Skip to content

What to Do When you Don’t Understand your Readings

Published on

  1. Ask yourself why you’re not understanding the reading.

Is the content difficult to understand with your current knowledge? Are you bored and falling asleep while reading? Are you reading in a loud/quiet or distracting environment where you can’t focus on your readings? Are you disinterested in the topic? Pinpoint these issues and try to solve them one problem at a time.

  1. Go to office hours and ask your professor how you can best approach your readings.

The easiest way to be successful in a class is to ask your professor what makes a successful student in their class. If you are struggling with the readings in particular, or anything else, ask your professor for help. It is their job to help you learn.

  1. Try to understand the purpose of the reading. 

What is your learning goal? What does your professor want you to take away from the reading? If you have to write essays in the class, what information can you take from this reading and apply to your essay? If you take exams and quizzes in the class, what information do you think you’ll be tested on? 

  1. Try a change in environment.

If your study space is too quiet, and you work best with chatter around you, try reading on FFB or in another collaborative study space. If you need quiet and the accountability of being around others, try somewhere like 3FB, 4FB, or Rauner. If you find being around others distracting, find somewhere you can be alone, like a study room or your dorm. 

  1. What to look for in your readings.

If your reading has headings or subheadings, read them and turn them into a question. For example, “Ways to Fix Internal Validity” could turn into “What are the ways to fix internal validity?” After you read or skim the section, answer yourself. 

In addition to headings and subheadings, it’s important to define bolded words and topical words that you don’t know. This will help you understand the reading and future readings better, and if you know what something means, it’s a lot easier to talk about it in class. 

Lastly, take a look at any figures, diagrams, illustrations, or tables in your reading. Visualizing a concept is useful for applying it to different situations. Tables that provide definitions and applications can also help you differentiate between two similar concepts. 

If you would like more reading tips, please visit our website!