Study Hours

[Zaljc]

Hey guys!

I was wondering what other people’s study timetable was like? Like how many hours do people put after school (e.g. 5 hours with 15mins break) and during weekends and when to decide what subject to study for.

Also it would help if past students who achieved an astonishing 90+ ATAR replied or people who did year 12 subjects last year. I’m just having a hard time deciding when to study, how long and how many days to take off every week without feeling guilty.

Cheers, Zoe

[Poet]

Hi Zoe!

I'm not out of the woods of year 12 yet (dang), but my older sister got a 95 ATAR, and she followed the same schedule as I am:

About 4 to 6 hours of study a night, depending on the amount of work needed to be done / study you're comfortable with (this includes short food/coffee breaks haha). I get home at 4, rest until maybe 4:30, then get stuck into it. I take about an hour-long break between dinner and my later studying. Getting at least 8 hours of sleep is vital, so I go to bed at 10:30 and wake up at 6:30, although I'm not very good at going to sleep on time, nor waking up on time, especially on the weekends!
I work two nights a week, so I leave time for that (5 hours), and I give myself the mornings on the weekends to just relax if I'm not stressed for time, because I suck at studying in the mornings. Follow your own peaks and lows, find the best time for you to study.

Just a side-note, it's important to socialize as well. Plan your meetings and study steadily, but don't burn yourself out studying more than you're comfortable with. Hold a schedule you feel is right for you, and don't feel guilty if you need a break. We're humans, we need rest!

Good luck! 
Poet

[The Special One]

I got an ATAR high d life to do Law ( and commerce at the time)  at Monash.

Everyone has different workrates and stamina so it's hard to say exactly how much people should be studying.

You have so many variables like  memory  retention rate. It's why  educators usually only give us a minimum stufy hours per week.

A lot  depends  on whether or not your working or how much time you spend on your social life because that leaves  tess time to study without burning out.

Just try and find that balance and study at a level which gives you high marks in all your sacs and average that out over the year so you have some solid numbers.

[brenden]

Study until you have confidence in your understanding of the topic in a timely enough fashion for SACs, then move on.

I think 4 hours is appropriate. I had 5 hours of classes at school. That's 9 hours a day, which is about a full-time job. Seems reasonable. I'd go 45 on 15 off, with your most intense focus dedicated to those 45 minute blocks, and pay attention in class. Get a shit load of sleep so you can focus properly when you need to. Spend your recreation time usefully. (Go for a walk or play a boardgame or something. Computers make time go by so much quicker, it's like you get no rec rime at all).

I scored above 90, and if I wanted to go back and improve my score, I'd do better in class, spend less minutes on work outside of class, but make the time that I do spend out of class better spent.

[zhen]

I’d say that 3 to 4 hours is a reasonable starting point for anyone. I’d like to add that you want to have a combination of quantity and quality to your studying. For example, doing 6 hours of studying while watching a tv show in the background and constantly checking social media will probably be extremely unproductive. Contrastingly, doing 30 minutes of studying a night probably isn’t enough no matter how efficient someone is. So, maybe also try to track how efficient you are and how much work you completed, rather than just the hours spent.

[Bell9565]

I did 2 subjects last year and am currently doing 4 so I'm currently in the thick of it all!
I must admit, this year and last I have been fairly (aka very) lazy in regards to actual studying at this time of year. At the moment I am focussing on just ensuring I understand the content when I learn it in class so when SACs come (and later exams) I can revise it to the level I need to do well.
This literally means I do my homeowork, write up my maths summary books and then I'm done. That takes my 2 spares a day (2 hours) and about an hour a night, if that. Of course it's more if i have a SAC in a couple of days or its the couple of months before exams but I prefer quality over quanity. Also as i train 6 times a week for sport and do music i simply don't have the time to do the study others do but as long as you pay attention in class and make sure you undertand it rather than just rote memorise it then you don't need crazy amounts of study.
Also make sure you have a balence between social life and school

[extremeftw]

Just for a different opinion, I find the idea of doing 4 hours of study every night to be crazy. I have never done anywhere near that much either in VCE and especially not at uni.

[The Special One]

Just for a different opinion, I find the idea of doing 4 hours of study every night to be crazy. I have never done anywhere near that much either in VCE and especially not at uni.

Depends on how many subjects you're doing.

Uni has a lower workload than year 12 so study hours would be less

[Bri MT]

There's no pre-set ruling on how many hours you should be studying to get 90+ as there are so many factors which can influence this. 

I struggled with not burning out during the year and think you should factor in that avoiding burnout is more beneficial than pushing yourself to the absolute limit. 

