# Do you have to study ALL the time?



## salt (Jun 22, 2015)

growing up im used to my intj brother sitting at his desk all day, occasionally take a 30 minute rest (he set an alarm) to gain back energy and then returned to the desk. he said thats what you need to do if you want to get grades. hes pretty hardcore and i admire him for his will and effort. but despite his advice i had never committed to that rule because it felt wasteful, until my senior year in high school which is now, because i want to get in a good college. every day from monday to saturday i have to go to school from 7am to 11am, then eat lunch and start the evening classes at 1pm to 5pm, then eat dinner, bath and go to an extra class from 6pm to 8pm, then go home to do a lot of homework and revision til 10pm which is when i usually feel sleepy, then i go to sleep but set the alarm at 3am to wake up and continue the homework. on sunday i get to rest for 2 hours which is nice, 1 hour in the morning after breakfast and the other after dinner, between that ill be at the desk doing anything that relates to school. of course that pays off and i get ahead of everyone and all, but this wasteful feeling is still lingering. im not as natural at this as my brother, im just good at forcing myself to do things. i was always the one just studying enough to not get bad grades, like above 5 or so, and would only get good grades at subjects i did really enjoy which is english as a foreign language and pe.
why is my country's education system so wrong? this question has always in me. is other country, say america, has this overwhelming system too when students have to spend at least 90% of their time in a day schooling to get average good grades? need feedback from u guys, say anything u want, pls include how the edu system in ur country works if u can.


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## JayDubs (Sep 1, 2009)

*Disclaimer: I graduated high school quite a few years ago. So things might have changed since then. 

I grew up in the United States, going to (very good) public schools. I was always near the top of my classes, and myself (and the other top students) did not have to spend all day studying. 

To be honest, if you were intelligent, you didn't have to study very hard to get a good grade. You just had to pay attention in class, do all the homework and reading assignments, and do a little bit of studying on the side. If you did that, you could get an A (90 percent or higher). And since there was no different between a 90 and a 100 in terms of grade point average, you just had to do "good enough" to stay near the top of the class. 

That said, getting into a good college in the States might require some different things. For us, factors include: 

1. Have a good GPA. It doesn't have to be perfect, just mostly As to Bs, since high schools have different grading rules. 

2. Study for the standardized tests so you get a good score. SAT, ACT, and similar. You can do this through an outside course or through purchased study materials. It doesn't eat up your whole day though. Maybe an hour a day in the weeks or months before the test. 

3. Have good extracurricular activities and recommendations. In essence, excel at something you enjoy. Sports, math team, volunteer, leadership activities, internships, it doesn't matter. It doesn't have to be academically oriented. But show you're being productive outside of school, and you're good at something. 

4. Write and interview well. Most schools ask for a personal statement and ask you in for an interview. 

5. Don't get in serious trouble. Aka, don't get arrested. 

You don't need all of that. But if you excel in all of them, you'll not only get into a good school. They will probably give you a full or partial scholarship.


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## Wtpmjgda (Dec 15, 2014)

If you spend a whole day for studying, then its nothing but time wasting. Learning is more effective in early morning(3am - 7am). At that time our brain is in alpha state also external noises are much lower. So you can learn things much faster. If you feel sleepy while studying at night, then shut all books and get some sleep. You can't grasp anything if you feel tired/sleepy.


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## tanstaafl28 (Sep 10, 2012)

No, I never had to study all the time, even in university and grad school. I was very good at taking notes and paying attention in class. I picked up the basic facts and remembered them well enough to get good scores on the tests. I also became very good at writing academic papers. Give me a topic and I'll crank out 5-7 pages in a few hours. I was not as good with Math and Science as I was was English and Social Science, however.


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## Bluefireluv (Jun 17, 2013)

It's good that you're good at forcing yourself to do things xD Mah role model.

Like they say (don't ask who, I don't know), "study hard, not smart". Understanding instead of memorising things makes everything a lot easier. Once you understand a concept or whatever, you can pretty much ignore it and refresh your memory closer to exam time (wait, do you have exams? We have them every few weeks here so...) Maths, for example. Once you understand you just need to apply the method/formula. And for the stuff you can't go around without memorising...sigh! Just put in the effort to commit it into your memory, then read through it again after a week or so so it stays fresh. Eventually it'll just somehow sink in. 

Listen in class so you don't waste all that time. What I like to do is to write down some of the things the teacher says, just so I don't fall asleep (oh, the temptation!) and also it helps me to absorb stuff. And afterwards if I'm still confused on whatever was taught I like writing and organising my own notes so it makes everything clear to me, way easier to understand and memorise. Don't do homework for the sake of doing it, take it more as a way to apply what you've learnt. And if you do have exams, see if you can find out in advance how it'll be like. Over here we have past-year papers, which are really helpful. Lets you know what to expect so you don't go in blindly ("you mean we have to write an essay?") and prepare better for it. 

