how many times do you read each book?

what's up everyone!

i've been on TE on and off for almost a year now. over that time my non-IT career started getting really busy. i got comfortable and didn't continue my studies. but now that things are a little slow i'm remembering why i decided to get into networking.

i resumed my studies about two weeks ago. but this time i have no intentions of stopping. reading many of your experiences inspires me and helps me to stay focused. i want to say thank you to everyone for sharing what they are going through, pass or fail, it has helped me tremendously.

my biggest weakness is (was) reading. i think that's mainly why i stopped in the first place. i love to learn. learning is my favorite hobby. but over the past few years i mainly learn through audio/video media and hands-on with minimal reading. that's the way i learn best.

but IT requires more reading than i had been willing to do. i recently overcame that hurdle and have developed a new love of reading. the more i learn the more i wanna read. and i owe it all to TE for letting me know what it really takes and helping me push myself. thank you all!

with that being said, it got me thinking... just how much reading does it take? so if you would be kind enough to answer a few questions i'd really appreciate it.

1. how many times do you read each book for an exam?

2. do you find that reading multiple times increases your retention and decreases the need for notes?

3. how long does it take you to read a 600 to 1000 page book?

4. on a good day what are the most hours you read?

thank you for your answers

***note*** of course passing takes more than reading but this question mainly pertains to reading.

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Comments

Iristheangel

1) Usually only once but I'll read more than one book usually. For my CCNA/CCENT exams, I read the Wendell Odom CCENT book once and spent a week doing labs before getting a high pass. For the ICND2, I rushed through the book and did another week of labs because I felt pressure to complete the class for WGU before the end of the semester. I ended up passing but if I had one more wrong answer, I would have failed. After the exam, I ended up slowing down and rereading the ICND2 book over the course of three weeks. Without the pressure of passing a test or completing a school semester, I found myself really engaged by the material.

2) Yes. Multiple reading did help me but *only* after I didn't have the pressure of passing the exam.

3) It really depends. If the chapters are smaller, I'll break it into daily goals such as one chapter a day or 50 pages a day. With the exception of the AIO CISSP book, it's never taken me longer than a month to read a 1000 page book.

4) 2 hours at most. My brain usually is fried after that or I start getting distracted by the interwebs.

lantech

Reading a book multiple times helps me to retain the material. I have to do all my studying over the weekend. I just don't have the time or energy to study during the week. So I'm usually studying about 8 hours a day on the weekends.

Sometimes it's just not very easy. But it makes it more rewarding in the end. At least for me.

mapletune

I usually read a book in sequence only once. However, I remember what kind of content is in each given book. While labbing/practicing/reviewing etc, I will refer back to the book when I need clarification or when i forget a command.

So, in my opinion, instead of reading a book twice or three times to drill all information into your head, it's more important to know how to quickly find information you need from known references.

How long. "oufff~~" I don't know. Sometimes it takes months. Though during days before an exam, your reading ability magically increases inversely exponential to hours left before the exam and you can read/review an entire book in a couple days.

On a good day, If i have a weekend entirely to myself, I can probably read maybe 4 hours with many short breaks in between. Sitting down for more than 1 hour at a time is never productive nor healthy. I keep in mind "30 minutes sitting down 5 minutes stand up and walk around" though... lately I haven't been doing this.. =/ i should...

Good luck~

MrBrian

When I'm going through a book, I usually go through it one full time, going very slowly. I don't skip a section or go past something if I'm not catching the jist. It's easy to just right through a chunk of text without understanding it. Meanwhile that part might be crucial.

So the first time going through I use a highlighter to mark main points, and I make flash cards as I go too. I know it's working because I'll do, for example, 2 hours of studying, and then when I'm going to sleep I'm running through scenario's in my head.. which makes me question other things, and then I'll seek the answers to those confusions the next day. It takes me a long time to go through a book the first time..

After that I just skim and go over certain sections at a time to pound them out a little more. I mix in labbing during this whole process as well. I don't try to understand a topic 100% the first go around, but definitely enough so that I've seen what it is, what it does, how it looks in a lab environment, and have generated a lot of thought/questions about it in my head. That way the next time I come around on it, the info will mesh with my existing knowledge of it, which will help cement it in.

In the end, it's all about the amount of time you spend! The more time you spend reading and labbing the better. This is because the topics will be on your mind a lot more!! That way during the test (and on the job), you will have all those memories in your head to pull from. The less time you spend, the foggier it is to retrieve.

As far as time goes I'm currently doing college full time, so I have time to study. I've done 5-6 hrs several days. But really every time I study I go for at least 2 hours and I feel satisfied. Just be consistent and strap in for a maration.. and don't tap out

Roguetadhg

Currently, i go through at a slower pace, first. I make sure to try to do the "active" reading bit. I write questions in the margin for each paragraph.

I like to mainain a 1 chapter per day rate. But I also try to read at a section at a time, break the focus, read another section. I get distracted by things. Tickets, people knocking, my urge to watch cat videos, or to re-watch the 2013 mustang advertisement. Oh Shelby. Baby. Cheaper than the GT-R!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiyhXf_KVc0

*cough*

Yes, Well. I try to get the grasp of everything the first shot, learn it well. It's the keeping in my skull that I have issues with. I've been trying different methods to retain the information I've read/learned.

I'm not much of a reader. I dare say I tolerate it. I'm more of a doing person, like yourself. I learn mostly by hands-on experience and the mistakes I make. However, that's just not the way this works. So I've been tuning my mind to work along side with books. I don't know how I passed my Associates degree.

