How long does it take u to read

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How much reading is usually assigned per week in nursing school. Do you usually read everything, and if you do how long does that take you.

athrun: I have a very methodical approach to studying. I read everything on a particular subject once and highlight as I go. I review the powerpoint slides and make notes by each slide as I read the chapter again (only highlighted areas), then I make flash cards for important rote memory info like lab values and drug classes. Then I go over everything once or twice and make handwritten notes to help my brain soak in the info. I'm not a huge note-taker when I'm reading for the first time because stopping to write takes my focus away from the information, and I usually end up having to read it 3 times before I regain my focus.

I do read everything. Every word, every table, graph, chart, summary, online study guides and cases references, etc. Pharm is normally 5-7 chapters a week. Fundamentals is normally 3 chapters a week. Health Assessment is 4 chapters a week. I could estimate that the average number of pages to cover per week would be about 300, and that's being lenient. It's probably a little more than that.

It takes me a while to read until I comprehend EVERYTHING. Sure, it's easy to read about nephrons, drugs binding to plasma proteins, GFRs, etc., but it's another story when you need to understand and apply that information for upcoming exams. I'd say that it takes me a good hour per chapter for the inital reading. Many, many hours after that to get a good grasp on the information and be able to apply it in a given circumstance.

Can you tell me the best way to highlight your book? I have read on here that many people have a color coded system but nobody has expanded on how it works.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Surgical Post-Trauma, Peds.
Can you tell me the best way to highlight your book? I have read on here that many people have a color coded system but nobody has expanded on how it works.

I would like to know about the color code system as well!!!

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Specializes in gyn.

I wish our school tested on just the powerpoints/lecture! After my first 2 tests I've found they get a lot of questions from information in the chapters. (In fact, our Director prefers the faculty to NOT post powerpoints to keep us actively taking notes in class.)

Yes, reading takes forever, and the assignments come fast and furious. For example, tonight we were expected to read 4 chapters for Fundamentals, as well as the first part of our nursing diagnosis book. Puh-lease. After reading for some time, I find myself zoning out, which is really counter-productive. I try my best to take frequent breaks (hello allnurses.com), and when I come back to my textbook skim over what I just read to check for a semblence of understanding. If I'm feeling super motivated (or very tired), I'll take notes to keep myself in the game.

Mucho kudos to all those students who can read a lot in one sitting.

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The end-chapter summaries and quizing are excellent paraphrasing for key points, just be careful not to summarize the summary, or else your going to overconcentrate your concentrate, and then your kidneys will fail.

Don't worry about how fast you read. Read at the pace that you learn, and prioritize what you need to learn vs what you don't need to learn.

Here's an interesting little tidbit that should help calm your nerves:

Skeptoid Podcast: Speed Reading

http://hw.libsyn.com/p/5/b/3/5b301c19fff46aad/skeptoid-4229.mp3

Reading slow is not a reflection of your capabilities.

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They say the average person read about as fast as they speak at around 150 words per minute or something like that. I timed my self recently and found I read at about 130 words per minute, so I guess I am a slow reader. LOL Actually I can read faster if rushed, but 130-140 is a normal reading speed for me and if I am taking notes it will take even longer to read a chapter.

Text books can be misleading anyways, 30 pages in a text book are not the same reading a page in a novell or newspaper for a few reasons. For one when you run across unfamiliar and complex words you are going to slow down to process what you are reading. You may even have to reread a section.

Not long ago, I though I would try something new and scan in a chapter of my anatomy book for easy reference. One page ended up equaling 2-3 pages (a solid block of page text was 3 pages) singled spaced at 12pt. After eliminating all the pictures and graphs which take up quite a bit of room quite honestly, 30 pages ended being 50 single spaced pages or around 14,000 words. If someone could read that at normal speed of 150 words per minute it would take around 1 1/2 hours.:yawn: And when you muntliply that by three or four classes, the time starts to add up. :uhoh3:

And if you have to read multiple chapters for one class.

Skimming is a different matter. It is quite possable to pick up the key points of a text without reading it in it entirety. Most of the time a text will simply be trying to clarify a point and from a full page you may only need to know 4 or 5 points and these are usually easy to pick out. Typically there will be something that makes these points stand out. But it also quite possible to miss points that are not highlighted.

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I read all the assigned chapters but I don't read it all at once so its hard to say how long it takes. I usually read it all the weekend before the exam.

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.
So how do you pass your tests if you are only skimming? is your professor testing you on powerpoints?

Powerpoints, lecture, readings, handouts you name it. Skimming is not about flying through, Its about pulling the important info from the fluff.

And I passed all my tests and graduated so it works, heck its how our teachers taught us.

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Powerpoints, lecture, readings, handouts you name it. Skimming is not about flying through, Its about pulling the important info from the fluff.

And I passed all my tests and graduated so it works, heck its how our teachers taught us.

I do the same thing. First semester, I read every single chapter assigned, made outlines of the chapters, just spent a whole lot of time in the text book. I needed to do it that way then, but as time went on, I learned how to know what was important to focus on and what wasn't. I'm in my last semester and I rarely read out of the textbook at all now, there is just too much fluff. I use a combination...keypoint printouts from the book off evolve (summary of the chapter), powerpoints, notes from class, nclex books, and also practicing questions. I also study at Barnes & Noble and pull books off the shelf all the time and read stuff out of them if they are helpful. I still study a lot, but I'm much more efficient with my studying now compared to then.

You can read and read and read and still not know how to apply the information. I've seen other students put so much effort and time in reading the chapters 2 or 3 times, but they still struggled on the tests.

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I'm going to have difficulty comprehending with this serious reading disability. I don't know what to do!!!

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I'm going to have difficulty comprehending with this serious reading disability. I don't know what to do!!!

If I remember correctly, you're still in high school right? You have a lot of time to work with your special ed department to improve your reading comprehension.

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