How to Study for the Sciences

BEFORE CLASS
 Skim what’s coming up in the textbook, so it’s not all totally unfamiliar and you have some idea of what’s coming.
 Skim the previous day’s notes, so you can relate each lecture to what came before.

Briefly look over titles, introductions, subheadings, first few sentences beneath subheadings, figures, diagrams, italicized or boldfaced words and terms, and summaries. As you preview, ask yourself:
§ What is this about?
§ What do I know about this ... and don't know or don't remember?
§ Where does the author begin and where is he going?
§ What is the organizational pattern (relationships, chronological, topics?)
§ How does this fit into what we are learning in this course?
§ How difficult or how easy is this?
§ Is there terminology that is unfamiliar or that I will need to review?
§ How important is this information? Are there parts I could skim and get the main ideas?
§ Where can I make logical breaks in the reading to divide up my study time?
§ In what order might I read the information in the chapter? Would it be easier and more motivating to read the most interesting section first? 

READING THE TEXTBOOK
 Do not “just read” without thinking about what you are reading – that’s “pretend studying”
 Study your textbook along with your notes – do they agree with each other? Do you understand the flow of the story? At the very least, annotate your notes with helpful ideas from the textbook

AFTER THE EXAM
 How could you study differently next time to improve your score? 

http://www.howtostudy.org/resources_subject.php?id=24