I got myself a small collection of books now. For a non-reader, having more than 1 book other than a strategy guide, is an accomplishment.

Today, I'll knock out Chapter 3/4 first in the morning. Afternoon, i'll refresh my OSPF studies (I should've studied IPv6 as a test mule), then review chapter 1-4. Why I say two chapters, instead of 1? The CCNA:Security has short-lengthed chapters, but a lot of chapters! I like to go over the book, just to see what i'm getting myself into. I see if there's a CD/DVD with the book, as well as the all important (But never there, PDF version - which, there isn't again)

jonrage

very cool answers. this feed back will really help me refine my study plan. i see on here that some people are reading 2 and 3 books 2 and 3 times for 1 exam. while my goal is to learn networking & be great at it and not just about the cert, i think i would only be able to take 2 to 3 test a year with schedule. i don't have a retention problem i like to over prepare. this will help me gauge myself. thank you.

Zartanasaurus

You don't need to read a book multiple times. You need to take proper notes, and make self created questions on the material that you review periodically. Sometimes it doesn't hurt to go back and read specific chapters a 2nd time to see if you missed anything the first time through that you didn't think was important at the time.

huafist

I typically read a chapter, then do hands-on work related to what that chapter was about. I can read all day long, and I can memorize facts, but until I "do it", I don't have a true, functional understanding of it. Once you have that, you can confidently move on to the next topic.

NetworkVeteran

jonrage wrote: »

1. how many times do you read each book for an exam?

1x.

2. do you find that reading multiple times increases your retention and decreases the need for notes?

Re-reading a book is a horribly inefficient way to increase your retention, since you're re-reading several hundred words per page, rather than just the couple new facts contained within. A second or third re-read does not decrease your need for notes, either, because you're still going to need to know that fact a week, a month, a year from now. If you have a certification but can't remember the content, what use is it? That certainly sinks candidates in interviews.

3. how long does it take you to read a 600 to 1000 page book?

1 hour per 30 pages?

4. on a good day what are the most hours you read?

6-16 hours?

rodrigo081089

1. how many times do you read each book for an exam? Once

2. do you find that reading multiple times increases your retention and decreases the need for notes? Take notes is better for me

3. how long does it take you to read a 600 to 1000 page book? 10 days

4. on a good day what are the most hours you read? 3 or 4

Futura

Understand every page before turning to the next one, if not understood then read again, if still not understood go on net for more answers or further reading. Taking notes, I read each book once but may have read certain pages a lot more times than other. Worked for me.

a month for a book for me. I read in work when I get free time, which is prolly a couple of hours a day.

jonrage

wow this is beautiful, very informative answers. thank you for all the feed back.

m3zilla

I don't re-read books when studying, I re-read them when I need to review certain subjects. For example, we are an EIGRP shop, so every once in a while, I'll go back and read the OSPF section.

When studying for an exam, I usually skim through the chapter before I actually read it. I usually have 2 different books for an exam, so there's no read to reread anything.

I don't really have a set time for reading. Rather, I go by sections/chapters. For instance, I don't set a goal to read 3 hours a day. Instead, I set a goal to go finish a section or chapter. When studying for the CCNP ROUTE, I broke the exam down to sections (EIGRP, OSPF, BGP, etc), and gave myself a deadline for each section. Week 1 was EIGRP, and I broke that down even further (Day 1 was EIGRP Neighbor Discovery, Day 2 - EIGRP Authentication, etc.). I find this to work better as once I'm done with the section for the day, I can immediately lab what I just read.

If I were to say "I'm reading 2 hours today", there are days where I could cover 4-5 different areas, and it'll be harder to lab. I learn by doing so reading isn't where I retain the knowledge, it's the labbing part that helps me retain it.

dontstop

Personally i would not try and set a rule of

x hour per y pages

Books vary in their content internally and between different books. Sometimes i'll zoom through 20-pages in 30min, but then hit some detailed sections which can take 2/4/8x longer. I would try set out to read for between 1-2 hours at a time, while not taking notice of your page counts.

As an example, my sister can read a fiction books of anywhere from 500-1000 pages in 1-2 days. But when reading University books, this would slow right down to maybe... 10-30 days. Take your time, understand what your reading and don't worry how long. Just ensure you maintain a consistent flow.

Currently, i'm reading for about ~2hr on the way to work & ~2hr on the way home. It's allowed me to really get through some material, lucky for me the train i catch has a QC (Quite Carriage) which allows me to read.

Thanks,
ds

kevin31

jonrage wrote: »

my biggest weakness is (was) reading. i think that's mainly why i stopped in the first place. i love to learn. learning is my favorite hobby. but over the past few years i mainly learn through audio/video media and hands-on with minimal reading. that's the way i learn best.

but IT requires more reading than i had been willing to do. i recently overcame that hurdle and have developed a new love of reading. the more i learn the more i wanna read. and i owe it all to TE for letting me know what it really takes and helping me push myself. thank you all!

Hi Jonrage,

Cant really help with your questions but hoped you could help me please? I am in similiar boat to you been studying CCNA on and off for many years read different CCNA books over and over never seems to stick but was wondering how you developed your reading please?

Been using Audio and vids more recently but I no I need to be able to read the content to get a good understanding. People posts here have been very helpful so thank you like the idea of chunking the books into chapters or subjects over each day but how do people then review?

Cheers

K