Medical students are busy. Certainly not too busy to learn, but—particularly in the preclerkship phase of their training—some may be too occupied to sit in a lecture hall to do it.
A 2025 survey of second-year medical students conducted by the Association of American Medical Colleges shows that medical student attendance at in-person preclerkship lectures is notably divided. Nearly 38% of second-year medical students reported low attendance, categorized as either “almost never” or “occasionally” attending. Conversely, half of students reported high attendance, indicating they attend lectures either “most of the time” or “often.”
What shape is the current preclerkship learning landscape taking? How are first-year medical students navigating it? Here are some key insights.
The preclerkship lecture landscape
A 2024 study published in The American Journal of Medicine on delivery of preclerkship medical school curriculum found passive-learning activities such as in-person lectures were largely available online prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study surveyed medical school curriculum deans who expected the availability of online lectures to remain steady, if not grow.
In that survey, there was a far different philosophy regarding small group learning, with 75% of surveyed institutions anticipating that they would deliver this material fully in-person, reserving the physical classroom for active learning.
What medical students gain by attending lectures
The prevailing sentiment among medical students is if time allows, it’s worth it to attend in-person lectures. There is value to being around other students, and early on in medical school, lectures offer a chance to meet people.
A first-year medical student training in Chicago, Alysia Martinez has found that by attending in-person lectures as much as possible, she has been able to network with faculty. That face time can be an asset in career planning.
“It’s an opportunity to meet professors who are in your specialty of interest,” said Martinez, an AMA member. “There’s no way to engage with them if you are not there.”
Online lectures require self-direction, discipline
One of the biggest pitfalls of relying on watching lectures online is that doing so requires a measure of personal discipline. You must watch them at the same cadence with which you would attend them in person.
If you don’t, “you absolutely risk falling behind,” Martinez said. “And with all the material that is covered in medical school, falling behind means you are going to have to put in a ton of time to catch up.”
Another key to staying up to date for those consuming lecture content online is making sure you follow up on your own on the concepts that might not be clear to you. An online, recorded lecture doesn’t offer the chance for any sort of individualized attention or follow-up. It also limits a student’s opportunities to see things from a different vantage point by hearing the thoughts and questions of their peers.
If you don’t understand a concept covered in a lecture you watch online, you can always email the professor, but it calls attention to the fact you didn’t attend, Martinez said.
The currency of time
For new medical students, time may feel more finite than it has at any point in their life. The value of saving on a commute to class while also offering flexibility to fit the content into your schedule on your terms cannot be understated.
Martinez watches many of her recorded lectures at double speed.
Some lectures can delve into topics with much more detail than what a medical student requires. By increasing the playback speed, medical students can efficiently navigate through those sections.
However, it’s important to strike a balance. If the material becomes difficult to follow, medical students can always pause, rewind or replay segments at normal speed for better understanding. In the end, the context of how much in-person lectures benefit a medical student is highly personal.
“There are pros and cons to attending or watching online,” Martinez said. “I've had conversations with neurodivergent students in our class. For students with attention deficits or other factors that make online learning easier, it has been a massive benefit to be able to look up questions as they arise and go at their own pace.”
