How much do you study?

[Pedi]

Hi, I'm currently in the process of organizing a team and am interested in seeing how much other quizbowlers study (outside of practice).

Thus far, I've maintained 7-8 hours a week (reading books, writing questions, reading packets, etc.). Is this a lot? Not enough?

Thanks

[Corry]

It depends on the time of the year. For me, if there's a national tournament coming up in a month or so, I would usually study around 10-12 hours a week. Otherwise, maybe half of that.

[vinteuil]

I don't think I've encountered a situation where studying had decreasing marginal returns (I suppose if one were to sacrifice sleep, that would happen), so study in proportion to how much better you want to get.

[Birds2013]

I suppose it depends on what you count as true studying. If you mean encountering material that has direct quizbowl implications, than I would say 1-2 hours on the average day outside of school. If you mean reading archives, articles, and seriously playing protobowl, than I would say 4-6 per week

[a musical joke]

For the past month or two I have been studying 14-20 hours a week. It might not be the best method (sometimes clues blend together) but it works. I'm new to my subject area, so I study more to compensate.
Just spend the amount of time you are comfortable with.

[High Dependency Unit]

I don't get how you find that time. I generally study 2-3 hours a week when I'm not off from school. During break I try to amp it up as much as possible (10+ hours minimum).

[gustavus.adolphus]

During the QB season, I go over packets and read books for the explicit reason of Quizbowl, for 3-4 hours weekly. Most of that though, is just reading (or reading Masterplots) of books for lit questions.

Over the last few weeks I've been studying much, much more for NHBB. At least 6 hours per week, with a lot of that actually reading packets and making flash cards and stuff like that. Also Protobowl, though I don't know how useful that actually is.

[High Dependency Unit]

Also Protobowl, though I don't know how useful that actually is.

It depends on what you're doing in protobowl. If you're in a private room it should be ok, as it's not too different from reading packets. However, public rooms like the lobby generally aren't good for studying because players will be buzzing in on clues they've memorized.

[heterodyne]

It depends on what you're doing in protobowl. If you're in a private room it should be ok, as it's not too different from reading packets. However, public rooms like the lobby generally aren't good for studying because players will be buzzing in on clues they've memorized.

Also, many packets that are in there are old and not representative of current clues. Plus, bonuses are great to study! In general, you might as well read some packets.

[The Polebarn Hotel]

I should study more than I do. I will definitely be studying a lot before HSNCT, but I really only study (not including Protobowl) when I have a burst of inspiration or free time, both of which are very rare. I'm not sure how much per week that amounts to, but probably very little.

Packet study is a lot more useful than Protobowl, but as a pastime or other, it's not a bad choice to open up a private room and answer some tossups. I've learned a lot from Protobowl, and although it may not be an optimal use of my time, it does help more than nothing at all.

[Santa Claus]

I don't study nearly enough, at least by my standards. Having to split priorities among a number of other academic teams means I might only do a few hours of Quiz Bowl studying a week. That being said, once all the other national competitions are over, it's gonna be like 20 hours a week for like a month.