How many hours of studying per day?

To gain as much knowledge as possible in as little time as possible is something we all want  when studying.

This sentence encapsulates the desire for maximum efficiency in every minute of learning. We want to be able to learn what we need and want to, and then spend time on other things in life.

How do we achieve this?

The first step is to study using the most effective methods - active recall and spaced repetition. The second part of this equation is to study for only as long as our concentration allows.

In the book "Deep Work" Cal Newport  writes that even the best people can work deeply for a maximum of three to four hours before their productivity begins to sharply decline. For us, that number was more like two to three hours. After three hours, we noticed that we wanted more breaks, and our studying progress slowed. We realized that the longer we studied, the slower we were able to understand and process new material and the slower we revised things with Anki.

We started tracking our productivity using Toggl, a time tracking app, where we timed the amount of time we spent studying. We found that for a two-hour time block of studying, we had approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes of actual productivity. We spent 20 minutes on breaks. The time efficiency in this case was (100min/120min)*100% = 83%.

If we tried three-hour intervals, we often ended up with about two hours of productivity, and we spent one whole hour on breaks. The time efficiency was 66%.

We also tried one two-hour interval, followed by one one-hour interval. The efficiency was also very good, but we noticed that sometimes it was difficult to return to studying for another hour. We would then delay continuing for quite some time and wouldn't do anything else during the day. So, we often set a goal to spend two hours a day studying and the rest of the time doing other things in life.

Let's not forget that not only does productivity decline over time, but our ability to learn also declines. If our brains are working at full steam at the beginning, they become very tired after a few hours of learning. Just like we get tired from running, our brains also get tired. That's why monitoring efficiency is so important. If we're not paying attention, we'll spend more time doing worse work. Progress will be minimal, and our frustrations will only accumulate. This is the perfect recipe for learning to become unpleasant and exhausting.

Of course, there were days when we spent more time learning due to fear and stress. However, looking back now, we can see that this was also unnecessary. Today, we believe that if we spend up to two hours a day learning, it is enough time to learn everything we need to.