The most efficient way to do this is to talk to the instructor in the course. Attendance Attendance is required when it is the only way that the student can get anything out of the course and the only way that students can be evaluated. Courses in which this is the case include the Clinical Preceptorship, the Introduction to Clinical Medicine, small group discussions and laboratory courses. In other courses regular attendance is expected because the courses are designed to make it as easy and efficient as possible for students to get through the large amount of material in the first year curriculum. In general, however, attendance is not taken and attendance does not affect your grade.
Illness is always an acceptable reason for absence from class or postponing an examination.
Please let the instructor or Dr. Guggenheim know if you are ill. We know that the pace of medical education is fast, but if illness brings you to a standstill we can and want to make adjustments that will allow you to catch up with the least possible stress. And that judgement would be more detrimental to your record than a poor test score. If you do not want to attend class regularly because you feel that it is not an efficient way for you to learn certain things, please let the instructor and Dr. Guggenheim know. The instructors will not take it personally but rather will want to help you design a learning plan that works for you.