Doing well academically is pretty much just knowing how the system works and working to beat it, really. Personally I don't think it has anything to do with how smart you are. Crafty, maybe. But it's annoying when people go "he did well, what a genius" or "wow you scored horribly, you're dumb". No need to throw away fun for grades as well! Although it could be really different on your side of the world, I guess.


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## Mbaruh (Aug 22, 2013)

Studying from 7am to 8pm sounds awful, but you get pretty big breaks. When I was in 11th grade I studied a lot from 8am to 4 or 5pm with a cumulative 1 hour break (short break every two periods). Friday was always until 1pm. 
Not sure which options is better, but I had the rest of the day off to study / get lazy / whatever.

12th grade was a hike. By that time students finish most of their subjects and are left with math, English, and whatever subjects they majored. By the end of senior year I barely had to show up in school.

As said above, in hindsight I should have spent my free time on getting an edge in other areas besides my studies.


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## Convex (Jan 5, 2015)

Yes, you must let the study consume you until you are empty and devoid of a soul, and use this to achieve success. Though, trust is needed; as if you do not trust the study, the study will not trust you.


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## Monteskiusz (Sep 16, 2015)

Study all the time? What about creativity?
Introspection and reflection>>Study and reading.
Coming up with ideas is much better then to read about it.


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## 66393 (Oct 17, 2013)

People always confuse me when they make threads like this... Study as much as you need to succeed. A time-limit given by someone else will cause you either to study too little or too much. Study until you are confident with the material.


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## 66393 (Oct 17, 2013)

tanstaafl28 said:


> No, I never had to study all the time, even in university and grad school. I was very good at taking notes and paying attention in class. I picked up the basic facts and remembered them well enough to get good scores on the tests. I also became very good at writing academic papers. Give me a topic and I'll crank out 5-7 pages in a few hours. I was not as good with Math and Science as I was was English and Social Science, however.


Not shocking. You didn't have to study for easy classes because they are easy. Math and sciences are the only worthwhile classes anyway.


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## tanstaafl28 (Sep 10, 2012)

imaPanda said:


> Not shocking. You didn't have to study for easy classes because they are easy. Math and sciences are the only worthwhile classes anyway.


Subjective opinion. 

I said I wasn't as good with math and science. I didn't say I sucked at them. It was conventional teaching practices that caused me difficulty in those areas. I had to learn them my way.


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## Du Toit (Mar 2, 2014)

No. You can study all the time, if you like, but what I found out is how shallow classes are; you don't need much knowledge (and intellect) to pass them. I just found this out in college. As passionate as I am when setting myself to learn, I've realized that it always slowed me down, and that going the path of least resistance was what I needed to do if i wanted grades. School doesn't (really) care about how much you learn, they care more about how good you can regurgitate info they ask for.


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## aef8234 (Feb 18, 2012)

Long story short fetishism for grades that end up amounting to nothing.

Short story long, places like murica have always had a weird obsession with quantifying philosophical things from love to intelligence, is it really that surprising when both a grade system is placed AND people religiously gluing themselves to a table hours at a time to be 10% better?


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## angelfish (Feb 17, 2011)

I'm way more surprised by the amount of class you attend than the amount of study/schoolwork that you do. 10 hours of class for 6 days a week? Is that all compulsory, or are you aiming for a very high-tier university?

I'm from the USA. In my last two years of high school, I did an advanced program, and I spent 7:40 - 4:00 (sometimes 4:30) in class, Monday - Friday, and then I would usually spend about 3 hours doing homework each night, and probably about 6-8 hours total doing homework over the weekends. I never studied much except the night before a big exam, in which case I might study about 3 hours in a block. 



imaPanda said:


> Not shocking. You didn't have to study for easy classes because they are easy. Math and sciences are the only worthwhile classes anyway.


I think this contains some truth and some personal opinion. In my experience, math and science contain a LOT more condensed content. It's simply more information over less time. As to whether it is harder to learn an equivalent amount of math, science, language, or social science, that's really individual. My ISTP brother can blaze through chemistry but stumbles through lit analysis; I'm the opposite. We both agree that the science classes are more challenging, but it's not wholly because science is natively more challenging.


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## angelfish (Feb 17, 2011)

Du Toit said:


> School doesn't (really) care about how much you learn, they care more about how good you can regurgitate info they ask for.


I think in theory, they care, but the people who are funding things want "measurable outcomes". It's sort of understandable when you consider that you probably wouldn't want to be pouring your personal money into a system that showed no empirical evidence of success, either. So they end up pushing hard for _measurable_ data, such as successfully regurgitated information. I don't think it's really evil so much as misled. The States is trying to run education like a business, and it just isn't one.


