How To Absorb Textbooks Like a Sponge in College
Every student out there, either in university or in college faces that one faithful period in their life when they have to find a way to cram as much information as possible from a book or a manual for their exam that is approaching soon.
Now there are multiple ways in which you can deal with this tragedy that you’re going through. But there is this one video that I watched almost 10 years ago that had the basics of creating a folder in your brain that helps to organize and store all that information that is being studied which helps remembering all the important and juicy answers to the questions you will face in your exam. This is a way to create a catalogue in your mind to connect all the dots together and assign each piece of info in the right place, so make sure to follow this STEP-BY-STEP. Hope this helps you out :)
1) Flip Through The Pages of the Chapter :
When you go inside any building or facility or area that you know you will spend alot of time in, don’t you think it’s a good idea to get to know the environment you will spend all that time in before you just start working and discover new parts of the area later ? The same basically applies to your studies. You open this massive book with long chapter, open chapter one and start flipping through the pages. Look at the content you will face in the upcoming days. See if there are lists, or charts, or diagrams. Compare the amount of words to images, check the length of the chapter. You don’t need to read anything specifically at this stage. You’re just looking for the sake of seeing what’s up.
2) Read the End of Chapter Questions :
Most textbooks that are compiled of different chapters of a specific subject always has the great feature added which is the “End of Chapter Questions”. Those questions are one of, if not the most part of your book, since those highlight what the author thought was so important and significant to your knowledge that they asked about it specifically to test your knowledge in that one area of the topic. Reading those questions before starting the chapter makes it easier for you to know what to focus on significantly more than other pages in the chapter when you recognize that one word or phrase that you were exposed to before starting to study. Now, to make this even better; you can try to answer those questions on a separate sheet of paper before having any knowledge about the chapter. Just squeeze your brain with whatever answers that come up in your brain. There’s a chance you might get an answer right, or maybe multiple, or maybe not a single answer has anything even close to do with the subject. It doesn’t matter either way, the main goal is to get those questions in your brain to acknowledge in the first place so you it can stick there and when you understand the actual answer and meaning behind those important questions it will be much easier (and enjoyable) to answer those or similar questions correctly on your exam.
3) Read through all the Bold Prints :
What you just read above this paragraph is the perfect example of this step. The Bold method has always been used since the 1500s, and it’s the easiest way to direct your attention towards that part of the page. Most of the examples of what is usually bolded in chapters are : Sub headings, unique phrases, definitions, and all the main points connecting the ideas in those chapters. A good method to follow & use most out of this step before starting to study is to make a checklist of all the Subheadings on the side, and also a list of each one of the unique phrases you find while going through the bolded information. This will set for you a reminder on what you’re going to go through and sets a pattern you can notice and understand so you you have all that info saved in your brain in order.
4) Read the FIRST and LAST sentences :
Each chapter in a great number of textbooks start with a short introduction. This can be either a separate paragraph or they just go straight into action attached to the rest of the subject. Now if the author was generous they would provide a summary at the end as well, but typically we find the introduction. Either way you will want to read the beginning and finale of the chapter so your brain can draw this line of start and finish points. Again, this is to help create a map for all the information you will take in and divide them properly so you understand all the information in a proper and well structured way.
And that’s basically it. 4 simple steps that might take an hour extra from your life to prepare well for the journey you will face in each chapter but I guarantee will make your process of finishing that chapter only once & just as efficient while remembering all the important parts, also makes it a bit ore enjoyable if you create yourself a progress bar for that chapter.
The semester just started for all of us & so I hope the best of luck for both me & every other single tired soul that’s in school & university. Take care :D
Thanks for reading, my name is Ahed and I’m a 19 year old freshman in the University Of Debrecen in central Europe studying Computer Science Engineering. I created this Magazine to document my college years and give my advice and tips on personal current experiences for others to find useful. make sure to clap :)
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