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Original poster

To think 8hrs of study a day is unnecessary

167 replies

sillistudi · 01/04/2023 08:28

School newsletter says year 13s study for forthcoming a-levels should be aiming for 8 hours of study a day over the Easter holidays. Really???! Seems excessive to me! My DC are a couple years off a-levels but I can't see how that is necessary... so I'm interested, those with dc at that stage or just through it, is that level of study really needed?

OP posts:
MobyJeff · 01/04/2023 09:48

Wow! I am very old, but I never studied anywhere near this in my life! I have two masters degrees and studied for, but never completed a phd. I’ve never studied eight hours in a row for anything! Poor kids today seem to have no time to just be. Sounds depressing.

Haralambus · 01/04/2023 09:48

My DD is planning on doing 5 hours a day and has everything mapped out but she’s been putting in the work all year and feels on top of things. She needs A grades for uni.
Ultimately it’s up to them. School guidance is essentially saying: A levels are imminent and the time is NOW. Depends on the student though.

GoldenGorilla · 01/04/2023 09:51

I did more than that, back in the 90s. It’s not that much surely? Basically like doing a full time office job. Make sure they take breaks, get some outdoors time etc, but yes that is around what I’d hope my kids would be doing (in about ten years so who knows).

OhBeAFineGuyKissMe · 01/04/2023 10:01

For A-levels studying should be similar to a job, time wise. So 9 till 5. With days off, breaks and still time to do other stuff. The summer is the holiday to have fun with mates.

Exams start at 9, so studying should as well to condition the brain to be use to thinking at that time in the morning.

If they are doing essay subjects they need to practise writing for 2hr (or however long the exam is) to build their hand strength up.

ActDottie · 01/04/2023 10:24

At A-level, university and for my professional qualification that seems about right. But I did pick incredibly hard subjects and was a high achiever. But you know what best for your kids.

BansheeofInisherin · 01/04/2023 10:28

Mine did. He needed high grades for a competitive course.

eurochick · 01/04/2023 11:43

That sounds about right to me. A levels are tough.

ChristmasFluff · 01/04/2023 11:50

Yeah, I did in the mid-1980s for A levels - my family went on holiday for the Easter break, and I spent the days in the caravan studying.

Got three A grades, so was worth it.

Original poster
sillistudi · 01/04/2023 12:05

WonderingWanda · 01/04/2023 09:19

This is a how long is a piece of string type question. You know your kids op. Consider what grades they are aiming for? What grades they are already achieving. What feedback their teachers have given and how hard they have been working. For some students a break will be more beneficial if they generally work themselves into the ground and are getting top grades consistently. For the coasters who have done naff all and are failing they probably need to be working all day every day to give themselves a fighting chance.

We're not at a-level stage yet.. I agree, we'll do what works for us when it comes to it- but I just felt putting this out generically to parents in an end of term communication to whole school would put families with kids who might struggle with studying/ need nagging to study under such pressure.. was just interested if it was the norm.. this is a state sch- tho not sure what difference that makes..it is a high achieving sch.. it is followed by a section on wellness too which is rather ironic!

OP posts:
Original poster
sillistudi · 01/04/2023 12:06

Lemonsole · 01/04/2023 09:26

A-level students need to use this last chance that they will have for a break before their exams start. They'll not take one in May half term, as that will be the last week before the final three-four weeks of exams. But they cannot be expected to go from Feb half term through until the end of June without a break, and be at their peak performance when it counts.
I have told my students (I'm an A-level teacher) and DS that they will be taking a three-four day break now, and then return to their books in the second week.
There are more students who are exhausted from Plan B mocks, more Covid, coursework and overwork, than there are who genuinely need to do a fortnight of 8-hour days.
I get really cross when messages aren't targeted those who need to hear them: blanket instructions like this will be water off the backs of the gaming addicts, but over-absorbed by those who are already doing enough.

Totally agree

OP posts:
MisschiefMaker · 01/04/2023 12:09

That's how me and my friends studied and we were all straight A students. Just depends what grades you want I suppose.

thatsn0tmyname · 01/04/2023 12:10

Our year 13s have been advised to do this, too.
8 hours sleeping.
8 hours free time.
8 hours studying.
They won't have school or travel to school so is more manageable.

