Who doesn't read?

[Just Joshin]

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I'm a master at dissecting information in lecture notes, but I just don't learn from the textbook. In fact, the textbook confuses me a hell of a lot more. I go to class, take notes, and all my professors have power points/additional lecture notes they hand out. That's what I use. For the past two semesters, I haven't even bought any textbooks. The profs give reading assignments and everyone around me is always reading. I skip it and catch up in lecture. My method's been working for me, but I seem to be the only one in my classes who doesn't own any textbooks. Is there anyone else like me who just can't grasp anything from the book?

 

[Depakote]

I'm a master at dissecting information in lecture notes, but I just don't learn from the textbook. In fact, the textbook confuses me a hell of a lot more. I go to class, take notes, and all my professors have power points/additional lecture notes they hand out. That's what I use. For the past two semesters, I haven't even bought any textbooks. The profs give reading assignments and everyone around me is always reading. I skip it and catch up in lecture. My method's been working for me, but I seem to be the only one in my classes who doesn't own any textbooks. Is there anyone else like me who just can't grasp anything from the book?

I prefer to get my info from the lecture notes, but if I have to pull it from a book in med school, I'll pull it from a book.

 

[mongrel]

I'm with you, buddy. There's nothing I hate more than having to read from a textbook. I tend to NEVER do this in my engineering classes and mostly stick to the class notes (each one of my profs has basically written a book with their notes anyway). On the other hand, in my pre-med science classes I do find myself occassionally reading the books mostly due to the higher level of memorization needed in those classes... so I expect that will probably continue into medical school. Oh well, maybe this means I can finally become one of those people who is able to skip lectures because he "gets everything from the book." HA!

 

[Law2Doc]

I'm a master at dissecting information in lecture notes, but I just don't learn from the textbook. In fact, the textbook confuses me a hell of a lot more. I go to class, take notes, and all my professors have power points/additional lecture notes they hand out. That's what I use. For the past two semesters, I haven't even bought any textbooks. The profs give reading assignments and everyone around me is always reading. I skip it and catch up in lecture. My method's been working for me, but I seem to be the only one in my classes who doesn't own any textbooks. Is there anyone else like me who just can't grasp anything from the book?

You are quite prepared for the med school approach. Most people don't have the time to delve into the texts much, and stick with the higher yield notes. maybe glancing at a board review book or two. (However the notesets in med school are often longer than they typical text book so I wouldn't get excited about how little reading you will be doing.)

 

[freetheyaz]

You need to go to the School For Kids Who Can't Read Good And Want To Be Able To Read.

 

[UMP]

I used to read textbooks before everyone started handing out and posting the powerpoints... It is a lot easier to learn that way. I think during my post-bacc career I used this approach almost exclusively and it worked out quite well. 👍

 

[Robizzle]

Count me in too. I am SO bad at reading dense textbooks... there's always vocab I never understand and so I end up reading the same lines over and over just in order to have it stick. I think one time in Systems Phys I did like 5 pages in an hour.

 

[mongrel]

Really- and the only effective time I can read textbooks is from 7AM to ~11AM. Outside of that, they put me to sleep no matter how much sleep I got the night before.

 

[Funky]

You need to go to the School For Kids Who Can't Read Good And Want To Be Able To Read.

It's the Derek Zoolander Center For Kids Who Can't Read Good and Want To Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too.

 

[spospo]

the only science class i ever had to read for was during second semester senior year. all the other classes i took i just used powerpoints or the notes i took in class. but the one i had to read for, he tested on material he didn't cover in class, so anything in the chapter was fair game. he would even write in his notes "read book pgs....." rather than writing it all on powerpoint.

 

[Meatwad]

Kinda exact opposite, here. I don't take notes. Instead, I try and read the text. Lecture notes that the professors have put online (for all my classes thus far) have sucked, so I haven't really used those either.

 

[badasshairday]

I don't read. I can't read...

