12 hours of study per day? Reaaally!?

[UCSD1984]

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I'll make this short since I have to get back to studying. As many of you may know, I've been studying for the DAT on and off for the past 4 weeks, and started hitting it really hard 2 weeks ago. I've spoken to a few people IRL and also on the forums who say they studied anywhere from 10-12 hours a day. Some say 6-8. The DAT breakdowns are usually a good source of finding this "average study time."

However, when I study, I ALWAYS aim to study 10 hours a day. Whether I wake up at 8am or at Noon (I'm a heavy sleeper, like ridiculously heavy), I make it a point to immediately take a shower, have breakfast, get ready, and drive 30 minutes to the library (can't study at home, I never get crap done). If I'm at the library from 10am until 8pm, I've studied about 6-7 hours (30-45 minute lunch break since, waiting in line for food is what takes up the most, I'm a fast eater), about 2-3 10 minute cigarette breaks, and a few 5-10 minute Facebook/SDN breaks when my head starts pounding. By the time 6-7 hours of efficient study have been completed, I feel like collapsing.

For all of you who would say you've studied 8+ hours a day, how the heck did you do it? And if you read everything I wrote above, you'll see I mean 8+ hours of actual studying, not 8 hours of sitting down with your material plus break times. Minus all the breaks, how did you manage 8+ hours?

I'd love to hear some detailed breakdowns in an effort to alter my schedule as well, because although 6-7 hours may be efficient studying for me I still would like to get more done in a day.

I'm also curious to know how many people break up their study time throughout the day. 4 hours in the morning, 2 hours of gym/nap/play/whatever, 3 hours of study, 1 hour break, etc. etc. I seem to be more inclined to sit down and try to get it all done at once, throughout an 8-10 hour time window.

Yea, that wasn't short at all. My bad. Looking forward to hearing some responses though.

As usual, love you guys.😍

 

[Dusk]

I do 8-10 hrs a day. Now i'm doing 10 hrs a day since test is coming up in a few weeks.

My tip: Use a stopwatch. Only let it run when you're actually studying. You'll freak out at how much time you actually waste and get crap done.

EDIT: of course you don't have to study that much. Many people only study 6 hrs a day and do just fine.

 

[rccostner]

looking back now, i'm not sure how i was able to study that much everyday. i also had to study in the school library to force myself to study. it helped that i packed a lunch and dinner to take with me each day so that i didn't need to take a long break to go somewhere else for food. as far as taking breaks went, i would base all of my breaks when i needed to use the bathroom. i ate while i studied and forced myself to ignore facebook/SDN until i was done studying for the day.

getting the time in was important to me, but it was more important that i completed all of the study material that i had available at least once. i would set a goal for practice problems, videos, etc. to cover each day and if that wasn't enough to cover the time i would increase my goal. it was a big help that i studied with someone else so that i felt responsible for making our study time effective for both of us. i got to the point where i was doing about 2 full practice tests worth of questions (minus the PAT) from DAT Destroyer/Ochem Odyssey/Math Destroyer material each day and watching Chad's videos or some other videos to review what i got wrong.

i also did a timed full practice test each saturday for about 4 weeks and then 4 more during the week of my test.

good luck.

 

[UCSD1984]

Great responses, I'm looking forward to hearing more.

I actually really like this stopwatch idea...

 

[nondescriptive]

I study 8 hours, take an hour or two nap plus food, and hit the books for 4 to 6 more hours. Basically, I would recommend studying until you can't; for some its 6 and others its 16. And like you said, you want to get more done in a day. I never feel like I get enough done in a day and so I push myself. Its all a mental game. Think about it, how many people can study day in and day out by themselves for months at a time? Thats like being in solitary confinement but you have to be mentally strong and do what you got to do. I notice people on SDN are mentally stronger than most other test takers and they are rewarded with high scores.