Niceweatherseeker · 01/04/2023 12:12

I wouldn’t let my kids to that much. Sounds unhealthy. No wonder teens are suffering with mental health difficulties so often. Crazy expectations on them. I got excellent results and revised about 3-4 hours per day. I think either exams are constantly getting harder or they are just saying that as some sort of misguided scare tactic.

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 01/04/2023 12:15

My dd is in Year 13. She is predicted straight A*s in STEM subjects and she is very motivated. She certainly won't be spending 8 hours a day revising this holiday!! She will be doing plenty of work, I'm sure, but it's actually really important for them to have some time to rest and have fun with their friends. She has just submitted her EPQ, she has earned the right to a bit of time off! We know that the last term is going to be a long, hard slog, and none of us want to see her burn out before she even gets there!

BansheeofInisherin · 01/04/2023 12:17

Exams are harder and unis are more competitive nowadays. This is a fact.

Lemonsole · 01/04/2023 12:46

The assumptions here, that quantity of revision in hours, = quality of revision, is depressing to see.

It's as true for studying as it is for any other form of work.

BansheeofInisherin · 01/04/2023 12:52

True, quantity of revision is not always equal to quantity of work, but in some subjects like Further Maths, practice really helps.

HydrangeaHo · 01/04/2023 12:56

I just felt putting this out generically to parents in an end of term communication to whole school would put families with kids who might struggle with studying/ need nagging to study under such pressure

It won't be news to year 13s. It will have been drummed into them for months.
My DC probably did at least 8 hours a day in the run up to A levels, not because I made them. Their attitudes to studying changed a lot between the ages of 15 and 18 though. For GCSE there was much parental cajoling but by A level I was urging them to take a break and relax a bit.

HydrangeaHo · 01/04/2023 12:57

but in some subjects like Further Maths, practice really helps.

Yes DC1 did every historical practice paper they could lay their hands on.

PinkLemonadee · 01/04/2023 13:02

I didn't do 8 hours a day when writing my MA thesis (in a STEM subject).

Gablonz · 01/04/2023 13:03

They'll be saying 8 hours a day in the hope that the students will do 4-5 hours. If they say 4 hours a day, many students will do 1-2 hours.
I can't remember much about studying for my A-levels but I do remember that my parents wouldn't let me work at the weekends and that I also had some afternoons free.
8 hours a day, every day, for the entire Easter holidays is far too much.

KittyAlfred · 01/04/2023 13:09

DS1 is in year 13. There’s no way he’ll be doing 8 hours a day, whether I wanted him to or not. Whilst I think he would benefit from doing a fair amount of studying, I think if he did 8 hours a day from now, he’d burn out. It’s nearly 3 months till the exams finish, and he wouldn’t be able to sustain that level of intensity.

Echobelly · 01/04/2023 13:17

Schools do seem to have some weirdly specific ideas about this. Oldest had school tests (not even GCSEs or A-levels) after a holiday and the school was telling them to aim for 5 hours of revision a day, which really upset DC and I thought was a nonsense. Everyone is different - some kids can stare blankly at a page for 8 hours, others could do 2 hours of really effective revision and learn loads. My sibling and I were all top results kids, but honestly I doubt any of us did more than about 4 hours a day.

I'd always encourage my kids to do what works for them, I think, certainly for oldest 4-6hours should be sufficient to get good results when GCSEs happen next year. I agree rest is important and I find it better to not do loads the day before an exam.

Tanaria · 01/04/2023 13:23

Depends on the student, surely?
I did half an evening before my languages exams, a full evening for my history exam and an hour to two a day for 3 months before my chemistry exam. The expectation was a month's study full-time at 8h/day. Ironically, my chemistry was the worst out of the lot at grade C (still better than 90% of the class), and I got the equivalent of A* in all my others.

But I was the exception. Many of my peers studied for months and got nowhere near as good a grade as I did.

If you have an academic child who completes all their usual homework and gets decent mocks and end of topic test results, they may not need to study very much in the run-up to their exams. If your child isn't naturally gifted or has been lazy over the last year and a bit they may need to study more. I'd take it as a guide and work from there.

Tarantellah · 01/04/2023 13:28

These kids are a couple of months away from the most difficult exams of their lives. Yes it is harder than a degree! So it’s reasonable to work the equivalent of a full time job for approx 6-8 weeks. They’re going to have 2-3 months holiday over the summer to recover.

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