Study Hours

[Aaron]

Agree with Bucket Hat - you need to dedicate time to yourself as well. Honestly, Year 12 is a massive year.... so looking after yourself is so important. Take a day off weekly to dedicate to you (this means NO study - no matter the type - whatsoever), practice mindfulness if that's your thing. Half of it is actually being disciplined and balancing the work and life. I have used this system ever since I was in Year 12. Now as a teacher, I still dedicate one day on the weekend where I force myself not to work at all because I don't want it to consume my life.  You give yourself the best chance of success where you still meet your work requirements but also find time to maintain your mental, physical and emotional health.

I don't think depriving yourself of "me" time is the right way to go about things. Do some study, but don't overdo it to the point where you even spend all your weekends doing it. It might work for some but for the vast majority you'll send yourself downhill very quickly. The challenge of Year 12 is to actually get through the year, then your scores etc. come after that.

Find a system that works for you. Sleep is important, but so is looking after yourself in other ways. Studying every day for lengthy periods of time does not achieve that.

[keightleennd]

For me there’s a lot of factors which influence how often I’m studying.

Most days I’m at school from 8 until 4/4:30. My classes run from about 9-3. If I have a SAC that morning I’ll normally sit down and revise, but I get to school early just to wake up and go for a walk.

On a Monday I go to my sporting activities from around 5-8, which is about how long people are saying they’re studying per night. For me I definitely need that break from school, it keeps me sane lol.

My school offers after school classes which run until about 4 and they leave a study hall open for us until 4:30. I’m there 4/5 nights a week, because I find that I can’t do much at home.

When I’m home I normally start my homework and study around 6:30/7 until 9/9:30, which then I’ll either read the book we’re reading for school or a book for fun until about 10

I have problems sleeping so I wake up around 2:30 and I’m awake for like an hour. If I find that I can’t fall asleep I also try doing some studying then too.

I also completed a year 12 subject last year which gives me a free period to do homework or study. I spend 5 hours a week studying during school hours. If you’re doing 5/6 subjects I would definitely suggest dropping them as you’ll have more time to study

My study timetable is nonexistent during the weekend. My parents are unpredictable and often end up dragging me places last minute. So I wake up at 6/7 like I would on a weekday and I’ll study until 8/9. Once I’m done I’ll feed my animals, take my dog for a walk and go on my phone for a bit. If I know we have no plans I’ll go back to studying, or I’ll attempt to work around our plans.

I used to be really bad with my phone. If you’re willing to spend money there are apps on the App Store which help me maintain my focus. I used forest, which was like $3. From the same company have they this thing called SleepTown which is like $3 too. With forest you plant a virtual tree and gain coins when you’re done if you don’t use your phone. With SleepTown you build a virtual building and gain coins if you don’t use your phone. I find these apps to be very motivating

This year I’m keeping 2 planners. I got a really cute planner at the start of the year, but our school also ended up supplying us with these really cute planners too. I use my school one to put SAC dates and school events in as well as my homework. My other planner I use like a to-do list, I’ll put down what I want to study/do as extra work.

Keep in mind to matter how strict you think your studying has to be, if you find that you’re distracting yourself or you just can’t focus you NEED to take a break there is no point wasting your time and energy in something that you’re not going to retain

[JR_StudyEd]

Hi. I'm a current Year 12 student and I've come here to address a problem I have that is relevant to the topic (I suppose).

So our school tells us Year 12s that we should be studying 3 hours a night, but I'm lucky to do 2 hours. I don't know why. My weeknight study seems to be effective enough, and I'm more a 'quality over quantity' kind of person when it comes to study habits. Really, I couldn't care less how much time I spend on my work on any given day or night just as long as productive work is being done, but not so much as to the detriment of my health and wellbeing.

In addition, screw study 'timetables'. They almost never work (for me anyway) due to something called a lack of flexibility. So I don't really have a way of keeping track of how many hours I am studying, as I use a variation of the pomodoro technique and a clear to-do list to plan out my study. Do study breaks count towards study time? You see, it is next to impossible for me to study at home due to two things: uncontrollable noise and uncontrollable distractions (TVs and phones, I'm looking at you). So I'm forced to study in the library, but I have to take the bus home, which eats up more time (but not too much tbh). So I'd get home around 7pm, then chill out for a bit, maybe exercise, then eat dinner. After dinner, I'm basically mentally and physically drained and unable to do anything that resembles studying. Ideally, I would sleep at 10pm, to wake up at 7am. Should I stress out too much about all the lost time that I'm not really in control of? In previous years the amount of hours you study doesn't seem to matter so much, but this year, everyone almost always seems to be ahead of you no matter how you adjust your habits. Also, I need to get back to studying now!

EDIT: I almost forgot. How do we ensure that our study habits don't go to crap on the weekend? I study well enough on weeknights, but just can't be bothered on weekends. And yes, I'm aware some time should be devoted to chilling out, but there must be a balance, right? (I mean, us Victorians just had a long weekend, as for me I basically did no study for 3 whole days...)