Do You Actually Need to Read Your Textbooks? - College Info Geek

Here's how to smartly prioritize your reading assignments so you're only spending time on the ones that truly matter.

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[lindaharkin]

I'm the opposite of most it seems, I almost never take notes in class and only study the textbook(s). I read the chapter in the textbook before the lecture, and resolve to listen intently but only take notes if the professor mentions anything that is not in the book. ...which almost never happens. I always get As, and I don't study more than two hours/day (in addition to lectures), so I don't think there is anything that wrong with my method. ;)

[ariellev]

I'm a senior and am graduating in June. I know all of this but I really just wanted to believe that I don't have to read the books assigned for my history class 😭 I'm a good student on paper but truthfully I rarely do my assigned readings unless I truly have to. Then I stress tf out when I have papers but somehow still end up with A's on them. Can't wait until this is all over with.

[zachbro]

For science courses you don't really need to read the textbooks provided that your professor gives good lecutres. Simply take good notes in class and RECORD the lectures so that you can fill in any gaps in your notes after class. Listen to you lectures as you review your notes so that you can memorize everything that was said. You can refer to your text book to review diagrams and figures.

In a science book you should mainly be looking at the diagrams and figures and only reading the body of the text if you still can't understand their content based on your understanding of the notes. In lieu of reading the textbook you could ask your instructor for clarification during lecture or office hours. You can also check the end of the chapter for a summary that provides the main ideas.

For a math and physics classes you should take good notes in class and also recording the lecture could help. I once took a physics class where I was totally lost, but I just took excellent notes so that I could easily find the equation I needed to plug numbers into the get my answer. I got an A with that strategy. Since math is very visual you only need to read the text book to see worked examples provided that you didn't take note of examples in class. If you must read a math of physics text book, focus on the examples and end of chapter summaries. Seriously ask your instructor if you can't figure something out from notes, examples, or summaries.

For history courses taking good notes and recording lectures is probably the best way to go. If the lectures are very good then recording them may eliminate the need to read the textbook entirely. Also, with history there is probably a video on documentary about the subject already online so you could eliminate some reading by just watching videos.

For literature or philosophy courses, reading the book is ideal. But if you can't read or understand the book for some reason, then you can probably find a summary online. Search for Cliff Notes or Spark Notes. Just make sure that if you have to write about something you read that you don't just plagiarize from the summary. Remember that in some cases the summary is just an interpretation of the book so it's not always possible for everyone to arrive at the same meaning. Use these types of notes as a guide and try to change the conclusions up a but within reason so your professors don't accuse you of plagiarism.

A strategy that I didn't use in college but that I would totally use now is voice to text technology. If you can digitize the text of your books, then copy it and process it it through some voice to text software. Then save the voice recording in a format that you can upload or stream to your phone or computer. That way, you can listen to the reading, which could save a lot of time if you are a slow reader or get easily bored with reading.

The voice to text strategy could be a game changer because if you can listen to everything in a chapter without actually having to take the energy to read it, you can save yourself hours. You can listen to the text while driving or exercising and just make life so much easier.

[NoBoom]

I'm really liking these videos! I'm an internet entrepreneur, recently found myself in the dumps, and now I'm hooked on your videos, and your website's articles. Keep up the good work, and don't stop.

[Evil_Narwhal]

Textbooks are garbage. A teacher is truly effective if they can wholly teach the class without having the need of some silly, dense book. Plus, textbooks cost a fortune.

[mendealingwithreality]

I read the text book specifically for accounting and finance courses, and it helps me overall to gauge the amount of information/knowledge I need to know... like if I have an internship, in one of those fields it would be certain things that “skimming” would not do... just read. Chapters be like +50 pages and covers an entire 8 hrs maybe with breaks in between. Procrastination like I’m doing now... but hey, it’s better to know enough and be okay. Then to know nothing and get fired.

[HelleMyLady]

This channel is GOLDEN and the overall quality of your videos are awesome as well. I am amazed that you don't have views up in the 100Ks??

[HarmonyTheMermaid]

Actually I'm student with mosiac down syndrome, and some learning disabilties my mom never told me. If she did, things would be completely different so I can overcome my learning disabilties.


And I'm in awe you care about helping students build their reading skills.

[BarakaGitari]

I rarely read textbooks (use class notes and slides and past tests) and its enough to get a B+ or A- most of the time

[biancalucia]

I always try to read my books (even though I don’t finish reading them) as much as possible and highlight because it helps me learn. I barely write notes anymore because I’m a slow reader!

[Lolleka]

I love that book on probability theory so much. It's such a joy to read it.

[jessicashowalter]

I've had quite a mixture! Every professor includes 'assigned reading' in their course requirements, syllabus, etc. But while some draw heavily from the textbook, many don't! I had a class last semester, where I lugged the textbook around and we literally never used it - nor did the teacher even test on it (let alone teach from it - but they also didn't choose the textbook as they were assigned to the class last minute). The only thing I want to point out - is that while 'secondary reading' materials (articles, etc) aren't usually heavily concentrated on - some of them are quite important, depending on the class. I've had quite a few professors who have used numerous secondary reading materials - and a good portion of them were included in the tests. But it depends on the subject and course. Great info and I really enjoyed the quality and succinct breakdown! I'll check out some more of your videos :)

[Allison_B.]

Triage is actually a french word that simply means "sorting".

[Peter-wltm]

Can someone answer, how do all your reading if the reading assignment consist of 3 chapters a week with 20+ pgs? How is it possible to read all that, study, and do assignments

[mirosgerg]

This topic is shared in the book!
However, there are and days in which you can read the all books from the assignments and what happens you have read 3-4 and it's....
So maybe we must know the most important the other to be skip!

[lfernanderify]

But if you take online classes, you must read

[Kyle-pjvc]

You know what? I'm not a history major, but I'd hate to be one. I took a few history classes that were required, and I found that I needed to do every single reading or else I couldn't get a good grade. In contrast to my other classes, all I needed to do was pay attention and take down vocab definitions like you said in the video.

[powerballin]

sometimes when i am passionate about the subject and want to to more than just do well on a test, i like reading the books. disclaimer, i have bad grades

[blitzkiek]

I have had issues with school this semester and I really like your videos!

[Rania-vhwg]

I never read my textbooks and i have a 4.0 gpa (sophmore going to be a junior cuz of my cred hours next semester) anywaysss, i think it depends on whether your professor actually have information dense powerpoints.. i would recommend waiting to buy the textbook till at least the 3rd or 4th lecture cuz by then you’ll probs know if your teacher uses the textbook info in the ppt or just have general bullet points