‘How many hours do you study?’ – one of the most recurring questions asked to toppers of any competitive or non-competitive exam. The number of hours a student studies if often shown synonymous to his dedication and hard work. A student who says the he studied 10 hours per day to get 95% in boards will be definitely understood as more hard working and dedicated than a student who says he studied 4 hours for the same result.
But do hours of study really matter? Or it is just a piece of illusionary perspective in the minds of students, teachers and their parents? Let us discuss the enigma of this issue in today’s article.
The Most Important Thing That You Must Know!
The concept that one who studies longer studies better is a pure illusion. A student studying 2 hours per day consistently may come out to be far better than a student who studies for, say, 6-7 hours per day.
This holds true for 2 reasons:
- The grasping, learning and retention capacity differs from student to student naturally. It is impossible to equate the knowledge and understanding gained by two students by studying same number of hours. One may be able to grasp more and have a better understanding of concepts than the other in a restricted time period of study.
- The quality of study time matters. 2 hours of concentrated and single-minded focus of study is more productive than 5 hours of distracted study. Students generally count distracted study time (a time when they sit for studying purposes but are not actually studying. For example – searching for study material, drinking coffee while studying, etc.). It must be the productive study time that must be counted and relied upon.
This essentially reflects that the number of hours of study is not the only factor that students must keep in mind in order to ensure a successful academic schedule. However, does it mean that hours of study do not matter at all?
Do Hours of Study Don’t Matter At All?
The discussion that we have just have might suggest that hours of study isn’t a very big factor in determining your productivity. Well, that’s not the case either.
- Knowing your potential and grasping power and accordingly setting a study schedule for yourself, with the fixed number of study hours you want to have, is an extremely important part of your studies.
- The thing is that you must know your requirement and fulfil that.
- Having an approximate idea of how much you need to study in a day is extremely important to have clarity and effectiveness in your preparation. Lacking this clarity will cost you your consistency and perseverance.
The suggestion is that although it matters – the number of hours you study – your assessment of study effectiveness must not be based solely on it, which is the case with most of the students.
Assess yourself with the amount of effective knowledge and value that you have got from those hours, not the hours you dedicated for gaining them.
Conclusion
Students must have a personalised fixed study schedule and must know the number of hours they need to study in a day. However, saying that a student is more worthy and knowledgeable just because he dedicates more time on studies isn’t a rational analysis.
