How To Read A Textbook
Jan. 15th, 2014 11:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icarusThis developed out of a conversation with a friend who was a math TA, and my frustration with my own poor studying.
How To Read A Textbook
Did you know that you don't read a textbook the same way you read a novel?
A novel, you start from the beginning and read to the satisfying conclusion. Ever try that with a textbook?
Heh. You might've noticed reading a textbook end to end is a special kind of torture. It's so boring and convoluted and hard to tell what's important and what isn't, overwhelming, confusing, overly detailed, and impossible to remember.
Why?
Textbooks aren't written like stories. They're more like engineering specs, where some sections are exploded diagrams, giving more detail.
To read a textbook, you need an overview before you dive in -- to keep it from getting confusing.
You need the specs for each chapter -- to keep it from becoming a slog.
And you need a method to attack each chapter -- to keep it from getting dull, dry, and boring.
Remember the point: the textbook isn't the Pharaoh. You're not supposed to be subservient.
Rather, the textbook is supposed to serve You.
A textbook is more like the fencing master. It's there for you to challenge. If you don't pick up the sword and fight back, you don't learn.
Here's a more useful way to read a textbook. You will need:
a) The Textbook.
b) Post-Its or permission to write in the book.
1 - Skim the Table of Contents.
- Get the big picture first.
- Otherwise, it's easy to get lost and wonder, "Jeeze, what's the point here...?"
(Remember I said that textbooks are confusing? This is how to avoid confusion.)
2 - Read the long version of the Table of Contents on the chapter you'll be reading.
- That'll give you the terrain.
- Now you know where you're headed, how much ground is being covered, how far you have to read, how hard it's going to be.
- Otherwise, you can be midway and it'll feel like a slog, and you don't know that you're just in a hard part, and there's an easier part coming up.
(Remember how I said that textbooks are overwhelming? This is how to avoid overwhelm.)
3 - Open to the chapter -- but don't read it yet! Instead, skim the bolded headings.
- Headings!first tells you the most important concepts.
- That way you know what the writer feels is important.
(Remember how I said that textbooks are overly detailed? This is how to avoid that problem.)
4 - Get that stack of Post-Its, then summarize like you do an SAT passage.
- You can also write these notes in your notebook, but I like to write in the textbook.
- This keeps it from all just washing over your brain.
- That way you have Opinions and Thoughts, rather than just mindlessly memorizing.
- ...and, by the way, mindless memorizing doesn't work for most people.
- ...in fact, I've never met a single soul who doesn't do better by having opinions and responses that they write down, rather than trying to obediently regurgitate the text.
(Remember how I said textbooks are boring? This is how to avoid that feeling. Otherwise it's like someone is bloviating at you and you have to memorize their baloney rather than -- like any rational human being -- giving yourself space to come to your own conclusions. In other words, this is where you pick up the sword. En Guarde!)
Special note on Humanities & Science textbooks (English, World History, Psych, Bio, etc.):
These often have useless filler chapters, or parts that are out of date. If a teacher leaves off a chapter, it's for good reason. For example, when I tutor AP World, I don't have anyone read the chapters on Mughal history. That's because ALL the textbooks are WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. No college professor (or any of the AP World tutors) uses the textbooks for that time period. Or, an astronomy professor might leave off the section on the "planet" Pluto.
Save yourself some wasted time and only read what the teacher asks you to.
Special note on Math textbooks:
Unlike English and history and other subjects, math gets progressively harder. If chapter one takes you an hour to read, chapter two will take you an hour and fifteen minutes to read, chapter three will take you an hour and a half, chapter four will take an hour and forty-five minutes, chapter five will take two hours, six will take two hours and fifteen minutes, seven will take two and a half hours, eight will take two hours forty-five minutes, and chapter nine will take three hours.
This is why most people only get 60% of the way through their Math textbooks.
Schedule your math reading time accordingly.
How To Read A Textbook
Did you know that you don't read a textbook the same way you read a novel?
A novel, you start from the beginning and read to the satisfying conclusion. Ever try that with a textbook?
Heh. You might've noticed reading a textbook end to end is a special kind of torture. It's so boring and convoluted and hard to tell what's important and what isn't, overwhelming, confusing, overly detailed, and impossible to remember.
Why?
Textbooks aren't written like stories. They're more like engineering specs, where some sections are exploded diagrams, giving more detail.
To read a textbook, you need an overview before you dive in -- to keep it from getting confusing.
You need the specs for each chapter -- to keep it from becoming a slog.
And you need a method to attack each chapter -- to keep it from getting dull, dry, and boring.
Remember the point: the textbook isn't the Pharaoh. You're not supposed to be subservient.
Rather, the textbook is supposed to serve You.
A textbook is more like the fencing master. It's there for you to challenge. If you don't pick up the sword and fight back, you don't learn.
Here's a more useful way to read a textbook. You will need:
a) The Textbook.
b) Post-Its or permission to write in the book.
1 - Skim the Table of Contents.
- Get the big picture first.
- Otherwise, it's easy to get lost and wonder, "Jeeze, what's the point here...?"
(Remember I said that textbooks are confusing? This is how to avoid confusion.)
2 - Read the long version of the Table of Contents on the chapter you'll be reading.
- That'll give you the terrain.
- Now you know where you're headed, how much ground is being covered, how far you have to read, how hard it's going to be.
- Otherwise, you can be midway and it'll feel like a slog, and you don't know that you're just in a hard part, and there's an easier part coming up.
(Remember how I said that textbooks are overwhelming? This is how to avoid overwhelm.)
3 - Open to the chapter -- but don't read it yet! Instead, skim the bolded headings.
- Headings!first tells you the most important concepts.
- That way you know what the writer feels is important.
(Remember how I said that textbooks are overly detailed? This is how to avoid that problem.)
4 - Get that stack of Post-Its, then summarize like you do an SAT passage.
- You can also write these notes in your notebook, but I like to write in the textbook.
- This keeps it from all just washing over your brain.
- That way you have Opinions and Thoughts, rather than just mindlessly memorizing.
- ...and, by the way, mindless memorizing doesn't work for most people.
- ...in fact, I've never met a single soul who doesn't do better by having opinions and responses that they write down, rather than trying to obediently regurgitate the text.
(Remember how I said textbooks are boring? This is how to avoid that feeling. Otherwise it's like someone is bloviating at you and you have to memorize their baloney rather than -- like any rational human being -- giving yourself space to come to your own conclusions. In other words, this is where you pick up the sword. En Guarde!)
Special note on Humanities & Science textbooks (English, World History, Psych, Bio, etc.):
These often have useless filler chapters, or parts that are out of date. If a teacher leaves off a chapter, it's for good reason. For example, when I tutor AP World, I don't have anyone read the chapters on Mughal history. That's because ALL the textbooks are WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. No college professor (or any of the AP World tutors) uses the textbooks for that time period. Or, an astronomy professor might leave off the section on the "planet" Pluto.
Save yourself some wasted time and only read what the teacher asks you to.
Special note on Math textbooks:
Unlike English and history and other subjects, math gets progressively harder. If chapter one takes you an hour to read, chapter two will take you an hour and fifteen minutes to read, chapter three will take you an hour and a half, chapter four will take an hour and forty-five minutes, chapter five will take two hours, six will take two hours and fifteen minutes, seven will take two and a half hours, eight will take two hours forty-five minutes, and chapter nine will take three hours.
This is why most people only get 60% of the way through their Math textbooks.
Schedule your math reading time accordingly.
