Sunday, March 20, 2011

I Can Pay Attention for X Minutes...

For especially dry courses, or even courses that I'm interested in, but are information heavy, it can sometimes be very difficult to get through a whole bunch of reading that I've put off till the last minute, as is typical for me. But with the X Minute Reading technique, I find that I can not only get through a reading quickly, but I can also retain all of the information I just read! This means I can read efficiently, and I'll only need to read once.

HOW IT WORKS:
Case Study: ARC500 Ancient Greek and Roman Architecture

I was assigned to read a chapter in our textbook about the language of Greek Architecture. The first thing I did was assess the reading I had to do, and break it up into separate pieces.
I then read each subheading individually.
After each section, I write a quick synopsis of what I just read. I'll also review previous ones before I continue on to the next section. This assures that all the information I read stays in my mind as I read the next part of that information.
The strong points of this technique for me were:
  1. Breaks the reading material up into easy-to-manage pieces that I can digest without being overwhelmed.
  2. Makes the reading seem more manageable by giving me a timeline or an idea of how long I'll have to spend for each section.
  3. Helps me to absorb information much better than I would if I read it all at once. I can also retain the information instead of simply forgetting it afterwards.
  4. The quick summaries act like handy little study aids that I can use later!

1 comment:

  1. I really like how you lay out your blog. It is easy to read and the information is to the point, the way i like it.

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