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## Du Toit (Mar 2, 2014)

angelfish said:


> I think in theory, they care, but the people who are funding things want "measurable outcomes". It's sort of understandable when you consider that you probably wouldn't want to be pouring your personal money into a system that showed no empirical evidence of success, either. So they end up pushing hard for _measurable_ data, such as successfully regurgitated information. I don't think it's really evil so much as misled. The States is trying to run education like a business, and it just isn't one.


True. I agree there isn't an evil intent, in fact it seems the only reliable way to gauge people's abilities in such a way that is as objective as possible; it's just that when you want to learn (as I do) and are discouraged from doing so, because of time constraints and "measurable outcomes", it makes school even less enjoyable.


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## sprinkles (Feb 7, 2010)

There's also study efficiency. You'd be surprised how long people will sit and daydream without even knowing it, hours go by and they look and see they still have more to do.

Also there are people who study too much. They go over things again and again unnecessarily. There comes a point where you over tax your brain and you start losing the information and have to work harder to retain it, when in reality there's a sweet spot where you just need to stop and let the information settle. If you push yourself too hard there are diminishing returns and eventually it doesn't actually help to do more.


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## Persephone (Nov 14, 2009)

I graduated _magna cum laude_ (top 15%) in a top 10 school without studying all the time. Like wut?


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## bluefox91 (Oct 8, 2015)

It depends on what you're studying. The harder stem courses require more studying than the soft, or social, sciences. Math for example demands a certain amount of studying, where as some soft science courses require virtually none. That's, in my opinion, why some people are saying they got away without studying much. Although, it's true, that some people can get away without studying much, even in stem courses. My theory on this is that these people have studied consistently (nearly every day) for a long time for maybe a hour per day on these stem courses, such as math. This consistent studying has allowed them to be very proficient, and therefore, they can learn new material faster than a person with inconsistent study habits.

Also: It depends on how you define studying. A lot of students "study" but get no gains from it. This is usually done when the student is tired or has been cramming. Look up the effects of taking 30 minute breaks. It's said someone who takes 30 minute breaks and studies for 1.5 hours ( with 1.5 hours resting), will accomplish more than someone studying for 3 hours straight. That's because after awhile you're basically zoning out and not doing any effective learning, without breaks. Therefore, you can claim the whole 3 hours were spent studying, but in reality maybe 1.4 hours were spent really studying.

And that principle above, is why some people who don't study much do fine. The short amount of time they do study is very efficient. Where as those who study a ton inefficiently are effectively wasting time.


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## Lunaena (Nov 16, 2013)

Do you live in Vietnam? My sister has a friend who moved from Vietnam to my country, Norway, two years ago. The girl from Vietnam told me that the school system in Vietnam is horrible, and completely different from Norway. She told me she had to study all the time, and even on the only day of no school, she still had to study with her teacher on Sundays if she wanted good grades.

I don't know anything about the school system in Vietnam except what she has told me, but it sounds horrible and exhausting.


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## LibertyPrime (Dec 17, 2010)

salt said:


> growing up im used to my intj brother sitting at his desk all day, occasionally take a 30 minute rest (he set an alarm) to gain back energy and then returned to the desk. he said thats what you need to do if you want to get grades. hes pretty hardcore and i admire him for his will and effort. but despite his advice i had never committed to that rule because it felt wasteful, until my senior year in high school which is now, because i want to get in a good college. every day from monday to saturday i have to go to school from 7am to 11am, then eat lunch and start the evening classes at 1pm to 5pm, then eat dinner, bath and go to an extra class from 6pm to 8pm, then go home to do a lot of homework and revision til 10pm which is when i usually feel sleepy, then i go to sleep but set the alarm at 3am to wake up and continue the homework. on sunday i get to rest for 2 hours which is nice, 1 hour in the morning after breakfast and the other after dinner, between that ill be at the desk doing anything that relates to school. of course that pays off and i get ahead of everyone and all, but this wasteful feeling is still lingering. im not as natural at this as my brother, im just good at forcing myself to do things. i was always the one just studying enough to not get bad grades, like above 5 or so, and would only get good grades at subjects i did really enjoy which is english as a foreign language and pe.
> why is my country's education system so wrong? this question has always in me. is other country, say america, has this overwhelming system too when students have to spend at least 90% of their time in a day schooling to get average good grades? need feedback from u guys, say anything u want, pls include how the edu system in ur country works if u can.


*1. The education system is BROKEN*

*2. Here is how you learn:*

Human brain can focus for only 25 minutes at a time with effective learning. Any longer and you are wasting time.

To keep it up, you just take a break every 25 minutes and do something else like zone out, eat something, listen to a song for about 5 mins before getting back to it. It needs to be fun.

If you don't do this, after about 35 minutes of continuous studying you are wasting the rest of your time. Which means you can study 6 hour straight and not remember jack shit. Means you learned about 35 mins and wasted the rest.

*I'm not kidding. Look this shit up. Try it and thank me later.*


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