Study hours per course?

[Student88]

Hi everyone,

 

I've been out of school for 3+ years and I start grad school in August. I was wondering how many hours to schedule study timer per course? In undergrad I believe it was suggested to study 3 hours per 1 hours of class/lecture. Will it be any different at the graduate level?

 

 

Thanks in advance. 

[Eigen]

0-9. Depends a lot on your background, and the course expectations. 

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

I've always just studied until I was confident. Hard to give an exact number when certain classes come more or less easily than others. 

[TakeruK]

As Eigen and Gnome said, it's hard to give an exact number. I agree with "0-9 hours", where the most important part of this range is that there is a maximum and for programs in my field, spending more than 9 hours on a course usually means you are in the realm of diminishing returns and it would probably be better to spend that time elsewhere.

[fuzzylogician]

At some schools the credit hours for a course reflect how many hours you're expected to study for it, so that might give you some idea. I'd agree with the "0-9" estimate, though it really depends. I think there is also an expectation that you spend more time on courses at the beginning of grad school and gradually shift your concentration to research as you progress. It doesn't necessarily mean that the workload lessens but that you learn to manage it better and to prioritize the different demands on your time. Like TakeruK says, at some point spending more time on a course does not guarantee better results.

[WriteAndKnit]

Honestly, I anticipate spending more time on my German class than any of my three graduate-level classes (the program office manager e-mailed me old versions of the syllabus for each). Sure, I'll have reading and research and papers, but I've always been a quick reader and have a pretty efficient paper-writing process (which can always be improved). 

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

Honestly, I anticipate spending more time on my German class than any of my three graduate-level classes (the program office manager e-mailed me old versions of the syllabus for each). Sure, I'll have reading and research and papers, but I've always been a quick reader and have a pretty efficient paper-writing process (which can always be improved). 

If it's a beginning-level foreign language class, I'd recommend taking it as many days as possible (if you have the option). I realized in undergrad that shorter periods of more days was best for me when learning a foreign language. I took Mandarin 1, which was 3 hours once a week, and I didn't feel like I learned as much as I did in Mandarin 2, which was 45 minutes four days a week. 

[WriteAndKnit]

If it's a beginning-level foreign language class, I'd recommend taking it as many days as possible (if you have the option). I realized in undergrad that shorter periods of more days was best for me when learning a foreign language. I took Mandarin 1, which was 3 hours once a week, and I didn't feel like I learned as much as I did in Mandarin 2, which was 45 minutes four days a week. 

 

Each semester's schedule is an hour three days per week. And my roommate's cat babbles at me anyway, I'll just talk back in German. Schrodinger won't notice the difference. Plus a workbook, notecards, etc. 

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

Each semester's schedule is an hour three days per week. And my roommate's cat babbles at me anyway, I'll just talk back in German. Schrodinger won't notice the difference. Plus a workbook, notecards, etc. 

Yeah, three days a week is good. As difficult as it is to learn a new language, I've realized that beginning-level college foreign language classes are pretty easy to ace, even if you don't master the language. 

 

I'm not saying just skate by for the A. But at least don't stress so much and don't put too much emphasis on the class. 

Edited June 11, 2014 by Gnome Chomsky

[TakeruK]

Just want to add that if you know that the course is directly useful to your research, it would generally be worth spending more time on it! A foreign language related to your work could be one of those things. For me, I happily spent 12-15 hours per week on a course last year that was directly relevant to my research (the code I wrote for the problem sets were directly useful in my own work).

[Student88]

Thanks everyone! All the information is very much appreciated! 

[bsharpe269]

I seem to average 8-10 hours per week per course (including class time/office hours/etc). Just like undergrad though, I usually end up with 1 class that takes a ton of time and others that I hardly look at outside of class. Like others mentioned, the relevance to my research also plays a role. If the information is important to my work then I make sure I understand it very well.

[victorydance]

I just spend 80% of the time working on the required assignments, how long that takes depends on the assignments. If it's a term paper, I usually spend the whole semester to write it, incrementally. 

 

Readings and things like this is easy for me to keep up. 

 

I think it depends on your field. If it's more quantitative, then more time is spent on problem sets, exercises, preparing for exams. If it's more theory based, more time is spent on writing papers, a lot of other stuff is just filler.

 

In undergrad, I probably spent about 1 or 2 hours reading the required material for the week. Then a few hours or more depending on the class working on the papers. Even for my more quantitative classes, at least 60% of the class grade was from a paper or a combination of papers, so that was what I spent the vast majority of my time on.

 

Being able to read, and especially digest, material quickly is an asset that allows you to tackle the really important parts of the class effectively and efficiently. Hone this skill and half the battle is won. 

[WriteAndKnit]

Honestly, I anticipate the biggest challenge/difference from undergrad will be reading time. I typically used my weekends for reading for the week (like, Sunday morning when dormmates were at church or sleeping in, so the dorm was nice and quiet). I'll have to reevaluate my reading schedules. But that's a fairly easy problem to remedy.