Are you a high school student wondering how many hours you should dedicate to your daily studies? Then, you are in the right place. Here, we’ll review everything you should know about effective studying, including how many hours you should dedicate to your daily studies.
Indeed, studying is a very daunting task for any student, and unless the right strategies are employed, it can soon overwhelm you with pressure. Thankfully, you can beat the stress by doing the right thing at the right time. Here, we’ll review the amount of time you should dedicate to your daily studies and recommend tips that will help you study more effectively.
How Many Hours Does a Typical High School Student Study?
How Many Hours Does a Typical High School Student Study?It is essential for high school students to spend time outside of school to improve learning if they want to improve. High school study is encompassing, making it pretty challenging to determine precisely how long a student studies. For starters, you’ll need to put so many things into perspective, including the number of hours in a day or a week spent studying, doing daily homework, planning for exams, and reading the topic taught in class. The amount of time that an average student should spend studying depends on factors like:
- The student’s present grade
- The high school they go to
- The classes the students take
- The teacher and his/her teaching style
- Finally, how good the student is at a particular subject.
The most significant of these factors is the student’s present grade and the classes they take. Therefore, our calculation of the number of hours a student should spend studying would primarily depend on these two factors.
The Student’s Present Grade
It’s a no-brainer that a student’s grade typically determines the number of hours they should spend studying. This is why senior students tend to spend more hours studying than junior students. Generally, students in senior year study for an average of 2-3 hours daily, although there could be times when it’ll go up to 4-5 hours per day. On the other hand, middle school students would be okay with reading for just 1-2 hours. Beyond grade, you must put several other factors into consideration when determining the average number of study hours that will suit you.
What courses the student is taking?
If the student is in honors and AP courses, studying takes up more time, about 3-4 hours and sometimes even up to 5 hours.
In conclusion, a student must also consider other factors like homework per day and other extracurricular activities. A combination of these determines the number of free hours a student would have for studies. This is why some students find that they have more time to study on some days compared to other days. Fortunately, you can make up for topics you are unable to read on other days when you have less homework and activities.
How Many Hours a Day Can a Person Effectively Study?
One of the most common questions we receive from students is, “How many hours can a person study?” Unfortunately, studying is hardly fun, and most students do not find much pleasure in it. But every student must study, irrespective of what they think about it. Excelling as a student requires effective study. But the question is, “how much study is effective studying?” Indeed, time is of the essence, and students must learn how to study effectively.
Pulling all-nighters and drinking loads and loads of coffee to stay awake to read is not a healthy and effective method of studying. Instead, a person should study for 2 hours a day with five minutes breaks in between; this is because your mind needs to take a break for learning to be effective. Of course, you can increase the number of hours from 2 to 3 or 4 as time goes on, but you must be careful about that. Experts often recommend longer intervals of between 10-20 minutes when students choose to increase study time.
How Many Hours Should You Study a Day for Exams?
Studying for exams can be daunting, and most students often ask questions about the maximum hours one can learn in a day and when they should start studying. Several guides and study materials exist today to help students study better. The availability of these guides means that students can assimilate more information in a relatively shorter time. Studies show that most students spend an average of 3-5 hours daily revising for exams. Therefore, it is advisable to prepare and develop a study plan weeks ahead of your exams to avoid cramming a few days into exams.
When making a study plan, you need to consider all courses you are taking and compare your strengths in each of them. You need to ask yourself how well and how much you know about a course compared to other courses. This comparison would help you understand your weak areas and concentrate on them. In summary, consider the following;
- How easy and quickly you learn that course
- How many exams you have in the same period.
- Your ability to focus
- The availability of other distractions.
While it’s vital to concentrate on developing your weaknesses, you can’t completely overlook your areas of strengths. Therefore, we recommend quickly revising your strong subjects before going on to the ones you are not so good at.
How to Study for Long Hours?
Many students struggle to study for long hours, despite putting in so much effort. Unfortunately, the mind is built to perform optimally for a few hours at a stretch. Studies show that it can only allow maximum concentration for two hours. Sad, right? What if we told you that you could train your mind to work better. Yes, it is possible to train our minds to study for longer hours without losing attention or getting distracted. Here, let’s review some tips that will help you.
Keep cell phones and gadgets out of sight
This one is a no-brainer. The internet/social media are on the rave, with millions of contents uploaded daily. There’s so much happening in this space, and it can easily become a distraction to anybody. If you are serious about studying, we recommend Keeping your phones and other gadgets secured in a drawer or bag out of sight to avoid looking through them.
Take short breaks
We cannot overemphasize this point. The mind needs breaks every now and then, especially when subjected to an intense task like studying. A 10-15 minutes break to stretch or grab a snack before going back to study will allow your juices to flow back to your brain and refresh your mind.
