Reading

There are many different ways to receive information for your classes these days. You can attend lectures and take notes, or look something up on the internet that you don’t understand. Many classes that I take this year require reading the textbook to get the majority of the material. For some, including myself, reading is very boring. I normally find myself drifting off, and forgetting everything that I had just read. I cannot find myself to focus on a chapter as a whole. A strategy I have used to help me complete reading a chapter, while retaining the information, is the 10-minute technique. Honestly, people should use this technique because I know it is hard for many to sit there and read and concentrate for more than thirty minutes. If they could break that down into smaller sections and focus for shorter periods of time, they would be able to remember everything they read.

There are other techniques I use during reading to help me remember the information more efficiently. Using TART is probably one of the best ways I use to retain the material for my classes. Because I am a Kinesthetic learner TART allows me to write out questions and see certain notes from the class in a variety of ways. “T” stands for terms. In this section, I go through the chapter and read the terms and definitions that are in bold print. This step occurs before class, and helps me because I already know most of the information that is covered in class. “A” stands for attend lecture. After taking notes during the lecture, I reread the lecture notes before reading the textbook. “R” stands for reading the chapter, which clarifies information that was covered in lecture. “T” stands for create test questions. After reading the chapter, I create test questions from the chapter and try to answer them to see if I know the information. This technique is beneficial to my learning style and reiterates the material multiple times.

Another strategy that I use is flash card reading. This strategy helps me because being a kinesthetic learner, I always study for exams by using flashcards. In this technique, I first skim the chapter to see where the majority of the information is. Then, I read those sections, making flashcards, section by section. This technique benefits me because it allows me to make flashcards in advance, and therefore study for the test at an earlier date. Reading has always been an issue for me, but after using these techniques, it has made it easier to retain the information and overall has made me a better student.