Accurate,legible notes are invaluable aids to the student who is enrolled in a lecture course.Notes should be taken during lectures and when the student is reading the texts before each class.The key to good note-taking is to be able to listen a lot and to write only as much as is needed to record the essence of a point or idea presented by the lecturer.Thus,students should endeavor to identify only the main points and ideas being presented and to write them down in outline form.They should also strive to take good notes the first time and not plan to recopy notes—or to do so only when clarity and conciseness demand it.Finally,they should review their notes for about five minutes on the same day that they take them,and go over them again for about a half hour at least once a week,according to a regular schedule or plan.There is no course syllabus to be memorized; instead,the examinations will be based on the material presented in the lectures and textbooks.
Reading skills are equally important.Experts estimate that it is possible for any normal adult English speaker to read 1,000 words a minute (and more),with special training.Yet most students read only about 300 words per minute.The following principles might be helpful for foreign students who wish to increase their reading skill:
1.Always read faster than is comfortable.The faster your normal rate of reading becomes,the better your understanding will be.
2.While reading do not allow yourself to regress,but keep reading ahead in every sentence ,even when you come across a new word.If some word,term,or phrase had clouded your understanding,you should reread it only after you have read the entire paragraph through once.
3.Read selectively.As you read make a conscious effort to screen the nouns,pronouns,and verbs from the other words,since these are the words that give meaning to what you have read.In effect,you should really read the nouns,pronouns,and verbs and merely see the rest of the words in the sentence.
Because the reading assignments in most college courses are very long,students should plan to read every day.If,however,they find that they cannot complete all of the assigned readings in the beginning,they should not panic（驚慌）.Instead,they should ask their classmates how much they are reading and attempt to learn from them what to read fast and what to postpone until a later date.Because much of the past learning experience of foreign students may have been for the purpose of passing examinations,they might be inclined to put off studying until late in the term.Such behavior can result in failure in the United States system,where assignments must be complete on time and done regularly each day.