How much do you study?

I´m a first year uni student and although I did a LOT in school, I find it very challenging! Not the independent part mind you, but the amount of work! Is it more during Covid? Or is it just that hard?
I have to read at least 40 pages each week (sometimes a book extra), watch the lectures and do the study tasks (sometimes 5x 20 min lectures) for one subject and prepare for seminars, which I´m also attending throughout the week (+ extra essays to hand in).

I do LOVE my subject, but I feel it´s ridiculous. Wtf do we have to do SO MUCH? I´m not a club person, but still I´m wondering how people at uni actually party and drink besides all this! I´m studying from 8am to 10pm, with 1 break in between, else I wouldn´t catch up to any of it! Does anyone have tips how to manage this/How much do you study and how? :smile:

Reply 1

DrawTheLine

22

Original post by kirachan

I´m a first year uni student and although I did a LOT in school, I find it very challenging! Not the independent part mind you, but the amount of work! Is it more during Covid? Or is it just that hard?
I have to read at least 40 pages each week (sometimes a book extra), watch the lectures and do the study tasks (sometimes 5x 20 min lectures) for one subject and prepare for seminars, which I´m also attending throughout the week (+ extra essays to hand in).

I do LOVE my subject, but I feel it´s ridiculous. Wtf do we have to do SO MUCH? I´m not a club person, but still I´m wondering how people at uni actually party and drink besides all this! I´m studying from 8am to 10pm, with 1 break in between, else I wouldn´t catch up to any of it! Does anyone have tips how to manage this/How much do you study and how? :smile:

Yep, this is uni. Some people say to treat it like a full-time job, 40 hours a week. My workload personally wasn't as much as yours as it depends on the degree and the uni you go to.

The students who regularly go out clubbing and drink their livers to death every night will be falling behind and not working well.

It's important to have some downtime. I personally found it helpful to actually make a timetable of my day from the time I woke up to when I went to sleep, and I scheduled in "relax" times where I didn't do work. It felt a bit clinical, but during really busy periods e.g. with a lot of assignments, this was the only was to ensure I didn't burn out and had time to relax.

Reply 2

gjd800

20

I did a lot, probably 8 hours a day to begin with. Certainly more than 40 pages, though I was abnormal in this regard. As I got bettervst it, the time dropped, but I still read a lot and very widely. I read LOADS even now (I read 12 educational research papers yesterday). It is part habituation, part learning to work in more efficient manners. If you can learn to skim, that is helpful. Read conclusions first so you know what to look out for in the main body etc.

Reply 3

Ðeggs

22

Roughy the same for me, except everyone in my corridor is always so noisy and plays loud music until the early hours of the morning, so my sleeping schedule is more like 2-3am until 11am-12pm, at which I make some breakfast and then work until maybe 9-10pm with a break for making dinner.

Reply 4

Anonymous #1

I am feeling the exact same at the minute! I worked hard at a level and was expecting the uni workload to be similar. I just feel bad because everybody says that uni is less stress than a levels. I am working all day 8am-11pm, similar to you, with a quick lunch and dinner I eat at my desk. When I decide to go to bed I feel awful because I still haven’t finished all of the work on my to do list. If I think I have done everything my lecturers have set, I log on to my unis online portal and find that even more pre-work has been added. I have a seminar tomorrow which I had to: watch 1h 30min documentary, 2h film, both with extensive notes and questions to be tested on, 2x2 hour lectures to watch and make notes, an essay, 46 pages of pre-reading and to plan my coursework. All for one module with 1 days notice, despite me having online classes in between that!!!

Reply 5

Anonymous #2

Not as much as I should be. I’ve got an entrance exam next week and I’m going to work even harder. i hope everyone smashes their exams insha’allah!

Reply 6

Anonymous #3

8am to 10pm seems extreme. I’m a second year engineering student at a Russel group uni and I study 4-7 hours a day 7 days a week.

Reply 7

University of Portsmouth Student Rep

Official Rep

16

Original post by kirachan

I´m a first year uni student and although I did a LOT in school, I find it very challenging! Not the independent part mind you, but the amount of work! Is it more during Covid? Or is it just that hard?
I have to read at least 40 pages each week (sometimes a book extra), watch the lectures and do the study tasks (sometimes 5x 20 min lectures) for one subject and prepare for seminars, which I´m also attending throughout the week (+ extra essays to hand in).