Study in groups
Group study is an excellent way to hold oneself accountable. Your fellow students may be able to explain complex concepts in a language that you will understand. Also, explaining to others is an excellent way to further grasp the concept and memorize it. If you are in for it, gather a few friends that share similar interests and form a group. Fix meeting dates when you can meet for studies and ensure that everybody participates actively.
Make study interesting
You can make studying enjoyable by combining it with something you love doing. For example, many people prefer to use visual aids like online tutorials and videos, pictures, and making color-coded flashcards. The goal is to make your study time as exciting as it can be. You can even set rewards for yourself for covering specific topics.
Switch subjects or courses
Reading a particular subject or topic over long periods can become tiresome. Note when a course is becoming too boring and switch up different courses to keep your interest levels high. You can combine subjects or topics that are connected and related to improving focus and studying.
Take short naps
Over time, short naps have remained a fascinating way to refresh the mind. Unfortunately, reading for long hours can become boring and counterproductive. Therefore, we recommend taking breaks between your reading hours. Take short naps during those breaks to refresh your brain and improve your focus.
5 Ways to Study for Long Hours
Wondering how you can study effectively for long hours? Don’t worry; we’ve outlined certain tricks and techniques that you can use to train your mind to study effectively. Here, take a look at them.
Eat healthily
Studying on an empty stomach would make you lose focus quickly because your brain needs food to function. In the same vein, studying after consuming a lot of junk will make you sluggish and slow. Therefore, it is essential to eat healthy food and snacks and stay hydrated to concentrate for more extended periods. Don’t rush to start reading immediately after a heavy meal. Instead, take some rest and allow your system time to digest the food before reading.
Study during the day
Yes, many people recommend studying at night. However, while burning your candles can seem fun, it’s not always as effective as you think. The truth is that nights are meant for rest. You’ve probably used your day to perform different tasks, and that leaves you tired at night. Therefore, it is crucial to avoid studying at night if you might get drowsy. Moreover, studying during the day has been shown to increase productivity.
Create a task list
When making your study plan, it is essential to organize it. Keeping an organized study plan would help you focus more on your area of difficulties. It’ll also help you create time to study out of your busy schedule. We recommend starting your studies with the difficult topics first while your mind is still fresh and alert. And the easier ones can come later in the day.
Indulge in active study
Taking notes and writing down important points is an excellent way of triggering your ability to retain. Studies show that an average student is more likely to remember points written by himself than points he just read. Therefore, we recommend making your study time as active as you can. Get your pen and jotter and jot down points in your language. Also, get friends and try to explain the points to them as you read.
Read motivational quotes
Even the best of us can find ourselves losing motivation to study. Motivational quotes can be an excellent way to remind yourself why you are studying and bring you back to focus. Therefore, write several exciting motivational quotes around your study area and take a look at them once every while to keep yourself motivated to continue going.
What are Some Effective Study Habits for High School Students?
It is essential to know that bad study habits for high school students will affect them when they go to college. The study skills you learn from high school will go a long way in preparing you for the more busy college life. Once you develop these study skills, they will become valuable and practical when you further your education.
Time management
Time management is an essential skill for every high school student, especially considering your very busy schedule. The truth is that college will be even busier with several more activities lined up for you. So, the best time to learn how to manage your time well is in high school. Start by creating a schedule and sticking to it no matter what.
Create study groups
Study groups are super helpful; to students. They provide a support system, and teaching others helps you learn new ideas.
Active class engagement
Actively engaging in class, taking notes, asking questions, and taking part in class discussions will significantly improve your study habits.
Self-motivation
You have to motivate yourself to study. Don’t worry when you feel demotivated; ask why you need to study and write the points down. Whenever you feel down, you can read these points to encourage you to review.
Organize
Your capacity to organize appropriately will help you in all areas of life. It is crucial to organize all materials you will need to study before studying to prevent distractions caused by having to get up to look for any materials you might eventually need. Organizing will keep the flow of study seamlessly.
Test yourself
After studying a particular subject or topic, it is essential to test your understanding and grasp of the central concepts you have learned. In addition, taking tests will reassure you of the areas you are strong in and the areas you need to focus on more.
Therefore, it is not surprising that students who do this enjoy long hours of study.
Keep cell phones tightly locked away.
Phones are a great source of distraction, and it is better to keep them away to avoid the temptation of going through the latest gossip. However, if you need to use gadgets to study, you can download and use certain apps to block distracting websites.
Wrapping Things Up: How Many Hours Do You Need to Study in High School?
There you have it, a detailed look into how many hours an average high school student should spend studying. Preparing a study schedule beforehand and sticking to it can seem like a big task, but you would soon begin to enjoy better and more effective studies once you are used to it. However, it takes determination to stick to your newfound schedule. Beyond time management for students, effective studying also entails having the right mindset and mingling with other progressive students. The tips provided above should give you a headstart as far as time management for high school students is concerned.
