How do some people study for 6+ hours a day?

[The_Yearning]

take some adderall

Who'd knew one of the biggest idiots in ISH with the most sound answer here.

[glidedrxlr22]

Myth. I just graduated at the top of my class - 3.97 (Masters of Accountancy). There is no reason to ever study that much. Possibly with projects etc it may come out to 4 hours a day max. As long as you get in a concentrated two hours a day tho it should not need to be that much. People confuse quality study time with quantity of time spent studying.

[SupermanOnSteroids]

it is possible to study 6+ hrs a day. when i was in college i never studied during down time, but when it was test time, i was pulling all nighters studying 20+ hrs a day, provided breaks for eating and bathrooms. once you get you zone into a job, its hard to tear away from it. unfortunately for me this didn't happen until i was nearing a deadline and i found this to be the best way to do things for me. studying on the regular just didn't give me the urgency or the necessity to learn things for me. throw in a test deadline and all bets are off.

still did pretty well in college.

[Bandito]

I seldom study now and unless it is something that is gonna be useful to me in the future I will just zone out of it. I am sdoing a degree in Comp Science so you can guess what are my favorite classes. But for humanistic classes or crap like grammar and stuff I just barely do the work. Still have a 3.95 GPA though in case you're wondering.

[tmacattack33]

not a myth. you really can't get away with 4 hours a day for law school and especially the bar exam.

My brother recently finished med school. You aren't putting in 4 hour days for the boards either.

Yes i'm sure there are exceptions, but there are plenty of programs where you literally have to study as a full time job on top of your classes.

Yeah but Med school and law school are probably the two hardest programs out there.

An average graduate program probably isn't even half as intense.

[Velocirap31]

I should have studied more in university just out of pride. I still got by with C's and B's and got the degree, but my transcript isn't impressive by any means. My first two years were partying and having a serious girlfriend that I chose to hang out with over going to class. The next two were just playing video games too much. I was in Civil Engineering btw.

It's relatively easy to get hired with an Eng degree, but the best paying out-of-school jobs wanted a transcript, so I didn't get those.

[ILLsmak]

I've been going to this study room/library and I struggle to get to 3 or 4 hours a day. I take plenty of breaks, etc and it is still a struggle. I see this guy here everyday and he studies like 6 or 7 hours a day (assumedly...he is always here before I get here and bounces after I do).

depends on what you mean by study. I dunno why anyone would want to stare at a book for 6-7 hours a day, but if your mind is right you are always thinking about shit, putting shit together, and you might reach over and pick up a book to reinforce.

If you're studying the information 6-7 hours a day I'd argue you don't understand it at all.

I can spend hours consuming information, though, if it's something that interests me.

-Smak

[DeuceWallaces]

A lot of people I know who put in really crazy study hours did it more out of anxiety than anything else.

This is very true. Many people who study too much suffer from general anxiety. It just feeds their mental state; not necessarily benefiting them.

[triangleoffense]

People who can afford to do that are either on a crap ton of loans or on daddy's dime. I'm among those lucky few and you either need a lot of downtime afterwards to recooperate so you can actually soak in the information or adderall :oldlol

[oarabbus]

It's a myth in any field. You can only speak to your experience. Possibly you're just not as good at it? My best friend got his law degree at Case Western and I guarantee he was not doing anything near 4 hours a day.

That being said you should define "studying." Science graduate students are paid to work 40 hour weeks while registered. I guess one might call that studying, but I'm sure as hell not reading books to remember theories for oral or written examinations 6 hours a day.

Either way, those are not very healthy habits. Much better to spend less time more consistently than trying to cram several hours a day for a 1-2 week period in preparation for some type of exam. And that goes for nearly any skill you're trying to develop.

Any field? Not sure. Most fields, yes. For example I'd love to know how many people you know in med school who are "not doing anything near 4 hours a day" though.

I'm not saying they're studying 7 days a week. People will take their Fridays or Sundays or whatever off. But 5 days a week? I think so. Medical school isn't intellectually demanding the way a graduate science program is, it's not as conceptually difficult, but the volume of information is absurd. To the point that at least 25% of the students are putting in 4 hours daily, and not the bottom 25% or anything, but a good number of successful students.

[DeuceWallaces]

Two of my high school friends are surgeons. They studied a fair amount, but they were never that smart to begin with and I'll be damned if I ever let them operate on me.

I don't really hold medical or law degrees in such a high regard. Three years for a JD is a ****ing joke. Of my high school friends the dumb ones became lawyers and surgeons.

[Joyner82reload]

take some adderall

Pretty much this. I have a script and I don't even really have the disorder, got my sister to "diagnose" me.

I can sit down and study for 14-18 straight hours on addy.

[Shade8780]

Two of my high school friends are surgeons. They studied a fair amount, but they were never that smart to begin with and I'll be damned if I ever let them operate on me.

I don't really hold medical or law degrees in such a high regard. Three years for a JD is a ****ing joke. Of my high school friends the dumb ones became lawyers and surgeons.

You sound bitter.

Let it go.

[dannywpt]

I'm having trouble studying at all. Writing a master's thesis, but it's not due until mid may. Don't know how to motivate myself to get started.

[DukeDelonte13]

Two of my high school friends are surgeons. They studied a fair amount, but they were never that smart to begin with and I'll be damned if I ever let them operate on me.

I don't really hold medical or law degrees in such a high regard. Three years for a JD is a ****ing joke. Of my high school friends the dumb ones became lawyers and surgeons.

Everybody thinks lawyers are stupid, especially scientists and engineers. My sister is a post-doc biochemist working for NIH and my brother is a medical doctor. I have these discussions all the damn time.

This is the deal; in science the subject matter is much more difficult. In law, the study and practice is far more demanding, while the subject matter is a bit less dense. (Complicated areas can be very very difficult but most people don't get into those fields.)

JD programs aren't about teaching you the law or how to practice, it's a 3 year stress grinder where everybody is pitted against each other trying to cram the most information into their brains for one exam worth 100% of your grade. Factor in the inherent subjectiveness and arbitrariness of how exams are graded, and you wind up with an extremely demanding program. In science, A + B = C. In law, A + B = Whatever the professor, judge, or jury wants. (it's your job to convince them that they want what you do)

The curves are terrible too. Case grades on a B curve which is nice for them, but most schools grade on a C curve. Harvard doesn't even give grades.
So in a class out of 100 only a handful will get A's, 20 or so maybe B's and the vast majority get C's. C's devastate your GPA. I'm glad my 3 years of hell are over. I don't miss those weeks leading up to exams.