Edited by Martin Cadwell, Thursday 2 January 2025 at 05:33
I don't like to give advice; we are all different and have different approaches to everything we do.
Study
times, you might find written elsewhere, can be described as periods of
forty minutes or a few hours from beginning to end, and then a
repetition of the same the next day, and again. Plainly, forty minutes a
day is not going to be enough for degree level study from scratch and
without prior experience of how to recognise and understand relevant
information and content, it is wholly inadequate.
We
don't need to always make sure that all study is for a minimum length
of time. We can read one of our course books while eating breakfast, on a
bus or train, for ten minutes. The information we have been exposed to
during that time will continue to percolate in our minds for another ten
minutes or more, if we are not engaged in intense activity that diverts
our attention. We might walk from the bus stop for ten minutes to get
to our place of work - this could be a period of reflection, if we have
some discipline to make it so. From this, some of us have already had
twenty minutes of study time, without really trying too hard. Short
periods of study time, either by time or by paragraphs, can be immensely
useful to help us absorb and retain information.
It
is imperative that we do not find studying a chore, so enjoy your lunch
break free from study if you like. Most of us have a short break (15
minutes) either side of a lunch break. This is an ideal time to re-read
what you read before over breakfast, or carry on from where you left off
- you can print parts of each book from the book downloads. So, over
five days of work we might have studied for 175 minutes, or 2 hours and
55 minutes over the work week. This time is a relaxed time but can be a
good use of time. Alternatively, this could be the times that you set as
being your redundant study times, and you may decide to only use them
for catching up, if you need to.
Many
people will use a conventional plan for study such as 2 to 3 hours
every day to study a single module - but you must take breaks during
these periods. Do a low intensity activity for five or ten minutes at
junctures in the text, or after a book or online activity, such as the
washing-up. This means you may need to plan household chores to be part
of the OU study process, as in NOT doing ALL the housework in order to
be able to sit still for two or three hours every evening; you should
take breaks. You might find that you could order your shopping online
and have it delivered to avoid wasting good study periods over the
weekend. If you are about to go shopping, study for ten or fifteen
minutes before you go.
You
might decide, if you are studying a single module that you want to relax
each workday evening and study for eight or nine hours on both
Saturday and Sunday. If you want this, remember your waking day is
probably 16 hours long - that might mean 4 sessions of two hours
separated by two hours or any variability to attain the same goal of
eight hours.
This is not meant to be advice
- we must all find techniques that best suit ourselves. This is an
opportunity to consider different options for how to organise our study.
Finding QUALITY time to study
I don't like to give advice; we are all different and have different approaches to everything we do.
Study times, you might find written elsewhere, can be described as periods of forty minutes or a few hours from beginning to end, and then a repetition of the same the next day, and again. Plainly, forty minutes a day is not going to be enough for degree level study from scratch and without prior experience of how to recognise and understand relevant information and content, it is wholly inadequate.
We don't need to always make sure that all study is for a minimum length of time. We can read one of our course books while eating breakfast, on a bus or train, for ten minutes. The information we have been exposed to during that time will continue to percolate in our minds for another ten minutes or more, if we are not engaged in intense activity that diverts our attention. We might walk from the bus stop for ten minutes to get to our place of work - this could be a period of reflection, if we have some discipline to make it so. From this, some of us have already had twenty minutes of study time, without really trying too hard. Short periods of study time, either by time or by paragraphs, can be immensely useful to help us absorb and retain information.
It is imperative that we do not find studying a chore, so enjoy your lunch break free from study if you like. Most of us have a short break (15 minutes) either side of a lunch break. This is an ideal time to re-read what you read before over breakfast, or carry on from where you left off - you can print parts of each book from the book downloads. So, over five days of work we might have studied for 175 minutes, or 2 hours and 55 minutes over the work week. This time is a relaxed time but can be a good use of time. Alternatively, this could be the times that you set as being your redundant study times, and you may decide to only use them for catching up, if you need to.
Many people will use a conventional plan for study such as 2 to 3 hours every day to study a single module - but you must take breaks during these periods. Do a low intensity activity for five or ten minutes at junctures in the text, or after a book or online activity, such as the washing-up. This means you may need to plan household chores to be part of the OU study process, as in NOT doing ALL the housework in order to be able to sit still for two or three hours every evening; you should take breaks. You might find that you could order your shopping online and have it delivered to avoid wasting good study periods over the weekend. If you are about to go shopping, study for ten or fifteen minutes before you go.
You might decide, if you are studying a single module that you want to relax each workday evening and study for eight or nine hours on both Saturday and Sunday. If you want this, remember your waking day is probably 16 hours long - that might mean 4 sessions of two hours separated by two hours or any variability to attain the same goal of eight hours.
This is not meant to be advice - we must all find techniques that best suit ourselves. This is an opportunity to consider different options for how to organise our study.
This is advice; Be creative.