justanother Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 I study roughly 6-7 hours a day aside from lectures. Too much? Too little? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehumanmacbook Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 Only you can really be a judge of that...depending on a lot of factors including: 1) your study habits/strategies 2) courseload 3) program Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronjw Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 Only you can really be a judge of that...depending on a lot of factors including: 1) your study habits/strategies 2) courseload 3) program Forgot one: results Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a1b1 Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 I study roughly 6-7 hours a day aside from lectures. Too much? Too little? Sounds normal, if anything it should be 7-8 hours a day . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justanother Posted January 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 Sounds normal, if anything it should be 7-8 hours a day . It's Friday night, I'm studying at the library till 8-9pm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lolelol Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 Wow 6-7 hours! I cannot sit down for more than 2 hours at a time without getting a headache, I max out at 3 hours, and then I need at least a couple of hours of break time after that. There's no such thing as studying- if you can do it without getting stressed/depressed/a headache (like me), then go for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futurepediatric Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 Wow 6-7 hours! I cannot sit down for more than 2 hours at a time without getting a headache, I max out at 3 hours, and then I need at least a couple of hours of break time after that. There's no such thing as studying- if you can do it without getting stressed/depressed/a headache (like me), then go for it. No such thing as studying? hehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lolelol Posted January 20, 2012 Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 No such thing as studying? hehe rofl I should stop posting things here when I'm watching the big bang theory simultaneously Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madz25 Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 what is wrong with you people?! 6-7 hours?!?! you're insane!! undergrad...study the night before lol. that's plenty of time. why waste your fun time on studying?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moo Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 Go play. When I was in undergrad, I was in intramural sports (volleyball, indoor soccer, ultimate) and I worked 24 hours a week at a psych hospital. How anyone can study so much is beyond me. The way I look at studying is this--the yield from studying initially is quite high (slope is >> 1) but levels off asymptotically after about 3 hours a day. Take it from me. I've been at this game for 14 years, since undergrad. There is a limit to how much you can study and retain. Much better to get rest and enjoy life than to keep studying with low yield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Transparent Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 ---------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychoswim Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 Go play. When I was in undergrad, I was in intramural sports (volleyball, indoor soccer, ultimate) and I worked 24 hours a week at a psych hospital. How anyone can study so much is beyond me. The way I look at studying is this--the yield from studying initially is quite high (slope is >> 1) but levels off asymptotically after about 3 hours a day. Take it from me. I've been at this game for 14 years, since undergrad. There is a limit to how much you can study and retain. Much better to get rest and enjoy life than to keep studying with low yield. +1 Doing other things will actually make you more receptive to learning.. speaking from my 10 years since undergrad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lazyboy Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 I agree 100% Treat it like doing weight training. Your muscle needs rest in between to get stronger; and you have to do different set of training so your muscle gets challenged; and get even stronger... Your brain works the same way. if you keep on studing without taking a break, after a while, you cannot absorb it anymore, it needs to take a rest. Your brain needs to do something else. Cooking, walking, get a date or even playing video game will help a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ch3wbacca1991 Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 Go play. When I was in undergrad, I was in intramural sports (volleyball, indoor soccer, ultimate) and I worked 24 hours a week at a psych hospital. How anyone can study so much is beyond me. The way I look at studying is this--the yield from studying initially is quite high (slope is >> 1) but levels off asymptotically after about 3 hours a day. Take it from me. I've been at this game for 14 years, since undergrad. There is a limit to how much you can study and retain. Much better to get rest and enjoy life than to keep studying with low yield. can you expand on your study techniques that yielded competitive gpa? or is it intelligence? thank you so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhoenixFlare500 Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 can you expand on your study techniques that yielded competitive gpa? or is it intelligence? thank you so much. In undergrad? The day before the exam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarStrike Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 I have a lot of respect