How many hours of independent study do you do/week ?

How many hours do you study everyday (excluding compulsory lectures and tutorials)?

I'm aiming for a 1st, but I know it's quality over quantity so wanted to make sure I wasn't doing too less. Currently I do about 30 hours / week of independent study.

What about you?

Reply 1

hallamstudents

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous

Hi,

It depends if I've got an assignment coming up. I do more independent study when an assignment is due, but outside of assignment times I aim to do 1-2 hours per module so I don't get too overwhelmed. My course has three modules per semester so it's manageable for me. I think if I had more modules during the semester it would be more difficult to keep up with it.

If you're aiming for a first, it's definitely quality over quantity. My advice would be to use more academic sources for work (like academic journals instead of websites or broad textbooks) and to critically evaluate the theories by including different viewpoints on a concept. Of course this depends on the course you are studying though! :smile:

I think generally the best thing you can do is to stay consistent with independent study and start early on in the term with it so it becomes routine for you.

What course are you studying?

Lucy

1-2 hours a week.

Original post by Anonymous

Currently, I'm not doing enough for my liking. Striving for 24-27 hours a week (I'm a Year 12 doing English Literature, Ancient History and French, intending to get A*AA ).

Reply 4

Anonymous #1

Original post by hallamstudents

What course are you studying?

Computer Science. Year 1

Reply 5

xEmilyxx

Probably 2 hours a week per module, and I as I do three it probably averages at 5-6 per week. That however does not include essay preparation/exam revision, so I expect that to massively increase in next couple of weeks. As everything is online though it all feels like independent study as I don't have many actual 'live' things I need to attend and lectures are all pre recorded.

Reply 6

University of Portsmouth Student Rep

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous

Hiya!

I aim for anywhere between 20-30 hours of independent study a week. I find planning out my tasks daily using a diary helps me to stay on top of my work and keeps me productive. Also setting a timer for 40 minutes to get my work done and then having a 5 minute break works best for me and keeps me focused.

Make sure to set yourself time to relax and chill as well!

Sam- Official Student Rep :smile:

Reply 7

Uni of Southampton Students

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous

Hey there!

The advice I got from my professors and PAT (which was actually quite useful) is that you should be studying the same number of hours as you have teaching time. If you have 10 hours/week of lectures and tutorials, you should be studying approximately 10 hours as a minimum. You can spread that out however you like during the week; I tend to study more on days where I have less teaching hours so that I can catch up on any material I may have missed and do pre-reading work for upcoming lectures and tutorials.

How do you organize your 30 hour study week?

Reply 8

Arden University

Original post by Anonymous

Hey,

I am studying for a MSc in Psychology via distant learning and as I am doing the course over a couple of years and each module requires 200 hours of study over 10 weeks I would say I do roughly 20 hours or so. Sometimes it is a lot less and others more. I agree though it is quality over quantity because after a while you become less focused and end up rereading everything again or becoming lax with your work and don't always send in your best. I take frequent breaks away from the computer to do something else entirely and change up how I study to keep myself engaged.

Abigail
Arden University Student Ambassador

Reply 9

UniofReading

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous

Hey Anonymous,

I probably would say I study for at least 4 hrs or so a day. However, this will increase/decrease depending on my workload and extra commitments etc. I definitely think 30 hrs of independent study providing it is effective should be sufficient. I would also recommend writing to-do lists too which ensure that you're getting the work you need to get done too and not just the hrs if that makes sense. I also find it helpful to rank the tasks and prioritise them ensuring you get the important ones done first.

Hope this helps you out and feel free to let us know if you have any other questions!
From,

Amina😊

Reply 10

hm2g18

Original post by Anonymous

Independent study, comes down to you subject. If it's humanities or the arts for example you maybe expected to more independent than another subject as there is less contact hours compared to a science course. More reading or performance is needed. So I would set it to how much time your lectures take up to how much you then think you should do outside of the lecture. The lecturers at southampton for my course have sometimes even suggested reading and how long you should be spending on independent learning each week. But I think at least 1-2 hours for each module because you don't want to fry your brain on one module so you can't do another. However maybe change it a little bit if an assignment is coming close. But obviously make sure you give yourself a break as that's important too. :smile:

Reply 11

nathan1403

3rd year English, aiming for a 1st too. I do 25-30 hours per week of uni stuff and that's lecture recordings, online tutorials, independent study, assignment prep and exam revision. Of course it's not just about how much time you put in, it's how you spend that time as well. I'm pretty efficient - work time really means work time and I don't spend too much energy on things that aren't high importance :smile: