My history professor assigned to read a book and we all thought it was to read a certain small section and he said to read the whole book. I am already having an extremely hard time reading 50-60 pages of a chapter in one week.
What are some strategies/tips that you do when you are assigned a whole load of reading?
If you have seven days to read the book, I would divide it into seven parts and tackle it that way. If you bought the book, highlight it as you go along. If you can’t mark it, take notes on each chapter.
It’s not unusual to be assigned that much reading. I hope it’s an interesting book, at least! My college history professor assigned really good books, so I didn’t mind reading them.
There are lots of active reading strategies that you can find all over the Internet. The quick and dirty is that you have to learn how to scan quickly for key information - subheadings, topic sentences, thesis sentences, etc. - anything that will give you the general overview of what’s happening within a specific section without reading every single word.
MaineLonghorn also gives good advice - if you think about it, 60 pages a week is only about 8.5 pages per day. Or, if you want to skip a day, you can read 10 pages and take one day off. But 10 pages in one day isn’t very much!
It’s very possible. In graduate school, we were often given 100-200 pages of reading *a week, for one class/i. It seems very overwhelming at first, and over time you learn to read real fast!
It is perfectly normal to asked to read an entire book in a week in college. It’s not hard, and can actually be enjoyable, if you let yourself actually read in a non-distracting environment. Turn off the phone, unplug all devices, and go to the park or curl up in a comfy chair somewhere and, well, actually read, without talking to anyone and without checking your phone, for several hours. Have a pen in hand to annotate, and maybe some sticky notes. It’s also wise to have read any assignment prompt or discussion questions ahead of time, so you can be keeping lists of key quotes or important passages. Hope this helps.
How to Read a Book: https://pne.people.si.umich.edu/PDF/howtoread.pdf
Cliffnotes are a lifesaver, amigo.
If you are taking a class to learn a subject, why use cliff notes? They may be shortcut but who are you short cutting but yourself.
300 pages in a week isn’t too bad. You just have to make reading it a priority over some other activities.
Then you ae going to have problems in college.
60 pages of a history book and 60 pages of an engineering text are two different animals and should be approached differently. The history book should be read for larger themes and ideas, not tiny details. That lets you read faster - not so fast that you’re skimming but fast enough that you are looking for broad arguments and ideas.
Categorize what’s going on. Each paragraph is doing something such as
- making a point
- providing evidence to prove said point
- tying ideas together into bigger points
Read the points, skim the proof, read the tying together extra carefully
Read with pen in hand - noting the points and important page numbers in a notebook as you go. The longer the work, the less likely you are to be able to read it twice. You’re gonna need decent notes for discussion, writing a paper, or studying for the test.
You have to find the drive to do it. The “I can” and the “I will.” Not many great things come from “I can’t.” If you really want to do well, and you really want a degree in the end, then you will take the advice above, get to work, and do the best that you can.
Try to find an audiobook copy on overdrive or online. Listen while you are getting other things done & read along when you can.
I remember my first day in class as a freshman and the history professor introduced himself, had us introduce ourselves, explained the beginning of the syllabus, we flipped the page - and I saw 80 pages for the next class period. 
First, see if the book exists as an audiobook. Take notes as you listen. Or listen as you jog or go to an fro but stop at the end of each chapter to record the main ideas and your main reaction.
If it doesn’t exist as an audiobook, sit in a calm place with no computer or noise or distraction. A nook in a corner of the library will do well. Turn off your phone and put it away. Not in your backpocket- away, but inside a bag that you zip and drop behind you a few steps from you, -away.
Read the table of contents, the introduction, and the conclusion. What’s the issue? What are the author’s hypotheses and points?
What questions does s/he ask? You can bet s/he will try to find answers to these questions in the book. So, your next job will be to write down the answers as you red and hunt for them. You can also enjoy the stories and serote down your reaction to them - what surprised you? What shocked you? What did you find funny or sad? What didn’t you understand?
You can go to office hours with these. In particular bring the 'isidnt understand when the author stated…" questions to office hours. 1) it’ll sow the professor the you care 2)it’llprovide to with a useful answer.
This is terrible advice. Good advice for leisure books, but not ones that you’re reading for class. Your attention needs to be 100% on what you’re reading.
You’re shocked because a history prof assigned you to read a whole book??? This is college, man. You need a serious attitude adjustment.
The advice from the other posters here is good. I’ll also recommend taking a speed reading course. Evelyn Wood works. Not so great for the engineering text but will let you zip right through history books.
My kids and I found this useful: https://tim.blog/2009/07/30/speed-reading-and-accelerated-learning/
Audio books can take 2-3X as long as just reading.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
The OP asked the question a month ago and has not returned. If s/he has not figured out how to do the reading by now, I think it’s too late. Closing thread.