What is the most time effective way to learn out of a text book?

[The Protagonist]

Many of my classes I could just teach my self out of the text book from. Which is a good thing because I can never pay attention in class. The thing is text book learning is currently too slow. It works very well and the few times that I have completely learned the chapter for the test I have always aced it. But my current method is extremely time consuming:

Read 3-4 pages
Outline (In notebook what I have just learned) which is basically rereading it

It doesn't sound bad, but my text book in huge and the print is fine, and I am lazy since this class has nothing to do with my future.

So what I end up doing is putting off the outlining till I have massive amounts of pages to do before the test and then I do badly. The reason I put it off is because I hate how long it takes (1.5 hours for 3-4 pages). Is there anyway I can speed this process up?

I have noticed two things:

I lose focus like crazy. One minute I will be thinking about RNA Polymerase, and then the next about that cute girl who sits across from me in class or what I am going to do Saturday night. How can I obtain and maintain focus and concentration on my work? Losing it drives me crazy because I have to reread the paragraph from the beginning, sometimes I'm taking in words but no meaning.

I always seem to put off work. I mean 3-4 pages a night is a lot, but it is much better than 10 pages the night of, ya dig? So if there is some way I could just make the entire process under an hour that would be great.

I am going to try speed reading or photo reading, but I would still lose focus alot

[geekchic9]

Have you ever considered taking your lack of concentration problem to a doctor? It may be a medical condition if you love the subject and you just can't concentrate. But, if you're bored with the subjects in all of your classes, you may want to do a bit of career exploring and change majors, possibly. I'm assuming you're in college.

At the same time, you may just have to suck it up and just do it. There are great articles on this site on self-discipline.

I personally realized that I shouldn't be an accounting major because I can't stand studying the subject, and my grade in that class reflects that. However, I love the rest of my classes, so as soon as I finish the semester, I never will take an accounting class again. It was a learning experience that I really appreciate.

[fballer11]

I am the same way in AP US history this year. Before I got all A's easily, yet now it is a struggle, and I think I can achieve this goal.
I would like some help in retaining the extreley dense history text. Photoreading sounds promising, anyone gain from it, especially in studying?

[The Protagonist]

I'm actually in HS, a senior, the class Im talking about is AP Biology. fballer11 I dropped out of AP US history - TOO BORING :X

[Phi]

Using 1,5 hours per 3-4 pages is definately to much. My guess is that it will ruin anybody's motivation.

Imagine if your book is 400 pages. Then you will use at least 150 hours to read it which is equal to 20 days if you manage to read 7,5 hours per day.

I can usually do 20+ pages per hour and have complete all my exams with good results. My tricks are:
- Use memory techniques, so I can remember almost everything from the book.
- Apply the subject in real life, so you improve both your understanding and your memory.

Concerning memory techniques I recommend this book:
The Memory Book

[Alex w/Learning Strategie]

Some ideas that can help you to keep focus.

First before you even start reading the chapter consider what you want to do with the information. Take time to imagine yourself using it in the future. Get an idea of what you think you need to know to be that future self in your imagination. When you do this a few times it happens in less than 30 seconds in the beginning this might take a couple of minutes. Don't spend more than 5 minutes at it.

Once you've decided on the outcome preview the chapter. Become familiar with the layout, style of writing and look at a few of the subheadings. Take only a minute or less if it's less than 10 pages no more than 2 minutes for longer chapters. You just want to look at the route you will be travelling at this time.

At this point PhotoReaders would PhotoRead the chapter/s or book and proceed with the PhotoReading system.

For everyone else.

Check if the chapter is going to satisfy your purpose (this is what gives you focus. Did you discover anything that prompts you to change your reason for reading the chapter. Is there possibly information that you could use better in another future setting? Remember future settings include exams.)

Now read the chapter as quickly as you can but don't worry about the bits you don't understand at this point. Create a general understanding of the chapter right now. Spend no more than 1 minute reading a page. So a 30 page chapter would take 30 minutes not more.

Take a break think about what you just read then consider those sections of the book you felt you didn't understand. Give them a re-read.

After that make notes, go to sections and re-read accordingly to build your mind map. You may find skim reading useful at this point. Then finish up with another quick one minute per page re-read.

Don't worry too much about an outline in most cases that has already been done by the author with subheadings. Use the subheading and turn them into questions and check in that section for the answers.

AlexK

[RT Wolf]

For focus, I've found (among other things) waking up at hte same time every day, excersize, meditation and proper diet help. Really improved my concentration. I might also suggest affirmations, such as those used in the photoreading system, such as:

"I will concentrate fully on the follow pages for x amount of time."

[stephencp]

Catch yourself sooner as your mind wanders. Set up a timer that goes off every other minute or so so that you can get back on track more quickly. If you consistently don't want to get back on track, you need to figure out why you should really care about the class.

Stephen
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