Do you study on every day of the week?

[annoyinggirl]

Do you study on every day of the week? If not, what day(s) of the week do you usually take off to have free time? "Studying" includes doing homework, any type of school work, and studying. On average, how many hours do you study per day? Per week? Do you give yourself free time, if you don't take the whole entire day off? Do you feel that taking a day off or at least giving yourself half a day each week to escape from school work improves your quality of work?

 

[SHISHKABOB]

I study until I start making mistakes like "wait... 1 times -1 is not positive 1..."

if I study when I'm feeling like that, then I'm not going to get anything out of it because I'm going to spend more time thinking about the little things than what I should actually be studying.

In general this means that I spend like half my "free time" studying. And by "free time" I mean time that is not taken up by sleep, class, maintenance things like hygiene/eating, walking from place to place.

 

[chill_factor]

Do you study on every day of the week? If not, what day(s) of the week do you usually take off to have free time? "Studying" includes doing homework, any type of school work, and studying. On average, how many hours do you study per day? Per week? Do you give yourself free time, if you don't take the whole entire day off? Do you feel that taking a day off or at least giving yourself half a day each week to escape from school work improves your quality of work?

in undergrad i studied whatever hours per day. if i had a test, i would study intensely. if i didn't, i just played games, worked out, went to parties, took time to go to nice places to eat, took extra naps, etc.

in grad school i no longer measure how long i study. i measure how long i have to rest outside of sleep. there's no such thing as "preparing for the test". you start preparing for the test on day 1, minute 5.

 

[Shahil]

I was actually discussing this with some undergrads the other day. Back when I was in varsity, I didn't actually study every day per se. If there was a test, then I'd study as was fit. This usually ended up meaning studying till 3am with my friends the day before a big test.

One rule was that I never studied on a Friday even during the exam period. I always took the night off even if it meant sitting at home and studying on Saturday morning. I only studied on a Friday if I had an exam on Saturday.

I like this approach and I do tell younger people about that strategy. I don't think you should blindly accept that but if you can see it benefiting you, then do it.

As much as studies were important, I BELIEVE it is very important to focus on other elements as well. Some don't think that way and that is okay as well.

 

[WannabeNewton]

I find studying math to be a major hobby so I guess it would be a part of my daily free - time as well. I don't usually see studying math as "studying" with the usual negative connotation but rather something that brings self satisfaction \ joy. I do try to study everyday but I also look forward to doing it everyday even though this is all mostly micromass's fault =D. This doesn't work as well for non - math subjects haha.

 

[Mentalist]

I have a whiteboard at home and use it to do various physics, chemistry, and math problems. 15 minutes/course every day = A.

 

[turbo]

It has been a long time since engineering school (over 40 years), but I studied every day. My Friday and Saturday nights were generally tied up playing music for frat parties, so I could keep money in my pockets. Depending on how things had gone, Sunday was often a big study day. No rest for the wicked.

 

[annoyinggirl]

I have a whiteboard at home and use it to do various physics, chemistry, and math problems. 15 minutes/course every day = A.

wow. but i think you are one of the few exceptional geniuses out there.

 

[Mentalist]

Not a genius by any regard. I do that all year round, even in the summer.

Simply going through 100 problems is a bit excessive and less efficient than the method I use which is based primarily in understanding the problem and question asked. More times than not if you think through the problem more than hammering out hundreds of problems based on a method taught to you, you'll do 2x better. A whiteboard is much easier to write on and helps with focusing as well, so I am not using an excessive amount of useless pieces of paper either.

Then again, I do read about what I am doing a lot so that also contributes to doing well. I also try to explain it to other people, write a paragraph, etc... Simple stuff to reinforce what I am learning.

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

I don't have nearly as much time as I wish I had to study for school, but I am able to set apart certain days (namely Thursday and Saturday) where I have almost nothing to do aside from study.

As for how long, I think I have recently discovered a problem that I have. I have developed a habit due to lack of trust, where I refuse to give myself breaks, knowing that any break will inevitably result in me procrastinating for far longer than what I had hoped for. This leads to me studying continuously for, on average, three hours. That may sound like a good thing, but I'm almost always burned out at that stage, and nothing mentally-trying looks appealing to me, no matter how bad or how much I want/need to get it done.

I feel like you definitely need to give yourself time off, unless, like WBN's situation, it isn't something that you despise doing, but it's actually fun, and you look forward to it.

 

[Mentalist]

Depends upon what you're doing really. Like I mentioned above hundreds of problems even if your interest is in physics, is not fun at all, it is rather tedious and become much of a bore (at-least in my case).

But I am at a stage in my studies where we are learning about relativity in school and doing all sorts of problems is sort of fun because they are harder and more involved. I am not doing problems based on perfect situations, rather we work either 1 or 2 hard problems and are asked to finish it as a problem set.

Those are fun I must admit and I usually break the 15 minute rule and can spend upwards to an hour on 1 problem trying to come up with a few solutions.

If I feel tired, I go out for a run or do push-ups. Always helps to get the testosterone levels up when you feel tired by exercising a bit instead of drinking an energy drink or coffee.

 

[appyfan]

During the school year I probably do at least an hour of studying everyday. This varies though depending on when I have tests and when projects are due. I strongly believe there need to have a balance between work and fun so I make sure I work into my week activities I enjoy and leave time to get plenty of sleep.

 

[S_Happens]

I don't typically study on Sundays, although there are exceptions.

I commute ~35 minutes one way to school, so I get there 7-7:30 AM and always stay until 4-5:30 due to classes. I usually spend the first hour drinking coffee, checking e-mail, or just doing something that I want to do to get my day started. Due to the huge metro area commuting is very difficult, so it's much easier to get there that early than an hour or two later.

Other than that, I do all of my reading, homework, and the majority of working problems during that time period. I don't have Friday classes and I also go to campus most Saturdays, although that's typically 10-3 or 4 rather than all day.

It works for my classes, because it's very difficult to determine the line where you can just cross it and still be successful rather than do far too much work and know that you'll be successful. I typically develop a very deep understanding of the subjects and have been getting excellent grades. One time it really paid off was when only 2% of a class received an A. Other times it has certainly been overkill.

Other than that, I'm most certainly (over)compensating for the fact that I know I could/should have done it my first time in college and didn't. It's personal, but it feels good to both work hard at it and be successful.

I know many people talk about maintaining a balance, but I'm 29 and married. It costs me a lot of money to return to school. I work very hard only at school during the semesters, work a job during the summer, and enjoy time with my wife and friends in between. If I could go back to my original trip to college, I'd have worked at it like I am doing now. Personally I consider it a much better idea to do the hard work and sacrifice for a few years while you're a poor college student, be better prepared when you graduate, and then have fun when you're working and can afford to. But it does take a lot of motivation, which can be difficult for those that haven't been in the working and/or family world before.