Undergrad Homework Hours for Physics, Maths, and Eng | Share Study Habits

[Metta]

As an undergrad pursuing a bachelors in physics, mathematics or engineering; how many hours do you spend on your homework? And if you've already graduated, how many hours did you use to spend on your homework? For example, how many hours would you study for classes such as the following? And if you've already taken these, how much studying/homework did you do day per day per class?

Calculus 1
Chemistry 1
Physics(classical mechanics)
programming class.

I realize people are different and that some people do need to study harder than others, but with that in mind, let's just say in general.

 

[lisab]

The rule of thumb for study time is 2 to 3 hours of outside studying for every hour you spend in class.

For the classes you listed, my study time (if I remember that far back ):

Calculus 1 - 2 to 3 hours per class hour
Chemistry 1 - 2 hours per class hour, 1 hour per lab hour
Physics 1 - 3 hours per class hour, 1 hour per lab hour
Programming - good god, sooooo many hours I'm embarrassed

I could have spent more time, especially on physics and calculus, but I had a job.

Btw that rule of thumb only really fit for lower division classes, for me.

 

[Aimless]

How many hours did I spend on homework? As many as it took until I was done, and no more.

For lower level classes, especially physics, this tended to be a lot less than 1 hour of study per hour of class time; I don't think the ratio ever surpassed 1:1 until I hit grad. school. As for the ratio when I was in grad. school - hard to say, and varied greatly depending on the course and the material. Stat. Mech. was the worst for me; I remember one assignment that I worked on non-stop over the course of a week (putting in probably more than 80 hours) and still did not finish.

As for hours spent studying aside from completing assignments: generally, none. (I admit that I'm probably not the best role model here.)

 

[Styrkur]

I spend as much time as I need to finish the homework. I never read the book. I give a great deal of effort in taking great notes during lecture so that when I am having a tough time with homework, I will only need to look at my notes and understand the concepts I am missing. On rare occasions, I would go to the book if my notes were not enough to understand the homework.

Students these days are taking 4 hard classes in average. Work part-time, are involved in clubs, and have a social life to keep. Reading the textbook will waste a ton of time that could be spent doing the homework instead. This is how I study and it works well. Never had to pull an all-nighter.

 

[462chevelle]

As an undergrad pursuing a bachelors in physics, mathematics or engineering; how many hours do you spend on your homework? And if you've already graduated, how many hours did you use to spend on your homework? For example, how many hours would you study for classes such as the following? And if you've already taken these, how much studying/homework did you do day per day per class?

Calculus 1
Chemistry 1
Physics(classical mechanics)
programming class.

I realize people are different and that some people do need to study harder than others, but with that in mind, let's just say in general.

between having a kid and working 45-55 hours a week. every free minute whether it be in the car on a trip or till 1 am. I find myself studying ahead of my classes so I can stay ahead. like right now I took algebra and psych for my first semester this summer. I studied psych about 10% of my study time. and studies trig, calc1, and physics about 80% of the time and the other 10% of the time was algebra homework