How many hours per week does a successful undergraduate Engineering student study outside lectures+tutorials?

Answer 1

I heard this before...
For every hour that you spend in class, you should spend the following # of hours studying.
4 hours = A
3 hours = B
2 hours = C
1 hour = D

So if you spend 15 hours a week in class you should spend another 60 hours studying if you want an A! That means that you are spending 75 hours every week either in class or studying.
With this kind od dedication and decipline you would be ready for the best job, making great money when you graduate.

I think that is over kill. I never studied that much in undergrad or graduate school, and I had may master's degree 5 years after high school.

Answer 2

It isn't about hours. It is about understanding. Once you understand a thing, you don't have to study it. It should be obvious to you.
While I'm not suggesting review before exams is a bad thing, I didn't do it because if you know it, you know it.
The number of hours it take to gain understanding may be less or may be more than you allotment. Certainly you must take breaks and can't overload, but the sooner you start with an "understanding is required" approach the sooner things start to get easy. Once they are easy, it usually takes far less than 5 hours to understand a new concept.

You should work until the concepts you are studying are self evident. The most successful students review the class materials prior to the class and ensure they are self evident then.
That way they look like mega geniuses because they already know what is being taught. Ironically they may be working less hard than what you are talking about doing.

If you work based on a given number of hours, you are doing work for work's sake and may be cruelly surprised later on.

Answer 3

I used to put in about 4 to 5 hours a day in electrical engineering outside of class. Friday night and Saturday were no study days.

Answer 4

I only put in about 4-5 per week, and it shows in the B's and C's that I get. I am only after a degree, I don't care too much that my GPA is less than 3.0, it is still above the school average. I am going for Mechanical Engineering.

Answer 5

When I was studying a full time load was 18 units, and each unit was meant to be equivalent to 2 hours per week, including both contact and non-contact time. In reality I probably did about half that, sometimes less.

Answer 6

The main thing is to focus on understanding the concept and the material and letting it sink in. Some times you can go for straight several hours sometimes you can't.
My professor told us to study 2 hrs for every 1 hr lecture.
I was not like that, I studied on and off..but that didn't help.