How many hours a day?

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Pinner Doc

drop knees, not bombs
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How many hours per day are y'all putting into studying? And how many weeks total are you studying?

Me: I'm taking about 4 weeks to just study for the Boards (I did a bit on the side towards the end of 2nd year). Right now I'm averaging about 8-9 hours/day. I feel like towards the final week of studying I'll be more like 10-11 hours/day.

Is this pretty standard? I keep hearing how your score really reflects hard work and the time you put in. I'm feeling pretty good... not burned out yet... but when people keep echoing this statement as their amazing scores roll in, I have to wonder if I should be pushing myself more. I feel like I *should* be exhausting myself, or I can't really say I'm "putting the time in"... and yet, I'm glad that I'm not burned out in week 2.

Thoughts?
 
Pinner Doc said:
How many hours per day are y'all putting into studying? And how many weeks total are you studying?

Me: I'm taking about 4 weeks to just study for the Boards (I did a bit on the side towards the end of 2nd year). Right now I'm averaging about 8-9 hours/day. I feel like towards the final week of studying I'll be more like 10-11 hours/day.

Is this pretty standard? I keep hearing how your score really reflects hard work and the time you put in. I'm feeling pretty good... not burned out yet... but when people keep echoing this statement as their amazing scores roll in, I have to wonder if I should be pushing myself more. I feel like I *should* be exhausting myself, or I can't really say I'm "putting the time in"... and yet, I'm glad that I'm not burned out in week 2.

Thoughts?

Though I am in the same boat is you, I would prefer QUALITY studying over QUANTITY studying any day. Bottomline is you have to figure out what you need to do for yourself in this regard
 
Pinner Doc said:
How many hours per day are y'all putting into studying? And how many weeks total are you studying?

Me: I'm taking about 4 weeks to just study for the Boards (I did a bit on the side towards the end of 2nd year). Right now I'm averaging about 8-9 hours/day. I feel like towards the final week of studying I'll be more like 10-11 hours/day.

Is this pretty standard? I keep hearing how your score really reflects hard work and the time you put in. I'm feeling pretty good... not burned out yet... but when people keep echoing this statement as their amazing scores roll in, I have to wonder if I should be pushing myself more. I feel like I *should* be exhausting myself, or I can't really say I'm "putting the time in"... and yet, I'm glad that I'm not burned out in week 2.

Thoughts?

Hi there,
Actually your REVIEW for Step I is just the opposite. You STUDY for your courses and REVIEW for Step I. Do not push yourself to exhaustion but review systematically and take breaks so that your mind is refreshed and ready when you return to your study. Do something aerobic on your study days to get rid of tension (makes you less efficient and more tired). Keep well-hydrated with non-caffeinated drinks.

In any event, many people get to the saturation point after about four weeks and feel that they cannot look at another review book. If this is you, take more frequent breaks. It's not about burnout or working to exhaustion but getting a complete review with emphasis on your weaker areas. Pace yourself and you will be fine.

There are no rewards for working yourself into the ground. On the night before my exam, I stopped studying and watched a funny movie. I slept well and finished my test in six hours with plenty of time to go back and review all of my answers in each section. Be sure to get plenty of rest so that you are awake and refreshed on test day. Sure you will be nervous but let your nerves power you to doing well.

njbmd 🙂
 
I'm taking 3.5 weeks to study and I'm averaging about 9 hrs/day. I'm on one of my breaks right now🙂 May 30th here I come!
 
I'm prolly averaging 8-9 hrs a day as well, that's not including breaks, so my total day is much longer. I'm spending a good chunk of that doing questions, maybe about 3 hrs worth (including going over answers).

I take so many breaks during the day tho, it would be nice to get it all over with by, say 7pm, but that just hasn't happened yet, and I don't feel overly worked, sleep fine, and still have time to exercise, & the occasional dinner out, night off.

b
 
njbmd said:
Hi there,
Actually your REVIEW for Step I is just the opposite. You STUDY for your courses and REVIEW for Step I.

Yeah yeah, you say potato, I say po-tah-to 😉

Thanks for the input!!
 
Pinner Doc said:
How many hours per day are y'all putting into studying? And how many weeks total are you studying?

Me: I'm taking about 4 weeks to just study for the Boards (I did a bit on the side towards the end of 2nd year). Right now I'm averaging about 8-9 hours/day. I feel like towards the final week of studying I'll be more like 10-11 hours/day.

Is this pretty standard? I keep hearing how your score really reflects hard work and the time you put in. I'm feeling pretty good... not burned out yet... but when people keep echoing this statement as their amazing scores roll in, I have to wonder if I should be pushing myself more. I feel like I *should* be exhausting myself, or I can't really say I'm "putting the time in"... and yet, I'm glad that I'm not burned out in week 2.

Thoughts?

I study about 6 hours a day. I do about 100 questions after that, which takes about an hour to do and review. I've got 4 weeks to study, but i listend to the goljan audio several times over the course of the semester. I do 3 hours of path and 3 hours of FA everyday.
 
do you guys ever feel guilty about taking breaks? in the mornings i go to the gym, and then when i take a break for lunch or dinner it ends up being an hour or two each time. even so, i feel guilty about not studying in those couple of hours ... how do you guys feel about breaks?
 
dara678 said:
do you guys ever feel guilty about taking breaks? in the mornings i go to the gym, and then when i take a break for lunch or dinner it ends up being an hour or two each time. even so, i feel guilty about not studying in those couple of hours ... how do you guys feel about breaks?


I sometimes feel guilty about taking breaks, but I've found that my most productive times are immediately following a break.

Also, if you don't take a break to workout or get away from this stuff once in a while, you'll go nuts... at least I would!


I guess what I'm saying is taking 2-4 hours of breaks a day is better than staring at the same page for those 2 hours.
 
What's there to feel guilty about? Study when you want to study. Play Xbox when you wanna play xbox. Go to the movies when you wanna go to the movies. I don't know that you can suddenly start studying 14 hours a day if you never did before. I firmly believe that anyone who says they study more than 8 hours in a day for weeks at a time is lying.
 
dara678 said:
do you guys ever feel guilty about taking breaks? in the mornings i go to the gym, and then when i take a break for lunch or dinner it ends up being an hour or two each time. even so, i feel guilty about not studying in those couple of hours ... how do you guys feel about breaks?

You can take Goljan with you to the gym 🙂 and feel a little less guilty. Bet being real, that exercise and break gives you more energy to study better. So enjoy your break and don't think about it...

Good luck :luck: :luck: :luck:
 
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