 

[DrBowtie]

My order of importance:
Lecture Handouts/Powerpoints > Book > Lecture Talking.

I skipped 99% of my bio II lecture because he basically read verbatim his lecture notes that were sold in the bookstore.

 

[NervousNed]

i read exclusively from the book, i don't enjoy lectures because im never caught up, and have no clue what the teacher is talking about

 

[SB100]

I am straight-up text book. It seems to me that professors who really aren't in there to teach (are at the university for research) tend to go in circles when they lecture, and I find the book clarifies everything. My organic text was a life saver this entire year 😛

 

[meowkat444]

here's the problem: the learning-from-powerpoint approach absolutely works for science classes in undergrad, and i'm willing to bet it will work at least some in medical school as well.

BUT when you are a doctor, and probably in a lot of med school as well, you must read journal articles. they are harder than textbooks. what will you do--email the authors and ask them to turn their papers into powerpoints?

so study from teh powerpoints, but it will be worth your while to go back and work on textbook reading. try to match it up with the information in your slides, go back and forth. but it is probably something you should work on 😉

 

[gotmeds?]

You need to go to the School For Kids Who Can't Read Good And Want To Be Able To Read.

But how can he learn to read IF HE CAN'T EVEN FIT INSIDE THE BUILDING??

 

[Glorified]

Almost exclusively read the textbook. I take notes and listen to lecture, but mostly I just read the text and test myself on it. Usually most textbooks have self-assessment pages that really prepare you well for tests. Usually I will read the chapter twice.​

 

[AnesthesiaMD]

I'm a master at dissecting information in lecture notes, but I just don't learn from the textbook. In fact, the textbook confuses me a hell of a lot more. I go to class, take notes, and all my professors have power points/additional lecture notes they hand out. That's what I use. For the past two semesters, I haven't even bought any textbooks. The profs give reading assignments and everyone around me is always reading. I skip it and catch up in lecture. My method's been working for me, but I seem to be the only one in my classes who doesn't own any textbooks. Is there anyone else like me who just can't grasp anything from the book?

sounds like you go to a pretty easy school or these are lower division courses...My professors will cover the broadest material on a topic that you could think of then the test comes and it is a lot more involved than what would be in someone's notes.

 

[AnesthesiaMD]

i read exclusively from the book, i don't enjoy lectures because im never caught up, and have no clue what the teacher is talking about

same with me...haha

 

[colliea21]

I read most of the stuff in the book, I get more out of it. If the professor hands out power points I'll read them too...I used to skip all classes that just summarized what the book said until I took a class where class attendance was mandatory and I didn't know...so now I'm too afraid to skip class.

 

[Just Joshin]

sounds like you go to a pretty easy school or these are lower division courses...My professors will cover the broadest material on a topic that you could think of then the test comes and it is a lot more involved than what would be in someone's notes.

How do you know? For Bio I, our lecture notes were around 30 pages per chapter and we were usually tested on 5 chapters at a time. That's 150 pages of the "most significant" concepts, as he would say and anything on those pages was fair game. It isn't like we had 2 pages per chapter or something.

By the way, I'm not talking about my personal notes. You buy notesets from the bookstore. Each professor has their own notesets. Then you download their powerpoints off the internet. you print those out, bring the notesets (the ~ 30 pages per chapter) and add supplemental notes to it if the professor expands on a concept or gives examples, etc.

Basically, you have to know those pages like the back of your hand, which is fine. The book is filled with extra information that I think makes the concepts way more ambiguous and confusing. It isn't like you can memorize a whole chapter. The notes get right to the point and let you learn all the minutia that you'll probably need to know for the exams.

 

[63768]

i'd only read the book the night before taking a test to refresh my memory. but only if i have the time. usually i just skim through it all.

 

[Funky]

But how can he learn to read IF HE CAN'T EVEN FIT INSIDE THE BUILDING??

It's a center for ants!