Reading Experience as an Undergraduate - Essay Example

Being in the university was the best thing that happened to me, and I made every effort to ensure that I did my best in all my courses. One thing I knew was that after my course, I needed to join the job market and therefore, excellent performance was of great importance. I made up my mind on the first day in the campus that I will work hard and follow all the university rules and regulations. College life may not be easy, and many students find it challenging in coping with the academic environment. There is a lot of work, and one has to balance time and activities such as reading, games, and exams to ensure that everything is catered for to avoid failure (Schmeck, 2013). During my stay in school, I experienced both good moments and challenges in academics but I was not to give up. I had experiences in various things such as style, processes, successes, and failure among others. I had a very good experience with some of the reading styles such as scanning in which I could look quickly through my textbooks and other reading materials to get relevant materials for my work. I also learned how to skim which enabled me to read academic materials quickly to get the main points before deciding on what to write on. I also had a chance to understand the best way of conducting a detailed reading to extract relevant information accurately as Schmeck, (2013) asserts. This style helped me to understand the main ideas in the academic literature and use them in enhancing my study and learning skills. In-depth reading is important and essential to enable one understand the concepts of and arguments in the texts. After scanning and skimming, it is important to do an in-depth reading, and it has enabled me to understand different texts without facing many challenges. These reading styles have enabled me to take reading seriously especially the long texts without giving up. I also understood the best reading processes for one to acquire relevant information and extract important facts without straining. The reading process needs continuous practice, development, and refinement to ensure a thorough understanding of the contents. I found it quite challenging to follow the reading process, as it required a lot of time and effort to ensure that everything was fully understood. I faced various successes and failures as I struggled with my academics, but I was determined to fulfill my dreams. I managed to be one of the best students in the college and continued to perform excellently in different academic courses. Being in college made it possible for me to acquire new knowledge every day and I knew that one day I will make an excellent professional in my field of work (Schmeck, 2013). However, I had some failures in some instances especially in doing various academic projects. I found it challenging to write proposals, which were a requirement for all undergraduate students, but because of my determination, I managed to do one. My instructor was satisfied with my work and congratulated me. Being a student is very interesting and challenging at the same time and requires a lot of commitment. During my undergraduate, the reading strategy course was great for me as it enabled me to understand the best reading strategies as a student. It enabled me to read with a purpose and selectively in addition to increasing my reading speed and comprehension. Since there were books and materials to read the course made it easier for me to organize and prioritize my work. All this facilitated my acquisition of excellent reading skills as an undergraduate scholar. One of the reading strategies learned from this course includes concentration, which I found very effective. Concentration enables one to read continuously without distraction from the internal thought and the surrounding (McNamara, 2012). During the course, I learned that for me to concentrate fully I needed to break my reading into small sections with different endings and form a question. By trying to answer the question, it was quite easy to understand the concept and avoid daydreaming during study time. I also learned to take breaks during between readings in which case I try to recall the contents of the previous reading before starting another one. This helped to concentrate for a longer period without a lot of struggle, especially during exams. Creating a good environment for the study is the best thing to do to allow maximum concentration. The environment needs to be quiet, well lit, and good for one to do the quality reading. For me to concentrate fully I needed a place with little distraction, a comfortable chair to sit on, and an organized study area. There are various things I will take home from the academic strategic reading class to help me become a better person. One thing is the understanding of the importance of reading strategies as a student and a professional in future as explained by Bird (2015). Academic reading strategies enable students to overcome reading challenges in academics especially when one realizes the purpose of reading. They help in saving time and improving comprehension of the contents. For instance, establishing the purpose for reading and that of the author when creating the reading material helped me a lot in improving my style of reading. Another thing is the mastery of vocabularies in academic reading, which will enable me understand the message by the author (McNamara, 2012). Vocabularies enrich the author’s written work and attract the readers as they seek to know the meaning of the words. By using dictionaries and other materials for references, I can acquire new knowledge and develop my reading and understanding capabilities. I will also appreciate the use of skimming as a study strategy as it enables me to go through some texts very quickly noting the most relevant contents before doing a comprehensive reading. Skimming is a good process and is helpful especially when the time for thorough reading is limited to ensure that I grab the main ideas. Being in the academic class that teaches reading strategies was a great moment for me and the skills will contribute to my future activities enabling me to succeed. The other importance things include the purpose of brainstorming, discussion, pre-questions, visual aids, and overviews during the reading activity. References Bird, J. (2015). More Critical Reading Strategies for the Classroom: Helping Our Students Become Better Critical Readers. McNamara, D. S. (Ed.). (2012). Reading comprehension strategies: Theories, interventions, and technologies. Psychology Press. Schmeck, R. R. (Ed.). (2013). Learning strategies and learning styles. Springer Science & Business Media. Read More