Background checks
Before you start reading the book, it is often worthwhile doing a quick bit of easy research on the book and the author. This will often spoil the reading experience, but this is a school book and we’re interested in marks right? Right. It’s amazing how much more you can get out of a book if you have a bit of knowledge before you start. It’s like going to a movie two times; the second time you go you usually see all sorts of things that you didn’t notice the first time around.
Read a couple of reviews by other people (make sure they’re good reviews). This is especially useful if the book is difficult to read or complicated. The reviews might point out subtle little things in the book that you might not have picked up reading the book the first time. Also, if you’re really, really badly pressed for time, the reviewers will let you focus on the more important areas of the book and let you read the rest of the book more quickly with less attention to detail. It’s best though if you give yourself enough time to read the whole book properly.
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