5 Active Reading Strategies for Textbook Assignments - College Info Geek

...plus three books I'm reading, and how I'm applying said strategies.

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Companion blog post with notes, resource links, and the HabitRPG guild link:

[gandim]

5 STEPS FOR ACTIVE READING:
1) Go to the back of the book straight away and look at the keywords, summary, conclusion, questions
2) The longer the text, the more likely they are not so important. So go through the paragraphs and identify which ones are really important.
3) Come up with questions before you begin a new chapter/section, and as you read, answer them.
4) Pay attention to special formats, anything that stands out. They are likely to be important.
5) Take notes, mark while you're reading (you can use post-it notes, pencil to scribble on the book or just take notes in a separate notebook, application after each chapter)

[johnlitter]

For quick jumps for a quick look...
@0:39 - 5 Active Reading Tips
1 @0:43 - Pseudo-Skimming
2 @1:16 - Get it from the back
3 @1:54 - Interrogate the reading
4 @2:22 - Chalk line that body of work
5 @2:51 - No page makes it out alive
6 @5:44 - If you write it the memory will come
@3:46 - Read’em and Make’em weep

[robertsmith]

You may want to take a look at Mortimer Alder's "How to read a book" as well as Evelyn Wood's "Reading Dynamics". Some of the points I remember from these books that have been helpful to me are: 1) Study the table of contents (granted, some modern authors make this useless) 2) Read the first paragraph in each chapter and any summary info at the end 3) make another pass through the book and read the first sentence in each paragraph 4) Now as you read the book, have a conversation with the author (e.g. comment or argue in the margins) 5) diagram or mind map chapters and their relationships.

[willtality]

You are a da*n big enrichment for the college society around the world thomas. I just want to thank you for everything. I wish that you'll never lose the power to help people. Thats a really strong ability of yours.

Thumb up Bro. Greets from Germany

[sohaibahmed]

What I learned
1.Pseudo skimming- Reading only important information.
2. Read backwards
3. Come up with your own questions while reading text. Then answer the question when you find out.
4. Note the words in bold print.
5. Highlight important information or take notes in your own words so you understand.

[aprendederechofacil]

I live in South America, Perú, a country which has the poorest education in the word. If I haven't learned english in some point of my life I would have never found this awesome channel. So all I can say it's: THANKS, thanks a lot man. There are almost no collegue's teachers in my country who gives a damn about this study strategies. Most of my friends are suffering from reading dense and huge law texts. So, thanks again man. Hope we'll meet anytime soon so I can thank you personally. Cheers!

[yulianahioe]

pseudoskimming, read backward (summary first), give attention to things that stand out in the formatting, highlight/take notes in your own words

[richardblackmore]

For years I thought I was just "slow" because I was having to do so much more work than everyone else in class, or so it seemed to me. With these techniques my learning has been improved exponentially! Thanks!

[feloneewebster]

In my communication seminar, there are a few reading techniques I'd like to add. Number the paragraphs, read the first & last sentences of each paragraph (to weed the filler), and use a "chunk chart" as a summary method; where you group paragraphs by sections/chunks (like paragraphs 1-5) and write the main point of each section. We used this on podcasts too. Hope it helps.
My college doesn't have letter grades, instead you pass or fail based on validations of your own skill sets.

[jgonzalez]

I'm at a lost for words... I've only watched three of your videos so far and can't believe how much valuable information you've already shared. I been looking for videos like this for many years. I got mad respect for what your doing Thomas. I feel like I found gold!! I truly appreciate your effort, knowledge and hard work in creating these videos! Please keep them coming. Your a hero for those that want to pursue greatness and I mean that! Thanks.

[Thomasfrank]

Arshia - can't reply to your comment directly, but they're just books I decided to read on my own :)

[anabulatovic]

This probably only works for visual types, but I've noticed that besides highlighting key words, two things work well when it comes to highlighting. 1) if you have a book that is formated in a way that has more simple tekst, and less titles or other forms of parting tekst, I find it really helps to use a marker such as pink to mark "titles" inside the tekst so that when you look at a page you instantly see the separate sections you'll need to recall 2) using multiple markers, a pen f.e. yellow pen marker to mark sentences with concepts, a green highlighter to mark definitions, a blue highlighter to mark key words, a highlighter pen in an orange to do side notes and stars, exclamation points etc..

[hualalaidoroen]

I honestly have so much respect for you and what you are sharing. I have been struggling with college ever since I've started but your videos have shown me that I'm not the only person with my problems. Your videos have seriously inspired me and given me real ways to combat my difficulties. Thank you and I hope to see more of your videos. Btw, I love your Nine Tails card, makes me miss my cards.. :)

[helloMegs]

Growing up I was always told, "make sure you study!". I would try and always fail. I didn't know how to study. I just read the books and thought that was enough. Through the years I've learned how to study and what works for me, but I wish I had a channel like this when I was in school. Thanks for all your hard work!

[marisacasciola]

For Endocrinology, I started drawing what the book was explaining (since there are not any figures for me to reference while I read the chapter). It worked fairly well for reading certain sections of the pituitary gland and hypothalamus. I marked the main points of the section that I saw as relevant to the section title, then drew a picture of the pathways/process.

[rupavanich]

while i am studying i feel every sentence is important i am unable to decide which is important because i am studying medical books can u make a video how to study medical books

[Zistheone]

The one problem I have with pseudo skimming, or speed reading in general, is that when I try to skim through paragraphs all the information I see looks equally as important. Then I stop and read through everything slowly and carefully, which then leads me to get bored and procrastinate for long periods of time and when I try to go back to studying, I start feeling too fatigued and exhausted and start procrastinating all over again. I tried writing down what I need to look for in my readings and the other stuff you mentioned in your video on focusing, but that didn't really work either. Do you have any tips or advice on how to find the really important stuff when you're trying to speed read or skim through a textbook?

[FreedominThought]

I actually laughed out loud at 5:49 LMAO. Reviewing one of your old videos to see what you already talked about! I'm about to do a video/blog post on reading textbooks soon

[deerobbins]

Dude, what you describe is exactly what SQ3R SAYS to do. You even used the lingo, recall, skimm is a survey. Great advice.

[patriciahamel]

I'm so glad that I'm not the only one that does the brackets, underlining, and margin notes during my first read through! A tip, though, for anyone wanting to use that method with a dense book: Don't wait until you are done with the book to go back through it. Read it in sections of a few chapters at a time, then go back and take notes based on what you marked up. Otherwise it will just seem really overwhelming.