I do LOVE my subject, but I feel it´s ridiculous. Wtf do we have to do SO MUCH? I´m not a club person, but still I´m wondering how people at uni actually party and drink besides all this! I´m studying from 8am to 10pm, with 1 break in between, else I wouldn´t catch up to any of it! Does anyone have tips how to manage this/How much do you study and how? :smile:

Hey @kirachan!

As others have said it definitely does depend on your subject!
I study pharmacy and I feel as though I am constantly doing work and trying to keep up with things - whereas my boyfriend doesn't have half as much work as me to do and he studies marketing.
My tutor said it essentially is a full time job - but will be worth it after I finish uni and become a Pharmacist.

I normally study all day 9-6pm ish - depending on if I have to do something for the next day or not (then I'll work until later)

I would say just make sure you're not procrastinating during your study time - try to make it as short and effective as possible.
If you're getting bored and looking at other things it will only take longer

Also make sure you plan out your week at the start of each week - eg write out what you need to do for what day, when you have seminars, when you will watch online lectures (unless they are live), when you will do your reading etc
Hopefully the more you do it the better you will become at organising your time and it will become slightly quicker :smile:

I hope this helps!
Eloise - Official Student Rep

Reply 8

kirachan

OP

10

Original post by Anonymous

I am feeling the exact same at the minute! I worked hard at a level and was expecting the uni workload to be similar. I just feel bad because everybody says that uni is less stress than a levels. I am working all day 8am-11pm, similar to you, with a quick lunch and dinner I eat at my desk. When I decide to go to bed I feel awful because I still haven’t finished all of the work on my to do list. If I think I have done everything my lecturers have set, I log on to my unis online portal and find that even more pre-work has been added. I have a seminar tomorrow which I had to: watch 1h 30min documentary, 2h film, both with extensive notes and questions to be tested on, 2x2 hour lectures to watch and make notes, an essay, 46 pages of pre-reading and to plan my coursework. All for one module with 1 days notice, despite me having online classes in between that!!!

Original post by gjd800

I did a lot, probably 8 hours a day to begin with. Certainly more than 40 pages, though I was abnormal in this regard. As I got bettervst it, the time dropped, but I still read a lot and very widely. I read LOADS even now (I read 12 educational research papers yesterday). It is part habituation, part learning to work in more efficient manners. If you can learn to skim, that is helpful. Read conclusions first so you know what to look out for in the main body etc.

Wow, that´s insane. Honestly, I thought I was just not managing my time efficiently, but I must say that it just doesn´t take 10 minutes to read a book. We all have the conspiracy theory that during COVID, it´s now extra work, but idk since this is my first year. I wish you good luck! I like studying, but honestly, uni stretches it to an extent where I say it´s just insane. I don´t learn as much as I would by just having a bit of air to relax, especially during these times.

Original post by kirachan

I´m a first year uni student and although I did a LOT in school, I find it very challenging! Not the independent part mind you, but the amount of work! Is it more during Covid? Or is it just that hard?
I have to read at least 40 pages each week (sometimes a book extra), watch the lectures and do the study tasks (sometimes 5x 20 min lectures) for one subject and prepare for seminars, which I´m also attending throughout the week (+ extra essays to hand in).

I do LOVE my subject, but I feel it´s ridiculous. Wtf do we have to do SO MUCH? I´m not a club person, but still I´m wondering how people at uni actually party and drink besides all this! I´m studying from 8am to 10pm, with 1 break in between, else I wouldn´t catch up to any of it! Does anyone have tips how to manage this/How much do you study and how? :smile:

Hey @kirachan,

It's totally understandable how you're feeling! It can be overwhelming seeing all of the work you have to do in one week I found. In first and second year I didn't know what lecture was going to be happening but now, I think with everything being online it can feel like perhaps even more work than it actually is. For myself personally, I think I struggle with ensuring I am focused for all the time I am sat down at my desk. I would recommend if this is something you find too maybe try to vary up your day between studying in your room and studying in the library. Or, you can do a morning session in one area of the library and an afternoon session in another area of the library. I would say I do have a fair amount of work to do as I study pharmacy. I don't really know how long I spend studying as I tend to make to do lists for the week and just work through them. I would say try as much as possible to focus on the amount of effective work that you are getting done rather than the number of hrs you spend studying as they might not be effective.

I hope this helps and please let us know if you have any other questions!
From,

Amina 😊

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