I think nearly all of us have been in a position where we're behind on reading a class textbook and it's the night before a test. There's no way you can read five chapters in 12 hours, but since half the test comes from the textbook you need to at least look at it. What do you do?

You do this! Most textbooks have their chapters set up in this way: headings, highlighted terms, "info boxes" and maybe a chapter summary at the end. What you do is write down the heading for each section, then copy the highlighted terms (with definitions). Then read the info boxes and the chapter summary.

You won't get a complete reading done, so you may miss some things, but at least you'll have a better idea of what's in each chapter than you did before!

I am a pretty fast reader, but I have had to quickly had to skim chapters before. It is horrible when you are trying to cram a whole bunch of information into your brain the night before a test.

That sounds a lot like what I do. If I know I don't have enough time to finish the reading I will reading subheadings under pictures and the definitions. Anything in bold as well. It's not the best way but it does help.

Good advice! And yes: look for bolded words, things in italics, anything underlined, and definitely look at the pictures/graphs/etc. I stopped looking at pictures in one of my books one semester, which was a mistake because a lot of good info was hiding in the captions.

I agree! Chapter summaries and captions and sidebars are definitely worth reading if you need to cram for an exam. I wish I had speed reading skills. Unfortunately I was one of the ones who procrastinated my readings and then had to cram for exams.

I just love when there is a nice chapter summary in the back of the book. Even if I do the reading I will read the summary a couple of times and right before class so I have it fresh in my mind. I think it helps me out a lot.

I like it when a book has chapter summaries. The most important things are there, so it helps to read this part before an exam. Words in bold letters are definitely something to look for.

I used to love to read, but now I just don't have time to sit down and read a textbook cover to cover. I just skim over it and the day before the test, skim over it again, and try to remember the important parts.

I've done that in a pinch as well. The day before a recent exam I still had not read several long chapters in the textbook, so I skimmed it by focusing on all the highlighted points. Definitions are a great place to start, and those are usually in bold. But the best thing is to just force yourself to read every night, even if it's just for 15 minutes sometimes. Panic doesn't make learning easier