 

[DentistDMD]

I study 8 hours, take an hour or two nap plus food, and hit the books for 4 to 6 more hours. Basically, I would recommend studying until you can't; for some its 6 and others its 16. And like you said, you want to get more done in a day. I never feel like I get enough done in a day and so I push myself. Its all a mental game. Think about it, how many people can study day in and day out by themselves for months at a time? Thats like being in solitary confinement but you have to be mentally strong and do what you got to do. I notice people on SDN are mentally stronger than most other test takers and they are rewarded with high scores.

what a garbage post

 

[nondescriptive]

what a garbage post

You would know about garbage. I know it hurts you to sleep in it. Is that why you're always so grouchy?

 

[UCSD1984]

what a garbage post

Why do you say that?

 

[DentistDMD]

You would know about garbage. I know it hurts you to sleep in it. Is that why you're always so grouchy?

You'd know

 

[nondescriptive]

You'd know

🙂 Good one 🙂

 

[nondescriptive]

Why do you say that?

You don't know about this prick?

 

[Clancyp]

My best method was changing location. I live in a college town with a 2 hour parking limit on all of the spots downtown, so after around 2-2.5 hours I would HAVE to change location and caffeine source. The best thing you can do to retain information is to take at least 10-30 minute breaks every few hours. People saying the studied 8 hours at a time tend to be using their time inefficiently after 4 hours in, for you really begin to drone through information and tend not to remember or fully understand it. I studied about 10 hours a day and had 4-5 breaks and not to mention massive facebook creeping and SDN trolling. Taking breaks is key to retain.. and remain sane.. (RHYMEZ O SNAP)

 

[nondescriptive]

My best method was changing location. I live in a college town with a 2 hour parking limit on all of the spots downtown, so after around 2-2.5 hours I would HAVE to change location and caffeine source. The best thing you can do to retain information is to take at least 10-30 minute breaks every few hours. People saying the studied 8 hours at a time tend to be using their time inefficiently after 4 hours in, for you really begin to drone through information and tend not to remember or fully understand it. I studied about 10 hours a day and had 4-5 breaks and not to mention massive facebook creeping and SDN trolling. Taking breaks is key to retain.. and remain sane.. (RHYMEZ O SNAP)

Yea, I didn't include that part. Breaks are important. I took a 10-15 minute break every 2 hours; make coffee or smoke a cig, or grab a snack.

 

[UCSD1984]

You don't know about this prick?

Yea, I've seen his posts around. He's finally banned. Such a rude guy, never knew what his deal was.

 

[UCSD1984]

My best method was changing location. I live in a college town with a 2 hour parking limit on all of the spots downtown, so after around 2-2.5 hours I would HAVE to change location and caffeine source. The best thing you can do to retain information is to take at least 10-30 minute breaks every few hours. People saying the studied 8 hours at a time tend to be using their time inefficiently after 4 hours in, for you really begin to drone through information and tend not to remember or fully understand it. I studied about 10 hours a day and had 4-5 breaks and not to mention massive facebook creeping and SDN trolling. Taking breaks is key to retain.. and remain sane.. (RHYMEZ O SNAP)

Great idea, this is good stuff.

 

[dentalWorks]

you gotta remember (and I know you've heard this before) that everyone is different.

We come from different intelligence and attention-span levels. Some people can study for only 4-5 hours but accomplish more than the guy next door doing 16+ hours. The amount of time you spent with the books isn't in anyway indicative of how efficient you are.

I can almost assure you, the people whom study 10+ hours a day (and I mean 10 REAL hardcore hours) are very few and far in-between. We are talking about some serious attention span, most of us aren't blessed with such gift.

The majority however, do spend alot of time "studying"... like 12+ hours, but only 6-7 are efficient and the rest are half-assing by staring too long at a page, wiggling the pen, reading and re-reading the same paragraph over and over, etc etc (you guys know what im talking about)

 

[SEAirLand]

I took summer classes while studying for the DAT.

When I was done with the class and HW, I would roll into my studies for the DAT. I had class 4 days a week, for two hours. On the weekends and the 5th weekday, I just studied until I was dizzy tired. Then I would go for a mtn bike ride and get my mind straight. Eat some food, spend time with my wife, then I would hit the books again, or videos, and study until I got tired again. About this time it would be about 11pm at night and time for bed.

Rinse and repeat....

