how long should it take to go through a lecture?

[tennisfan1]

Hey Guys,

I have a quick question for you. I'm trying to figure out how to study more efficiently because I think I spend a lot more time studying than necessary. Suppose a professor gets through 70 slides per lecture. It takes me about 4 hours to review this 70 slide lecture. Is that normal? How long does it usually take? I know it differs per class. But suppose it's a physiology, histology, or anatomy lecture. How long does it take you? And is there a way I can get through this faster and have a life outside of school?

It's kinda a dumb question but I'm curious about how different people get through this.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Athina]

Hey Guys,

I have a quick question for you. I'm trying to figure out how to study more efficiently because I think I spend a lot more time studying than necessary. Suppose a professor gets through 70 slides per lecture. It takes me about 4 hours to review this 70 slide lecture. Is that normal? How long does it usually take? I know it differs per class. But suppose it's a physiology, histology, or anatomy lecture. How long does it take you? And is there a way I can get through this faster and have a life outside of school?

It's kinda a dumb question but I'm curious about how different people get through this.

They say for every hour you're in class, you should review 3 hours at home. So 4 hours for a 70 slide lecture sounds about right, according to that rule. After 4 hours, how's your grasp of the material?

 

[link2swim06]

Hey Guys,

I have a quick question for you. I'm trying to figure out how to study more efficiently because I think I spend a lot more time studying than necessary. Suppose a professor gets through 70 slides per lecture. It takes me about 4 hours to review this 70 slide lecture. Is that normal? How long does it usually take? I know it differs per class. But suppose it's a physiology, histology, or anatomy lecture. How long does it take you? And is there a way I can get through this faster and have a life outside of school?

It's kinda a dumb question but I'm curious about how different people get through this.

I listen at 2X speed...so in 1 hour I listen twice. Then maybe read it once again...so another 30 minutes.

So I average 1.5-2 hours per lecture.

OP avoid class thats a huge time waste, its all about repetition, at 2X speed (assuming you have recorded lectures) your brain will adjust to the increased speed quickly. You will find if you concentrate, you can knock out a ppt in about 1.5-2 hours...assuming you can make it through the material 3-4 times.

I dont write anything down or highlight anything, bc that just waste time, just go through all the details as many times as possible. Also on top of that supplement with questions, thats the best learning tool by FAR.

I dont get people make notes...I think its just something people are use to doing from high school and feel more "comfortable" doing it even though its terrible inefficient.

Also Athina how has the class of 2016 started yet, its not even March?

 

[tryp]

I think it depends how you learn best. I learn by physically writing things down, which is why I take notes. I could learn more re-writing the slides once than going through it a dozen times just staring at it. To each their own, I guess.

It takes me about 2 hours to re-write a 1 hour lecture - sometimes a bit more or less depending on how dense it is.

 

[MrBeauregard]

It's tough to say based on the number of slides.

As far as audio goes: I have professors who give a lecture that only has 25 slides but the it's on a dense topic and the professor talks at the speed of freaking light (this just so happens to be one of the smartest professors I've ever met, so you can imagine the difficulty). In this case, a lot of the material is spoken and not necessarily written in the powerpoint, so I have to listen, pause, write, start again, listen, pause, write, and repeat until the lecture is over. For those, it may actually take me close to 1.5-2 hours to get through a 50 minute lecture that I'm playing on 1.7x speed. I have other professors that give path lectures with like 100 slides but they talk soooo sllloooooowwww. For them, I can put the audio on 2x and breeze through the lecture in 25 minutes because all of the material is on the slide; I just listen for completeness.

As far as reviewing goes: I personally think that 4 hours for a 1 hour lecture is a bit long unless you are supplementing with texts, etc. I will frequently read along in a book while I go through a lecture so that I can put the two together and compare what my professor says to what a trusted text says. If you are doing this and you like to take things slowly and really absorb for long-term knowledge then I think you are okay. However, if you have to go through lectures multiple times with your method, I don't think you are being as efficient as you could be. I typically take about 1.5 hours to go through a 1 hour lecture and it continues to get shorter and shorter the more I review it to where it may only take me 15-20 minutes. I also like to get through lectures like 4-5x before an exam, so I make a point to go a little quicker because of that.

 

[ljpm8224]

I listen at 2X speed...so in 1 hour I listen twice. Then maybe read it once again...so another 30 minutes.

So I average 1.5-2 hours per lecture.

OP avoid class thats a huge time waste, its all about repetition, at 2X speed (assuming you have recorded lectures) your brain will adjust to the increased speed quickly. You will find if you concentrate, you can knock out a ppt in about 1.5-2 hours...assuming you can make it through the material 3-4 times.

I dont write anything down or highlight anything, bc that just waste time, just go through all the details as many times as possible. Also on top of that supplement with questions, thats the best learning tool by FAR.

I dont get people make notes...I think its just something people are use to doing from high school and feel more "comfortable" doing it even though its terrible inefficient.

Also Athina how has the class of 2016 started yet, its not even March?

link, what software do you use to listen at 2x speed? I use microsoft word for mac in notebook view, and at 2x speed it just turns into garbled... I think I need 1.3x speed or something, but there is no setting for that!

 

[link2swim06]

link, what software do you use to listen at 2x speed? I use microsoft word for mac in notebook view, and at 2x speed it just turns into garbled... I think I need 1.3x speed or something, but there is no setting for that!

Audacity is a good free program but takes a minute or 2 to convert which kinda sucks. However, it isnt going to be garbled then and it works with a bunch of file types (including those from itunes U)

Windows media player has a function which lets you speed it up (this is what I use) and just plays it faster instead of actually making a new file.

