How to Read and Study a College Textbook
Begin Monday with a review of the chapters. That is not an in-depth read, but start with the table
of contents to familiarize yourself with each chapter. Look at the table of contents, the main
sections and subsections of the chapter. Now turn to the chapter and page through it. See roughly
how many pages there are to give an idea how long a more in-depth look will take to complete.
Most important, at the end of the chapter there is a summary and key points. On the first day that
is what you read carefully to familiarize yourself with the content.
Do so with every one of the chapters of the week on Monday. This should take you no more than
2 hours.
On Tuesday you must make time to take the first chapter and read it first once in-depth. Now go
back and begin to highlight, make notes, and post small post-it notes to find material more easily
when you do the quiz (the quiz is open book). Once you have done that, go over the chapter
again carefully.
Now take another chapter on Wednesday and another on Thursday and do exactly the same.
On Saturday you review each of the chapters again in depth, going over your notes and
highlights.
This class also has lectures on Brightspace to help you with the course material.
On Sunday you take the quiz.
Remember, although you can use your textbook and notes during the quiz, you don't want to
waste time searching for something which you have not studied beforehand. If you prepared as I
suggest above, you will be able to determine from which chapter a question comes and which
topic it covers, and in many of the questions, will be able to answer correctly immediately.
However, if you need to double check, since you prepared well and marked the different sections
clearly and you are familiar with the chapters, it is much easier and faster to find the correct page
and verify the correct answer. If you have an ebook vs physical textbook you should still be able
to highlight and make notes as needed.
You can adjust this as needed for your own time or preference, but the important thing is not just
diving in to a chapter without a plan.
Hope that helps!
Dr. Venter