The sheer volume of material one needs to study. To get through their medical school classes and the USMLE/COMLEX requires a very structured, and organized approach to covering the material. A strong schedule will allow the student to cover the material at an appropriate pace, give plenty of time to study, and make things more manageable as the student tries to fit in all of their other competing demands.
The other issue, for me, is that I find the curriculum at UIWSOM to be a little… disjointed. It feels like we are jumping around with little to tether topics to a solid basic medical sciences foundation. Some of my classmates might disagree with me, but this is how I feel. So, when I took my leave of absence, one of the things that I said that I would do in the six months away from school was do a thorough review of the basic medical sciences using my Kaplan On Demand and Boards & Beyond Videos along with the Kaplan Q-Bank and a few other resources that I have at the house. The first step was devising a schedule however, and I found a free schedule posted to Cram Fighter that I am modifying to my needs. I’m also designing a spreadsheet to catalog all the Kaplan questions that I get wrong; as I learned with the MCAT, part of preparing for the boards (and classes), is making sure that you understand WHY you are getting questions wrong, and you need to set aside time to analyze the wrong questions/answers. Thus, I am limiting myself to 10 Kaplan questions per night as I think that it will take about an hour to properly review/catalog/analyze those questions. Boards will be here before I know it; I want to get at least two passes through all of the Kaplan material before I start with UWorld questions during our dedicated board prep time. This summer, I plan to take an intensive review I don't want to be caught unawares. Plus, this prep will help me to have a more solid foundation when I return in July.
