Tips for University # 1: Limit your Reading

As I walked home in the rain on Friday it dawned on me that I had just left my final ever class at University. I felt a sense of relief, but also a tinge of sadness.

I’ve spent five long years at University, and done alright for the most part. So I thought I’d share some tips. These are my thoughts on how to do well at University.

Tip # 1: Limit your Reading

You’re unlikely to hear any lecturer give you this advice, but I would argue that it pays to limit the amount of reading you do. I’ve seen a lot of unit outlines that say things like, “You are expected to spend 8 hours a week reading and revising the relevant material”. I think some people actually might do this.

My advice is to figure out what the important information is, and just read that. Use the lecture notes as a guide to what is important. Don’t fill your head with information you don’t need to know. Focus your efforts on what is assessed.

Read the chapter summary, not the whole chapter. Read the abstract of a paper, and maybe the discussion if it’s interesting.

A couple of caveats: (a) you should probably read more thoroughly for essays, (b) this advice does not necessarily apply well to all disciplines – I suspect doing all the reading might be necessary for some science subjects.

More tips to come…