<p>I absolutely hate this. I don't think I can fully express my hatred towards reading textbooks, but I have to do it if I want to get through AP Gov/Macroecon. For some reason, I end up dozing off half way through and I just can't seem to enjoy what I'm reading. The teacher I have basically puts a powerpoint up on the board and reads off of it, so class lectures aren't exactly profitable, thus forcing me to end up reading the textbook. Help :(</p>
<p>Ha ha, I know how you feel. My Differential Equations textbook is so dry and dense. Our instructor always jokes about it. I use the lecture notes to help with it, but I understand how you feel if your teacher’s notes are inadequate. Maybe try to see if there are notes online related to the book (check book website).</p>
<p>By the way, which textbook are you using? My gov teacher does the whole powerpoint and reads off of it too.</p>
<p>It’s called “American Government for advanced High School courses” by James Q. Wilson, and John J. DiIulio. I honestly feel like the book is so verbose, so I never quite grasp the concepts that well.</p>
<p><a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Government_(textbook)[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Government_(textbook)</a></p>
<p>I was quite into my government book today, which is really odd. Maybe I am just motived to get a 100 A+ on test tomorrow to keep my average to A+ and get an A in that class for the semester (I did terrible last semester). </p>
<p>I like reading my chem book lol.</p>
<p>I have a problem with my physics book. It’s has like a 1st grade reading level and very redundant; so, I hate reading that (I’ve feel asleep while reading it twice). I don’t know how to read this one. =</p>
<p>^ I knew it. Same book we use. There are outlines on the site along with practice questions. Take advantage of them.</p>
<p>[American</a> Government 9/e - Study Outline](<a href=“http://college.cengage.com/polisci/wilson/am_gov/9e/students/studyoutline/index.html]American”>American Government 9/e - Study Outline)</p>
<p>Those are the outlines my teacher reads off of on the powerpoint :D</p>
<p>50 minutes on, 10 minutes off. Repeat.</p>
<p>If it’s a book I have trouble actively reading, I take notes while I read. I sit in front of my computer with a word document open and type whatever I feel is important. This helps me read actively, and it also gives me notes to review.</p>
<p>Reading textbooks is so bland and boring! My goodness! One of my tricks is to listen to soft music and type out detailed outlines. I have a better typing memory than handwriting memory, but with you it may be different. Other than that, there really isn’t much to do except to just push through and read. Its hard to keep up, especially in advanced classes, if you don’t read.</p>
<p>We have no textbooks for AP US Gov & Politics :(. And on top of that, my teacher teaches us irrelevant things and makes us watch boring movies…</p>
<p>Can anyone here recommend a decent textbook for AP US Government/Politics?..Thanks</p>
<p>Sometimes I buy my own textbook off of Amazon (5 bucks), and I highlight it while I read. It keeps me more involved. And I like looking at all the colors :]</p>
<p>I have to read “The American Pageant”
I feel the same pain!</p>
<p>it might help to read it out loud in funny voices</p>
<p>^^ But the American Pageant is a really good text lol. It made history seem relevant. </p>
<p>I also take notes while I read.</p>
<p>^ Agree! I actually looked forward to reading the American Pageant every time I got home last year. (I even got my own copy of the textbook haha)</p>
<p>Open the book and just stare it for hours. Then you will be mad at yourself for wasting so much time and start reading with God’s speed.</p>
<p>I have the American Pagent for APUSH. And I have foucsing issues. But I’m outling my chapters now so that I’m reading more actively now. Turns out, I got my best multiple choice test grade this set of chapters, the first that I outlined. So I can say that works for me.</p>
<p>Well if you like the American Pageant…
Personally, I fall asleep when I read it. =(</p>
<p>I like reading textbooks, personally. The American Pageant can be…interesting…I think the writers get bored writing textbooks. I’ve read a couple of things that I was surprised to see in a textbook haha.</p>
<p>Taking notes is a great strategy. It allows you to read actively, but it’s also important to take breaks; otherwise you may find yourself reading for 3 hours straight but don’t register anything you read for the last hour haha. That’s a problem. ;)</p>
<p>The way I finally learned to actively read text books without taking up a lot of time outlining, etc, is to take a sheet of lined paper and write down just one or two words per paragraph. Then, at the end of each page or segment or whatever, I go back and go through each term, talking about them and connecting them and then at the end of the chapter I talk through them all. To study for the test, I take about a half hour or 45 minutes and review them again. While it may seem slow, the info gets so ingrained in my brain by the time I’m done reading the chapter that I really don’t even have to study for the tests.</p>