Tips on Scheduling Study Hours

• The Four-day Week: Students are sometimes unwittingly their own worst enemy.  For example, they may schedule the semester with no classes on Tuesday, Thursday, or another day of the week.  They imagine this "one day off " will be their day to get everything caught up.  Unfortunately, it's usually wasted because it seems like there is so much time.  If you have a day off, make yourself study in the morning.
• The One Hour Block: The pervasive feeling is "What can I do in an hour?" The answer is quite a bit, but only if you plan it.  It's a good time for low-level priority tasks, light review, floating tasks, short naps, quick trips, a snack; almost anything!  Just plan it. 
• The Eight or Ten-Hour Marathon: It looks good on the schedule, but in reality, long blocks of time are usually wasted.  This happens because it is difficult to stay focused for long periods of time.  Instead, break it up into two and three-hour blocks with a break between. 
• The Two or Three-Hour Block: This amount of study time optimizes your studying.  There is enough time scheduled so that you can get into some heavy duty studying, but there is not so much time that you become burnt out. 

 

Some comments on taking study breaks.

• About every hour or two get up and walk around for ten to twenty minutes.  This is a short, active break that gets the blood circulating again.  It provides a transition from one study subject to another, and it is not so long that it will get you out of study mode.
• At the end of the day take a long three or four hour break.  For example, if you get out of class at 4 p.m., go to the gym for a workout, go home to relax, eat, take a shower, etc.  A few hours later hit the books again for a few hours.  After a four-hour break, you'll be ready to jump into your studies again.