The formula
hours = pages ÷ pace + reviews × (that figure × factor)
Where it comes from
Almost everyone plans around the first read-through, and that is the mistake: reading something once is not having studied it. The forgetting curve says most of it goes within days without review, so reviews are not an extra but half the work. Each review costs less than the first pass — around 40 % — but there are several of them.
How to work it out by hand
- Divide the pages by how many you study in an hour
- That is the first pass
- Each review costs around 40 % of that figure
- Add the first pass and every review
What is worth knowing
The one thing you have to know about yourself is your pace, and it is not estimated: it is measured. Study for an hour with the material in front of you, count the pages you genuinely got through — understood, annotated, exercises done — and use that number. Most people overestimate, which is why study plans fall apart in the first week. And if dividing by the days left gives more hours than you can put in, the answer is not to push the pace: it is to cut the material, prioritise by what weighs most in the exam, or move the date.