Optimal Study Strategies: The Debate Between Long and Short Sessions

When you study you might set certain time limits, or you may just let yourself go on for

however long you can. I would classify any study period that goes on constantly without a break as a long session. A short study session could be just a 30-minute session or multiple small sessions with breaks in between over a long period. So let’s talk about the advantages and disadvantages of long and short study sessions.

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Long sessions – Advantages

1. One of the major benefits of studying over long sessions is the ability to finish a lot of

material in one session. This is best seen when students use long sessions while revising

for exams on the next day and they need to go through as much of the material as

possible

2. Long sessions are efficient in using time as you do not spend time in between sessions

for activities that do not involve studying. This helps in the coverage of topics as fast as

you can.

3. If you spend as much time as you want on each topic, long sessions would be helpful as

it would allow you to go into each topic as deeply as you want which enables a better

understanding of the topic and could help in the retention of the material.

4. Long sessions enable focus as you get into a flow quickly and stay within it for a long

time – this is saying that there are no interruptions in front of you and you are not

taking any breaks during which you could wander off.

Long sessions – Disadvantages

1. There is a huge problem when it comes to using only studying in long sessions. People

tend to forget what they have learned very quickly, so if you studied like this a few days

before the exam then it is possible that you may not retain all the learned information for that upcoming exam. The reason this happens is that you are continuously working on the

brain which doesn’t allow it to process what it has just learned the longer.

2. The more tiring the study session the more tiring it would be. This happens because you have just made your brain work non-stop for a few hours without allowing yourself to take a

proper break. This in turn makes your brain tired and you do not know for long you may

be tried. This causes problems such as lack of motivation, constant fatigue, and sleepless

nights depending on what time of the day you study.

3. The risk of burnout occurs due to over-reliance on long sessions of studying. This can be a

big problem during exam seasons as it will result in the inability to study, therefore it is

better to break apart long sessions with other activities like exercise but stay away from

activities that will keep you stuck to it like scrolling endlessly on your phone.

4. Long study sessions have a diminishing result. Mainly due to the amount of time you are

studying. The longer you study for the worse the results are as you are getting more

tired, maybe bored – declines as attention wanes.

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Short sessions – Advantages

1. Short sessions are useful to learn new information. This is mainly because after every

session you are allowing your brain to take a break, and this keeps you fresh and

allows your brain to process what you have studied much more than during a long

session.

2. These sessions are more efficient in the idea of promoting active learning as the breaks

allow the understanding of the information you have been learning. This also prevents

information overload which keeps your brain working at a normal pace which allows it

to work for really long periods without being quite tired.

3. Busy students find it difficult to integrate a good amount of studying into their

schedules. Having small bursts of studying in between gaps can be a game changer.

This shows that short sessions are more manageable which could reduce procrastination

tendencies.

4. Since short sessions are something, you implement long before exam seasons, it shows

constant progress as regular sessions can lead to an overall better understanding of the

topic.

Short sessions – Disadvantages

1. Not useful over a short term. When studying using short sessions, requires many

sessions which over multiple days, weeks, or maybe months. Therefore it would not be

useful over just a few days as within those few days you would not be able to finish so

much material.

2. The most difficult part about indulging in a short session method of studying is the

the ability to be distracted easily during breaks as you most likely would get onto your

phone which results in you getting carried away and not coming back to study.

3. With short sessions a problem of fragmentation arises. This is where the study breaks

being taken disrupts to be with the ability to focus properly and might make it overall a little

more difficult to connect concepts cohesively.

4. Due to the study sessions being short, it may not allow you to go into the topic deeply

and therefore lead to a superficial understanding of the topic making it harder to work

with related topics or anything that might require a developed understanding of the

material.

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With all these ideas in mind, it is important to understand that different study periods must be used according to what you are studying and in what sense you are trying to study. It might be that you have a text tomorrow for which a long session would be better to finish as much material as you can or if you are looking at starting to study in detail long before exams or tests, then it seems like short sessions might seem more beneficial. It depends on what you think is more useful at those moments.