How long should a study video be?
Keep each part to one idea and about 6 minutes or less. A 2014 study of edX lecture videos by Guo, Kim and Rubin found that the median time students spent on a video was at most 6 minutes, however long the video was. A longer topic still works if it is split into short chapters, with a pause to recall after each one.
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In more detail
The 6-minute figure comes from 6.9 million viewing sessions across four edX courses. The median time spent on a video was at most 6 minutes whatever its length, and on videos longer than 9 minutes students often stopped before the halfway point. The authors advised cutting lessons into chunks under 6 minutes. Keep in mind what they measured: how long people watched and whether they tried the question after the video, not how much they learned.
Structure matters more than total length. Richard Mayer's segmenting principle says people learn better when a complex lesson comes in parts they can pace themselves, instead of one continuous stream. So a 40-minute lecture can be fine if it has chapters you can jump between, and a 5-minute video can still be too much if it crams in three new ideas.
For your own studying, treat a long video as a series of short ones. Watch one chapter, stop, say or write what it explained, then go on. When you review, rewatch only the part you could not explain, not the whole thing.
A good length for each kind of study video
| Kind of video | Good length | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Explainer for one concept | Under 6 minutes | One idea fits, and it matches where watching held up in the edX data |
| Worked example or tutorial | As long as the example needs, with clear steps | You pause and replay steps, so finding your place matters more than total length |
| Recorded lecture | Any length, if it has chapters | Chapters let you study it in short parts and find a spot again |
| Review or recap | A few minutes | It reminds you of things you already learned, so it can move fast |
Step by step
- 1
Look at the chapters or slide titles first and pick the part you need.
- 2
Watch one chapter, or about 5 to 6 minutes, then pause.
- 3
Without looking, say or write the main point and one example.
- 4
Check your answer against the video and note what you missed.
- 5
Rewatch only the part you could not explain.
- 6
The next day, test yourself on the whole video before you watch any of it again.
How StudyPDF helps
Upload a YouTube video or your lecture slides, and StudyPDF splits the course into topics and concepts, so a long lecture becomes a list of short parts you can study one by one. Bo builds flashcards and quizzes from it, answers questions cited to your material and tracks which concepts you have mastered. We are also working on short explainer videos for single topics of your course.
See also
More questions
Is the 6-minute rule proven?
Not as a rule for learning. The edX study measured how long students watched and whether they tried the follow-up question, and it covered math and science courses from 2012. It is a good guide for planning segments, but a clear 10-minute video beats a confusing 4-minute one.
Is a one-hour lecture recording too long to study from?
Not if you break it up. Use the chapters or slide changes as stopping points, recall after each part and spread the hour over two or three sessions. Watching it once from start to finish without stopping is the least useful way to use it.
Do it on your own course
Upload your lectures and ask Bo. Cited answers, plus flashcards, exams, and more built from your material.