My max productivity was in year 11 leading up to the bio exam where I would do 2 +/- 1 exams a day while attending school and completing work for my other subjects.    I did not reach that level at any point during year 12.

A day in my year 12 might look like this:
-Half an hour of study before school
- It was rare for me to get home before 5 but that might be due to music practice, school band, youth advisory council or student leadership
- study from approx 20 minutes from getting home until 7 or 8

I was never very time focused - I study until I get things done or there's an event which demands my attention (eg having to leave for school or an extracurricular). Some days I might study until 10 or in VERY rare cases until 11 and only take a break to have dinner.

Other notes:
-I did hardly any study on the weekends until exam season
-I made FULL use of my study preriods and came to class focused and prepared
- I really pushed myself on the holidays and in the end I think this was detrimental to my performance
- My study times often didn't really change in response to SACs

[extremeftw]

Depends on how many subjects you're doing.

Uni has a lower workload than year 12 so study hours would be less

Still, a four hour study regime every day sounds like a recipe for burnout in all but the most dedicated and persistent students. That would mean a person is spending at least 10 hours on schoolwork during weekdays,  which sounds more akin to high school in South Korea than Australia (and that's not even factoring travelling time to school!).

If it works, sure go ahead and do it (everyone is different!) but I think for a typical student diminishing returns will kick in and make such long periods of study both unproductive and unsustainable.

Personally, my opinion is that setting concrete goals for comprehension rather than arbitrary periods of time to study is a better approach.

[The Special One]

Still, a four hour study regime every day sounds like a recipe for burnout in all but the most dedicated and persistent students. That would mean a person is spending at least 10 hours on schoolwork during weekdays,  which sounds more akin to high school in South Korea than Australia (and that's not even factoring travelling time to school!).

If it works, sure go ahead and do it (everyone is different!) but I think for a typical student diminishing returns will kick in and make such long periods of study both unproductive and unsustainable.

Personally, my opinion is that setting concrete goals for comprehension rather than arbitrary periods of time to study is a better approach.

Studying isn't hard work though far from it.

Anyway you're right that everyone is different and some people retain information better than others. So really I don't think there's a magic study of hours that's optimal for all people, everyone is different so it's up to the individual to decide what works for them

I think most burn  out happens when you're  not on top of  things rather than from hard work because I had heaps more fun in year 12 than in uni even though I have less study hours at uni.

[extremeftw]

Studying isn't hard work though far from it.

It's definitely mentally straining, especially if you do it for such long periods of time.

[The Special One]

It's definitely mentally straining, especially if you do it for such long periods of time.

Yeah but easier to refresh a mind by taking breaks than it is an exhausted body

[Bucket Hat]

Hey I know this is a necro but I saw someone reading this on "Who's Online" and I just wanted to reassure people not to stress about study hours. It's really cliché but different people have different requirements. I did no English Language practise exams, 2 for chemistry, 5 for biology.. never even did a single question from the textbook for specialist or methods all year. Most days I'd sit at my desk and procrastinate until 9pm in the illusion that I was 'studying' because there was a big pressure from school to do "20+ hours per week and a minimum of 40 practise exams per subject to get a 40" (idiots) Anyway I ended up with 98.5 and think I could have done much better had I studied even less and just stayed healthy with exercise/sleep/higher yield study.

Morals of the story: there's no 'right' amount of study, less can be more and don't feel pressured to do way more if what you're doing is working 

[Quinapalus]

Hey guys!

I was wondering what other people’s study timetable was like? Like how many hours do people put after school (e.g. 5 hours with 15mins break) and during weekends and when to decide what subject to study for.

Also it would help if past students who achieved an astonishing 90+ ATAR replied or people who did year 12 subjects last year. I’m just having a hard time deciding when to study, how long and how many days to take off every week without feeling guilty.

Cheers, Zoe

I had one/two spare periods a day at school, so that was between 45 mins-2 hrs of study, usually averaging 1 hr 30 mins. Would get home at 5:00pm from school, sometimes later (tutoring). Usually spent around 2 hours at home studying, agree with Secret Poet, slept 8 hrs (10:30-6:30). Didn't do any work on Fridays (orchestra + bible study). Usually maximised weekends, might do up to 6 hours on Saturday, maybe 3-4 hours on Sunday.


As well as how long you work for, I think efficiency is much more important. When you have enough sleep, are functioning at close to peak capacity, and DON'T PROCRASTINATE(!!!!), you can probably work 2-3 times more effectively, and save much time. Also take the time to organise your study/think about your work (e.g chemistry concepts, English/Lit ideas).