for you guys who can work part-time, volunteer regularly, play sports, and average 85%+ while still having some semblance of a "life". I have no clue how some of you guys do it! For me trying to keep up with my program (I have like 8 courses this semester and 2 labs - pretty much in class 9-5 everyday but Thursday...) and sprinkling in some martial arts training and volunteering here and there is killing me...I don't think I've ever worked so hard before in my life... If I left studying to the day before the exam I'd be totally screwed - I'm barely getting by enough as it is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ch3wbacca1991 Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 I have a lot of respect for you guys who can work part-time, volunteer regularly, play sports, and average 85%+ while still having some semblance of a "life". I have no clue how some of you guys do it! For me trying to keep up with my program (I have like 8 courses this semester and 2 labs - pretty much in class 9-5 everyday but Thursday...) and sprinkling in some martial arts training and volunteering here and there is killing me...I don't think I've ever worked so hard before in my life... If I left studying to the day before the exam I'd be totally screwed - I'm barely getting by enough as it is! if i leave studying a week before i think i might be screwed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhoenixFlare500 Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 how is that even possible? Especially for courses like physiology/kinesiology/biology/biochem? Can you give specifics on how you cram? In first year the courses were pretty much a review of high school, so it was pretty easy for the most part. Being able to pay attention in class helped, and my note taking strategy and attention span were better than they are now. Granted in a lot of my courses there were labs and assignments or even weekly tests that forced you to learn throughout the term. For more advanced courses it did take a bit more regular studying to learn the material, but I honestly never had good study habits throughout undergrad (still don't, and I'm paying for it). For heavy anatomy courses just make sure you go to lab and make the most out of them. For biochem I just practiced writing out pathways and drawing amino acids but that wasn't really good enough. For organic chem I just wrote out reactions/equations/whatever. Physiology I think I actually crammed for. Even in these courses I'm talking about here, I never studied every day, and definitely did not study every day for 6-7 hours a day. If you have to do that in undergrad you definitely need to study more efficiently. I have like 8 courses this semester and 2 labs - pretty much in class 9-5 everyday but Thursday...) 8 courses a semester, what program are you in? Engineering? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarStrike Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 In first year the courses were pretty much a review of high school, so it was pretty easy for the most part. Being able to pay attention in class helped, and my note taking strategy and attention span were better than they are now. Granted in a lot of my courses there were labs and assignments or even weekly tests that forced you to learn throughout the term. For more advanced courses it did take a bit more regular studying to learn the material, but I honestly never had good study habits throughout undergrad (still don't, and I'm paying for it). For heavy anatomy courses just make sure you go to lab and make the most out of them. For biochem I just practiced writing out pathways and drawing amino acids but that wasn't really good enough. For organic chem I just wrote out reactions/equations/whatever. Physiology I think I actually crammed for. Even in these courses I'm talking about here, I never studied every day, and definitely did not study every day for 6-7 hours a day. If you have to do that in undergrad you definitely need to study more efficiently. 8 courses a semester, what program are you in? Engineering? I'm currently in 3rd year pharmacy. With the schedule most of us have this year, I think we're lucky if we get more than ~6 hours of sleep a night. By the time finals roll around its worse - most of us are pretty much zombies lol...At that point we're all just running on coffee/caffeine stay awake and focused! The only way to survive other than brute force dedication/hard-work imo is EFFICIENCY. If there was "easier" way to learn effectively, life would be a little bit better I think... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOC_Ma Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 thats insane! WHen you say study you mean study and the material sticks in your head right? Not just sitting in the library with a bunch of friends and chat about stuff. If you really mean study then 6-7 hours/day aside from lectures is again INSANE! i did at most 4 hours/day on those days w/o lectures and on the days with lectures i did 1 hr or no studying and got all 90s except for probalbly 1 course every year. I don't think you need to study that much. Again insane! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ch3wbacca1991 Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 thats insane! WHen you say study you mean study and the material sticks in your head right? Not just sitting in the library with a bunch of friends and chat about stuff. If you really mean study then 6-7 hours/day aside from lectures is again INSANE! i did at most 4 hours/day on those days w/o lectures and on the days with lectures i did 1 hr or no studying and got all 90s except for probalbly 1 course every year. I don't think you need to study that much. Again insane! can you explain your method for achieving those grades as well? I dont study 6-7 hours a day probably closer to 4-5 hours a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
