Cuesta College's
Textbook Study Strategies

The information on this page is found at http://academic.cuesta.edu/acasupp/as/600index.htm

Textbook Study Method Inventory--Textbook Study Strategy--Academic Support

Textbook Study Method Inventory

You can measure your own knowledge and efficiency in study-reading by completing the Textbook Study Method Inventory.

Read each question carefully and select one of the three responses from the drop down box following each question, indicating whether you almost always, sometimes, or rarely do what the question asks. Answer honestly; remember that you are being asked to tell what you now do, not what you think you should do or what your teachers expect you to do.

When you have completed the inventory, click the "Calculate" button at the bottom of the form. It will calculate your score, and fill in the "score boxes" in the right hand column.

No.	Question	Answer
1.	Do you use any organized method for studying textbook assignments
2.	Do you read textbooks at about the same speed that you read fiction and light magazine articles?
3.	At the beginning of a course, do you preview your textbooks by skimming the table of contents and analyzing the format of the book?
4.	Do you know whether your textbooks are up to date or obsolete?
5.	Do you know how to identify and use the special typographical helps, such as italics, headings, and subheadings, that are used in your textbooks?
6.	Do you read the preface, foreword, and introduction to your textbooks
7.	Do you use the summaries in your textbooks?
8.	Do you know what a glossary is and how to use it?
9.	Do you use the index in looking up ideas, dates, and names that you should know and remember?
10.	Do you use the index for reviewing the textbook's contents before exams?
11.	Before you begin studying, do you preview each chapter assignment by reading the first and last paragraphs and by changing headings into questions?
12.	Do you use the pictures; graphs, and maps in your textbooks to clarity the text in an assignment?
13.	Do you read an assignment over and over again to learn the material?
14.	When you have trouble understanding or learning an assignment, do you try to find a less difficult or differently written book on the subject?
15.	When the textbook material seems easy or is a repetition of what you already know, do you try to locate a more advanced book on the subject?
16.	Do you know specifically why you are reading an assignment?
17a.	If school regulations permit, do you mark your book with significant marginal summaries, brackets, boxes, or sequence numbers after you have given the assignment an initial reading?
17b.	Do you outline and summarize your assignment in a notebook if school regulations do not permit marking in your textbook?
18.	Do you make notes on your textbook reading?
19.	As you study an assignment, do you frequently recite the material to yourself?
20.	Do you study your textbook notes along with your lecture notes when preparing for exams?
		Total Score

* Answer either 17a or 17 b, whichever applies to your school situation.

Directions for Scoring & Interpreting the Textbook Study Method Inventory

Count every Sometimes response that you have entered. Multiply the total of Sometimes responses by 3 and record the product.
Check the Always and Rarely responses against the key below. Cross out every wrong answer.
Count every correct Always response. Multiply the total by 5 and record the product.
Count every correct Rarely response. Multiply the total by 5 and record the product.
Add the three scores.

If you scored between 80 and 100 points on this inventory, you are extremely competent in your use of your textbooks.
If you scored between 60 and 79 points, you are somewhat competent in your use of your textbooks.
If you scored below 60 points, you are not using your textbooks expertly, and you should begin now to become competent in this important skill.