Making the best of college
Making the best of college: majors, study abroad, internships, jobs, roommates, study tips, thesis writing, and more. For high school graduates and university students.
Good notes can make or break your finals prep and essay writing. In today's guest post, Miles shares his excellent multi-tiered system for taking notes on books--starting with writing in the margins, then moving on to dictating thoughts and copying out passages.
I'm really impressed and inspired by the idea, and hope to integrate it into my reading as well!
Read MoreIt's easy to get overwhelmed by assigned readings for college classes, and to feel like you'll never remember all of it anyway... so why bother?
Detailed note taking can save enormous amounts of work later on. If you know an assigned book in depth, and can quickly find quotes to support your ideas or arguments, you will be well on your way to having a useful source document both for your current class and for future assignments.
This is my process for taking notes in assigned books. It's made a huge difference in my studies, and I bet it works for you too!
Read MoreThis list of the five books you should read before college builds on two previous lists: one from me and another list by former philosophy major and frequent contributor to My College Advice, Miles Raymer. Professor X has more than 20 years of science teaching experience at the University of Oregon, and has previously written contributed an article entitled "The Transition From High School to College" on this site. Enjoy!
Read MoreI was careful to pick books that I think are a good fit for the pre-college mind. These may not be the most comprehensive or challenging offerings from their respective genres, but they all have the potential to strike the balance between accessibility and depth that is crucial before launching a college career.
Read MoreFor those who truly love reading for pleasure, college can be a bit of a shock to the system as they suddenly have to re-calibrate all the reading they would like to be doing with the reading they have to be doing. Sometimes, of course, these will overlap: some assigned readings have proven to be life-changing texts for me, and ones I have carried with me and re-read over the years.
Read MoreCoursework in college demands an enormous amount of reading. Almost regardless of your major, you will be expected to read and comprehend substantial piles of information, articles, books, essays, reports, research, interviews, and novels. There were times when my reading load seemed completely impossible—sometimes hundreds of pages of complicated reading assigned per class, per week.
You can’t do it all. But you can make it seem like you did.
Read MoreAdvice for college and university students. Roommates, majors, study abroad, travel, essay writing, study tips, admissions, professors, internships, and mentoring. Make college an amazing experience.
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