We’re reading a book in my history class right now that could feel challenging if you aren’t used to a college-level workload.
This became obvious when a first-year complained that there was too much required reading. We juniors and seniors just shook our heads and laughed while our professor was unamused.
After being in college a while, your reading and time management skills improve, so for us veterans the reading did not feel like a lot. This post will provide tips for both time management and reading proficiency.
Chunk it out
Let’s say you are assigned twenty pages of reading on Monday to complete by Wednesday. Divide up the pages so you’re only reading a few pages a day. So Monday night read five, Tuesday morning read five and then five later that night, and then wake up on Wednesday and finish it up before class with time to spare. This way you’re not overwhelmed by how many pages you have to read and you’re taking your time to actually absorb what you are reading.
Always take notes
If you rent from the Whittier College bookstore, you’re allowed to annotate within the margins and highlight freely — same with buying your own books. If I have questions, thoughts, or find something interesting, I can mark it up in the book and have easy access to it in class. I also pair my highlighting with a piece of notebook paper so I can write down what I found most important in the chapter. This helps me stay engaged with the reading and allows me to summarize what the book is teaching me. I can then come to class with a better understanding and feel more prepared for in-class discussions.
Read for pleasure
Reading is like exercise for your brain: the more you work it out, the stronger it will be. If you start reading for pleasure, you’ll definitely have an easier time reading for class. You don’t have to read an entire novel, maybe just start small with an article about a subject that interests you or a short story/poem. If you enjoy a certain genre of television, consider picking up a book that’s similar.
It does get easier. The more you engage in your classes and the material your professors provide, the more proficient you’ll become in understanding academic writing. Eventually, your required reading won’t seem as overwhelming and you’ll be able to sit down, divide it up, and get it done pretty quickly.