 

[sirenomelia]

2 hours reviewing/annotating for every 1 hour lecture is standard.
If the lecture sucks or if the topic is involved/complicated then I spent more.

 

[dr zaius]

I found that it's really dependent on the lecture material. If it's a bunch of slides crammed with complicated info it takes a longer amount of time.

 

[ljpm8224]

Audacity is a good free program but takes a minute or 2 to convert which kinda sucks. However, it isnt going to be garbled then and it works with a bunch of file types (including those from itunes U)

Windows media player has a function which lets you speed it up (this is what I use) and just plays it faster instead of actually making a new file.

^^ cool, thanks. I'll try both of these out.

 

[officedepot]

.

 

[Ravendown]

you can get 1.3X speed in VLC for those that care...

 

[tennisfan1]

I'll be sure to try out the methods. Thanks a lot! I guess my aim would be at most 2 hours for every one hour spent in class. Regarding attending lectures, it's a complete waste of time if I have not spent some time previewing the material. Otherwise, it's just hard to pay attention - everything seems to be in another language. But completely eliminating professor contact through lectures makes me feel kinda guilty and out of the loop. I somehow think the professor will take me less seriously if I don't attend lecture. So I'm still debating on that.

 

[JP2740]

I'll be sure to try out the methods. Thanks a lot! I guess my aim would be at most 2 hours for every one hour spent in class. Regarding attending lectures, it's a complete waste of time if I have not spent some time previewing the material. Otherwise, it's just hard to pay attention - everything seems to be in another language. But completely eliminating professor contact through lectures makes me feel kinda guilty and out of the loop. I somehow think the professor will take me less seriously if I don't attend lecture. So I'm still debating on that.

This is about you, not the professor. If something benefits you, do it. It's definitely not going to hurt anyone by not attending.

 

[Rippey]

you can get 1.3X speed in VLC for those that care...

VLC is a piece of ****

 

[Ilovewater]

It takes me about 4 hours to review this 70 slide lecture.

Is that 4 hours just for going through one lecture for the first time? If so, that is way too long. It usually takes me 1-1.5 hours to go through a lecture depending on that difficulty of the content. Then, I go through the materials 2-3x before exam. I wouldn't spend so much time on one lecture. Do you get to go through the lectures multiple times? I think that's more important in helping you remember the information.

 

[Ravendown]

VLC is a piece of ****

Nah, I'm betting your computer/Mac is.

 

[laxplayanumba16]

VLC rules. It can play just about any kind of media you throw at it. Also, with VLC you can skip the lecture backwards and forwards using alt + ← or → (~10 seconds) and ctl + ← or → (1 minute). I find that super handy for those times when you need to see/hear something again, or skip over basic stuff.

 

[yorkergizer]

One more vote for skipping lectures and watching them on your computer if you get nothing out of going to class. Unless there are <40 people in your class, the profs won't even notice if you're there or not there. Think about it, can you even remember the names of all your profs from last year? I can't. How are they going to a. remember you were only there for one or two classes or b. recognize you at all if you've never been to class 😉

If you don't attend class but later run into them and they find out you were in their class, they'll probably assume they just forgot your face, not that you didn't attend. This is, of course, assuming they even care, and odds are they don't as long as you're learning the material.

 

[yorkergizer]

I use VLC on my Mac and love it. I've found it had the least distortion of the audio when speeding up lectures.

On my iPhone I use SpeedUpTV. Definitely worth the $3 if you have long commutes or think you'll be watching lots of lectures on your phone. You can access any videos on your phone or online through the program. Can adjust speed by 0.1 increments with litte distortion.

I now play the lecture sped up on SpeedUpTV, and flip through the slides on my Mac. Very efficient.

 

[Phyozo]

I agree with those who said about 2 hr review/annotate / one hr of lecture. I usually listen to lecture at 1.5x speed. Multiple passes is more effective than spending a lot of time devoted to one topic. For a given amount of time, I'd rather do 5x passes at my notes than reviewing into each topic in-depth...this is for memorization purposes after you know you understand the material.

 

[tennisfan1]

Thanks for all of your help! I really appreciate it. I can normally go pretty fast for my physio, biochem, and histo lectures. Anatomy seems to take me forever though because the lectures have so many details. Any tips for handling that feat?

 

[texahn]

You can use quicktime or vlc. The new VLC for mac is actually decent. The old one used to mess up when I'd hit pause then start up, the new one doesn't.

 

[JP2740]

Thanks for all of your help! I really appreciate it. I can normally go pretty fast for my physio, biochem, and histo lectures. Anatomy seems to take me forever though because the lectures have so many details. Any tips for handling that feat?

How are your provided slides/notes? Are you sure most of what is said is not put in there? If not, I would just take the extra time on that. It could help you out.

 

[tennisfan1]

I find it easy to memorize pathways and concepts but when it comes to gross anatomy I get so bored that I start to zone out while studying. Yea yea, suck it up. I got it. But even when I suck it up it takes forever. I just wish I could somehow go faster to make the pain shorter while still absorbing the material lol.

 

[Freakfarm0]

We have scribes that take notes for us. I take their notes (around fifteen pages per lecture) and rewrite them into about two pages. This takes me one hour per lecture. Then, it only takes me twenty minutes to go through that lecture (this speeds up as you go over the same lecture again and again).

So, with three hours I will have gone through the lecture seven or eight times.

Repetition > everything else for medical school.