The ubiquitous use of technology has led to increased numbers of medical students preferring to view accelerated video-recordings online over being physically present in the classroom. There is a related trend toward greater use of commercially available resources to ensure preparedness for board exams often at the expense of time spent on school material. Lecturing is still the primary pedagogical means of curriculum delivery in the pre-clinical years while attendance continues to decline. Disparate ideas of educators and medical students might be resolved if learners are allowed to share their expectations of class-time use necessary to reach their professional goals. This study, garnered information from preclinical medical students through a survey, to assess their rationale for not attending class, as well as obtaining suggestions for changes to increase the efficiency of the current teaching practices, thereby improving attendance. The initial hypotheses that more active learning approaches and better cognitive integration across the curriculum would improve attendance were only partially supported.