Pre-Clerkship Workload Policy

PURPOSE
To outline expectations about the amount of time appropriate to schedule for students’ in- class and out-of-class activities during the pre-clerkship phase of the curriculum, with the goal of ensuring adequate time for self-directed learning and other types of preparatory assignments as well as a manageable weekly workload.

AUDIENCE
All pre-clerkship phase students and faculty instructors in the pre-clerkship phase of the curriculum

LCME STANDARD
6.3 Self-Directed and Life-Long Learning
8.8 Monitoring Student Time

POLICY

DEFINITIONS

Contact Hours: One of the major component of weekly workload. They include active learning sessions (large and small group) and lectures (recorded and live, including those incorporating audience response systems).
Faculty Assigned Activities: The other major component of the weekly workload. These may include reading textbooks or journal articles, preparing written reflections, essays or other assigned homework activities, or completing IRATs and asynchronous quizzes. These assignments may be associated with one or more active learning sessions and are generally completed during unscheduled time.
Self Directed Learning (LCME definition, April 2026): Includes all of the following components as a single unified sequence that occurs over a relatively short time: 1) the medical student’s identification and self-assessment of a gap in knowledge or understanding (i.e., the independent generation of a question to be answered); 2) the medical student’s independent identification, analysis, and synthesis of relevant information to address the question/knowledge gap; 3) the medical student’s appraisal of the credibility of information sources used to answer the question; and 4) the facilitator’s assessment of and feedback on the student’s information seeking skills.

Total student workload should not exceed 64 hours per week and is calculated using the following formula: Weekly student workload = (Contact Hours x 2) + Faculty Assigned Activities.
1. Contact Hours for the individual student should not exceed 26 hours in any week averaged across non-exam weeks in the course. This includes 12 hours for active learning sessions (M/W/F 8 a.m. – 12 p.m.), 8 hours for lectures, 2 hours for in-person quizzes (Tues. or Thurs. mornings), and 4 hours for clinical skills or longitudinal clinical experiences.
2. Contact Hour Multiplier is 2. For every hour of contact time, students are expected to spend one additional hour processing content. This includes researching PBL objectives and reviewing materials for exams. When calculating the weekly workload, the contact hours are multiplied by a factor of 2. (i.e., 52 hours of work for a 26-contact hour week).
3. Faculty Assigned Activities are added to the contact hours to determine the weekly workload. With a maximum weekly workload of 64 hours, a 26-contact hour week represents 52 hours of work, with up to 12 hours remaining for faculty assigned activities.
  1. Textbook or journal article reading assignments are estimated to require 1 hour for every 12 pages of reading
  2. Writing assignments that reference external resources are estimated to require 2 hours for every 250 written words
  3. Writing assignments (e.g., reflections) that do not reference external resources are estimated to require 1 hour for every 250 written words
  4. Written H&P is estimated to require 1 hour for every 500 words written
  5. IRATs or quizzes are estimated to require 5 minutes for every question
  6. Summative examinations require the time allotted for completion (e.g., a 2-hour examination is allotted 2 hours)
Midterm and final exam hours are not included in the weekly workload calculations; however, exam weeks will follow a modified schedule.
- Workload hours on exam weeks should be adjusted to 18 contact hours (up to 8 hours for active learning, 4 hours for lectures [including ARS], 2 hours for in-person quiz, and 4 hours for clinical skills/longitudinal clinical experiences) and 4 hours of faculty assigned activities and 4 hours of exam for a total weekly workload maximum of 44 hours.
Students in good academic standing may take electives or participate in enrichment experiences that do not count towards workload limits.

PROCEDURE

The Course Director(s) with the assistance of staff from the Office of Medical Education, will be responsible for tracking the weekly contact hours, faculty assigned activity hours, and workload within their course and ensuring these metrics do not exceed allowable amounts when averaged over the course.
This information will be reviewed as part of the course review process by the Committee on Educational Policy and its advisory committees.
Student perceptions of workload for each course will be monitored throughout the curriculum.
Workload calculations do not include additional time students may spend on special curricular pathways (e.g., Community Health Scholar programs).
1. Time spent on special curricular pathways (e.g., CHS or ARC-MD, etc.) should not exceed 5 hours per week.
2. Communication amongst pathway leadership, course directors, the Curriculum Enrichment Advisory Committee, and the Committee on Educational Policy is required to ensure the cumulative expectations of these students are reasonable.

RESPONSIBILITY
Curriculum Managers
Course Directors

REFERENCES
UC Davis School of Medicine Bylaws and Regulations, Regulation 76 (B): Course Credit Units
LCME Glossary

POLICY OWNER
Committee on Educational Policy

REVIEWED and APPROVED BY
Associate Dean for Curriculum and Medical Education
Committee on Educational Policy*
Course Directors
Curriculum Enrichment Advisory Committee
Curriculum Managers
Curriculum Steering Advisory Committee
Pre-Clerkship Course Directors Workgroup

REVIEWED DATE and REVIEW CYCLE
May 2026; Annual review cycle

* indicates the policy owner