Methods and apparatuses for reduced physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring in a wireless communication system. A method for operating a user equipment includes receiving a configuration for one or more search space sets. The one or more search space sets provide parameters for one or more candidate PDCCH receptions. The method includes determining a first number of candidate PDCCH receptions for a first number of more than one consecutive slots. A candidate PDCCH reception is over a number of control channel elements (CCEs). The first number of candidate PDCCH receptions over a corresponding number of CCEs does not exceed a capability corresponding to the first number of more than one consecutive slots for a maximum number of candidate PDCCH receptions over a corresponding maximum number of non-overlapped CCEs. The method further includes receiving the first number of candidate PDCCH receptions.