DROP THAT TEXTBOOK RIGHT NOW!
If you’re starting out at U of O and quickly finding the amount of assigned reading material in Social Sciences degrees excessive, you are not alone. You may be wondering; How do people spend this much time reading every week? Here is a very important secret that everybody finds out at some point: Most people don’t do all the readings!
If you’re like me, you will spend the first few weeks of university studiously reading every page assigned to you and then quickly develop strategies that allow you to maximize your enjoyment of university in a more fulsome way.
No, I’m not suggesting you stop trying and go with the “Ds get degrees” approach. The truth is you can consistently get A+’s while skipping, shortening, and circumventing your readings. It is fully possible to achieve that 89.49 grade and express your complete comprehension of Thomas Hobbes without reading a single page of Leviathan.
First of all, there is the easiest method, skipping your readings. If you carefully read your syllabus and realize that understanding the ideas presented in certain readings will not contribute to your final grade, then don’t read them!
Professors often assign readings to complement essential material, or because they think you will find the material interesting. If they got that prediction wrong, then go ahead and skip that article!
The next strategy, shortening, is one of the most common because it is one of the most effective. When assigned a 30-page in-depth article on a subject, read the intro, skim the middle, and read the conclusion. I guarantee that in most circumstances you will achieve the depth of understanding necessary to reference this article in an essay or exam.
Circumventing your readings is what I call finding a better way to learn the info. You can probably nail an exam on Plato and Socrates without ever picking up a copy of The Republic. Just read summaries and consume podcasts and YouTube videos.
Chances are you will understand Plato’s idea more thoroughly based on an hour-long video than you would by trudging through 300 pages of nonsense. I know plenty of people love reading this stuff, but it is not easy or enjoyable for everyone!
In reading this you may think I am some sort of anti-literature fanatic. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Reading is actually my favourite hobby. By skipping, shortening, and circumventing assigned readings, I allow myself more time to read content that interests me. This prioritization allows me to build up very specialized knowledge and dive deep into the topics that interest me.
Outside of the world of books, using reading prioritization strategies also allows you to spend more time living life to the fullest, exploring all aspects of life in this wonderful city.
So next time you’re looking at an insurmountable stack of literature you must read by Monday, just give up! (In a specific, planned, and targeted way)
