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In a conversation between two students who are speaking about their progress on studying the same book which prepositions are usually used?

I mean for example I would say to my friend: "I've studied Physics up to / as far as / until lesson 5, what about you?"

Are these usages true?

About "until" I heard that it's related to speaking about a specific time, so using it here maybe is incorrect?

and in general which one is better, or maybe is there a better one stands for

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"up to Chapter 5" could be taken to mean either "through Chapter 4, but not including Chapter 5", or "up to the end of Chapter 5".

"as far as Chapter 5" would usually be taken to mean "up to the end of Chapter 5", but it MIGHT be taken to mean "as far as the beginning of Chapter 5, but not including chapter 5".

For absolute clarity, I would say

"I've studied Physics [up] through Chapter 4" (or "[up] through Chapter 5", if that's what you mean).

The "up" above is optional; some might find it unsophisticated (dialectical).

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  • thank you. Just to be sure that I've understood, if I just say "through Chapter 4" dose it mean by itself that I'm not including chapter 5 and I studied up to the end of chapter 4?
    – iman
    Commented Jan 20, 2015 at 7:40
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    Yes that's exactly what it means. Your friend says "How far have you read in the book?" You can reply "Through Chapter 4." however, if today's assignment was to read chapter 4 only, and he asks you "did you read through Chapter 4?" he means did you read all of Chapter 4; you might say "Most of it".
    – Brian Hitchcock
    Commented Jan 21, 2015 at 11:06
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'Until' is not grammatically correct here, only the first two are, and both are typically used. "I've studied Physics up to lesson 5, what about you?" is possibly the most common.

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