<p>Hi everyone! Just wanted to compare.
Thanks.</p>
<p>Bumppppppp!</p>
<p>What age student? High school freshman? HS senior? College student? If they are away at college we truly don’t know for sure…</p>
<p>I can say with absolute certainty, all three of mine study:</p>
<p>More than I ever did, and not nearly enough.</p>
<p>In high school, hardly at all, but they did do a couple of hours of homework every night.</p>
<p>In college, no idea. My younger son says he studies Arabic a couple of hours most days including homework. I don’t think he studies much for his other course, but he is doing the reading and writing papers. How much he reviews for exams? I have no idea, but both my kids tend to retain everything that interests them so probably not much. My son did claim to study non stop for Arabic the last days before the exam.</p>
<p>When questions like this are asked, I think it pays to define terms–many kids don’t “study” very much at all, except when they have a test or exam coming up. On the other hand, they may spend a substantial amount of time “doing homework,” as in problem sets, papers, assigned reading, etc. I think there’s a cultural divide, too–some kids are expected (by their parents) to “study” every day even if they don’t “have homework.”</p>
<p>My son in college spends a tremendous amount of time on work for some of his classes–but it’s not exactly “studying.”</p>
<p>I have no kids (please excuse my presence on this forum, but it has some interesting threads and I can’t help myself), but nobody answered and I might as well answer on my own account:</p>
<p>**Elementary and Middle School: **</p>
<p>Studying: None. </p>
<p>Homework: Did homework, most of the time. If homework got to be over an hour, I just stopped and went out to hang with friends or did something fun. I preferred computer games and pleasure reading in the last half of middle school. </p>
<p>**High School: **</p>
<p>Studying: About two to four hours before large tests, twenty minutes before quizzes, maybe an hour a day on interesting topics, a few extra hours on the weekend to make sure I remembered some of the more difficult material from the week. </p>
<p>Homework: I was very careful not to spend too much time on my homework, since homework in high school is invariably busywork (excluding math homework). Some days, I had maybe three hours. Most days, I finished in class, hung out with my friends for a few hours after school, ate dinner, read some of a book, and did some studying. I think this is the best approach. </p>
<p>College: </p>
<p>Studying: Between zero and ten hours before a midterm or final, depending on the class. About an hour a day on interesting topics. Anywhere up to eight extra hours on the weekend, unless I have too much actual work. </p>
<p>Homework: Problem sets are pretty intense and make studying not too necessary. Some of my harder classes had about ten or fifteen hour problem sets, and they really burnt me out on the topics. Maybe twenty to thirty hours per week. SUCKS.</p>
<p>HS: hardly ever.</p>
<p>College: enough to get good grades. No idea what that translates to in hours.</p>
<p>Skip the comparisons. Too many variables. Age, gender, material, IQ, past knowledge, difficulty of courses, number of courses… In HS- study hall means more study time for fewer classes. Aptitude for the subject counts as well- writing may take a lot for the math person while the writer easily does that but has a horrendous time with math. Procrastination counts, too. How much of the study time is actually avoidance of doing the real work? Efficiency matters- concentrating or multitasking. Some are fast or slow readers.</p>
<p>This reminds me of how son’s HS grades went senior year. Calculus didn’t grade homework so an A could be had on the basis of tests while Statistics required homework- zeroes on that with 100% on tests meant only a B. The amount of study time isn’t as important as the knowledge gained (and knowing the material before it is presented changes the amount of time needed).</p>
<p>Some students choose to challenge themselves, others to get top grades and others…</p>
<p>A better question for your child would be- did they take enough time to learn the material? If so- great. If not, why not?</p>
<p>Not nearly enough.</p>