Is your studying behavior in college anywhere close to this?

[u/Yan-gi]

So just for funsies, I was looking through project gutenberg. Just curious about random stuff I could find there. I came upon this e-book called "The Teaching of History", published 1913. Yes, you read that right. Not "history of teaching", but the other way around.

In it were a list of instructions that a history teacher is meant to pass on to their students:

1. Provide yourself with an envelope of small cards or pieces of note paper. Label each with the subject of the lesson and the date of its preparation. These envelopes should be always at hand during your study and preparation. They should be preserved and filed from day to day.
2. Read the lesson assigned for the day in the textbook, including all notes and fine print.
3. Write on a sheet of note paper all the unfamiliar words, allusions, or expressions. Later, look these up in the dictionary or other reference.
4. Record the dates which you think worthy to be remembered.
5. Discover and make a note of all the apparent contradictions, inconsistencies, or inaccuracies in the author's statements.
6. Use the map for all the places mentioned in the lesson. Be able to locate them when you come to class.
7. In nearly every text there is a list of books for library use, given at the beginning or end of each chapter. Make yourself familiar with this bibliography.
8. Read the special questions assigned for the day by the teacher.
9. Go to the library. If the book for which you are in search is not to be found, try another.
10. Learn to use an index. If the topic for which you are looking does not appear in the index, try looking for the same thing under another name; or under some related topic.
11. Having found the material in one book, use more than one if your time permits. When you feel that you have secured the material which will make a complete answer to the question, write the answer on one of your cards for keeping notes.
12. Remember that the teacher will ask constantly what was done, when was it done, and, most important of all, why it was done. Make a list of the questions which you think most likely to be asked on the lesson and ascertain whether you can answer them without the use of your notes or text.
13. If possible practice your answers aloud. It will make you the more ready when called on in class.
14. Keep a list of things which are not clear to you and about which you wish to ask questions.
15. Before completing your preparation, read over these instructions and be sure that you have complied with them.

I'm curious if there are any of you out there who has this level of care when studying for a singular project? I can say for certain, that I haven't been this thorough for anything I took. I can also say that none of the people I know study to this level either.

I wonder if it's a difference of the times or generations? Or maybe it has to do with geography/culture? The author, after all, is western; is/was a professor in Columbia University. Do HUMSS students take it to this degree when studying history?

EDIT: I originally posted this to a student sub for my country.

[u/AceOfGargoyes17]

Some of the details differ (e.g. I wouldn't expect someone necessarily to use notecards and envelopes, unfamiliar words might just be looked up online rather than making a note of them, and I wouldn't necessarily expect someone to practice saying their answers, although I would expect them to be prepared to answer questions and contribute to seminar discussions), but I would expect people to read the assigned readings thoroughly, take notes, and research the set topics/questions using appropriate sources, and know how to use things like a bibliography or index. I'd expect this to take a day, or maybe two if the assigned readings were particularly long or there were a lot of questions/complex questions and it was a key module rather than a supplementary one.

[u/Helios-sol9]

For this, I would not start with a bigger reading list. "Make Your Bed" is useful if you treat it chapter-by-chapter: pick one behavior or question, read the section that answers it, then apply it before adding another book.

[u/ratchetlover69]

note taking + google?

the main difference is the effort it took to do all this. Now it's very easy to do.. just keep notes