated too much due to getting distracted by the social life here in Prague and there are fewer poor souls who work so hard but despite all the effort, don't make it for some reason.

Thank you. I have just one more final (Anatomy). The rest are done...and I'm already so ready for a break...

[euromd]

Thanks again for the replies.

I just finished reading the Pragueress and Miseducation of Dan Kameny. His blog painted a pretty grim impression of life at Charles. I hope he is just extremely pessimistic.

Anyway, good luck on finals

I like Dan's blog. It's quite accurate. The disorganisation becomes more apparent in 4th yr and beyond when you have block courses. Imagine the extreme disorganisation we see at the beginning of the year at first fac repeated 19 times throughout the year. Not to mention the exchange students that effectively double your class size, but somehow the admin "forgot" to let the course directors know :rolleyes:. You've been forewarned.