Most graduate courses are 3 credits. Traditionally, in 3-credit face-to-face courses you are in class 3 hours per week. You should probably allow 3 hours per week to read/listen to the online content for each course you take.
A full-time graduate student will typically take at least 12 credit hours per semester (as my daughter did in library school), and at that rate, you would need 2 academic years to complete 48 hours of graduate study.
Assuming one is taking 6 credit hours of classes each semester (the minimum course load required to qualify for federal student loans in the USA), one would complete 48 credit hours’ worth of graduate classes in 4 academic years (8 semesters).
Most colleges require about 120 credit hours to earn a degree, or, roughly, forty courses. Most colleges require between 32 and 36 credit hours, roughly a third, for a major. Thus, forty-eight hours is a very liberal stretch to allow you to take more courses. However, you might be better off to take related courses not in your major field.
Plan to spend approximately 3X the time of in-classroom instruction on studying while in graduate school. A normal course load of 9-12 credits per semester equates to 27-36 hours of graduate school study time per week. There are many variables, however, that can change your graduate school study schedule.
Graduate study is more demanding than undergraduate study, so you should plan for 3 hours offline prep for every hour you spend “in class.” For each course, you should probably estimate: 3 hours per week reading the content online. 9 hours doing the related readings, papers, etc.
Postgraduate courses have differing hours of study. Some 15 point courses may require a total of 10 hours per week, with 40 hours expected to be spent on an assignment.
Number of Program Credits Required While the number of required credits ranges by degree and institution, most master's degrees require the completion of 30 to 60 credit hours.
University experts recommend 2-3 hours of studying per one hour of class. Following this method can result in a very, very long day for the average college student. You can use this method if it works for you, but in reality, it's all about knowing you and how you study.
How much time a human brain can concentrate. two hoursBRAIN FOCUS & CONCENTRATION FACTS & STATISTICS The human brain is able to focus up to two hours, after which it needs a 20-30 minute break.
Most full-time master's students take 2-3 classes a semester, with each class being 3 credit hours. These students can expect to graduate in 1.5 to 2 years after completing a total of 36 to 54 credit hours (12 to 18 classes in total) to earn their degree.
On average, a full-time university course requires around 21 hours of study per week, whereas a part-time course requires fewer hours of study per week. The key benefit to part-time study is that there is often no time limit for completing the course.
The recommended amount of time to spend on your studies is 2-3 hours per credit per week (4 hours per credit per week for Math classes), right from week 1. For example, for a 3-unit course, this means 6-9 hours devoted to studying per week.
Master's degrees are a bit harder than most undergraduate studies. However, a postgraduate course of study is the best way to improve your academic career and personal life. You'll find ways to adjust to the increased difficulty as you go. Try not to be discouraged by any of the above points.
On average, students take about 18 to 24 months to complete a master's degree. Some programs are geared so that a full-time student can finish in a little over a year. On the other hand, some students prefer to go at a slower pace and choose to take several years to complete their studies.
Nearly two-thirds (61%) of graduates with a master's degree will earn more than the median bachelor's degree holder, according to the CEW. It's even higher for doctoral (73%) and professional (83%) degree holders. Having a higher degree could also strengthen your ability to stay employed during economic downturns.