<p>I've done a recent assessment of my skills, strengths, and weaknesses...</p>
<p>...and realized that I suck at thinking analytically. I am one of those students who will read something and forget everything by the time I hit the bottom of the next page. </p>
<p>I want to be the kind of person who can read something and be able to make connections and question what I've read. I want to read passages in my textbooks without having to reread and reread just to grasp information. How can I remedy this?</p>
<p>find out of your college has any classes regarding analytical skills or critical thinking</p>
<p>If you’re interested in increasing your reading skills, maybe pick up a copy of Mortimer J. Adler’s [How</a> to Read a Book.](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Book-Touchstone-book/dp/0671212095/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327509130&sr=1-1][I]How”>http://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Book-Touchstone-book/dp/0671212095/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327509130&sr=1-1) Don’t let the title fool you: It’s definitely not child’s play. Rather, it’s a lengthy (300+ pages) tome on reading correctly - i.e, reading for understanding. Highly recommended. </p>
<p>Of course, if you’re more interested in increasing your analytical skills in general, I’d suggest taking bl4ke360’s advice and register for a critical thinking class. There may be several courses to choose from - e.g, some courses take a more informal approach focusing on fallacies, etc.; others take a formal approach and study things like propositional or first-order logic. You’ll benefit from either kind, so the choice is up to you. </p>
<p>I’ve also heard someone say (Daniel Dennet, I think) that you can always gauge a person’s analytical skills by how well the person understands calculus. So, here’s another option: Take and finish your school’s calculus sequence (if you haven’t already). You may be surprised to find that higher math (i.e, calc. or above) is less about mindless computations and more about having a firm understanding of abstract concepts, which consequently improves analytical skills. (As proof of this, you can check out the [GRE</a> Score Distribution by Intended Major](<a href=“http://www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/gre_guide_table4.pdf]GRE”>http://www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/gre_guide_table4.pdf). Specifically, look at the mean scores for each major in each section; math and physics majors are at the top.)</p>
<p>Don’t expect any one thing to magically improve your analytical skills, though. There’s no one step solution; you’ll have to try many things before you see much of an improvement. Also, be prepared to put some work in. If you don’t plan to put forth the effort, then don’t expect much in return.</p>
<p>Anyway, good luck!</p>