Importance

1. Chazal tell us that "regardless, if one brings a large Korban or a small one as long as one's intentions are for heaven one's korban is accepted." The same idea applies to Torah study. One should learn as much as one can and that is precious in God's eyes as long as one's intentions are pure.

2. If one likes to learn and really understands his learning, one can refrain from extending Tefillah and only say the portions that are obligatory. 

3. Someone who learns Torah purely for the sake of heaven is deserving of great rewards. Even if a person finds himself encouraged to learn for ulterior reasons he should continue to learn and eventually reach the level of learning purely. Many emphasize that nowadays it is critical to start learning with an external motivation in order to overcome the Yetzer Hara and become involved in learning Torah and once one is involved it'll help purify oneself.

 

Tanach, Mishna, and Talmud

1. One should apportion one's time to study torah everyday into three, one portion for Tanach and some say it's commentaries, one portion for Mishna and Gemara, and one portion to analyze the primary ways the Torah is learnt so that one will know that which is forbidden and that which is permitted. After one grows in Torah one should review Tanach, Mishna, and Gemara, but focus on analyzing Torah. Some say that by learning Talmud Bavli one fulfills learning each area of Torah because the Bavli includes everything, nonetheless, certainly one must still know Tanach and Mishna. Some say that one should devote more time to Mishna than to Tanach and more time to Gemara than to Mishna each one according to its difficulty.

2. Many authorities emphasize that it's absolutely crucial to learn Halacha so that one knows what one must do as well as mussar which subjugates the Yetzer Hara. Some say that these are included in the above three categories. See further in the next section regarding Halacha and Mussar.

3. Based on this concept, there is a practice to recite a portion from Torah, Mishna, and Gemara after Birchot HaTorah before Pesukei DeZimrah.

4. Some have the righteous practice of learning Chok LeYisrael which is a daily learning regiment set up by the Arizal that includes pesukim from Torah, Nevuim, Ketuvim, Mishnayot, Gemara, Zohar, Halacha, and Mussar.

 

Halacha and Mussar

1. It's very important to learn Mussar daily because the greater one is, the greater one's Yetzer hara is.  Torah was created as an antidote to the Yetzer Hara. Even if learning Mussar takes away from learning other portions of Torah like Gemara, it's important to study Mussar.

2. Someone who only has 2 or 3 hours to learn daily should learn Halacha from Shulchan Aruch and commentaries or from contemporary Poskim so that one will be knowledgeable in practical laws and not come to do a sin without knowing. This is more preferable than learning Daf Yomi, or Gemara and Rishonim from which one can’t derive practical halacha.

 

Learning Kabbalah

1. It’s forbidden for someone to learn Kabbalah unless has learned seriously all of Gemara and Poskim, and is a Talmud Chacham ingrained with Yirat Shamayim. One should protest if someone is teaching Kabbalah to the public especially if the teacher himself isn’t fitting to learn it.