 

[Mr PS09]

My best method was changing location. I live in a college town with a 2 hour parking limit on all of the spots downtown, so after around 2-2.5 hours I would HAVE to change location and caffeine source. The best thing you can do to retain information is to take at least 10-30 minute breaks every few hours. People saying the studied 8 hours at a time tend to be using their time inefficiently after 4 hours in, for you really begin to drone through information and tend not to remember or fully understand it. I studied about 10 hours a day and had 4-5 breaks and not to mention massive facebook creeping and SDN trolling. Taking breaks is key to retain.. and remain sane.. (RHYMEZ O SNAP)

This is very impt. I read an article recently that says your are more likely to remember something if you study it in more than one place.

Great responses, I'm looking forward to hearing more.

I actually really like this stopwatch idea...

I have been doing this...you would be amazed at how well it works

Besides all this, I would also mix it up. Switch it up from ochem to gchem to math to bio. Never do too much of one thing any day. Do a little each day.Check out this article if you get a chance.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/health/views/07mind.html?pagewanted=1

 

[jbop]

you gotta remember (and I know you've heard this before) that everyone is different.

We come from different intelligence and attention-span levels. Some people can study for only 4-5 hours but accomplish more than the guy next door doing 16+ hours. The amount of time you spent with the books isn't in anyway indicative of how efficient you are.

I can almost assure you, the people whom study 10+ hours a day (and I mean 10 REAL hardcore hours) are very few and far in-between. We are talking about some serious attention span, most of us aren't blessed with such gift.

The majority however, do spend alot of time "studying"... like 12+ hours, but only 6-7 are efficient and the rest are half-assing by staring too long at a page, wiggling the pen, reading and re-reading the same paragraph over and over, etc etc (you guys know what im talking about)

Heh. True that, especially the first part. I think whichever way you've studied in the past that you found most effective applies to studying for the DAT. For instance, I used to devote whole days to studying for organic chemistry while I was taking the class. 8 real hours of studying, and the rest would be "studying." I used to listen to music to help me focus, but it was the wrong way to study for me, at least.

I studied between 8.5 to 11 hours a day, not counting breaks. Like you, I woke up, showered if I hadn't the night before, ate breakfast, and started studying immediately. I studied in bulk amounts of time. Morning: 3 hours. Afternoon: 5 hours (plus tiny break in between). About 3 more hours after dinner.

I noticed that I studied more as the DAT approached. It's natural! You can start off a little slow but pick up the pace, and this happens naturally!

For my health, I did aerobic exercise at the end of the night while watching late night TV. Then simple body-weight workouts, like pushups and pullups. Craig Ferguson forever takes the credit for keeping me sane through my studying.

I think dentalWorks was spot-on about how some need to study a lot while others can do the same amount in less time. I wish I was part of the latter group, but I'm not. I did it the hard way...

 

[Vaheb]

I tend not to count how many hours I work in a day because that only gets to worry me. As I told you in my other post I try to get in 8 hours now since the test is so close, but if I don't it doesn't worry me because instead at the beginning of the day, I set myself a goal of all the information I want to go through and if I end up going through it all thats when I say **** it.

Just try to set goals for the day and try to accomplish them. It doesn't matter how many hours you put into that day, it matters how much information you've actually gone through!

 

[UCSD1984]

Great responses, thanks everyone. All very informative.

 

[CougarDental]

I with you. I got about 7-8 solid hours per day, then I was done. When you're not studying, do something physical and fun. I prefer tennis or jogging. It really helped de-stress. I ignored all of the people that said you can't score well without doing 10+ hours per day because after 8 hours, the quality of my study was terrible and I remembered nothing. Simply do what's best for you.

 

[UCSD1984]

I with you. I got about 7-8 solid hours per day, then I was done. When you're not studying, do something physical and fun. I prefer tennis or jogging. It really helped de-stress. I ignored all of the people that said you can't score well without doing 10+ hours per day because after 8 hours, the quality of my study was terrible and I remembered nothing. Simply do what's best for you.

Right on, thanks for the contribution to this thread. Love the responses, very helpful.