<p>My D does not start her freshman year until next week, but is noticing many comments from friends that indicate the reading load for classes is MUCH MUCH more demanding than high school was. D is a great reader and actually has a great system in the past of making notes, notecards, highlighting etc. to keep herself organized with reading her textbooks. </p>
<p>But she's a little worried, with the possible big increase in pages to be turned, that her system will be flawed because she'll be drowning in note cards etc. and she won't have the time to be so thorough. Any suggestions/ideas on how your students have handled the many pages of required reading in college courses???</p>
<p>abasket,
What kind of reading? It makes a difference in the approach- literature vs. science text, etc.</p>
<p>If it's a fiction/non-fiction novel, many people finding jotting notes in the margins an easy way to get through a book quickly. Sure, if they want to use their notes they have to flip through, but it saves time, and your notes are on the exact page referenced.</p>
<p>For science text, I would scan the material before the lecture- not worry too much about "learning it all" but scan it quickly. Then after the lecture I'd really sit down and read it over carefully, take notes, etc.</p>
<p>When a student feels "overwhelmed" I recommend they organize what needs to be done and the deadlines- this book finished by next week, this reading finished by tomorrow, those articles read by Friday... and then make a "schedule". By scheduling the work, you relieve a lot of stress, and it's motivating. </p>
<p>Sometimes during crunch it becomes helpful to actually plan each day- how you are going to get your work done before, after, and inbetween classes. (AM before History- read Bio ch. 5; between History and Spanish- review notes for Lit test; after Spanish- library research for paper; after dinner- math homework, study Spanish, review history notes...)</p>
<p>For entire books, make an index card "bookmark" for each book- put each date and the number of pages expected to be completed beside it (8/29 p. 50; 8/30 p. 100; 8/31 p. 150; so on...) Then it becomes obvious when you've slipped behind in your reading.</p>
<p>What most students learn in college is what to spend time on and be thorough on and what is not-so-much. This can be driven by exam experience, wise listening to prof. OR finding what one is good at versus what not-so-much. In my experience this becomes a personal journey of discovery. Some folks call this time management. It is a learning curve and she will likely do just fine.</p>
<p>
[quote]
For entire books, make an index card "bookmark" for each book- put each date and the number of pages expected to be completed beside it (8/29 p. 50; 8/30 p. 100; 8/31 p. 150; so on...) Then it becomes obvious when you've slipped behind in your reading.
[/quote]
I use this method with my hs daughter who tends to fall behind in her reading...it works perfectly!</p>
<p>Also, hazmat is quite correct. Part of learning how to "do" college reading is to know what things are important and what things aren't. Not all assignments are equal. I remember sitting on my doorstep crying shortly after I started college, thinking I was much too stupid to be there. In fact, I had just not yet learned to prioritize my work. Everyone goes through this (I think) and your D will do fine too.</p>
<p>Her best strategy is to determine what and when the #1 exam is. How long it will be, what format. What comprises the final grade. Few exams are given that a student doesn't easily know the format. Take that and fill in the most likely questions. Over a week or two she will begin to see what the style of her reading needs to be. Multiiple guess, short answer, long essay versus short essay......combo. In general it is usually no surprise what is on the exam. Getting the big picture is what she will acquire. Many times in discussion a prof will make explicit comments ie "This will be on the exam" type of thing. </p>
<p>You have 500 pages of reading for one exam with 50 or 100 Qs.....not usually to hard to figure out what concepts will be covered. Does that make sense?</p>
<p>for me two of the bigger learning in college were ... the need to be organized and plan ahead (which it sounds like your daughter has down pat) ... and selective neglect. </p>
<p>What is selective negelct? There likely will be times when it is impossible to do all the required reading across all the courses ... especially in a thorough time consuming manner. There are times when students need to decide which required (or recommended) readings should be read but no notes taken, skimmed, or totally skipped. The sounds counter intuitive ... but one of the main things I learned that turned my academics (upward) ... was selective neglect. And from your description of your daughter's studying practices in HS if she takes heavy social science course (history, political sciences, etc) the level of reading may create an issue if she feels compelled to read every page thoroughly, highlighting, and taking notes.</p>
<p>For social science classes that are articles-intensive (read half dozen articles for each lecture)- the main thing is to be able to cite the author and the main point/argument she's making in the article. The professor will go over the most salient points she wants to to know as well.</p>
<p>I agree that for FROSH in first semester.......Profs will spell it out completely. Those who listen and take note will not suffer. Many kids won't get the big picture and will cram. Ominous beginnings do occur.</p>
<p>I would not suggest making marginal comments in books. You would have to go through the book all over again in search of those comments (and of course, you won't be reading just one book). As well, if the readings are required for a class discussion, there's nothing so time-wasting as students flipping through readings in search of passages they want to adduce as support for their argument.</p>
<p>Read a passage once. Then decided what is the main point of the passage. Write down on an index card or on a computer the main point of the passage and the page where it can be found. You can use postits to mark the page or highlighter (if the book belongs to you and you do not plan on reselling it).
