Number of Hours of Study

andytoh

This poll is primarily for those very serious ones who intend to do graduate studies/earn their phD or are already past that point.

How many hours of study per day on average do you do? This includes being in class, provided that you are actually using your brain deeply in class (as opposed to blindly taking notes without understanding what you are writing, or just socializing at school). For those who are not students, this can include your hours of research (but not hours in teaching, marking, and other non-research type services).

I clock in at 12 hours per day, and love it. The other miscellaneous acts during the day (eating, showering, talking people, etc...) are done only during my breaks from studying. Thus I schedule my studying in such a way that only when I need a break from studying do I do the other things, including going out, but those can only occur within a window of 2 hours at most because by then I am ready to hit the books again. If I am ever stuck somewhere for more than 2 hours, then I have my textbook and pocket-sized computer handy. Solving a problem in my mind while doing other things that I am forced to do (e.g. driving) usually hasn't been a problem for me.

Ki Man

is that including while you are in class

andytoh

You can include your hours at school, but you must subtract the time at school that you are not actually working your brain, i.e. socializing, waiting idly for class, travelling, eating, taking notes without paying attention to what you are writing, etc...

dontdisturbmycircles

solving problems in your brain while you are driving? geez. I guess this wouldn't be so bad for some basic problems if that is what you mean.

CPL.Luke

hmmm I think there may be a minor flaw in the poll, personally I study for about 16-18 hours one day per week and then don't do anything except the homework for the rest of the week. And personally I have difficulties in paying attention during most lectures that I go to, so I don't do much "studying" throughout the week, averaging only about 2 hours a day. even though I will work the full 16-18 hours in one day once every 1-2 weeks depending on how the weeks went.

Azael

After 7 hours or so my brain just doesnt work anymore, I start making stupid misstakes and even solving the most simple things can be a strain.
Trying to study more is just a waste of time for me.

cristo

I note you have added this! I'm currently undertaking a master's degree in maths, with the intent to continue studies further. However, I have voted 0-2hrs, not because I'm lazy, but I reckon if I averaged it out over the whole year, this would include both intense exam/revision/thesis writing periods where the average day's study is circa 10 hrs and vacation months where I do little formal work, and so the average number of hours study for the whole year is probably about 2hrs.

andytoh

Doing homework problems counts as studying.

Maybe after 7 consecutive hours your brain cannot work more? Perhaps after a 2-3 hour break, you could resume?

Of course, I am not counting vacations.


By the way, are the researchers doing the poll? I would be interested in how many hours the pros use working their brains (in doing their research and/or studying new topics)

CPL.Luke

for me it usually works itself into the 16-18 hours of study on that one day, the stuff that doesn't usually isn't taxing enough to count in terms of studying as defined in the OP

also my problem sets usually crop up once every week or two and are almost always due on monday.

moose

Over the summer I had a 2 hour class 5 days a week (Diff Eq) and did homework and studied everyday from 1am-4am, so 5 hours total. I didn't study on weekends whatsoever though.

I liked it, I had all the time in the world to hang out with people and do whatever (from about 1pm when class ended to 1am when I started studying).

andytoh

Most of my hours of studying come from studying ahead on subjects that are not even offered at my school, but I know I will need to know later on. If I only studied for courses that I'm enrolled in, then I would be in the medicore 5 hours per day range as well.

tim_lou

How would one really classify "studying". If I'm reading a number theory book from the library, does that count as studying?

It seems that studying is generally associated with learning that is forced upon by tests, exams, or school.

andytoh

In my opinion, yes. Most of my studying is from reading outside of my courses.

JasonRox

I average probably 15 minutes a day.

interested_learner

Pros? Researcher? Learning new things or developing new things is what I do all day during work. So that is 0-12 hours a day depending on the situation. Sometimes, there is routine type work like we were trying to get a copy of a new product out to the customer today so then I do less (only 2 hours of new development and 5 hours of running around trying to load code into the device today for example), but tomorrow I should get back to the new project I am working on.

Then I usually tack on another 1-2 hours independent study for fun afterward. My wife sometimes gets exasperated and tells me to put away those darned math books so I try to study when she isn't watching....

Ki Man

i think people are voting differently by counting/not counting school

Azael

It usualy something like 2 hours of study, 15 minutes break, 2 hours of study, 1 hour lunch, 2 hours of study, break and then one hour of study. After that I can not perform anymore and Im usualy way to tired to resume studying after a 2-3 hour break.

I have never needed to study more than that thank god. I se no reason to kill myself trying to get perfect grades. I would just burn out and it would just not be fun or interesting anymore.

My avarage studytime during semesters would probably be around 3-4 hours.