Hi, I am a student who is intending to major in mathematics at UCLA. I will be freshmen beginning Fall 2016, and I had a few questions about preparing for UCLA undergrad study.
First, do you believe that learning how to speed read would benefit me greatly? My parent thinks so, but at present I do not. (My reading speed is average, between 200 and 250 words per minute. )The main reason that I think this way is that I will be a math major. While my parent agrees that speed reading won’t make me understand linear algebra or number theory better, my parent argues that I need to speed read for other classes that require comprehending large volume of written texts (such as history or english). Would you recommend learning how to speed read? Please consider that if I choose to learn how to speed read, that would require me to put in many hours during this summer.
Secondly, is there any times in which I have to give a presentation as an assignment/test? My parent insist that I must learn how to present effectively, and while I agree that such is a good lifetime skill, I was wondering whether there are any presentation that I must make in such a huge school as UCLA. Besides, I rate myself farely good at making presentations.
Also, what General education courses would you recommend for me to take? I am part of the College of Arts and Sciences. I am looking for any “interesting” or academically invigorating classes that won’t kill me time and effortwise. I am less inclined to take classes in politics, rock or pop music stuff, and chemistry (though I don’t hate to take them). However, any classes that you find at least modestly interesting are welcome. What are the relatively easy classes? What classes would you recommend? I already looked at the course listing but I cannot decide which ones to take.
Thank you!
I highly recommend to do that! My daughter in UCLA often has 50-100 pages reading assignments due in a couple of days (if not the next day!).
(Believe it on not…Her stupid TA emailed her on the Memorial Monday Holiday a 60-pages assignment for the next day which made her (and us) so furious!)
IMHO, so-called “speed reading” is more than a scam than anything else. You claim to be average or good in the skills you are concerned about, you got into UCLA, seems like you are OK. Handling large reading assignments in college is not about packing all the details in your head (maybe excepting biology), but keeping a clear head about the structure of the material, following major themes, analyzing the arguments being made, and, believe it or not, confidence. No magic skill, but maybe it is, since it took me part of a lifetime and 3 degrees from world top 10 schools to figure it out. A to-be UCLA Dad