Reading Strategy

Reading assignments are very important for the courses I take. But last semester I completed my readings the night before my exams. This obviously didn't work out. I decided to use some of the reading strategies that I have learned in CLS. Reading the textbook can be boring. However, the textbook does help me get a better understanding of the materials that were covered during the lectures. I used the strategies called TART and NSAS: No Salt and Sauce to guide me through my reading assignments.

TART works well for lecture-dependent classes. Because MAT 183 is a lecture-dependent course, TART was helpful. Before my lecture I wrote down a list of terms that appeared in the textbook. At the lecture, I looked for these terms and all those terms were mentioned in class. My professor described each term thoroughly so that I could understand them. There were some terms I wasn't sure of. Therefore I went home and read through the chapter for clarification. After all this, I created test questions. Because I have taken an exam for this class before, I have a sense of what will appear on the next exam.

NSAS: No Salt and Sauce is another strategy I used for MAT 183. Before attending class, I looked through the lecture slides that were posted on blackboard. I wanted to get familiar with what was going to be taught. After attending the lecture, I created flash cards. I am used to creating flashcards because in high school I used to create flashcards for my classes and SAT prep school.

As a kinesthetic learner, I need to constantly rewrite my notes so that I could memorize them. I am also a bit of an auditory learner. I need to hear something constantly so that I could remember the materials for exams. Thus, I read my flashcards out loud. Even though my next MAT 183 exam is quite far away, I have already mastered most of the topics.