future_doc Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 Sounds normal, if anything it should be 7-8 hours a day . To each their own. Had I played or partied, I know that my results would not have been competitive for med school applications. Like a1b1, I had to work long and hard consistently, but I worked efficiently for me and always had high yield results, i.e., straight As. I guess different strokes for different folks and one recipe does not fit for all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goleafsgochris Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 In undergrad? The day before the exam. Lol, I have a very strong theory that the posters who are saying this went to relatively easy undergrad programs. I studied about 7-8hrs/day at UTSG, on average when I was in undergrad. If you "studied the night before" you would be at the very bottom of the class, regardless of how "good your study technique is" or how many "ECs you did to clear your mind." I have been away from undergrad for about 5 years ago, and I still fully understand that people from easier programs just cannot comprehend this. And no, "easier" is not subjective all the time (anticipating the canned answers I might get to this post lol). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leap87 Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 In my undergrad, I needed to go to the gym early in the morning since I was on a varsity team. After getting 1 hour of exercise, I didn't have problems remembering most of the lectures I had in the morning. The only thing required was a review, which I often did right after lectures. In the afternoon, I had training, so I got my dose of exercise again. I remember that I again didn't have many issues remembering my night classes (which I tried to avoid) or studying when I got home. Even until this day, when I feel like I can't remember something or I'm having issues studying, I go out for a run and come back. For one reason or another, exercising really helped me (and I honestly believe this) in getting through my undergrad with the GPA I had and all the random stuff I was doing on the side. I never spent more than 3-4 hours a day reviewing/studying my notes. What also helped me was being very interested in the subject. If I wasn't, I had issues even reading the notes. But I've learned to get myself hyped up about the subject matter before studying... even if it was a dull history course. And just for goleafsgochris, my program was mediocre (kinesiology) in terms of difficulty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moo Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 Lol, I have a very strong theory that the posters who are saying this went to relatively easy undergrad programs. I studied about 7-8hrs/day at UTSG, on average when I was in undergrad. If you "studied the night before" you would be at the very bottom of the class, regardless of how "good your study technique is" or how many "ECs you did to clear your mind." I have been away from undergrad for about 5 years ago, and I still fully understand that people from easier programs just cannot comprehend this. And no, "easier" is not subjective all the time (anticipating the canned answers I might get to this post lol). I did a combined honors degree in math and physics, probably the hardest program on campus. We had averages in our honors classes of 50s routinely. The key for me was efficiency and never procrastinating. Study smarter, not harder. In my few biology and biochem courses (which were memorization beasts and a nice break from rigorous math courses), I studied alone and memorized the notes, over and over, and over, immediately during and after lecture. I did my problem sets when I had time at work. I also kept a strict sleeping schedule, sleep at 11, get up at 7, every morning even on weekends and days where I was off, even during the summer. (allowing for exceptions of course for parties, work). I also study better in the morning, when its quiet and when my brain is active. I retain so much more. Even today, I am up at 6 am studying for my exam before my shift today at 10. Same thing in med school . First two years, even I didn't do a life science, was about memorizing, which I found a lot easier than sitting slaving away at problem sets that you never knew if you were able to solve. It was a nice feeling in med school to know that if you put in the time, you will do well on the exam. Third and fourth years were tougher because you had to balance working on the wards, coming home late and still finding energy to open a book to study for your exam. That's why I think if your are studying so much in undergrad, and think you need to study so much to do well is bad sign. There will come a time in med school where you will not have time to study for your exams and you must learn to study efficiently, or you will not make it through. I had a few classmates fail their exams precisely because they could not handle ward duties, including being on call and studying at the same time. I remember third year obstetrics.... I had to get up at 4:15 am every morning. Car pooled with my friends to the hospital. Started rounding at 5am. Then worked basically until 6, didn't get home til 7. Make some frozen dinners, and try to pry open a book before you were tired and had to sleep by 9 or 10. We had a night float system then which I found worse for our bodies. Same thing in residency. I am studying for my royal college exams now, working a full time residency and 25 hours a week on top of that being a physician. There is so much to know for this exam but I am confident I will pass and do well precisely because I have learned how to study. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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