50/10 study timer
Facts about the study guides and studies were verified on 8 November 2026.
The 50/10 rule sets aside 50 minutes for study and 10 minutes for a break, and the link below opens Moment's timer with those lengths. You can use it for other focused work too. University study guides offer the pattern as one option, and we found no record of where it began. You can use the timer for free, and you don't need an account.
Timer
Moment's timer opens with 50 minutes on the dial and the short break set to 10 minutes, and the session begins when you press Start focusing. These two values last for one visit, so the lengths you've saved stay as they were. A session that's under way or a break that's due carries on without them.
Origin
We looked for an inventor, an institution or a study behind 50 minutes of study and a 10-minute break, and we found none. The 50/10 pattern has no known origin. The study guides below give it as advice and cite no source for the numbers.
University study guides
These three guides mention the pattern, and each presents it as something a student might try.
- University of Rochester. Its guide says, “One approach is to take a 10-minute break after every 50 minutes of study”, and it suggests a longer break “after about every 3 hours”.
- Cuesta College. Its study steps suggest 30 to 40 minutes with a 5-minute break, or, “if your concentration and discipline will allow”, to “study for 50 minutes and take a 10-minute break”.
- Eastern Kentucky University. Its study cycle gives a range of “(40-50 minutes) and then PLAN a 10-minute refresher”.
A study day
Fifty minutes of study and a 10-minute break add up to one hour, so each session can start on the hour. With Moment's default long break, a morning that starts at 9:00 runs in this way.
- 9:00 to 10:00 holds the first session and its 10-minute break.
- 10:00 to 11:00 holds the second session and its break.
- 11:00 to 12:00 holds the third session and its break.
- 12:00 to 1:10 holds the fourth session, which ends at 12:50, and a 20-minute long break.
Those four sessions come to 3 hours and 20 minutes of study and 50 minutes of breaks. The times assume that you press Start break and Start focusing as soon as each one appears, and a later press moves the times after it.
To follow Rochester's suggestion of a longer break after about every 3 hours, set the long break to come after 3 sessions in Breaks. In this example it would then start at 11:50.
Research on study breaks
Two studies compared fixed and self-chosen breaks among students, and neither tested 50/10. Their fixed schedules ran for 25 minutes of work or less, so they say little about a 50-minute session.
- Biwer and colleagues, 2023. The study compared self-chosen breaks with 24/6 and 12/3 schedules among 87 students at a Dutch university. Students who chose their own breaks reported more fatigue and less concentration and motivation, and task completion didn't differ.
- Smits and colleagues, 2025. The study compared self-chosen breaks with 25/5 and Flowtime among 94 students over two hours. Fatigue rose faster with Pomodoro, but overall fatigue and motivation didn't differ. Productivity, completion and flow didn't differ either.
The two studies don't fully agree, and we found no study of 50/10 itself.
Moment
When a 50-minute session ends, the 10 minutes begin once you press Start break. Moment doesn't begin the next session until you press Start focusing, which leaves room for a lecture or a meal between sessions.
The long break is set separately, and the link leaves it alone. It lasts 20 minutes and comes after every fourth session by default, and you can change both in Breaks.
The link works only on this site, so in the Moment app you set the two lengths yourself. Turn the dial to 50 minutes on iPhone, iPad, Mac or Vision Pro, turn the Digital Crown on Apple Watch, or type 50 on the Mac. A 10-minute short break is available in Breaks on all of them.
Moment doesn't keep streaks or award points for sessions.
Facts about the study guides and studies are from the pages linked above, verified on 8 November 2026. If something here is out of date, email hi@momenttimer.com.
Moment, a study timer for Apple devices
The timer and breaks are free on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Vision Pro, and each of them can set 50 minutes and 10-minute breaks.
