How Many Hours Should You Study A Week?

One of the tricky things to figure out when you get to university is how much time you should be spending studying. With no one to tell you what to do, it’s easy to spend less time on your work than you did previously in your academic career. The university lifestyle involves a fairly flexible schedule. Most students have a limited amount of time spent in classes each week, leaving quite a bit of free time. But how should this time be spent? It’s a good idea to dedicate some of this time to resting, socialising and hobbies. However, if you spend too little time on your studies, it can make things difficult when it comes time for your assessment. While every student works differently, here are some methods you can try for structuring your study schedule.

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The 9 to 5 Method

Some people choose to study by replicating a 9 to 5 work environment. In other words, they spend the greater part of their day revising, reading, preparing for assessments and other university related tasks as well as taking periodic breaks. Then, they take the weekends off from studying completely. This is a very diligent method of study that requires a lot of productivity, but also can be quite rewarding.

The Rule of Three Method

Treating your studying like a job can be a little too overwhelming for some, however. So if the 9 to 5 method isn’t your thing, you might consider trying the Rule of Three method. With this method, you take the amount of in-class work time you have each week and multiply it by three to determine the amount of hours you should be studying. So if you’re spending 8 hours a week in lectures, labs and seminars, then you would study for 24 additional hours a week. This can be a useful way to break it down, since for each hour of class time, you can spend one hour preparing beforehand, and two hours reviewing after, or vice versa.

Meet A Quota

Another way you can approach studying is to simply set a quota for yourself to meet each week. Depending on your previous study habits, you can set it for any number of hours that feels comfortable. Even four solid hours of studying in a week can go a long way if you haven’t been spending much time studying previously. You can then adjust your goals with each passing week based on how it goes.

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Zoe Kramer

Zoe Kramer has been writing for GRV Media’s student-centric website Freshered since October 2022 and is now also contributing to HITC. She graduated from Cardiff University in 2022 with a BA in Journalism, Media and English Literature. During her time in university, she worked for her student newspaper as well as completing an internship with a book publisher. She has also written and continues to write book and theatre reviews. She is excited to now be pursuing a career as a journalist and learning something new every day. In particular, she loves writing about student life, books, the Internet, and travel. Originally from the United States, she is enjoying living abroad in the UK.