If it's a history text, you may find it useful to construct a chronology to keep the chain of events clear, and a list of names. If the text discusses different viewpoints, it's important to summarize the viewpoints of different authors; it's also useful to write down your reaction to their arguments (e.g. author A claims such and such, using evidence from xyz. Author B claims so and so, but his evidence is deficient).</p>
<p>marite, I was referring to fiction and non-fiction novels, where a student might want to go back later and use quotes, descriptive passages, etc. and does not have the time or paper to copy stuff like that down verbatim. I didn't make that clear.</p>
<p>let's try this another way that might make more sense ...</p>
<p>Selective neglect = prioritizing work</p>
<p>There will be times when a student has over the next week ... 2 mid-terms, a lab report, a 15 page paper, 500 pages of reading, and an athletic road trip, along with all the other basic weekly academic requirements (basic textbook reading, homework sets, etc). And there is just not enough time to do all the work at a very high level and also sleep. If there is not aenough time the work must be prioritized and some thhings will need to be done less well or not at all as compared to if there was more time available. My selective neglect lesson was that I needed to be realistic about how much time I had and what could realistically be done ... and make my plans accordingly ... and during heavy crunch periods this almost always included selective neglect.</p>
<p>before getting too hung up on the reading, it might be a good idea to look at old exams (assuming they're available) to see what is stressed. </p>
<p>Some (but not all) college classes are very concept based, where the purpose of the reading is to generate thoughts. For these, the detailed notes can actually get in the way of the big picture. </p>
<p>Other classes nit pick specific ideas (these ones killed me - led to my only "D" grade in 4 years of undergrad, 6 years of grad and 2 years of professional school) or worse, factoids. For these, beware. But I never saw as heavy a teaching load for these courses.</p>
<p>Science courses are a different thing all together, at least for undergrads. One finds LOTS of new terminology, pathways, mechanisms, formulas and such. Many science courses are heavy on rote, especially introductory and survey courses. So the note taking skills, highlighting the text, marginal notes and such are all useful here.</p>
<p>Agree with hazmat and 3togo. The trick is knowing what is important and what is not. Extra points are not awarded to those who go above and beyond the blood sweat and tears. Giving the customer the product he asks for and not necessarily more is a good lesson to learn in college- will serve you well for the rest of your life.</p>
<p>As in the "real" world- how many corporate people know those folks who always seem to be working into the wee hours of the night, doing everything to the nth degree, but don't seem to get ahead or recognized/awarded for all their effort?</p>
<p>It was painful to see S hunt for passages he wanted to quote in his high school papers when he could not remember which book he'd read particular information in. It was a colossal duplication of reading, which invariably led to a lot more work at the last minute.
Students should always read with index cards or paper on hand. As well, students not remembering which page a specific passage they want to cite is on wastes precious discussion time.</p>
<p>Additional info: The method I suggest works for readings that should be done carefully. Skimming less important readings is fine as long as a quick summary is jotted down so that the student will remember what the readings were about (and who wrote them). How does a student know which is which? Usually by asking the instructor.
For social science readings, it's is useful to summarize an author's argument and to discuss whether or not one is persuaded by the argument and evidence used to buttress an argument. If it is a history text, it may be helpful to construct a chronology and a list of names with titles or short description. Reading literary works requires a totally different approach.</p>
<p>"What is selective negelct? There likely will be times when it is impossible to do all the required reading across all the courses ... especially in a thorough time consuming manner. There are times when students need to decide which required (or recommended) readings should be read but no notes taken, skimmed, or totally skipped. "</p>
<p>Thank you. That sounds right on target and one of the things I'm thinking she will struggle with at first - giving herself "permission" to selectively neglect!!! But I can see the value here...!</p>
<p>Speaking of index cards - does anyone else feel they have could put every index card their home has bought and lay them side by side and probably reach coast to coast?! My kids have all been index card fans since primary grades. We don't even bother with the 100 packs anymore - 500/1000 card packs are our friends....!</p>
<p>S has finally (I hope) learned to type his notes on the computer, with source. This allows him to print out an entire sheet of notes for discussions or to move the quote from the note-taking site to the document he is writing easily. Also, his handwriting is so atrocious that he might not be able to make sense of his notes if he re-read them after a while.</p>
<p>One more tip: try to vary the courses you take enough not to overload on reading-heavy courses. A language, econ or math course may be much lighter on reading than a typical literature, history or philosophy class. </p>
<p>I learned that lesson the hard way the 1st semester of my freshman year... although, on the plus side, I got very good at selective neglect right off the bat!</p>
<p>good advice. In prep for her summer in Bolivia, my D took three (yes, three) spanish classes at U. Chicago last spring, including one grad level class. Some days she felt buried with the reading. (All the more amazing that she got an A in each!)</p>
<p>Remind her that college schedules typically give students significant free time during the day for study and reading. Figuring the typical college course load at 16 credit hours, that means between 16 and 20 hours/wk in the classroom vs a hs day which runs 7 hrs/day or 35 hrs/wk. A college student who utilizes her time well can get lots of work done in that extra 15 hrs of "free" time.</p>