<p>I go to class, 4 days a week, in the following schedule...
Mondays & Weds - Sociology in the morning and Philosophy in the late afternoon
Tues & Thursdays - Economy in the morning</p>
<p>So my free days are Fridays, Sat, and Sundays.</p>
<p>So I was assigned some homework and during my 3 days off school....</p>
<p>I had to read 2 chapters from Microeconomics by McEachern for Economy class.
I took a little note/summary of the main idea for each paragraph. (since it's a good way to remember what I have read)
I spent 5hrs on Chapter one (12pgs), 7hrs on Chapter two(18pgs).
So whole thing took me 12 hours just to finish reading.</p>
<p>But THAT's not all. I also had to read Chapter 1 & 2 for Philosophy class.
So I spent another 2 hours finishing up Chapter one(11pges).
And I will have to be reading Chapter two tomorow.</p>
<p>I also have to read an article for Sociology class.</p>
<p>I have a very bad feeling about this. Help!!</p>
<p>If your school has a tutoring center or other services available, definitely make an appointment and talk to them about this. Failing that, talk to your professors. You shouldn't be taking that long to read things--either you should get tested for dyslexia or other learning difficulties that would interfere with your reading, or you're reading WAY too in-depth, or you're spending a lot of your "reading" time on staring out the window or watching youtube videos. Whatever the reason, go get help, figure it out, and fix it. </p>
<p>I was going to say that is normal... until I saw your breakdown. For college the standard to expect (at least) 3 hours of homework/study time for every hour of class. 3 credit classes = about 9 hours a week, 4 credit classes = about 12 hours a week (though in my experience 4 credit classes usually have even more including any labs and projects).</p>
<p>I'm betting with your macroeconomics you are either getting distracted or taking WAY too many notes. I am taking macroeconomics as an online course, so I have to make sure the reading gets drilled into my brain, cause there is no in person meeting to do it for me. I usually read each chapter all the way through first, then look at the review/homework questions, then scan back through again, and finally go an answer the questions. I never do this whole process all in one sitting (unless midnight Saturday is getting close; which would mean I procrastinated way too much and it is due imminently) but I estimate I take about an hour on each chapter, maybe two if I include perusing the online discussion board for conversation pertaining to the curret topics (and to post my required number of times for the week).</p>
<p>But that long on homework is normal, I will say it again because I have heard many laugh at that because their classes are way easier than that, then when the serious homework load hits they freak out and think it's some kind of BS that they can complain to the school about the professor for.</p>
<p>Work on your note taking skills is probably all you need. Notes using shorthand work just as well as written out in full sentances. Also, as with highlighting, only take notes on the points you REALLY think are important (I loath getting used books with any highlighting, because it's always very excessive and ruins the point of it).</p>
<p>That's absurd. I have to read entire books for each class, and generally a 200 page book only takes maybe five solid hours of careful reading. You're doing something wrong.</p>
<p>You need to read faster and try skimming before you actually sit down and go through all the reading. Some classes give you an insane amount of reading but only test you on a small part of it.</p>
<p>i think you're going into way to much detail. I had problems with my reading classes too. Its hard to know what they'll ask on the test so I'd just take notes on everything. </p>
<p>I find that if you concentrate on whats taught in the lectures and mostly take notes on that stuff it'll be fine. From my experience, the readings go into much more detail than the lectures and some of the stuff in the readings wasn't mentioned at all on the lectures. So i ususally would just read over or skim those topics.</p>
<p>Learn to skim for main ideas and vocabulary/terms associated with them. If it's 12 pages IN the text, 5 hours is a bit long, even with taking notes at the same time. Go to tutoring center where they should be able to give you some assistance on effective and efficient note-taking and reading.</p>
<p>But the load overall is quite standard. And don't you have nights on Monday through Thursday too to do the readings?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>there are 4 other days of the week that you can do work on</p></li>
<li><p>there is no way it should take you that long. Are you a very slow reader, or is taking the notes what slows you down? Once you figure that out, you can improve the necessary skills.</p></li>
<li><p>some paragraphs have multiple important points... some have none. Learn to be able to tell the difference.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Learn to visualize the structure of argument in a block of text. Try to follow the claim and understand it without getting bogged down in details. Try skimming it once fast and then go back and follow the important arguments more carefully while taking notes and disregarding superfluous detail. I am a slow reader too, and this usually works for me.</p>
<p>You will learn how to read the textbooks and take notes. After the first test, you should know what type of stuff the professor asks and then you should know the stuff you should take notes on.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I took a little note/summary of the main idea for each paragraph. (since it's a good way to remember what I have read)
[/quote]
This is what REALLY caught my attention. You DO NOT need to take notes on every paragraph and you do not need to remember every single thing. Learn how to find the important things and then you should be way more efficient!</p>